[steve kleinvehn]

I'm looking to gather components for a new HT system, but I'm not looking for top of the line. I can't really justify spending dumptrucks full o' money for watching 1-2 movies a week (if that much). I'm settling for a normal television -- no 16:9, HD, digital, etc. -- so I have two questions regarding the TV picture:

1) One big difference between the Onkyo TX-SR700 and TX-SR600 recievers is composite to S-video upconversion -- well, the site says "Composite to S-Video Conversion" so I'm hoping it's upconversion -- so will the "upconverted" S-video signal from my composite cable connection improve the picture quality?

and

2) I've read that progressive DVD players will have no image improvement on standard televisions. Is this true?

Any help would be appreciated and cost-effective!

[Lew Crippen]

Welcome Steve. As to your questions:

1) You should be able to see a clear difference between S-Video and composite (the RCA yellow jack) connection. It is not clear to me from your post that your TV has an S-Video input. If you have connect your display to your receiver using a composite connection, you will see no improvement in picture quality even if the receiver could put out a better signal (it is only better on the S-Video output).
2) It will depend on your set. Check the manual beforehand so that you know one way or the other. An easy way to check this, is to ask the salesperson to hook up a progressive scan DVD player to the set. Set the DVD player to output 480p (not 480i). Check out the picture on the set.
While you are doing this, you might consider getting a set that also does ‘the squeeze’. This feature results in better picture quality for widescreen formats on a 4:3 set. Check it out for yourself. You may or may not feel that the added quality is worth the additional cost.

[MikeShea]

I would save the $200 and go for an Onkyo TX-SR500 receiver. Hook up your sources to your display directly to avoid any weird conversions. Composite to S-Video conversions can't create material where it never existed. It wont look any better.