HD video through A/V receiver? (1 Viewer)

Presently, I have my audio signals through my 4 year old sony rec and video signal direct the the TV inputs. I just upgraded and purchased an Onkyo receiver, TXNR 801 and am thinking about sending the cable video (HD) and the DVD video through the the Onkyo's two component inputs. The specs on the new receiver are this:

HDTV Capable (50 MHz)
On-Screen Display
New Crossover Adjustment (40/60/80/100/120/150 Hz)

Any opinions if I would get decent PQ through this receiver, or should I stay with the direct path? Would like to simplify for the WF.

Thanks, Mike

Going directly is always best for picture quality, but going through the Onkyo may not degrade the picture quality enough on your display that you would notice. Give it a try, it couldn't hurt. 50Mhz is not bad at all.

Thanks Gabriel,
After I posted, I did a search on this topic, read about a dozen or so links and learned that over 35Mhz should be okay for HD.

I have to disagre with the "over 35 Mhz bandwidth is ok for HD" idea.

There are issues that come up if your cables, switch, etc., roll-off right above your maximum frequency. (Kind of like buying tires that grip fine at 55 mph but slip at 57).

Coax manufacturers go up to about 120 Mhz before calling a cable "HD ready", and the better video switch box's are designed for 100 Mhz. And Yamaha has made all their "HD compatible" receivers have a bandwidth of 90 Mhz. All of these are so it can handle 35 Mhz video signals.

So Mike, while you CAN push 720/1080 video through that reciever, it's really not following the 3X and 4X rule that everyone else does.

Here are some max frequencies you might find useful:

480i - 4 Mhz
480p - 13 Mhz
720/1080 - 35 Mhz

So that 50 Mhz bandwidth is fine for a DVD player (which puts out 13 Mhz max), but it is not even a two-times factor for HD video.

Note: "BandWidth" usually means "the frequency at which the signal-strength has dropped by 3 db (or 50%) after running through the cable/switch/electronics". So you ARE getting roll-off/loss even before hitting the bandwidth limit, but it is less than 50% of the original signal.

Anyone know how the Marantz 7300 fares taking on a HD signal? Presently I run the component cable directly from my HD cable box directly to my Toshiba colourstream component in. The other colour stream in is for my DVD - but if I need anothomponent in somewhere down the line, I'll have to go through the Marantz.