What is video up conversion? (1 Viewer)

[GeorgeLE]

Is this video up conversion important? what exactly does it do.
Thanks,
George

 

[John Garcia]

There are at least two possible answers to that question. One is signal type and the other is connection type. In the case of a receiver, it means the receiver is capable of taking inputs of one type (composite, s-video) and outputting it via a higher level of connection (component) (though the signal itself is unchanged). Note that many receivers that do this will only accept one type of input (all composite or s-video) when upconverting this way.

The other type has to do with an actual change in the signal from one type to another.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I'm a little confused with john's response.

Upconversion take lower video inputs, composite for isntance, and converts them into, say s-video or component. This entails a signal change to fit the new connection type.

 

[John Garcia]

Regardless of the connection type (composite, S-vid, component), the signal is the same. Analog video is anlog video, and switching from composite to s-vid within the receiver or a switch box does not change or improve that signal. IOW, that comosite signal will not somehow become better by simply being switched to s-video. There receiver is acting as an adapter and nothing more.

S-video and component are essentially the same, except that component uses separate cables, while s-vid has each inside one cable.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

ahhh, i see what you meant!

You're right. It isn't improving the signal at all, just changing it. Your first answer seemed to indicate that it woud, for instance, take composite unchanged, and output it via s-video, (which wouldn't work), and another type that performed the conversion to s-video, or component.

But yeah, it's just changing the signal type, not doing anything to the picture (except, arguably degrading it during the change).

 

[David?P]

ok, i know that this thread is a little old, but what i am wondering is what is the benefit of having this if all it is is like just being an adapter to make composite to plug in to component?

 

[Rob Grim]

Main reason, convience. If you are limited to say number of inputs on your television. Run all your component's cables, weither they be s-video, composite or component to your receiver and one cable from your receiver to your television and then allow your reciver to do the video switching for you. The one factor to keep in effect is weither your receiver converts all to component or weither it will only convert to say s-video. If it will only convert to s-video, you may have to run 2 cables, component and s-video to your television. Hope this helps.

 

[David?P]

so lets say my tv has enough inputs for my component, s-video and composite equipment; then video up conversion would not benefit me at all will it?

 

[Rob Grim]

Depends on how you look at it. If your television has plenty of inputs then video conversion isn't necessary. Myself, I like the idea of not having to change the input on my television everytime I change my source. I leave my tv on the component input and just switch inputs on the receiver. Some people claim they get better results hooking video directly to the television and running the audio to the receiver but I myself didn't notice a difference.

 

[David?P]

so there maybe a chance that if i plug it in directly to the reciever, the quality may degrade?

 

[Shane Martin]

Yes depending on the bandwidth capabilities of the receiver. If you have a macro driven remote, and you could run your cables direct then I think thats the best. If you don't have a macro remote then its more convienent to run it thru your reciever. Most of the Midrange($1,000) range recievers have plenty of bandwidth but you should ask if it does. I know the 2 I'm considering(Denon 3805 and Rotel 1056) have 100mhz which is more than enough.

 

[David?P]

ok so does the 3803 have a macro driven remote?

also, do you know if the HK 630 and 430 have video up conversion. if so do those have the macro driven remote?


im torn between one of these 3 recievers

 

[ScottCHI]

so lets say my tv has enough inputs for my component, s-video and composite equipment; then video up conversion would not benefit me at all will it?

there are pros and cons to doing it either way and the way that's "best" for you depends upon your individual circumstances.

it can help tidy things up.

with all the input devices connected individually to the tv, you have to change the tv's input source as well as the receiver's in order to change both the audio and video source. but, this can be useful, too, though, in that it easily allows separate and different audio and video input sources, at the same time. receiver's usually will allow this, too, of course.

bear in mind that on receivers that must be connected to a tv or monitor for setup (like a denon), that you must run some sort of line carrying video from the receiver to the tv. on some receivers (denon comes to mind), if you video bypass the receiver like that, then you obviously can't access the receiver's onscreen setup menus while that particular video source is in use on your tv. this can be cumbersome. my denon doesn't pass the onscreen menus via the component outputs, when they're in use, anyway; only the composite and S-video pass the menus while they're in use. so it was an easy decision to just connect my dvd player directly to my tv, since i wouldn't have had the receiver's onscreen menu capability via the component connection, anyway. i use an S-video connection to my tv to "monitor" my receiver's onscreen menus.

so, i have the capability, but don't really use it, myself. i run my dvd player directly into my tv's only set of component video inputs. my crap cable box only has a composite output, so i run that composite output into my receiver and i DO run an "upconverted" S-video connection to the tv for that, but i certainly didn't have to. no particular reason, really, except that i have an S-video cable. i know the signal is not improved when upconverted; it's just converted. with this setup, i use the tv to switch between the 2 video sources (actually 3, because i also run my RF connection from my cable box to my tv).

if i had another piece of equipment with component outputs, (hdtv receiver, for example) i would utilize this feature, because my tv has only one set of component inputs.

 

[ScottCHI]

so there maybe a chance that if i plug it in directly to the reciever, the quality may degrade?

obviously, a direct connection is best. but that may not always be feasible.

 

[ScottCHI]

ok so does the 3803 have a macro driven remote?

you can set up 2 "macro" buttons on the 3803's remote. don't know about the others.

i WILL tell you that denon's remote (or anyone's, for that matter) is not the best at "universal" functioning. so if you're really into unifying your remotes, you'll probably want a nicer aftermarket one.

this reminds me, david?p, the denon receivers absolutely require onscreen monitoring to access the setup menus and set everything up. i don't know how the others that you are interested in work regarding this, but this is about the only utilitarian complaint i have about my denon. it is a pain in the ass. shouldn't really be a deciding factor, though. just thought you'd like to know.

 

[David?P]

so since the 3803 has component out, im better off connecting everthing to the reciever correct?

 

[ScottCHI]

so since the 3803 has component out, im better off connecting everthing to the reciever correct?

ummmm, how'd you come to that conclusion, exactly?

2 questions. how many component inputs does your tv allow? and which of your components will you be wanting to connect via component video connection?

 

[David?P]

i have 2 component input on my tv. i only have 1 component device which is my dvd player.

 

[ScottCHI]

so since the 3803 has component out, im better off connecting everthing to the reciever correct?

again, i ask, how'd you come to that conclusion?

i'd connect the dvd player directly. you can "monitor" the receiver for the setup screens and any other video input with a composite, s-video, OR, in your case, since you have 2 sets of component video inputs on your tv, even a component connection.

 

[John Brill]

Upconversion is only really useful if the number of video sources outnumbers the number of video inputs in your TV/Monitor, which is my case, and/or to save you from having to change "source" on both your TV/Monitor and your receiver if you plan on using your receiver for sound. Also useful if you have more than 1 TV/Monitor output :b .

Consider this, you own the following video output sources:

- DVD Player (component or S-video)
- VHS Player (composite video)
- X-Box Game Console (component or S-video)
- PS-2 Game Console (component or S-video)
- Digital Cable/Satelite Feed (component or S-video)
- Video Camera (composite video)

Believe it or not, this list isn't uncommon anymore. Most TV/Monitors don't have room for 6 video sources. In fact, if you have a front projector, your lucky if you have 2-3 at most!

In my case, I have 2 video outputs (a TV for regular watching and a front projector for big screen movie watching) and having upconversion really helps in having all the sources converted to one format so that I only have 1 cable running to the projector and 1 to the TV.

JB