[mythtv-users] A/V Receivers & MythTv

[Willy Boyd]

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:41 AM, Andrew Close <aclose at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Brad DerManouelian
>  <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
>  >
>  >
>  >  On Apr 18, 2008, at 7:06 AM, Andrew Close wrote:
>  >
>  >  > you guys/gals that have Myth hooked up through an AVR, do you run your
>  >  > video through the receiver as well as the audio?  or directly to the
>  >  > display?
>  >  > i'm curious because many of the newer receivers, even some budget
>  >  > receivers, now have video processors built into them that do a decent
>  >  > job of upscaling/converting/formatting.  looking at the mid-range
>  >  > Denons and Onkyos, they all have pretty decent video processors in
>  >  > them.  they do a very nice job of upscaling DVD and SD video and some
>  >  > can even cherry pick which signals get upscaled.
>  >  > i know that Myth can do scaling too.  just wondering if it is as good
>  >  > as a dedicated HW video processor.  and i'm also wondering if it's
>  >  > possible to run Myth's output through a dedicated video processor.
>  >
>  >  Your video card will almost certainly do a better job of scaling than
>  >  your receiver. You called it a "dedicated HW video processor". It's
>  >  actually a dedicated HW audio processor with some video capability
>  >  added on. Your video card is a dedicated HW video processor.
>
>  interesting.  cause the guy at the A/V shop told me it was the other
>  way around.  of course, he's trying to sell me some new gear; but he
>  also brought up the point that the AVR is a specialized HW device
>  built for the purpose of high quality audio/video processing and that
>  to match the chip in the AVR i would need a very high end video card,
>  not just the commodity nVidia 5200...
>
>  --
>  Andrew Close
>

I wouldn't buy into that too much.  I can say that because, well, I
already did :)  I'm not sure exactly what you meant by mid-range
Denon's and Onkyo, but I have an Onkyo SR674B.  It does HDMI switching
with upscaling, and for a very good price... I got it for around
$400-450 IIRC.  But it's known, as I now realize, to have a somewhat
crappy video processing chip in it.  New receivers might be better,
and I know nothing about the Denon's, but I think I recall reading
some of them had better chips.

Basically, I have my mythtv running through it at nearly "full res",
or 1366x768 for my display, and Myth plus my onboard Nvidia 6150 does
a MUCH better job and what it looks like when the SD content like my
cable box or Wii over component looks like when going through the
receiver.  I can definitely see a noticeable difference in quality
between the Wii now and when I had it hooked up directly to the TV via
component.  It's a very attractive setup now that my TV is only
connected via only wire, HDMI (well plus power), but to do it over
again I would either hook some of my devices back up directly, OR get
a much better scaling receiver.