What is video up-conversion as a feature on a surround receiver?

Question

Trying to decide on a receiver for a new system I am putting in. I have a 7.1 system (already have the speakers) but I have not yet purchased the receiver or tv. Trying to figure out what is necessary as a feature and what is not. Like, what is video-up conversion?

Also, Not really sure how many s-video, composite and HDMI inputs/outputs I need. How do you figure that out?

I plan on getting a 52 inch 1080p lcd tv, DVD player, Wii console, PS2. I don't have a blueray or hd player yet but don't want to exclude the possibility of using one if I want to.

Answer 1

video up-conversion takes a low resolution video (e.g. 480p) input and outputs an HD version (720p, 1080i/p). It is based on an internal video scaler chip and may also include deinterlacing. Well done (e.g. reon HQV) it can obviate the need for an upconverting DVD player .. allowing one to convert a normal DVD player and get the benefits of an upconverting DVD player. But note that a) it needs to be well done to make it worthwhile, and b) HDTVs and many DVD players already have this capability (although maybe not as good) so you would, to a degree be duplicating capacity. Personally I think it's a bit of a gimmick (unless, as said, done with a high quality chip (See the link for further info)

Except for legacy devices you won't need S-video or composite inputs. Componenet is handy to have but effectively limited to non-HD video. Optical and digital coax (variations on each other) are useful for multichannel/surround sound. You should look for at least two inputs (preferably assignable ... so you can "assign" each to a device rather than having to have one hardwired for each set of inputs).

As to HDMI ports, if you will be using HDMI connections you need one input for each external device (HD DVD or Blu-Ray player, game consul, etc). 2 may be enough, but 3 is better.

Have a look at the Onkyo 605 ... it's got a good blend of inputs as a fairly typical example.