Video upscaling capabilities in avr

[agupta20]

Hi all,

Need experienced people opinion on practical difference between video upscaling vs non-video upscaling capabilities in avr.

I have read the theory about this on net but just wanted to understand how much practical difference would this make while watching tatasky.
I have tatasky HD and as everyone knows that the difference between HD vs non-HD channels is huge.
So with this video upscaling feature, will non-HD channels convert to something like HD channels

Thanks to this forum, i almost finalized my first HT (denon1612 + paradigm CT 100 for 68k) but someone suggested me to go for 1912 for video upscaling feature. My current budget is also extended one, would like to go for 1912 only if its a significant difference

Thanks again

Ashish

 

[aakashr]

Hi all,

Need experienced people opinion on practical difference between video upscaling vs non-video upscaling capabilities in avr.

I have read the theory about this on net but just wanted to understand how much practical difference would this make while watching tatasky.
I have tatasky HD and as everyone knows that the difference between HD vs non-HD channels is huge.
So with this video upscaling feature, will non-HD channels convert to something like HD channels

Thanks to this forum, i almost finalized my first HT (denon1612 + paradigm CT 100 for 68k) but someone suggested me to go for 1912 for video upscaling feature. My current budget is also extended one, would like to go for 1912 only if its a significant difference

Thanks again

Ashish

No significant difference............even the STB upscales SD so it will look a bit better but SD can never look like HD irrespective of any upscaling. Your video is only as good as its source. Do not change the AVR only because of upscaling. The 1912 will have more power which is always a good thing so maybe that could be an advantage.

Also the upscaling chip in the AVR makes a difference. Entry level AVRs use Faroudja DCDi which is a very entry level basic chip. Next is Anchor Bay and then the best is HQV which is used in hi end AVRs.

 

[manniraj]

Hi all,

Need experienced people opinion on practical difference between video upscaling vs non-video upscaling capabilities in avr.

I have read the theory about this on net but just wanted to understand how much practical difference would this make while watching tatasky.
I have tatasky HD and as everyone knows that the difference between HD vs non-HD channels is huge.
So with this video upscaling feature, will non-HD channels convert to something like HD channels

Thanks to this forum, i almost finalized my first HT (denon1612 + paradigm CT 100 for 68k) but someone suggested me to go for 1912 for video upscaling feature. My current budget is also extended one, would like to go for 1912 only if its a significant difference

Thanks again

Ashish

There will not be any huge diff to the picture quality after upscaling. In fact none of the receivers can do a perfect job of upscaling the lower resolution to higher as the principle goes "garbage in hence garbage out". So dont base your selection only on this option. But the only advantage I can see with the upscaling capability of the receiver is that if you have multiple diff sources with diff resolution and want to have only one hdmi output to the tv then this feature helps you other than that its all just marketing gimmick.
I would advice against this feature provided you have all your input sources as hdmi. In fact upscaling at the first source level is far better than upscaling at the receiver level. Hence based on my experience with the DVD playback on a blu-ray player with the player itself upscaling is far better than the receiver taking the DVD input and upscaling it.

Thanks.

 

[vishal_k]

Hi ashish,

one thing i'll recommend, don't invest on avr just for its features, rather go for its sound quality. and about upscaling denon 1912 does'nt have upscaler it only has upconvertion, it was there in 1911 and in new 1913.
And don't bother too much about avr's upscaling, let it be done by your HDTV. your tv has better upscaler.

 

[amol12]

Tatasky hd plus does a good job of upscaling SD channels. Not sure of Tatasky Hd but that should be doing it too. i dont find any noticable difference in the upscaling done by Tatasky HD+ and Onkyo 609 (which has upscaling).

Further even if you buy a upscaling receiver, to use the receivers upscaling you will have to fiddle with tatasky HD picture settings every time you change from SD to HD or vice versa as it outputs all channels at a given resolution no matter if they are HD or SD. i.e. it does not have different resolution (output) settings for SD and HD.