DirectTV HD Receiver

[smgemelos]

I am looking into switching toi the HD receiver from DirectTV - seems like a no brainer with the current offer.... but I am curious about some of the capabilities...

Does the DirectTV receiver perform upscaling of HD content on the HDMI output? How about on the component output? Can I have all conent pushed to my HD-LCD at 1080i?


How about for regular, non-HD, content - will the HD receiver deinterlace that and upscale it? My understanding is that DirectTV uses mpeg2 or mpeg4 encoding, right? So the regular broadcast channels should be 480p (mpeg encoders don't work well with interlaced images) and they must perform the interlacing in the receiver.... so do they pass the 480P signal to the component/HDMI ports?

Thanks

[jocko_nc]

I have logged many hours on that receiver...

I would not get hung up on upconversion. The content you will see is basically what it was. Think about it, there is no way to create information what was not originally there. I see the benefits of upconversion with certain types of video, particularly something that was created digitally. Digital graphics. Logos. Southpark. On the contrary, almost anything that was from an analog source comes through just as it was. For a good picture you need good content... There is not enough of it out there and no electronic magic can change that.

Can anyone "upconvert" my mom's old Elvis 45's? That would be a neat trick.

jocko

[edtyct]

Yes, technicians can do wonders upconverting old recordings, just like they can restore old films, provided that they have at least adequate source materials--eliminate noise, correct damage, and inject a little lost presence. They can also do a fair or a lousy job; the proof is in the pudding.

For smgemelos, why would you want your material upconverted to 1080i for your LCD set? Do you have a 1080p display? If so, your display will upconvert all signals to its native resolution, anyway. If you have an LCD that predates 1080p, the correct "upconversion" would be 720p. But even if the receiver upconverts/scales (I'm sorry, I don't know), it may not deinterlace 480i material. Check the specs or call the manufacturer. Your LCD display most likely deinterlaces it, however; only a precious few don't have 2:3 reverse pulldown and some form of video processing for SD. But if the broadcast signal is 480p, then that's what the receiver will transmit (or what it will upconvert to your native resolution if it can and you want it to).

Ed

[jocko_nc]

Technicians can do all that, but only because they "know" what the original source sounded or looked like. They fill in what is missing, or what they think what is missing. The upconversion programs cannot possibly know what was originally there. I have found they are limited at best, only really noticeable with digital graphics. They seem to be able to manage those well.

I only replied to the post in that I think there is a misconception regarding upconversion and what it can accomplich.

jocko

[smgemelos]

Actually, Ed, your right, I would really only want to upconvert to 768P to support the native resolution of the LCD.


But what I was wanting to find out is if the HD receiver will output the standard channels as 480P - the decoded video should be available as 480P since they are MPEG encoded material. It should be real easy, just bypass the interlacing chip.... it what they did for DVDs. The image should be noticably sharper as 480P than the 480i.... and it would be better to avoid the interlacing in the decoder and then deinterlacing in the display....

The upconversion was a secondary issue.

Thanks

[edtyct]

I would think that the receiver would give you a choice, but what do I know? If you do get 480i deinterlaced in the receiver, however, make sure that your display can show the 480p result as 4:3. It probably can, but certain displays force 480p signals into anamorphic full mode.

[smgemelos]

Technicians can do all that, but only because they "know" what the original source sounded or looked like. They fill in what is missing, or what they think what is missing. The upconversion programs cannot possibly know what was originally there. I have found they are limited at best, only really noticeable with digital graphics. They seem to be able to manage those well.

I only replied to the post in that I think there is a misconception regarding upconversion and what it can accomplich.

jocko


The upconversion process is based on interpolation - they use sophisticated algorithms to "guess" what the new lines should be based on the other information in the image.

These algorithms and image processors are the products of companies like Faroudja....

[jocko_nc]

Yes, and I think the algorithms have a tough time with an analog picture signal. They have a hard time interpolating points that are not so well defined.

[edtyct]

Analog interlaced picture signals are just the thing that such video processing was invented to handle. Just about every digital display uses a selection of these algorithms to scale and deinterlace SD material. The wonder of it is that these scaling/deinterlacing programs really do "know" what's there by giving it a digital identity; that's how they can make an educated guess about how to complete the picture. But like us, these programs have varying degrees of knowledge. The amount of data that they can affect, and the sophistication of the particular methodologies that they bring to bear on it, determines how well the final picture looks. All video processing is not created equal. If you think that interpolation doesn't really accomplish anything of note, compare a nonprocessed progressive signal with a processed one. Then compare that processed one with the same signal processed better. One thing that's true, however, is that digital signals do not like analog compression, and vice versa. Compression is what MPEG does.

Ed

[jocko_nc]

o.k. I'll buy all of that... However, I think we will all be much better off when more content comes in HD format in the first place!

jocko

[edtyct]

I couldn't agree more.

[BRANDONH]

I am looking into switching toi the HD receiver from DirectTV - seems like a no brainer with the current offer.... but I am curious about some of the capabilities...

Does the DirectTV receiver perform upscaling of HD content on the HDMI output? How about on the component output? Can I have all conent pushed to my HD-LCD at 1080i?


How about for regular, non-HD, content - will the HD receiver deinterlace that and upscale it? My understanding is that DirectTV uses mpeg2 or mpeg4 encoding, right? So the regular broadcast channels should be 480p (mpeg encoders don't work well with interlaced images) and they must perform the interlacing in the receiver.... so do they pass the 480P signal to the component/HDMI ports?

Thanks
The set top box does not do any of upconverting it will just send the signal it receives or the output format you select directly to the TV.
If there is any upconverting to be done that will be done by the TV set.
Either way you should read the manual to see what signal the TV set will accept and set the tuner to that setting and be sure that you get a tuner that has selectable output format.
HR10-250 (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/DIRECTV-HD-Receiver-DVR-HR10-250-/sem/rpsm/oid/93509/catOid/-12878/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)

[westcott]

The H10 will NOT put out a 480i signal via component output even though their literature states it does. Beware of this!!!!!

I would get someone elses HD Receiver like Sony or Samsung.