Advantages in using Video part of an AVR?

SuperG

Currently, I am only using my AVR for sound. I don't have any of the video components hooked up for video, I hook the video directly to the TV.

What are the advantages of using the video in of an AVR? All my video components are HD so the video quality cannot be further enhanced by the AVR. The only advantage I can see is less cables going to the TV.

If you hook up all the video through the AVR, would it need to be turned on for the video signal to pass through for recording purposes on my PVR?

emoxley

Main reason for running video through the A/V receiver is ease of switching sources (don't need to use tv's remote to change input of tv). If you have something like the Harmony remote, this isn't a concern. Another reason would be if the receiver did better upscaling than the tv, or for upconverting an s-video connection, to an HDMI connection.

Terra S

emoxley wrote: »

Main reason for running video through the A/V receiver is ease of switching sources (don't need to use tv's remote to change input of tv).

But isn't that only true for AVR's that upconvert all sources to HDMI and do switching, correct? What's that feature called or how do you know for sure that an AVR will seamlessly switch all sources that are connected to it's inputs out through the HDMI to the TV?

danger boy

most, not all AVR's don't degrade the video signal like they did in the old days.. the video portion of an AVR is quite good.. it's worth a try for the convenience of having it switch audio and video at the same time.

emoxley

Terra S wrote: »

But isn't that only true for AVR's that upconvert all sources to HDMI and do switching, correct?

No, not only ones that upconvert. That IS the switching.
My old JVC would switch it, and everything was connected by s-video.

Terra S

OK, so let me ask you then, how someone would connect a HD Cable Box/DVR and quality DVD player (such as the Oppo DV-981HD) to one of those older Lexicon pre/pro's or an AVR that doesn't have HDMI inputs? You wouldn't want to run the video of those devices through the processor or AVR because it would degrade the video signal if it's lacking HDMI inputs. This is especially true with the Oppo DVD player because it's not equipped with component output jacks. Oppo designed it this way due to the fact that it upconverts to 1080p. It has s-video and composite out but even states in the manual this is not recommended and should be used for trouble shooting only.

So if I don't have HDMI on my AVR or processor, I'd have to connect the video outputs of those devices directly to the TV via HDMI. Then run the audio output via analog outs for the DVD player, and S/PDIF for the cable box, to the AVR or pre/pro. With that configuration, I'd say there's no way to have it all work with one remote to where it would manually change the source on my HDTV (which would be required due to devices being connected to different HDMI inputs).

So it seems to me, no HDMI; no running video through the AVR which means no "ease of switching sources". Hence why I replied with "But isn't that only true for AVR's that upconvert all sources to HDMI".

Please correct me if I'm wrong or explain what I'm missing here if there's another way of doing it with the scenario I described above.

emoxley

Ok, the only way to do it all with one remote, the way you're talking about (video not going through the receiver), would be with a Harmony (or similar) remote. Everything needs to go through the receiver first, for easy switching, or let the Harmony do all the work.

On the Harmony remote, push the "Watch a Movie" button. It turns on the tv, puts it on the right input, turns on the dvd player, and turns on the A/V receiver, and puts it in "DVD" mode. All you do then is put the disc in the drawer, and watch the movie. After the movie, push the "Watch TV" button. The remote turns off the dvd player, turns on the cable/sat box puts tv on the right input, and switches the A/V receiver to "TV/DBS" mode.

The Harmony's are very user friendly. Wives usually love them, because they don't have to deal with 4-5 remotes, to watch or listen to what they want. At their web site, you enter the model numbers of your equipment, tell their software which input each piece is using on the tv, tell it you want the receiver to control the volume, and download the info to your remote, via a usb cable. Very easy.......... We very much like our Harmony remote. When it finally dies, we'll get another.

Hillbilly61

Terra S wrote: »

OK, so let me ask you then, how someone would connect a HD Cable Box/DVR and quality DVD player (such as the Oppo DV-981HD) to one of those older Lexicon pre/pro's or an AVR that doesn't have HDMI inputs? You wouldn't want to run the video of those devices through the processor or AVR because it would degrade the video signal if it's lacking HDMI inputs. This is especially true with the Oppo DVD player because it's not equipped with component output jacks. Oppo designed it this way due to the fact that it upconverts to 1080p. It has s-video and composite out but even states in the manual this is not recommended and should be used for trouble shooting only.

So if I don't have HDMI on my AVR or processor, I'd have to connect the video outputs of those devices directly to the TV via HDMI. Then run the audio output via analog outs for the DVD player, and S/PDIF for the cable box, to the AVR or pre/pro. With that configuration, I'd say there's no way to have it all work with one remote to where it would manually change the source on my HDTV (which would be required due to devices being connected to different HDMI inputs).

So it seems to me, no HDMI; no running video through the AVR which means no "ease of switching sources". Hence why I replied with "But isn't that only true for AVR's that upconvert all sources to HDMI".

Please correct me if I'm wrong or explain what I'm missing here if there's another way of doing it with the scenario I described above.

I think you got the situation figured out. You end up converting the HDMI signal to component and then have the TV reconvert it to digital, instead of straight up having the TV handing an HDMI signal. Probably a reason to consider updating to a more recent AVR receiver (or buy a pre-amp and use the existing AVR as the amp).