• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Any way to turn a PC into a multi connection video upconvertor?

C

coolred

Diamond Member
Like some AV receiver on the market, you can plug in a couple things to composite, some S-video, component or whatever you got, but it will upconvert any of those signals and then output it over 1 output cable like HDMI or component or whatever. I am just wondering if there is anything out there that would enable a computer to do the same thing. I am guessing probably not, but just wnated to find out for sure.
 
I don't have an answer, but i do have a question. Why replace a two hundred dollar machine with a thousand dollar machine?
 
Whats the 200 dollar machine, the receiver? I doubt many 200 dollar receivers do upconversion. Your probably looking at closer to 500.

I wouldn't be replacing it anyway, my receiver does not do upconversion. Plus I already have the computer, so i would just have to add whatever cards or connectors or whatever to it, not build/buy a whole computer.
 
I only meant that a dedicated piece of equipment is usually better than a PC for a specific task. However, if you already have certain components and are on a budget, it could make sense.
Personally, I love having a PC integrated into my home theater (a pretty grand term for a thirty two inch normal tv, a Sempron 2800+, and a set of 5.1 Logitech speakers 🙂)
 
Yeah if I was just in the market for a receiver I would just get one that does upconversion. But I already have a receiver from my HTiB set, it just doesn't do upconversion. The TV I got has limited connection options, I think i can hook up the stuff I have with the available connections if i use my receiver, but it would be nice to only have to run one cable into the tv rather then 6 sets of cables or whatever.


(a pretty grand term for a thirty two inch normal tv, a Sempron 2800+, and a set of 5.1 Logitech speakers )

What? grand term?


But yeah an HTPC is nice to have. I have a new 37" LCD, a 6.1 Onkyo surround sound setup, Xbox, Xbox 360, tivo, cable box. I am thinking of using the HTPC as a PVR as well.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
What sources are you looking to convert?

video inputs to computers often have issues with delay / lag, so if it's gaming systems or something, that probably wouldn't work well.

If you're thinking DVDs or something, you could play them right from the computer and get very good results.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=719041
Click to expand...

Well my TV has 1 HDMI, 2 Component(although its says(2 Component + 2 R/L RCA Audio (VGA connector accepts as 2nd Component source), so basically I think I have component and 1 VGA, it also has 1 composite and 1 s-video, but these are shared, so i can only use one.

I need to connect my tivo(composite or s-video), cable box(composite or s-video), HTPC(I can pretty much use any connection for this, probably VGA or HDMI if I get a card that supports it)the 360(component)maybe the xbox although I might put it on another tv. So basically I need to connect a minimum of 4 things to a TV with 4 inputs, although i currently have nothing that uses HDMI, so that limits me to 3 inputs. I think i can get it done with my receiver since it has 2 component and 3 svideo/composite inputs. But again, thats a lot of cables to use.
 
I might do

TIVO -> svideo to receiver
Cable -> svideo to receiver
HTPC -> VGA or DVI to HDMI converter
360 -> component right to TV

Receiver s-video monitor out to TV
 
tivo and cable using svideo to receiver sounds good, HTPC converted to hdmi, that goes directly to the TV right? Then how do I get the sound out to the receiver, if I use separate cables will the sound still sync with the video? And wouldn't I want to eh 360 to go component out to the receiver, then out to the TV?

Then I didn't quite understand the last 3 lines. I need to run an Svideo line from receiver to TV for use of the tivo and cable box. my receiver doesn't have VGA or HDMI, so I can't run those types of cable into or out of it. And didn't you say to run the 360 component straight to the TV? Although I expect you mean to run it into the receiver and then out to the TV via component.
 
Originally posted by: coolred
tivo and cable using svideo to receiver sounds good, HTPC converted to hdmi, that goes directly to the TV right? Then how do I get the sound out to the receiver, if I use separate cables will the sound still sync with the video? And wouldn't I want to eh 360 to go component out to the receiver, then out to the TV?

Then I didn't quite understand the last 3 lines. I need to run an Svideo line from receiver to TV for use of the tivo and cable box. my receiver doesn't have VGA or HDMI, so I can't run those types of cable into or out of it. And didn't you say to run the 360 component straight to the TV? Although I expect you mean to run it into the receiver and then out to the TV via component.
Click to expand...

I think I got carried away with the receiver end of things. 😱 editing 😛
 
If nothing goes wrong, you should be able to run video straight to the display and audio straight to the receiver in the case of the HTPC and the 360.

Video from the 360 could go through the receiver or straight to the TV. You'd need two cables to run component if you went through the receiver though.
Audio could be digital optical to the receiver.

For the HTPC, you could do either VGA or DVI->HDMI to the display and then run audio only to the receiver. 5.1 channel direct would probably be your best bet for gaming unless you have a DDL / DTS encoding card. If you're not doing gaming, then any connection type should work.
 
Yeah as long as the audio will sync then I am fine with running the xbox straight to the TV. If my motherboard/soundcard has optical or SPDIF output, does that mean it has DDL/DTS encoding, or no?
 
Originally posted by: coolred
Yeah as long as the audio will sync then I am fine with running the xbox straight to the TV. If my motherboard/soundcard has optical or SPDIF output, does that mean it has DDL/DTS encoding, or no?
Click to expand...

SPDIF output normally means that it would just do passthrough of the bitstream output for the receiver to decode (which is what you'd want to do for movies and such)

Most of the time, you can get... hey, why am I typing this? 😉
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=30&threadid=1940133&enterthread=y

 
Just wanted to be clear, what advantage is there to converting from DVI/VGA to HDMI? The TV has a VGA input, so wouldn't it be better to just keep it VGA or DVI to VGA?
 
DVI is pretty much the same IQ as HDMI other then the audio being with the HDMI.. I run my HTPC on DVI to DVI with a 7900GT and a HDLCD .. for audio the mobo as a soundcard and i bought a 1/8 or 1/4 headset connect on one end and 2 - RCA connectors on the other end from Radio Shack which is a Y cable.. take the 2- RCA's and hook them to the CD connector on your home theater unit and the 1/4 connector to your soundcard on the PC where you would hook to for a headset .. now your sound will come threw your stereo CD and the home theater takes over and your video is DVI .. it will stake the walls ...
 
Originally posted by: coolred
Just wanted to be clear, what advantage is there to converting from DVI/VGA to HDMI? The TV has a VGA input, so wouldn't it be better to just keep it VGA or DVI to VGA?
Click to expand...

VGA is analog and HDMI is digital. With a digital display like you have, a digital connection may get you better results. This is not always the case however, so you may want to check out AVSforum about your specific display to see if there are any user opinions on the matter.

If there were no other issues, the digital connection would be better in theory because the signal would stay digital the whole way. With VGA, the computer would convert from digital to analog and then your TV would convert that analog signal back to digital. VGA is a pretty darn good connection though, so it's going to depend which looks better in reality.

Converting VGA to HDMI would be hard and wouldn't make much sense because you're looking the advantage mentioned above. DVI can be converted to HDMI very easily because it's basically the same connection just in a different form.
 
Alright that makes sense.

So lets assume I go with tiem warner for HD cable. I was just checking out their HD cable boxes. It looks like the HD DVR has component and HDMI, but from what I can see the non DVR HD box has component only. I am still not sure if I will go with their DVR, or use an HTPC for DVRing OTA HD. If I have to choose between the HTPC or the HD DVR, which do i connect by HDMI? With the other being connected by either component or VGA.


I am really having problems figuring out how I want to set this all up. Let me explain my current setup. I got an Infocus SP4805 about a year ago, So I have it being projected on to the wall just above and behind where the 37" LCD now sits. So basically we sit opposite the TV, and in between my couch and chair is a component entertainment stand. It currently houses my 360, xbox, receiver and my projector sits atop it. It would be awesome if I didn't have to move all this stuff, since the wiring for it all was a big PITA. I know i can get my hands on some long(25-50')HDMI, component and s-video cables for cheap, like 10-15 bucks each. So it would seem like a good idea to just hook up everything in the stand where the receiver is and then run the video cables out to the TV. But I just can't seem to wrap my head around all of this. Plus it would be a lot less wire running if I move the receiver into the stand with the TV, then hook everything up in there and then just run one set of component cables out to the projector.
 
I would say if your cable box supports HDMI, use that connection for it as the VGA input you're pretty much stuck with PC as your easy connection to that input. The VGA input may also work better in general for PC usage as it might be optomized to take some non-standard (720p / 480p / etc.) resolutions from that input.

You should still check with AVSforum just to get the :thumbsup: on using the different inputs to make sure nothing funky is going on.

I guess you're going to have to decide which is best for your own purposes as far as wiring goes. For my own setup, I have my my component rack to the side of the room along with the majority of my sources. I have my two computers running across the room to my rack. Everything gets plugged into my pre-pro and then I run a single component line to my projector from the video out of my pre-pro (it actually looks somewhat better than running HDMI from my DVD player).

Do you have two video outputs from your receiver? I was kind of assuming you didn't have a receiver for some reason.
 
Yeah I will check AVS, already have actually have.

Yeah my receiver is an Onkyo HT-R510, it is from an HT S760 HTiB. It has 2 component inputs, one output. It has 3 composite/s-video shared inputs and one composite/s-video output. It has 2 optical inputs, 1 coaxial(is that SPDIF?) audio input. It has 2 other composite audio inputs, 1 out. And it has 1 othercomposite/s-video input/output.
 
Originally posted by: golgotha
I don't have an answer, but i do have a question. Why replace a two hundred dollar machine with a thousand dollar machine?
Click to expand...

Actually, good multi-format upconverting receivers are pretty damn pricey. To get one that handles all the analog and digital input formats, the switching, and upcoversion to 720 or 1080 is going to run probably more than $800. I say probably, because the last time I looked was about eight months ago, and at that time it was more like $1200.
 
Optical and Digital Coax can both carry SPDIF.

Having two displays is probably going to get ugly for connecting the same source to both of them. Do you plan to run some of these sources to both displays, or will the sources be for either one or the other?
 
It would be cool if I could run both my xbox and 360 to both displays, but if not, then I will probablly just run the xbox to the projector and the 360 to the TV
 
It might make it easier to write down all your sources and connection types and then decide which displays you want to use with each one along with the connections available on the displays.

With the limited connectivity of your 4805, it might make sense to route component sources through the receiver for it and then run the video sources you want to use with the LCD straight to the display?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top