On a related note - does the "Up conversion" featured in some receivers (that takes a composite signal, S-Video, etc. and allows it to be fed to the TV via a set of component cables) really work?

Is it just a pass-through mechanism, or does it actually "upgrade" the signal?

Anybody?

And I've wondered the same thing - hooking up my components directly to their source always seemed like the best thing to do from a quality standpoint, but it sure makes life easy when your receiver does all the video and audio switching for you. I'd love to hear some input on this.