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I mentioned something like this before. I just picked up the samsung 50" plasma 550. I've noticed that it displays resolution of the incoming signal. I have the Onkyo 606, it is supposed to be able to upconvert any incoming signal to 1080i. So, if I have known 480p signal coming into Onkyo, should the outgoing signal be displayed on the tv as 1080i?

I would think so, yes. If it were me, and I was still seeing 480p as the incoming signal to the TV, I would look for some setting on the Onkyo which tells it which resolution to output. The Onkyo may be set to just pass through whatever resolution is is receiving. I don't know if there is such a setting, but I would check to see if there is one.

I'm currently download the 606's manual to see if I can find anything definitive, but the download is so slow I thought I would go ahead and post this. If I find anything helpful, I'll let you know.

Check the Onkyo 806 review on Theater Secrets, i think it said they won't upconvert any signal over HDMI - secret drawback. Would that explain your situation?

There is the option to change the out put over the HDMI. I've tried several different ways, currently have it set at 1080i output.

In regards to this, all information I found before purchasing the 606, even on Onkyo's website said that it would take any input and upconvert to 1080i. It appears that this is not the case. In the manual that came with the 606 it stated that it would upconvert all inputs except HDMI. I have component cables I guess I need to give them a shot. I know that with my old native 1080i tv I could not tell any diff. If it still shows up on my plasma as 480p should I assume that the Onkyo is not doing it's job.

Yeah, right from Onkyo's product page for the 606:



I'll look at the manual, too. It seems like it should be able to do it.

But isn't it possible, either way, that the TVs scaler might be as good as the Onkyo and therefore all this is moot?

I mean, I know that many TVs don't have great scalers, but the Onkyo is not exactly a top-of-the-line receiver either...

The manual didn't help me a lot. My impression is that if the output resolution is set to 1080i, the 606 should be able to convert 480p to 1080i, like you're suggesting. That sounds like the only setting required, but that's obviously not the case. I would contact Onkyo to clarify at this point.

Good point. I know I didn't like how my Integra DTC-9.8 was converting the Wii's 480p component signal to 1080p via HDMI, so I routed the Wii's video directly to the TV for an improved picture.

I did some playing around. If I use component cables it will show up on the tv as 1080i from a known 480 source, however the picture looked like crap and had artifacts at top edge of picture. The Hd channels looked amazing, at least looked good. I am going to try taking HDMI straight from cable box to tv and see what kind of picture I get. The only real reason for the receiver is for the audio. Since the audio will be better from dvd source I will use Hdmi cable for that and set my output as through for the video.

audiodreamer, is it possible that you have your "Monitor Out" setting on your Onkyo to "Analog"? - in which case it won't accept HDMI for upconversion. Just a guess, but I can tell you with certainty that my 876 upconverts anything I feed it via HDMI.

I currently have the HDMI going straight to tv and HD still looks great. However non hd is neither better or worse. Basketball games, motorcross, anything with a lot of motion is degraded, either through the tv or the receiver. This is of course non hd. There is a chart in the back of my onkyo manual that shows inputs/outputs for all resolutions. If I use HDMI in the upscaler on the receiver does not affect it.

Suppose that a 480 dvd is better than 480 broadcast. If I had a poor cable signal as far as the 480 goes would this cause the outgoing upconversion to be worse even if showing to be in 1080i?

If I was to change the output on the receiver to 720p, I wander if I would get a better picture (one without overscanning (this is what I was told happens if you set the plasma to just scan))

I really don't know if anything can save 480 broadcast.

The 876 is different, it does upconvert over the HDMI signal. I'll go find the article, I don't want to mislead you if I just misread the review, but I thought this was the case that the 806 would pass on the original over HDMI but not upconvert it. I'll get back to everyone with the review I'm thinking of.

!EDIT!: My apologies to everyone. I was confused. I had been considering the Onkyo and read a bunch of reviewes and confused them. It was actually the Denon that had this problem. No HDMI upscale
The problem with the Onkyo 806 only the issue of no pure pass-through over HDMI. Onkyo 806 HDMI pass-through
Sorry for the confusion.