Choosing an AV Reciever: Analog Upscaling

[racketboy]

A few questions/concerns about those upscalling boxes - and I guess we'll focus on the X-RBG3...

Why aren't all the inputs on the back?
I'm concerned about audio switching -- especially since that link mentions possible humming
The inputs on the box seems kinda limited.
If you're feeding the output the receiver will is completely prevent any lag that the receiver and/or TV would pass on before reaching your eyes.

I dunno, for my setup, it doesn't seems like it would be a very good bang for the buck unless I can't find a receiver that upscales quick enough...

[SGGG2]

Racketboy, just because something upscales to 1080p doesn't mean it does it WELL. If the XRGB-3 doesn't float your boat check out the HD Box Pro. http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=20122

You'll need RGB SCART cable and SCART YUV adapter for any system that doesn't support VGA.

[Joe-dan]

I've got a much cheaper budget and came across the Onkyo HT-RC160
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=HT- ... ceiver&p=i


at Costco for a little under 300. It does video upscaling through HDMI and it seems to be the cheapest home theater receiver I've found that does. Question is, how well does it upscale? Does anyone have any knowledge on this one?

I've checked some reviews, but they generally focus on the sound aspect of it.

[Duane Dibbley]

Those things are beasts. I'm still using my grandparents' stereo receiver from the '80s. Sure, your 7.1 sounds is great, but wait until you hear STEREO!

[MerRocher]

The XRGB unit will only accept a Japanese region RGB cable and you could potentially destroy the RGB port by using a European cable, so be careful.

Would this mean you can't use PAL scart cables for something like a Japanese Sega Saturn either?

[MrPopo]

The XRGB unit will only accept a Japanese region RGB cable and you could potentially destroy the RGB port by using a European cable, so be careful.

Would this mean you can't use PAL scart cables for something like a Japanese Sega Saturn either?

That might be fine, actually. The thing about the Japanese RGB vs. European SCART is that they have a different final pinout. However, I'm pretty sure the connector that goes into the Saturn itself has the same pinout between both regions. I can't remember the name of the site, but there's a very good site that lists all kinds of pinouts for old consoles, so you might be able to see if there's a difference in that DIN connector between PAL and NTSC-J consoles.

[Inazuma]

The XRGB unit will only accept a Japanese region RGB cable and you could potentially destroy the RGB port by using a European cable, so be careful.

Would this mean you can't use PAL scart cables for something like a Japanese Sega Saturn either?

That might be fine, actually. The thing about the Japanese RGB vs. European SCART is that they have a different final pinout. However, I'm pretty sure the connector that goes into the Saturn itself has the same pinout between both regions. I can't remember the name of the site, but there's a very good site that lists all kinds of pinouts for old consoles, so you might be able to see if there's a difference in that DIN connector between PAL and NTSC-J consoles.

I use a Europe > Japan RGB region converter cable with my XRGB-3 and it works fine.

[Hobie-wan]

That might be fine, actually. The thing about the Japanese RGB vs. European SCART is that they have a different final pinout. However, I'm pretty sure the connector that goes into the Saturn itself has the same pinout between both regions. I can't remember the name of the site, but there's a very good site that lists all kinds of pinouts for old consoles, so you might be able to see if there's a difference in that DIN connector between PAL and NTSC-J consoles.

Pinout should be the same. Otherwise just changing the internal region jumpers wouldn't work for modding so many systems.

As far as the sites, I assume you meant either GamesX or Pinouts.ru.

[sneth]

yeah, that is very true. Not all upscaling is created equal.
I really didn't want to go with Pioneer for my secondary AV receiver, but I ended up going with the VSX 1019 because it had superior video scaling in it's price class.