Using AV receiver to process video

[swiego]

So, my home theater has at its heart an Onkyo TX-NR3008 AV receiver. This has a full HQV Reon video processor implementation. Suffice it to say, it makes SD content look very, very good. In fact, I recently hooked up my AG1980 to it and sent it some VHS SD and what showed up on the screen was stable, noise-free and sharpened with a level of quality I've never been able to match with post-capture processing on the PC.

It got me thinking, has anyone looked into capturing SD content processed through a modern, top-tier video processor?

[yoda313]

As long as it has video and audio outputs that your capture device can use there is no reason you can't test it yourself.

However it may be that its a combination of the receiver and your tv. When you get it on your computer it may not benefit from the combination of the two. It could be overly sharpened or softened compared to getting the original signal from the ag1980.

I actually have a ag1970 and have done captures at 13mb/s to my hauppauge hdpvr to h264. They have been outstanding via svideo. I play them back on my wdtv media player over composite (don't have a spare hdmi cable yet) and it looks very very good (the original h264 file).

So I'd say if you have a device that can capture the output from your a/v deck give it a try. THough you may end up needing to do something crazy like a blackmagic card to capture hdmi (that would require a raid setup) to enjoy the full output from your a/v. Though if you have component outputs from your receiver you might be able to do that. I don't know if composite out would gain you any benefit versus a straight capture from the ag1980 itself.

Test the various capture devices you have and the various outputs from the a/v unit and judge for yourself.

[swiego]

I did a test and let's just say it didn't work out so well. Bad idea - lots of artifacting.