CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[cwilson]

I'd appreciate advice on the best way to convert HDMI into component output in the following system.

I have a Denon AV receiver (too early for HDMI) with three component video inputs, driving an HD-Leeza video processor, which feeds an Electrohome 9500LC projector. My sources are DirecTV, Comcast (which may be discontinued soon), Toshiba HD-DVD player, and a new PS3 for Blu-ray playback. The sources are set to 1080i output, and the HD-Leeza processes all, including the TV signals, very nicely to 1080p. Up to this point I've fed a separate DVD player to the Leeza at 480i, and it does a great job of uncoverting and scaling to 1080p. However, that requires manually changing the input setting of the HD Leeza, which is a clunky process. So I'd like to use the upscaling capabilities of either the HD-DVD player or the PS3 player and output 1080i to the Leeza, so that the Leeza settings never have to change. As you all know, no DVD player is allowed to output upscaled SD via component; only HDMI allows that.

So my question is, first, what is my best option for converting the HDMI output of either the HD-DVD or PS3 Blu-ray player to component? I assume that it would be the HD-Fury plus either the TC1500 or Box1020, according to another thread. The resulting component output would be fed into one of the receiver's component inputs.

Second, how would the Blu-ray or HD-DVD output likely compare with what I would get from feeding the component outputs of those players directly into the receiver's component inputs? In other words, considering the expense, if the only advantage of doing so is the convenience of not having to switch the HD-Leeza input for SD DVD, it might not be worth it to me.

If Curt is listening, what is your policy regarding return of your products if the results turn out to be not as good as I hoped for?

[Person99]

In your setup, you definitely don't want to convert to component. If possible, don't send the video through the AVR, send it all right to the Leeza. Send digital (hdmi) when possible. In what you are envisioning, you are killing the signal!

Put everything in DVI-D to the leeza. If the two inputs are not enough, get an HDMI switch to put before the Leeza. Take the digital out of the leeza and put it through any of the DVI or HDMI to RGBHV converters, then to the PJ. That is your best possible way to do it.

Another option is to use an HDMI stripper before the leeza (such as moome's MUX-HD). the disadvantage of this is unless you buy more than one, you'll have to go through a switcher before the mux and leeza and only end up using 1 input on the leeza which gives you less memory block functionality.

[cwilson]

Dave, it's great that you are familiar with the Leeza, which is a fabulous unit except for its clunky interface. So help me figure out how to hook things up. The MUX-HD as described on Curt's web site has four HDMI inputs, and outputs that include DVI and Toslink. So I don't understand why I would need a switcher - seems like the MUX-HD already has that unless I'm missing something. So I guess I would hook the DirecTV DVR, PS3, and HD-DVD HDMI outputs into the MUX-HD, connect a MUX-HD Toslink output into the receiver, send the MUX-HD's DVI output to the Leeza, and do the input switching with the MUX-HD remote rather than the receiver's.

Before I invest the $285 in the Moome unit, it would be nice if I could confirm that I'll get a better picture than I get now by feeding the Leeza with component signals. I seem to remember that a cable came with the Leeza that allows you to hook HDMI directly to the Leeza's DVI input but I could be wrong. Do you know about that?

[Person99]