Can HDMI and Composite sources be combined through an A/V Receiver?

The Short Version:

Can I input Composite sources to an A/V Receiver and output the video signal through the HDMI out to the TV?




The Long Version:
I have a 50" Sony Flatscreen SXRD TV. It has at least two of each standard kind of input. It has one Analog audio out. (Red/White) and one digital audio out. (Optical). I have the HD/Digital Cable box from Comcast with Composite outputs. I have a DVD player with all current output standards as well. I have a reciever with several inputs and one output for each audio/video connection standard.

If I connect my Cable Box to the Receiver with Composite Cables, can I use the HDMI-Out to view the picture, or must the video signals be sent out through the same standard they are brought in with?

Currently, when I attempt to do this I get sound through the reciever and no picture. I understand that they are different signals, but I do not know if they are converted (or at least converted upward) by the receiver.

My options appear to be:

a) My HDMI Cable is faulty, the HDMI-Out on your receiver should be displaying to your television from composite and analog sources.

or

b) I'm an idiot, and everyone but me knows you can't mix HDMI, Composite, and single-analog video signals. The video signals are not truly being processed by the reciever, they are simply providing a junction point for all your cables.


Any insight would be appreciated.

It depends on the receiver. If you have Sony's new $1500 receiver... yeah you can output any source through HDMI. However, cheaper receivers don't really have this feature because their hardware and scaling software isn't as good.

You can mix the signals, your not an idiot. Although it will cost you a pretty penny to get that every so awesome receiver that can accept all inputs and upscale them & output via HDMI...

your receiver brand / model would be of help...

^^

It depends on the reciever.

My receiver is the Sony HT-7000DH.

It says in the manual I can "reassign inputs", but so far fiddling with that has not produced any results. (I get sound, but no picture.)

If you have some familiarity with this unit or can get an answer simply from the specs.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...Name=&ProductSKU=HT7000DH&TabName=specs&var2=

Thanks.

Looks like what I'm going to do instead is connect everything to the TV and then output it all to the receiver on the TV's optical output.

Is there any reason why this would result in reduced sound quality?

If you connect everything to the TV, any audio that is ouput from the the TV will be in stereo most likely, even over the digital output. That is how most TVs work.

Your best bet would be to connect the various components video to the TV directly and the audio to the receiver. From what I can see, the receiver does not do conversion between inputs. You could also connect everything to the recevier, and use the various video outputs (composite, component, HDMI) to the monitor.

G3157 said:

My receiver is the Sony HT-7000DH.
It says in the manual I can "reassign inputs", but so far fiddling with that has not produced any results. (I get sound, but no picture.)
Thanks.

Click to expand...

Reassign may not (and probably does not) mean (up)convert. It likely is ability of the AVR to assign some (or all) inputs in the back to a chosen source selector. IE you have say 2 optical audio inputs and you could have them assigned to a CD and DVD, similarly you could assign them to CD and TV etc. The upconversion, especially to HDMI, is not a simple re-assignment and will be the feature of the more expensive units (still today). From the specs it does not look like this particular AVR incorporates such circuitry.