Ask S&V

Gary W. Meck

The type of system you're talking about is called tiled video, and it's often used in commercial settings, but it's very uncommon in the home. Runco makes such a system called the WindowWall (profiled here), which starts at $20,000 for a 2x2 system.

It's possible to put something like this together on your own, but I sure wouldn't want to attempt it. First, you need flat panels with very thin bezels, much thinner than most TVs provide. Then, you need to precisely align them and drive them individually or in concert with a specialized computer-graphics card, but I don't know how you would route video sources through the computer, which would have to upscale an image you wanted to spread across all four screens. I do know that I would not want to watch a movie or TV show displayed that way, because no matter how thin the bezels are, they would still be entirely visible and very distracting.

Leo's system was custom-built by his engineer for multi-line Skype conferencing; he calls it the Skypeasaurus.

Downgrading HDMI
I am planning to upgrade to a new A/V receiver, but my current TV does not support HDMI; it has only one HD component input, so I want a receiver that can be used as a switcher. My sources include a satellite receiver, HD DVD player, and DVD player. Is there anything out there that can convert HDMI to component? I also want to buy a Blu-ray player, so I want lots of inputs.

Rick Packard

There are virtually no A/V receivers that can convert HDMI to component video because of copy-protection issues. The only exceptions I know of are the Sony STR-DA4600ES and DA5600ES, which convert HDMI to 1080i component for a remote room; the signal is sent via CAT5 and converted to component video at the far end. However, these AVRs can't downconvert HDMI to 1080i component in the main room. I suppose you could use the CAT5 output in the main room.

Otherwise, I recommend using component connections from your sources until you get a TV with HDMI inputs. Also, I recommend using your HD DVD player for standard-def DVDs as well, which would eliminate one source from your system. In general, HD DVD players are great upconverting DVD players as well.

Update: It turns out that Sony misinformed me about the capabilities of the STR-DA4600ES and DA5600ES. They cannot send an HDMI source to the remote zone; they can only send HD from a component source to the remote zone.

Upconversion Conundrum
Is it possible to upconvert 480i programming from DirecTV to 1080p using an A/V receiver if you are already using an HD satellite receiver? I have an Onkyo TX-SR608 AVR and Samsung LCD TV.

Patricia Deutsch

There are several opportunities to upconvert 480i to 1080p—in your system, it can be done in the AVR or TV. Also, the DirecTV HD receiver can undoubtedly upconvert 480i content to 1080i from its component output and perhaps to 1080p via HDMI, which would require it to deinterlace high-def 1080i since there is no broadcast content at 1080p.

The real question is which device does the best job of upconversion? To determine this, first set the DirecTV receiver to output 1080p via HDMI (if it has this capability) and look at a channel that broadcasts 480i. Next, set the DirecTV receiver to output 480i (which might require a composite, S-video, or component connection to the AVR), and let the AVR do the upconversion. Finally, set the DirecTV receiver to output 480i, set the AVR to bypass its upconversion, and let the TV do it. Which way looks best? Our tests indicate that the Onkyo TX-SR608 does a very good job at this with film-sourced content, but not with video-sourced material.

If the DirecTV receiver's maximum resolution is 1080i, I would set it to output whatever resolution it gets from each channel and determine if the AVR or TV does a better job upconverting. The goal here is to minimize the amount of video processing, so I would not want the satellite receiver to upconvert 480i to 1080i and then have another device deinterlace it to 1080p—I would prefer to have one device do the upconversion and deinterlacing.

If you have a home-theater question, please send it to scott.wilkinson@sorc.com.