1080p receiver with 4k TV for older consoles

[mrwasi]

Hi All,

I'm moving and will have a new setup in the basement.
I would like to keep my Onkyo AVR because of the 7.1 surround but more importantly the s-video / VGA / Component inputs.

The AVR is 1080p. I'll be upgrading my old 1080p 3d Samsung tv to a 4k OLED. Will this setup still work for displaying on the 4k? Consoles will be PS2, OG Xbox, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360.

I would also like to use the AVR for surround with my 4k blu ray player (connected through HDMI ARC I'm assuming).

Will this be a suitable setup? Or will it be a horrible muddy mess of a display on screen? Upgrading the TV because the basement will also be a movie room in addition to gaming.

P.S. I have a RetroTink 2x for my S-video systems (N64, PSX).

[Guspaz]

Your AVR is probably poorly suited for handling 240p/480i retro gaming consoles. You'll probably get much better results with a dedicated retro gaming scaler. The same was true on the 1080p TV, though.

You can use your existing AVR for just sound using eARC, but be aware that some TVs may block certain codecs from passthrough (LG's OLEDs were notorious for blocking DTS, though I think they changed that in later models) and that eARC adds additional audio latency.

[mrwasi]

Your AVR is probably poorly suited for handling 240p/480i retro gaming consoles. You'll probably get much better results with a dedicated retro gaming scaler. The same was true on the 1080p TV, though.

You can use your existing AVR for just sound using eARC, but be aware that some TVs may block certain codecs from passthrough (LG's OLEDs were notorious for blocking DTS, though I think they changed that in later models) and that eARC adds additional audio latency.

Booerns,

The Onkyo did a surprisingly great job processing the PS2 / Xbox / Wii on my 1080p tv. I was hoping (wishfully thinking) it would carry over to the 4k tv. I have a great switch box (Pelican) that has several composite/component/svideo ports. Can I attach a switch box to a gaming scaler since they lack ports? Also what's an affordable scaler for PS2/3/XBOX/360. I think my retoTink will be able to handle my s-video systems?

[Guspaz]

PS3/360 don't need scalers, they're HDMI consoles. Just connect them to your TV or HDMI switch.

PS2/xbox, they need good motion adaptive deinterlacing. For a retro scaler, that's a RetroTINK 5X or OSSC Pro. If you've modded them to output 480p in most games then this may be a lower priority. Your AVR may do a decent job at deinterlacing them (or just digitize it as interlaced and let the TV deinterlace it). Modern TV deinterlacers produce good results with 480i content, but they'll add some extra latency while doing so. If you're getting good deinterlacing from your current AVR approach and you're happy with the latency as it stands, then keep doing what you're doing.

240p era stuff, the RetroTINK 2X will do a decent job, but you're not going to get terribly sharp results using that with multiple scaling steps (at the very least 240p to 480p, and then 480p to 2160p). But it'll do it fast if you connect the RT2X directly to your TV.

I'd recommend an RT5X or OSSC Pro (or RT4K if you can afford it), but honestly the first thing I'd do is just hook up what you have and see how it looks, and then decide if there are any areas you feel need improvement.

[mrwasi]

Thanks!

[Konsolkongen]

You can use your existing AVR for just sound using eARC, but be aware that some TVs may block certain codecs from passthrough (LG's OLEDs were notorious for blocking DTS, though I think they changed that in later models) and that eARC adds additional audio latency.

If the AVR is old then it probably doesn't support eARC, but only ARC which won't do above DD/DTS.

As for eARC lag, I haven't been able to measure any on my setup when running my PS5 through LG C2 to my Yamaha AVR. Only when using Atmos, it adds a bit 8 or 16ms, can't remember