STR-DA7100ES Setup, Upconversion & Benchmark Tests

VIDEO CONVERT: ON PROGRESSIVE OUT: ON

VIDEO CONVERT: ON PROGRESSIVE OUT: OFF

VIDEO CONVERT: OFF PROGRESSIVE OUT: OFF

In addition to providing 480p upconversion to all inputs except HDMI, the STR-DA7100ES can also provide basic picture adjustments including Brightness (black level), Color (saturation), and Hue (tint) controls. We really don't recommend using these controls as your display will more than likely offer them in finer adjustment increments.

There are a few objective ways to gauge video processor performance in an AV receiver. One is to compare direct output from a source component to a display with the same output upconverted by the receiver. A second method would be to utilize a third party tool like Silicon Optix' HQV Benchmark DVD and evaluate a 480i input signal which has been upconverted to 480p by the receiver. We did both methods of evaluation using a Denon DVD-5900 which has dual composite and s-video outputs. One set went directly to a Pioneer PDP-42A3HD plasma display, the other set went to the Sony STR-DA7100ES receiver to be upconverted and processed out of the HDMI outputs. Have a look at our findings:

We started with comparisons of composite video to get a worst-case-input, best-possible-output scenario. I desaturated the pictures so it is easier to focus solely on resolution...

Here we see composite video sent directly to the reference Pioneer plasma (left) vs. the Sony STR-DA7100ES'HDMI 480p upconverted and processed output.

While at first glance it appears the Sony has "cleaned up" the picture, what you are seeing is a subtle loss of resolution as the overall image is softened by the upconversion and deinterlacing process. I can't say that it was noticeable on real world moving video, but high resolution test patterns show the net result to be not unlike a gentle half-pixel Gaussian smoothing of the overall picture. On noisy images this may actually serve to improve picture quality.

Again we see s-video signal sent directly to the reference Pioneer plasma (left) vs. the Sony STR-DA7100ES' HDMI 480p upconverted and processed output.

Similar to the composite input, the s-video input is also softened a bit. The original picture detail and scaling artifacts induced by the Pioneer are almost perfectly preserved - just rendered softer than the direct signal

I had consistent problems getting component 480i (non-progressive video) out of the Denon DVD-5900 (our reference DVD player for this review) to show up via the Sony's HDMI outputs. In fact none of the DVD players I had on hand could have their component video outputs (properly configured to output video at 480i) get upconverted by the Sony receiver. This was regardless of the "Progressive Out" setting. There seemed to be an issue with getting the 480i outputs recognized by the video processing circuitry. Switching to any of the other (non-component) inputs resulted in a successful upconversion experience.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

Perfect Score is 130
Sony STR-DA7100ES Benchmark Score: 53 (room for improvement, but hey, this is a receiver!)

Test	Max Points	Component Results	Component PassFail
Color Bar	10	5	Pass
Jaggies #1	5	3	Pass
Jaggies #2	5	0	Fail
Flag	10	5	Pass
Detail	10	10	Pass
Noise	10	0	Fail
Motion adaptive Noise Reduction	10	0	Fail
Film Detail	10	10	Pass
Cadence 2:2 Video	5	5	Pass
Cadence 2:2:2:4 DV Cam	5	0	Fail
Cadence 2:3:3:2 DV Cam	5	0	Fail
Cadence 3:2:3:2:2 Vari-speed	5	0	Fail
Cadence 5:5 Animation	5	0	Fail
Cadence 6:4 Animation	5	0	Fail
Cadence 8:7 animation	5	0	Fail
Cadence 3:2 24fps film	5	5	Pass
Scrolling Horizontal	10	0	Fail
Scrolling Rolling	10	10	Pass
Total Points	130	53

Comments on HQV Testing

The fact that we're even running HQV on a receiver warrants notation. In this changing playing field of A/V components it's getting harder and harder to tell who's doing what. I mean, is it your DVD player, receiver, or display that's scaling that video? With so many redundancies it's getting easier and easier to get lazy and not take the time to see who does the best job at each task. For example, your DVD player may do a better job of deinterlacing than your display, but your display will be able to handle the subtle picture adjustments to tweak your final picture. And do you want to feed it 480i or 1080i? You see? There are lots of choices. With the Sony STR-DA7100ES scoring a 53, it would be my choice to ensure that it is not deinterlacing your video - but at the same time realize that this is a higher score than other receivers I've tested that sport video processing. Send it 480p and disable Progressive Out or pass through 480i and see if your display does a better job. Better yet - test all of your options and then make the call. Sound like a pain? It is - but it's worth it.