Is their a "hack" or some other known way to change the display of the 1050? Meaning, could I change the Video01 readout to instead say VCR? If yes, how. . . if not, why not?

Why is their a second power button on the back of the unit? I have always unplugged my equipment when working on it in the past, is throwing this switch the same thing?

Has anyone connected a phonograph/record player . . . whatever you want to call it, to the 1050? I know I need to get a phono pre-amp. What pre-amp have other used? I have a Linn Sondek LP-12.

When using the 1050 while just watching plain old TV, what settings do you use? I have the TV connected to VID2.

Give me at least through the weekend to come up with even more questions. lol

Larry

Rubs hands together and pops knuckles...

1) No hack, the input names are not editable. Why not? I'm not sure, but I suspect that it's an unconscious hold-over from the not-too-distant days of buttons and little led's under silk-screened input names on the face of a receiver. The 950 also lacks editable input names. I suspect (hope) that the 950's planned big brother allows editable names when it arrives (in a year or two, probably).

2) I have never heard an "official" explanation for why it's there. My understanding, though, is that it is there in part because the green power button on the front is technically a power on/standby button, not a power on/off. If something were to go wrong (say a processor inside locked up) and the on/standby button wouldn't respond, you could use that switch to shut it down and restart it without unplugging it. Same reason that the Model 950 has a switch like that, and the reason that your ATX computer has a switch on the back of the power supply (unlike old AT power supplies, which typically didn't have switches on them).

3) I haven't used a turntable, so I haven't hunted around seriously for a phono pre-amp. If you have an old receiver with a phono input, you could use that as a phono pre-amp. With a nice turntable, though (like a Linn), it's probably worthwhile to go ahead and get a decent phono preamp. Audio Advisor has a decent selection of them. Creek and Parasound make some decent ones. I'll leave it to others to offer some actual first-hand experience...

4) I had my VCR on Video1 when I had my 1050, and I think the cable box was on Video2. I usually watched TV in stereo mode, although I also used Pro Logic and Natural mode a little.

Any other questions?

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

See, aren't you glad I got a 1050? lol

Yes, another question. In your reply to Q4 you said:

"I usually watched TV in stereo mode, although I also used Pro Logic and Natural mode a little."

Which connection did you have the TV connected to and what cables did you use? I am using RCA analog cables in VID02.

My PDO cable should be at my house for my DVD player! My Pioneer CD changer only has the analog RCA plugs on the back. Maybe one of these days I will upgrade it. lol Or I can probably just use my DVD player for single CD's.

I need to get cracking on my Pronto programming. Last night it was a pain in the neck playing with 3 remotes just to watch something I recorded onto tape. lol

Heading home in a few. . .

Thanks.

Larry

[This message has been edited by LarryTT (edited December 19, 2002).]

I use my TV purely as a monitor -- the only thing hooked to it currently is the S-Video monitor out from the 950 to the S-Video in on the TV. My digital cable box was connected to Video2 (I think, it's been a few months) with analog audio and S-Video.

(Side note: I bought an S-VHS VCR back in college because my dad has an S-VHS camera, so my entire system uses S-Video for the video signals -- DVD, VCR, digital cable, and even the Dreamcast. If my VCR had not had the S-Video output, I would have had to do things somewhat differently.)

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Maybe tomorrow I will grab Visio and install it here at work, but for now this is how I am configured:

Cable --> VCR --> TV (all using RG6 Coax)
VCR --> 1050 (RCA VID01)
DVD --> 1050 (RCA DVD01, until tonight, then PDO OPT01)
TV --> 1050 (RCA VID02)

Are you saying I should take my extra S-Video cable and connect the 1050 to the TV in this way?

Ok, now I have confused myself and need to take a look at the back of the 1050 again! lol Are their COAX connections for me to connect my cable and in January DirecTV to the 1050? Damn this new stuff is confusing the hell out of me! lol

Heading home now, will be back after 8pm EST . . .

Larry

Oop... We are talking about different things. Let's see if we can clarify this a bit.

I send both audio and video through my 950 (and previously my 1050), whereas you are not using the video switching currently. There's nothing wrong with that -- in fact, the simpler the signal path, the better. An RG6 "coax" cable (the cable that comes out of the wall and is used between satellite dishes and satellite set-top boxes) should not be connected to the 1050 -- your receiver does not have an input that supports it.

My arrangement (substituting a 1050 for the 950 that I currently have, as otherwise it's basically the same):

AUDIO:

• VCR to 1050 with analog audio
• 1050 to VCR with analog audio (for recording)
• cable to 1050 with analog audio
• cable to 1050 with coaxial digital audio (almost never use, since most of the channels don't include a digital audio signal, but the cable's there for when/if I want to use it)
• CD player to 1050 with optical digital cable
• DVD player to 1050 with optical digital cable
• DVD player to 1050 with (6) analog audio cables for DVD-Audio playback only since the DVD-Audio signal has to be decoded inside the player

VIDEO (which you aren't doing currently and don't need to do):

• VCR to 1050 with S-Video
• 1050 to VCR with S-Video
• digital cable box to 1050 with S-Video
• DVD player to 1050 with S-Video
• 1050 to TV with S-Video (1050 switches between the different video sources depending on which input is selected and passes the active source along to the TV set, so all I ever do is just turn the TV on and off)

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Ok, I left some stuff out of my setup . . .

AUDIO:

VCR to 1050 with analog audio
1050 to VCR with analog audio (for recording) <-- I don't have this ..yet. lol
CD player to 1050 with analog cable
DVD player to 1050 with optical digital cable

VIDEO:

VCR to TV with COAX
DVD player to TV with Component Video

I plan on getting DirecTivo in January and will toss that monkey wrench into the equation. lol

Since you have a digital set top box for your cable you have a totally different type of setup and different cable options than I do. I just have the COAX coming in from the wall into the VCR, then have a COAX going to the TV.

My DVD will now be about as good as I can get it with Component Video and Digital Audio, right?

When I get DirecTV the best it offers is S-Video I believe, or maybe just composite, not 100% certain. But either way, with that I should be able to run it through the 1050, right? My Cable TV will be going away so COAX other than from the DirecTV receiver is out of the picture I think.

Gotta go eat dinner . . .

Larry

You've got your DVD player set up in the "ideal" manner -- digital audio to a DD/DTS receiver and component video to the TV. When you get DirecTV, you will have composite and possible S-Video. Since either way, it will be the only video source in that format, you may as well go directly to your TV set -- the only reason to route the video through the 1050 is if you have multiple sources that use the same format (several composite video sources, for example) so that you can use a single input on the TV for all of the sources.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Thanks Gonk, that's what I figured.

I am VERY impressed with the PDO cable as well as the very nice bag it came in.

I connected the PDO and am blown away! Big difference between the Surround setting and the DD 5.1!

Larry