Harman Kardon AVR 247 and non-HD resolutions

[capran]

I've had the AVR 247 for a few months now, and I use it in conjunction with a 32" Olevia HDTV (720p/1080i) and a home theatre PC as well as game consoles.

I've noticed that the AVR 247 will not pass through video signals from the PC connected by HDMI if the video signal is anything but 720p or 1080i. This is a problem because 1) the screen's native resolution is 1360x768, so text at 1280x720 isn't sharp. 2) When starting up, a PC's BIOS and Windows initial screens are not in 720p/1080i and there's no way to change them, so the display is dark until Windows boots up completely.

Also, video from my PS2 and Wii connected via component does not fill the screen, even when "widescreen" is selected. I have to use the TV's scale function which is unsatisfactory because the only zoom mode that'll put the image on fullscreen crops parts of the image off.

Is there a firmware upgrade available or in the works for the AVR 247 that addresses these concerns? Or if not, is there any way to configure the unit so it does what I want?

[lcaillo]

There is nothing on the HK site about any software upgrades at this time.

[capran]

I did some digging, and there is a hidden product update:

http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...ENG&Region=USA

Although it doesn't specifically say it's improved on my complaints, just

This software upgrade adds the following features not previously available, along with improved HDMI™ connectivity:

* The ability to process 7.1 PCM digital audio streams sent to your AVR over an HDMI connection. This makes your AVR compatible with the latest high-resolution disc players.
* The switching of 1080/24p signals directly from a source to the video display connected to your AVR.
* The display of closed-caption information from analog sources via the S-video outputs.


But I don't have a serial cable at the moment. I might go get one though.

Update:

I got a serial cable. Those are hard to come by nowadays. I wished HK used USB instead.

The flash went smoothly. But the only "improvement" I see is I can now do resolutions like 800x600 and 1360x768, however, for some reason the HK upscales them to 1080i. This looks ugly on my Olevia since it's interlaced (flickers.) And now there's an "Invalid Format" message on my screen when I tried rebooting the computer instead of just black and flashes until Windows comes up. Oh well. Maybe they'll get it right next time.

Update 2:

Wow...I figured it out!

My new XBOX 360 has HDMI, but I hadn't been able to get any video from it and had been using component. I decided to try connecting to the TV directly, and I get that "Invalid Format" message.

Turns out my TV needed a firmware update too. I got that from Olevia, stuck it on a USB thumb drive (why can't HK do that too!?!), et voila! The 360 works now, and I can now view all kinds of computer resolutions, including the BIOS and initial boot screens! But the HK still upscales everything to 1080i that isn't 720p. But this is much better!

So here's to hoping the next HK firmware gets the 1360x768 --> 720p instead of 1080i right. :P