help with onkyo 605 and inputs and secret menu

[maxmcleod]

okay a few things, I can't access this "secret menu" i keep hearing everyone talk about
i did the whole hold AUX and press/hold Power... nothing happens...

do you do it in the menu, or outside of the menu...

okay im trying to hook my wii up through component, but its not showing up right... its going to my TV as standard 4:3 format... i would like to send it 720p and keep the widescreen aspect within the wii....

is this possible, and how do I do it...
also im not getting audio from the wii... which input do i put the analog inputs from the WII into? I have the wii on the game input by the way...

any ideas?

[un4gvn94538]

have you checked here?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=854964

[NMErickson]

I know the secret menu is there, Ive accessed it, but didnt notice anything too important in there. I've browsed that AVS forum a few times. Its real helpful but you really got to dig for info (its 303 pages now!). I would like to hook up my XBox 1 to it because currently I have it plugged in to my TV. The picture is slightly stretched and blurry. Plus the audio is obviously just coming out my TV's speakers. No good. I dont know if I were to get running to my 605 if it could upscale the picture but it sounds like we have the situation here, just a different console. As far as my 360, I have an optical going to my GAME/TV input but I dont know if the wii is capable of that.

[maxmcleod]

well the secret menu has a 720p option for lower sources, and since the wii is 480p would be nice to bump it a little
the problem right now is that the wii is sending a widescreen 16x9 picture to the reciever, and the reciever is squishing that into a standard 4x3 aspect and pushing that through hdmi to my TV... that sucks.. haha

The wii only offers that simple old left and right RCA analog audio, and I plugged the component from the wii into the game spot, but couldn't find where to plug the audio for game spot.. maybe i overlooked it...

And yes, i've tried sifting through the boards, all over, but can't find a straight explaination, i only get, "hey i have this problem with the wii", oh did you try this, "no didn't think of that, but i tried (random act of strangeness) and now everythign seems good" thanks!
so basically no clear setup strategy for the wii... at least not that I can find... so im hoping someone else has done it and can just give me the lowdown on the settings...

[maxmcleod]

Originally Posted by from another forum

know this has been explained many times before in various places, but once again, here is a brief explanation of the way "widescreen" works with 480i/480p signals...

Unlike 720p and 1080i signals, which are widescreen by nature, 480i and 480p signals are not inherently widescreen. To output a widescreen signal in these resolutions, source devices send out an image which uses non-square pixels. In such images, the pixels are taller than they are wide, i.e. "squeezed" horizontally. If viewed exactly "as-is", everything will appear "too skinny" or "too tall". This is known as an "anamorphic" video signal.

Since they're analog signals, they don't have a formally defined horizontal resolution, but it's enough to note that the resolution does not change, regardless of whether the source device is sending out a non-anamorphic (with roughly square pixels) or an anamorphic (with "skinny" pixels) image. The amount of resolution is fixed.

If a device always sends out an anamorphic signal when configured for 16x9 mode, then it's a trivial matter to set the widescreen TV to its anamorphic mode ("Fill" or "Full") and leave it alone. However, many devices selectively send out an anamorphic signal, i.e. change what they are sending based on source material. In some cases, the devices are able to signal at power-on that they are broadcasting anamorphic content, causing the TV to automatically switch to anamorphic mode. However, some devices, such as the Wii, selectively send out an anamorphic or non-anamorphic image without any additional signalling. As such, the user must *manually* change the TV between 4x3 and 16x9 modes if all content is to be watched in its original aspect ratio.

This leads to these combinations:

1) TV is in 4x3 mode and Wii is broadcasting non-anamorphic content. Image has correct aspect ratio, and black bars (or grey bars) on the sides (generated by the TV).
2) TV is in 16x9 mode, and Wii is broadcasting anamorphic content. Image has correct aspect ratio, and fills the entire screen.
3) TV is in 4x3 mode, and Wii is broadcasting anamorphic content. Image appears too skinny, or horizontally compressed.
4) TV is in 16x9 mode, and Wii is broadcasting non-anamorphic content. Image appears too fat, or horizontally stretched.

If Nintendo were wise, they would make the Wii always output an anamorphic signal when configured for 16x9, i.e. squeeze even the 4x3 content. This would make it painless for users to leave their TVs in 16x9 mode, but... alas.

Okay some more digging finally unearthed this... which sucks for Wii, which means I will be running the wii to the TV and outputting the sound from the TV to the reciever... lame! but oh well... Then I can at least use the extra optical cable i have laying around

[NMErickson]

Originally Posted by maxmcleod

And yes, i've tried sifting through the boards, all over, but can't find a straight explaination, i only get, "hey i have this problem with the wii", oh did you try this, "no didn't think of that, but i tried (random act of strangeness) and now everythign seems good" thanks!

lol

I just remembered. I actually did plug in my Xbox1 to the Onkyo (via composite, all there is) and then ran it to the TV. The picture actually looked worse then straight to the TV so I dont know if it's any good anyways, beside the sound coming out my surround speakers. Maybe if I just try to change TV aspect before I start a game so it's not to stretched? All I can think of.

[un4gvn94538]

thats too bad about thier thread. thier 705 thread is more layed out like it should. it even talks about hooking up a ps3 to a 705. maybe there are things you can take from the 705 thread and apply to the 605 like the menu access.

[maxmcleod]

well from the way it sounds, its not going to work the way i wished through the 605 for the wii, which isn't that bad, I mean i have unused ports in the TV, and have the TV sound going to the 605 anyway through optical, so I will just have the TV change the 605 to TV/optical when I play the wii, and then I can keep my aspect ratio...
Nintendo really should have just went all out with correctly configured component or HDMI and true widescreen and all this could have been avoided... and at least a toslink from the back of the wii... i mean really stereo sound? haha oh well
still a fun system

[NMErickson]

Originally Posted by maxmcleod

...and have the TV sound going to the 605 anyway through optical, so I will just have the TV change the 605 to TV/optical when I play the wii...
still a fun system

Oh will you please tell me how you did this. I tried and tried and no dice. I have a beautiful Monster M-Series optical cable for this and I had it going from my TV to one of the receiver's inputs but no matter what, I couldnt get any sound coming out. Does the cable connection matter? I have digital cable running into my TV but I do not currently have a cable box. I will be getting one later when I move though. So I'd like to know for the future too.