A few questions about the STP-HD200

[walter scott]

1. Are there any restrictions in available resolutions when using the component output? (My older Plasma screen does not have HDMI)

2. Assuming a video file has 5.1 AC3 audio and I am using the TOSLINK optical out to my a/v receiver, will I get full 5.1 AC3? (The manual is a bit unclear on this)

3. When playing music is there a way to have the STP-HD200 play playlists? Or is there a way to have it play music in random mode?

[Clift]

1. Are there any restrictions in available resolutions when using the component output? (My older Plasma screen does not have HDMI)

No there are no restrictions. You can select any resolution all the way up to 1080P.

2. Assuming a video file has 5.1 AC3 audio and I am using the TOSLINK optical out to my a/v receiver, will I get full 5.1 AC3? (The manual is a bit unclear on this)

You will get downmixed 2 channel stereo from the coax stereo outputs AND 5.1 channel through the TOSLINK/Optical/SPDIF connection. So if you want to watch on the TV you can do that, or you can watch through your receiver, or both I suppose though I don't know why you'd want to do that

3. When playing music is there a way to have the STP-HD200 play playlists? Or is there a way to have it play music in random mode?

I have not played music through the HD200. Is this in extender mode or stand alone (I assume extender, given the forum it's in)? For extender mode, the HD200 behaves pretty much like SageTV for the PC, so you can refer to the SageTV manual here (http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_Manual.pdf).

Just for reference, page 76 has the following:

"Note: SageTV can import and play MPEG-1 Layer I/II/III (MP3), WAV, PCM, WMA (WMA Lossless is only supported on Windows), AC3, Ogg/Vorbis, FLAC, and AAC formats. In addition, the following file types can be imported as Playlists: .m3u, .asx, .wax, .wvx, and .wpl."

[walter scott]

A fast and complete answer! And people wonder why i swear by Sage! Thank You!