Why would you run video through a processor?

On screen menu's, internal HQ video scaler, convenience, ease of wires in walls, no noted signal degration....do I need to go on?
I am a purist and run direct wires but I can see why some circumstances other options would be better.

trick is to bypass the processor if you have better chips in your players or your display

biggest problem i have found with the in-processor chips is that they are global - one size fits all meaning that all of your sources are processed identically - obviously BluRay and DirectTV don't have the same needs.

Beyond that I totally agree with the other posters. Its just a lot more elegant way to cable your system. Run everything to the processor then one cable to the display. Can be a biggie if you have a long run from the sources to something like a ceiling mount projector.

Depends what kind of processor you are talking about... if you mean a HT processor, then maybe not... or maybe... depending on how good the chip is in the processor versus the source.

If you mean a video processor, then the answer is that it will most likely improve pretty much every signal you through at it (much better technology than what you will have in most sources or TV/projectors). I'm using my DVDO VP30 for all my processing (digital TV, DVD, HD recorder etc.) plus HDMI switching and extracting the digital signal as coaxial to my PRE/PRO. The improvement is obvious to anyone!

You guys are missing the point.

IF you don't run HDMI through your processor you will never get the uncompressed codec of DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, and if you haven't heard them, then you just simply don't know what your missing.

Kenny is correct. In addition you only have to use one input on your TV. Which means one long cable run, you never have to change inputs on the TV(change inputs on processor and TV displays source)It makes the system much easier to use especially for wives.