I have a Panasonic 50" Widescreen HDTV. It has several connection in, including the new HDMI(1X) but no DVI. I currently have my new DVD-HD hooked up to the TV via HDMI. I just ordered HD from Time Warner today. I live in Plano, which has dual band cable inlets, one cable for lower channels, one for higher. I suppose its an older technology. Anywhoo, they didnt have a HD DVR reciever with HDMI out, but it does have component and DVI out. I have that reciever hooked up to my TV via component right now. From what I was told, component isnt true HD. So my question is, what should I do here. Keep the DVD player HDMI, or get a DVI to HDMI cable and put my HD DVR reciever going HDMI, thus making the DVD player component. Suggestions greatly appreciated!
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HD questions
- Thread starter mokkapoop
- Start date
what? where'd you hear using component isn't true HD? you can get 720p with component inputs.. i ran my comcast box through component and it looked amazing.. however; it does look a bit better if you use a DVI connection... i live in garland actually; and just got switched from comcast to time warner.. =P
falconman515
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2006
- Messages
- 146
If you watch more tv than you do your dvd player run your HD cable through the DVI.
I used to install cable for charter cable and satellite for dish network if you have any questions pm me i'll be glad to help!
I used to install cable for charter cable and satellite for dish network if you have any questions pm me i'll be glad to help!
mokkapoop said:
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!
Look at it this way.....to get the full HD-DVD signal you NEED an HDMI port, you just do.....because of the HDCP and all that fun/stupid shit. You just do.
As for your TV, just use some good component cables, depending on how far your going and under what conditions your running....but you will probably need something sheilded. Other then that you will be fine and here is why.....for HDtv you DO NOT NEED HDMI/DVI because there is nothing on tv right now that i can think of that does 1080p which is the only signal you would be missing....AND YOUR TV CAN'T DO IT ANYWAY!
So to recap....your tv can only do 720p, componant can only do 720p....your HD-DVD player REALLY REALLY looks better through a digital connection and some even require a HDCP connection.
See what i'm sayin?
Keep in mind that component is an anolog signal and will not scale perfect on a digital screen. What that means is that it wont be as sharp (but still very good) and it will cause more overscan (which means more of the screen will be missing on the sides, for example you may notice that the FOX HD syymbol hangs off the edge of the screen. So use HDMI/DVI for the connection you want to have the best picture.
Also your Toshiba HD-DVD player has better picture quality compared to broadcast HD because their is almost no compression.
I would HDMI your DVD and Component your Cable, unless of course you want to buy a home theater reciever that has a HDMI switch...
Also your Toshiba HD-DVD player has better picture quality compared to broadcast HD because their is almost no compression.
I would HDMI your DVD and Component your Cable, unless of course you want to buy a home theater reciever that has a HDMI switch...
leviathan814
n00b
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2006
- Messages
- 8
Who ever said that Component cables can only do 720p? I have a digital cable box hooked up to my tv with component and it runs 1080i to my tv, since it only can throw up 480i/p and 1080i (first gen hdtv).
Pickxx is right, component will be just fine for tv broadcasts. But most HD tv brodcasts are 1080i, if i'm not mistaken, and the tv will downconvert the 1080i picture to 720p.
As far as the cables are concerned. Using a DVI to HDMI conversion cable will not degrade the signal in the least bit due to its digital nature. As far as any improvement over a component cable, I doubt there will really be a night and day difference. But theoritically the DVI/HDMI cable will give you the best picture quality.
You're best leaving the HD-DVD on the HDMI since the player will be happier that way. You don't have to worry about the HDCP yet, since no disk uses it currently and supposedly won't use it for another couple of years. But it's generally best to keep the HD-DVD hooked up using that source.
Pickxx is right, component will be just fine for tv broadcasts. But most HD tv brodcasts are 1080i, if i'm not mistaken, and the tv will downconvert the 1080i picture to 720p.
As far as the cables are concerned. Using a DVI to HDMI conversion cable will not degrade the signal in the least bit due to its digital nature. As far as any improvement over a component cable, I doubt there will really be a night and day difference. But theoritically the DVI/HDMI cable will give you the best picture quality.
You're best leaving the HD-DVD on the HDMI since the player will be happier that way. You don't have to worry about the HDCP yet, since no disk uses it currently and supposedly won't use it for another couple of years. But it's generally best to keep the HD-DVD hooked up using that source.
my old projector had a DVI connector HDCP compliant. DVI signal can also put 1080p image. HDMI and dvi are basically both the same in therm of image quality (Though the HDMI is a more recent standard that still evolve)
the real advantage of the HDMI over dvi is that it use audio AND video at the same time and both at very high quality and even there you need the most recent HDMI standard (e.g. no hdmi standard could run 1080p (50 Hz or 60hz) before the hdmi 1.4 was released, same thing for all the 7.1 signal.
So there's REALLY no need to use hdmi or dvi-d for one reason or another. the less you switch a signal from cable to cable the less quality you'll loose.
TV just doesn't have enough stuff in HD according to me and Movie in HD looks much more amasing than TV-show most of the time, but it depends on what you watch (eg. sport events such as football can be awesome in HD)
the real advantage of the HDMI over dvi is that it use audio AND video at the same time and both at very high quality and even there you need the most recent HDMI standard (e.g. no hdmi standard could run 1080p (50 Hz or 60hz) before the hdmi 1.4 was released, same thing for all the 7.1 signal.
So there's REALLY no need to use hdmi or dvi-d for one reason or another. the less you switch a signal from cable to cable the less quality you'll loose.
TV just doesn't have enough stuff in HD according to me and Movie in HD looks much more amasing than TV-show most of the time, but it depends on what you watch (eg. sport events such as football can be awesome in HD)
is your dvd player a new HD-DVD player or is it just an upconverting regular DVD player? If it's and HD-DVD player i would definately use the HD-DVD player with the HDMI connection and use component for TV. I would rather have a better movie watching experience then watching tv, but it's just whatever you prefer more. Make sure you get good component cables and you'll be good to go.
I dont want to cause this to get all crazy but a 720p signal has more bandwidth then a 1080i. I'm sorry....leviathan814 said:
If you have a 1080p tv, then you should use 1080i signal because it will de-interlace the picture for you for a step up in quality. BUT if your HDtv NATIVE RES can't do 1080p, you should probably be using 720p because of how most tvs handle a 1080i signal.
On a 13xx by 7xx tv you should use 720p.....oh those westinghouses that can do the 1080p, sony SXRD's, and the new samsung DLP 61"(and all the other 1080p tvs i am forgetting about.) you should use the 1080i signal.
- your tuner/DVR/STB doesn't have to have HDCP on DVI. If it has DVI, and your panel has DVI or HDMI, you should be good to go. The ONLY place you should have trouble is when the box has HDCP and the TV doesn't, which is very rare and absurd. HDMI is basically a single-link DVI. HDCP is an optional encryption scheme that fits in the data pipe between endpoints.
- component can handle all the way up to 1080p30. VGA, if it's available on that tv (they used to be) can go higher. Be sure to get good quality analog cables
- pickxx is right, 720p has more bandwidth. However, I'd recommend 720p over 1080i for a 1080p tv because:
1) 1080i only has ~1500 horizontal resolution (for broadcast HD) and scales poorly to 1920
2) 1280 is 2/3 1920 and that factor scales well
3) 720 is 2/3 1080 and that factor scales well
4) although 540 is 1/2 1080 which scales very well, but you'll scale even better with more resolution to begin with (720) even at a less desireable factor (2/3)
5) the 1080i smear effect is gross as hell... I don't know why they use it at all.
- component can handle all the way up to 1080p30. VGA, if it's available on that tv (they used to be) can go higher. Be sure to get good quality analog cables
- pickxx is right, 720p has more bandwidth. However, I'd recommend 720p over 1080i for a 1080p tv because:
1) 1080i only has ~1500 horizontal resolution (for broadcast HD) and scales poorly to 1920
2) 1280 is 2/3 1920 and that factor scales well
3) 720 is 2/3 1080 and that factor scales well
4) although 540 is 1/2 1080 which scales very well, but you'll scale even better with more resolution to begin with (720) even at a less desireable factor (2/3)
5) the 1080i smear effect is gross as hell... I don't know why they use it at all.
venm11 said:
Good points about the HDCP and all that jive.....
but i wouldn't agree 100% about using 720p vs 1080i.....its a personal taste that i know many people argue about. I would say if you have a 720p tv....only use 720p....if you have a 1080p tv....give both a shot, ESP with an HD-DVD player you have acess to a good 1080i source and alot of tv's do well de-interlacing a 1080i source.
Bascially its like all things in life....give it a try, find the one you prefer, and rock it.