HDMI VS Componet Video

[Ron]

Non-answer, noted.

[Bob(but not THAT Bob)]

On my first 32" 1080i HDTV, the component input from the cable box was far superior to the digital output of the time - DVI (essentially HDMI minus audio).

On my current 42" 1080p LCD as well as my 110" 1080p projector, they are equal in quality.

So whether that's due to the signal quality limitations of the cable box

- not revealing the supposed superiority of HDMI - or that there simply is no difference, I can't say.

[Ron]

If I run my cable directly to my TV, my local HD channels look slightly better than they do through my HD DVR. Riddle me that.......

[trader4]

Smitty seems to believe that any THEORETICAL advantage becomes important, regardless of whether humans can perceive it or not. Many audiophiles make the same leaps when purchasing analog audio cables costing $1000 or more. Like you Ron, I've compared HDMI and component on my 42" Sony and can't see any difference either with cable or Blue Ray. The truth is that supposedly pure digital signal undergoes all kinds of manipulation in the digital world that will have a bigger impact on the resulting picture than any D/A conversion. Among those are conversion from the original source to compressed digital, compression by the cable/sat company to transmit it, conversion from the incoming source to the native resolution of the display inside the TV, etc.

[gfretwell]

I am surprised nobody mentioned why the industry is trying to get everyone on HDMI.

There is Digital Rights Management hardware built into that HDMI interface so they can stop you from watching that copy of a DVD you made or an unsigned show you downloaded from the internet. Beyond the easily defeated Macrovision, there was not much they could do with the analog signals. The open question is how far this censorship could go. There is no hardware reason why future adapters could not restrict your viewing to things that had the "approved" bit on.

[Ron]

Yeah, I've been trying to get my cable company to run a HDMI cable from their office to my home, so far no luck. How dare them use that shitty RG7/RG11 coax cable!

[Ned Flanders]

Others have explained the difference between HDMI and Component video, so I will pass, but will give you my 2 cents on a problem my dad and I ran into.

1) The manufacture of my TV has an option that allows the entertainment system to predict what I need and turn on or off things like BlueRay and the Amp when using HDMI. I hated this so I disabled the option. 2) In our area we (both my dad and I) were having a little problem once in a while with momentary drops in signal. When using HDMI the screen would go blank for 10 - 20 seconds while the TV and Cable Box reestablished a connection. I switched both systems to Component Video from the cable box only and I no longer get the blank screen as the blip in the signal is often hardly noticeable. I still connect to my BlueRay using HDMI and to my Amp using optical.

YMMV

[ROANIN]

OK Thanks group for all the good information. All I know is that when I hooked up the component connections they looked better than the HDMI 1.3b cable and the box did say "professional" on it so who knows. Will just leave it the way it is for now..

R

[Bob(but not THAT Bob)]

That's REAL interesting.

I've never been able to try that, as all my display devices are tunerless monitors.

So maybe digital DVRs DON'T capture the full quality of the original source after all and are just glorified VCRs.