psg Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Doesn't matter, right? I just learn the hard way that it does. I used to feed two TVs with one Sat decoder, feeding one far away using the HDMI output of the decoder and the other using the component output (to the AVR and then a 50-inch 720p plasma in my HT room). When I upgraded to Optik TV a while back, each TV now had its own decoder but I didn't bother to swap in a HDMI cable in the HT room and kept using the component cable to my AVR (and then HDMI to the TV). I was never happy with the blacks on that TV. Jump to this week when I get my fancy new Samung 60F8500 plasma. The picture is much better, but even after I calibrate black levels (brightness set to factory 45) I am loosing a lot of details in crushed blacks watching TV. Anything dark is black. I have to crank up brightness to 65 to make up some of the detail. But the picture is perfect on Blurays. So I figure it must be a setting on the Optik TV decoder... then it hits me that it is getting an analog signal from my component connection and reconverting it to digital to send over HDMI to the TV! I swap in an HDMI cable between the TV decoder and the AVR and BAM! The picture is now perfect with brightness set to 45! Lots of dark detail! So the black levels weren't so bad on my old TV! I have been giving it a handicap for years using component instead of HDMI! Years lost! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 29, 2014 Moderators Share Posted September 29, 2014 Good personal experience. Thx for sharing. I too have always read that Component is almost as good as HDMI (1080i vs 1080p). Maybe progressive vs interlaced makes a difference? Glad to hear you are now enjoying the full potential from your display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) The bigger the tv the more it will pop out good or bad. How did you run your sound then? Edit nm I see Edited September 29, 2014 by reference_head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The History Kid Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 The bigger the tv the more it will pop out good or bad. How did you run your sound then? Digital Optic I hope. I'm still not entirely sold that HDMI produces better audio than Optical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 The bigger the tv the more it will pop out good or bad. How did you run your sound then? Digital Optic I hope. I'm still not entirely sold that HDMI produces better audio than Optical. Its not even close. Hdmi holds 15x the audio size vs optic. I was also not sure many years ago tell I a/b them. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The History Kid Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Good to know. Might just have been the receivers that I tried HDMI on. May end up dropping optics on my next setup then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 29, 2014 Moderators Share Posted September 29, 2014 Its not even close. Hdmi holds 15x the audio size vs optic. I was also not sure many years ago tell I a/b them. In addition.....Optical can only support Dolby Digital and DTS and cannot carry Dolby TrueHD or DTS-Master. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 HDMI is unsurpassed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) Good personal experience. Thx for sharing. I too have always read that Component is almost as good as HDMI (1080i vs 1080p). Maybe progressive vs interlaced makes a difference? Glad to hear you are now enjoying the full potential from your display. The Optik TV (basically fiber-optic delivery) decoder sends out either 720p or 1080i, which was why i didn't think component would make a difference. I guess it's the extra D/A and A/D steps involved that degraded the image. Audio was run over toslink. Edited September 29, 2014 by psg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbox Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) I learned something today then too. hdmi audio is better than optical. I currently run optical...until the next upgrade I guess... You guys are the best.... Edited September 29, 2014 by Turbox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I learned something today then too. hdmi audio is better than optical. I currently run optical...until the next upgrade I guess... You guys are the best.... Why wait... Just pull the optical cable and start using your HDMI cables... Unless you don't have HDMI.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldred Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Got to go HDMI. Night and day different that component/optical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 (edited) Got to go HDMI. Night and day different that component/optical Help me here. Are we talking audibly better for BD movies, SACD's, DVDA's, or CD's? I know HDMI can pass high resolution audio and optical and digital coax can't but for redbook CD's, is there a noticeable difference? Bill Edited September 30, 2014 by willland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnr Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Great timing for me on this topic as I am about to swap an 11 year old Outlaw processor without HDMI with a Pioneer Elite AVR. My only issue is the Pioneer AVR doesn't have an OTA/coax input, so I have to run the OTA coax directly into my TV, The TV doesn't have an HDMI out, only an optical out of of the TV, so it appears to be my only option for OTA, but seeing as OTA is only 5.1 at best, who cares, right? I was going to go HDMI out of the Oppo player directly to the TV, because it is native 1080P, but I think I will go to the AVR to take advantage of the superior audio signal discussed in this thread, and hope that there is no video signal degradation. There are two HDMI outs on the Oppo, so I suppose I could possibly use one for video direct to the TV, and the other for audio to the AVR, or is that not possible? Likely not necessary, and just go with one to the AVR. I didn't know optical could not pass Dolby True HD or DTS MA. What about coax? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 (edited) oooops Edited September 30, 2014 by willland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I didn't know optical could not pass Dolby True HD or DTS MA. What about coax? Not digital coax either. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbox Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I learned something today then too. hdmi audio is better than optical. I currently run optical...until the next upgrade I guess... You guys are the best.... Why wait... Just pull the optical cable and start using your HDMI cables... Unless you don't have HDMI.. im using hdmi out to projector, but optical out to amp. amp doesn't have hdmi yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 30, 2014 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2014 Only way to take advantage of DTS Master and Dolby TrueHD is either HDMI or multi-channel audio outputs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnr Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Only way to take advantage of DTS Master and Dolby TrueHD is either HDMI or multi-channel audio outputs O.K. I already have the mutli-channel audio outputs and cables and plan to hook them all up. Aside from the multiple cables, do you guys think it is a good idea to hook up multiple, meaning optical, digital, coax, HDMI and have the flexibility and just document and assign them accordingly to the virtual inputs names? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Basic Dolby Digital 5.1 was really a huge jump when it came out. I mean connecting components with lasers how cool is that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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