mpetrich Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 I've been researching HDTV's the last month or so and it's driving me nuts trying to decide to go with something with a DVI input or something with a firewire(IEEE 1394) i/o port. I've been looking at mainly Pioneer Elite, Mitsubishi, and Toshiba and it appears that Mitsubishi has DVI on some units and firewire on others. I couldn't get the manual to download on the Pioneer website so I'm not sure which technology they are supporting. Toshiba seems to be solidly behind the DVI technology. -Any opinions on which technology will win out? I would hate to end up with a 4 or 5K boat anchor in a couple year when this whole thing pans out. I realize that the DVI passes a huge amount of bandwidth (5 Gb/sec uncompressed) but can you imagine 3 DVI ins and one DVI out on the back of your receiver? That's a lot of space, those connectors are freakin huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerSix Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Strictly on principle, there is no way I will support a draconian technology like DVI/HDCP. It's an anti-consumer technology and pro-MPAA. DVI is a one-way feed technology - meaning you cannot record from it. Firewire is two-way feed technology. Plus, it allows for networking of ones home theater (cutting down the wire jungle behind your components - DVI would only add more). At the present time DVI is winning the war on spin. One of the biggest spins out there is that DVI passes a larger amount of bandwidth. While it is true that DVI has a higher bandwidth, that is only part of the story. The other part of the story that DVI doesn't tell you is that all HDTV content, regardless of where it comes from, is compressed. HDTV in its compressed state can easily pass through Firewire hardware. The only difference between DVI and Firewire is where the decompression takes place. Here's another way of looking at it: DVI: 4(DVI) + 1(Output device) = 5(picture) IEEE: 1(IEEE) + 4(Output device) = 5(picture) DVI supporters will constantly point to the DVI value of 4 related to IEEEs value of 1, but at the same conviently failing to mention that in the end, both version still have a value of 5. however, goods news is on the horizon. Firewire had recently announced the Gigawire or something to that effect. Oh, one last thing ... Mitsubishi is strongly supporting IEEE technology. There are no products from Mits that support DVI. I applaud their stance. As far as which technology will win, it's anybody's guess at this point. Ultimately, buy what you feel comfortable with. It's going to take several years before things begin to settle down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpetrich Posted January 17, 2003 Author Share Posted January 17, 2003 I had stated above that I saw a Mitsu with a DVI port, I was mistaken. I thought I saw one on their 65" DLP monster but I double checked and it wasn't there. Thanks for the post RangerSix, very informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Pioneer is definitely going with DVI. Which is strange seeing that their flagship Receiver/DVD combo both have firewire, which can pass DVD-A and SACD. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the powers that be could look out for others' best interest instead of their own. I for one will not support DVI unless I absolutely have to. How many people have elaborate home theater systems but can't figure how to hook up/operate them? Firewire would solve all those problems. I'm afraid that DVI is taking a pretty strong foothold on most of the products available today, and that is a shame. The biggest problem is that only a handful of people understand how much better things would be with firewire, so people are blindly buying products with DVI. On a sidenote, I recently had a discussion with an RCA rep, and kind of let him have it. They have both firewire and DVI on their new integrated TV, but the firewire is input only. Why bother. The manufacturers are just bowing to the pressure of Hollywood and it's sad. Hooray for Mitsubishi for not supporting this nonsense, now if only some others would follow suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjohnsonhp Posted January 18, 2003 Share Posted January 18, 2003 In reading the video forums I have the perception that DVI has already WON due to the copy protection issues being driven by Hollywood. This issue drives FUD around the idea that future proof = DVI. All set-top-boxes will now have DVI (some iLink/Firewire, too but none Firewire only) and Mitsu is the only display vendor I know of with iLink/Firewire only. Maybe DVI will evolve beyond what it is now but I don't think it will go away nor do I perceive iLink/Firwire will rise and be the winner. We may get to use iLink for connectivity usage and when we are allowed to record they will let us have iLink/firewire but as the primary connection from an HDTV set-top-box to display I don't see it. I've seen a lot of these technology wars and technology reasons for one vs the other are rarely a significant reason why one wins vs the other. In this case it seems to be all about Hollywood and copy protection. You can admire Mitsu and their stance and hate the copy protection but the answer to the question seems to be DVI and future evolutions of DVI. I have component connections only, so I"m trying to determine if I'm at risk of not being able to receive HDTV in the future. I certainly don't want to be required to pay $1k for a Promise Module whose functionality would have been much cheaper to buy at time of TV purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerSix Posted January 18, 2003 Share Posted January 18, 2003 ---------------- On 1/18/2003 1:00:49 AM kjohnsonhp wrote: In reading the video forums I have the perception that DVI has already WON due to the copy protection issues being driven by Hollywood. This issue drives FUD around the idea that future proof = DVI. All set-top-boxes will now have DVI (some iLink/Firewire, too but none Firewire only) and Mitsu is the only display vendor I know of with iLink/Firewire only. Maybe DVI will evolve beyond what it is now but I don't think it will go away nor do I perceive iLink/Firwire will rise and be the winner. We may get to use iLink for connectivity usage and when we are allowed to record they will let us have iLink/firewire but as the primary connection from an HDTV set-top-box to display I don't see it. I've seen a lot of these technology wars and technology reasons for one vs the other are rarely a significant reason why one wins vs the other. In this case it seems to be all about Hollywood and copy protection. You can admire Mitsu and their stance and hate the copy protection but the answer to the question seems to be DVI and future evolutions of DVI. ---------------- That's not true. This battle is far from over. Call me naive, but I still believe in the power of the consumer. We shouldn't, as consumers, bow to the whims and dictates of Hollywood elites. Success or failure of a product, regardless of what it is, should be gauged through the wallet, not legislation pushed by paid off congressional cronies, blackmailed threats, or closed-door arm twisting of consumer electronics companies. If Disney, Universal, or Sony want to pout in the corner because consumers are not playing by theiir rules, well ... let them pout. There are enough enterprising folks that will be more than happy to fill the HD gap, i.e. Mark Cuban of HD-NET. It's all about power and control. Copy protection is only a smoke screen for the larger prize - CONTROL. I'm voting with my wallet. BTW: Mitsubishi sells the most RP HDTVs in the country. As I said earlier, this battle is far from over. DVI is cr*p! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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