HDMI cable vs Component RCA cables...

[westcott]

I tried the HDMI input from my Denon DVD-1920 to my Samsung picture tube TV. The results were horrible. I had Macrovision artifacts all over the screen and noise around objects and letters. I switched back to my components and will only consider HDMI if I go with a LCD/Plasma/DLP in the future.

Milton

The HDMI didn't cause the artifacts. Your other equipment does that. The HDMI simply made the weaknesses of your other equipment more obvious. You can use your display settings to deal with them.

In my case, the OPPO DVD player only upscales the image from 480 to 720 if you are using DVI output which requires me to use a DVI-HDMI cable into my HDTV.

I've got some component cables. I suppose I could A-B them with the HDMI-DVI connection and see how much improvement I am getting from the upscaling & digital cables compared to good old fashioned component output.

I agree with Jeff. Some displays just do not handle the HDMI handshake as well as others. It is a crapshoot because there are so many possible combinations between components.

I do not place total blame on the mfgs because of this.

It is kind of like software. So many hardware configurations to address and limited time to test. The HDMI standard is still evolving, making it a moving target.

If one reads the tests that have been done on the Denon 1920 you'll find that it still suffers from macroblaocking due to its de-interlacer. From Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity:

Using the digital outputs rendered the same results. There was some pixel cropping, which also seems to be a byproduct of the Faroudja processing, as it goes away without it. Macroblocking is still an issue but is toned down in comparison to the DVD-5900. This continues to be a problem for any player that uses the Genesis FLI-23xx chips. Hopefully Genesiss new line of chips will remedy the problem or hardware manufacturers will look elsewhere for de-interlacing and scaling support.

Tom

I have viewed several Denon DVD players and others with the Genesis chips, and if they do have macroblocking issues, you would be hard pressed to see it. They are also all supposed to have chroma bugs except for a few exceptions. This, IMO, is far more visible on most of the Genesis chip implementations. The macroblocking is nothing like what you see on SD broadcasts via satellite or cable.

It seems that very few mfg's have gotten it right but Denon obviously does a better job than most. But, Oppo and Panasonic sure are shaking the trees.

I hope the competion will force all of them to take notice and start addressing these issues.

[Born2RockU]

I would call your cable company and make sure their HDMI or DVI is active on their boxes. I have a Pioneer Elite rear projection tv with Charter cable and tried the DVI coming out of the Charter box, but got a message saying my tv was not HDCP compatible. BS,! the Pioneer is HDCP compatible and I called Pioneer anyway just to verify. I called Charter and they changed their story, and said the DVI on their boxes was not "active at this time" and were working with Scientific Atlanta to correct the problem. Bottom line is, at least with Charter, is what they say will work and what does work are sometimes two different things. YMMV

Man-o-Man...you just saved me a major heart break.

I did call my Warner Cable company and they told me that the new Motorola HI-DEF box they swapped out with me, does NOT have the DVI-d port activated and that I needed to return that Motorola new box and swap it out for....get this... the Scientific Atlanta 3250 Box.

Texxas Guy...you saved me some serious heart ache. Thank You , thank You , thank YOu !

LOL,,,glad it worked out. In my case, I bought the cable off Ebay before checking. Anyway, hope Warner Cable does not speak with forked tongue like Charter............Good Luck!

PS: Wanna buy a brand new Monster DVI cable?[]jk

Luckily the Warner Cable company exchange location is 2.6 miles from my house. 30 minutes after I emailed you I have the Scientific Atlantic box installed. The cable company gave me all HD channels free for 3 months for my inconveniences.

Killer deal.

Thanx again TEX ~

[texxas guy]

Good deal.....I'm still waiting on Charter, but then they are always behind the curve. Good luck with your new set and enjoy!

[tommiwan]

I know it's after the fact, but comcast has been telling me that my dvi port was not activated, but video 7 on my tv says different!

[milton10]

I tried the HDMI input

from my Denon DVD-1920 to my Samsung picture tube TV. The results

were horrible. I had Macrovision artifacts all over the screen

and noise around objects and letters. I switched back to my

components and will only consider HDMI if I go with a LCD/Plasma/DLP in

the future.

Milton

The HDMI didn't cause the

artifacts. Your other equipment does that. The HDMI simply

made the weaknesses of your other equipment more obvious. You can

use your display settings to deal with them.

In my case, the

OPPO DVD player only upscales the image from 480 to 720 if you are

using DVI output which requires me to use a DVI-HDMI cable into my HDTV.

I've

got some component cables. I suppose I could A-B them with the

HDMI-DVI connection and see how much improvement I am getting from the

upscaling & digital cables compared to good old fashioned component

output.

Jeff,

I am aware that it is my equipment and not the HDMI. I have tried

every possible display setting change to deal with it, but the results

were still not acceptable. Switching back to component solved

it. In fact the component hookups looked vastly superior to any

HDMI setup combination that I could come up with.

I read somewhere that some televisions convert the HDMI digital signal

back to analog as soon as it enters the set. I don't know if this

caused the problem, but would suspect that it may. Has anyone

else heard of this?

[hwatkins]

Milton10 wrote:

I read somewhere that some televisions convert the HDMI digital signal back to analog as soon as it enters the set. I don't know if this caused the problem, but would suspect that it may. Has anyone else heard of this?

I think it depends on your monitor/tuner.

With my Pio PDHP5050 (plasma) the signal is pure digital from the HDMI connected Elite 59avi to the media reciever to the monitor. It is a cleaner picture than the component connected cable box (our Charter friends do not offer a DVI enabled Moxie box here). I do not know if there is a conversion on the component feeds or not.

In my experience component is far, far better than S-Video and HDMI is slightly better than component (although I haven't done a test that is exclusive of the component attached for component vs. HDMI).

All my sound is through coax or optical - I cannot discern any difference between the two.

I modified my cabinet that used to house an RPTV for a plasma and a fireplace

[Born2RockU]

With my Pio PDHP5050 (plasma) the signal is pure digital from the HDMI connected Elite 59avi to the media reciever to the monitor

The Pioneer Elite 59AVI isn't true Hi-Def...is it? I think it just up-converts the signals via the HTML cable...correct?

Or, does it play the new Hi-Def DVD's progressively?

[westcott]

We are all waiting for the launch of HD DVD's or BlueRay or whatever else enters the fray for the market.

Playstation 3 is one of the first products with this capablitity to probably hit the market, and with Sony standing behind it, should have the programming necessary to make it happen.

Not sure who else will be launching a sytem first but rest assured, it will be treacherous waters since no one knows who will win this race, if any of the above.

[Born2RockU]

The Blu-Ray items are already on the market.

There is already a Blu-Ray DVD player launched in the Japanese market.

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/

http://www.blu-ray.com/ceatec2004/

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109617,00.asp

...and look at the price of Blu-Ray blank discs....HOLY-MOLE'ee

http://search.ebay.com/blu-ray_W0QQcatrefZC3QQfclZ3QQfromZR2QQsatitleZbluQ2dray

[westcott]

The Blu-Ray items are already on the market.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Blue Ray and other HD formats are not available in the US yet.

I forget sometimes that the internet is an international forum.

[hwatkins]

With my Pio PDHP5050 (plasma) the signal is pure digital from the HDMI connected Elite 59avi to the media reciever to the monitor

The Pioneer Elite 59AVI isn't true Hi-Def...is it? I think it just up-converts the signals via the HTML cable...correct?

Or, does it play the new Hi-Def DVD's progressively?

You are right, it is not high def. It sends a digital 480i signal (the best you will get on current DVD). I do not have the avi do any conversion, I let the media center for the Monitor up convert - I tried it both ways and the TV does a better job.

I would prefer to have the HDMI connect for high def, but I guess our friends at Charter don't want the headache of trouble shooting everyones digital connections.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Well, I am jumping in a bit late in the discussion but I am feeding my

projector with composite cables. I have DVI-D output from my computer

and the same inputs on the projector but the distance is about 25 feet

so I need to order a cable over the Internet as stock cables locally are

3 meter max. The coax cables I am using at the moment came from the

distribution network that the local "tweeters" store was using

for their HD network. I picked them up (6 25' coax cables) for $25 but

I had to take them out of the system they were installed in when the

local store went the way of the DoDo bird LOL.

My receiver up converts the video to 720 composite and does a good job

of it. I am really happy with the image quality.

The Dish box I have is not HD but outputs to S Video. The

HD boxes they will sell you only outputs to composite at the

moment so the DVI cable is a moot point for me.

I have played TV over the projector with the up converted S Video signal

from the Dish box, and though it was not quite as clear as DVDs are it

was acceptable.