Matt*B

HDMI -- Not being practical?

Hey all,

Ok, I currently use a DVI interface for video and an Optical or Coax cable for audio. Now, as far as I am concerned -- this one of the best setups you can get... However, reading more and more about HDMI, there are a few basic things that just don't make sense....

Ok, let's say I have an HDMI output on my DVD player and an HDMI input on my HDTV. Great! Now, I hook it up, and -- oh wait -- All of that great audio feed from the cable is being used......by my TV speakers! What about my $1,000 receiver. Am i missing something here? A/V together is great, but now I would have to buy ANOTHER cable and daisy chain the video through my receiver as well -- then into my tv.... is this thinking correct? Is any quality lost with this extra stop for the sources?

One more quick question -- just rating the video quality, is a DVI stream just as high quality as a HDMI video stream?

A little confused....


Matt

Mike Monti

That's an issue I've been dealing with too. My dvd player has a HDMI out which I've got going to the tv for image quality but I'm running the soung through the receiver for surround sound. This has resulted in much tweaking in my dvd players settings to get the sound and image to match up. My tv has a digital audio out but I hesitate to use it as I'm fairly ertain the lag would be even worse.

That's why I'm waiting on my HDTivo 'cause I'm not certain those settings are even there and I'd go mad if everything was out of sync.

I'm not certain about the quality differences and I'm not sure if it's the best route for everybody but I'm trying to hold out for a receiver with HDMI switching. I'm just not seeing it as a commonly available option yet, hopefully soon though.

Michael Osadciw

In theory you would send your HDMI cable to your receiver first and then use the HDMI out to your monitor/projector. Your receiver will take the high resolution 2-5 channel audio and do its thing and then pass the video along to the display device.

That is fine, but my only concern is signal loss. I'm hoping that an HDMI switcher will not introduce any signal loss as there commonly is with analogue component, S, or composite connections. I always go straight to my projector.

The benefit that HDMI audio offers is the ability to send lossless audio data - DTS-HD or MLP. The data sent through this is much larger than what currently gets sent through S/PIDF coax/optical which is limited to about 1.5Mbps. We will not see lossless audio sent through COAX or OPTICAL. With lossless audio transmission (through a digital interface) on the horizon for both film and music, HDMI will play a big role. IEEE-1394 is also an alternative for audio only; it passes SA-CD too (a format that I'm sad to see going away).

HDMI (and DVI) looks great for video. I recommend EVERYONE to upgrade from component video and make the change to this digital interface.

Mike