DVI & CRT's... Advantage or Not (1 Viewer)

[SeanA]

I just purchased a DVI cable from Blue Jeans (nice quality) for my new Samsung SIR-T451 receiver. I used component cables for the first couple weeks, and I was pleasantly surprised with the video quality using the DVI cable. There does seem to be a small improvement in terms of even sharper detail and color clarity, and the improvement seems even more apparent with SD programming. As best I can determine, outlines of objects are cleaner and more distinct.

Am I possibly just imagining an improvement, or have others noticed a similar improvement using a DVI connection with CRTs ??? Based on what I have read here, I wasn't anticipating an improved image. The consensus seems to be that an improvement is only noticeable with digital displays (i.e. DLP & Plasma).

 

[EricRWem]

Sure. It's not an earth shattering benefit, but you get some benefit from it. At least, that's been my experience.

If ya got digital, use it!

 

[Jerome Grate]

My understanding is that CRTs goes through an digital to analog conversion then an analog to digital conversion. It's the processing that I believe you can't avoid. DVI minimizes that processing since CRT is not a fixed pixel display.

 

[anthony_b]

Check out this thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=209320

 

[ChrisWiggles]

CRT displays are analog in nature, they always will be. At some point the signals get converted to analog signals to drive the guns, by using a digital connection to the TV you change the D/A conversion location, that is all. Depending on a number of factors, this may or may nor improve or degrade the PQ to some small extent.

 

[MikeEckman]

I did a lot of research concerning getting an upconverting DVD player for use with my Sony 32" HD WEGA CRT set. Although no one went as far as to say not to get one, the general consensus that I found was that any HDMI/DVI signal isn't going to benefit nearly as much on a CRT set than a fixed pixel display.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I wonder...

If you send a component video progressive signal to most TVs, do they even need to do that extra A to D, processing, then D to A conversions?

I know if I send a 480i signal to mine (Tosh 32" HDTV CRT), it converts to digital to do the de-interlacing, and then back to analog for display, but with 480p that isn't necessary.

Similarly, if you have a CRT with an HDMI or DVI input, the set just needs to convert to analog.

Maybe it's different with different sets and manufacturers.

 

[dpippel]

There are a number of things to consider here. Does your DVD player upscale? What resolution are you sending to your display via DVI? 480p? 720p? 1080i?

If you're sending 480p over DVI then as other have mentioned, the improvement you're seeing is probably due to fewer D/A-A/D conversions in the chain. If you're sending 720p/1080i to the display and are matching your set's native resolution then you're using the scaler in your DVD player and are bypassing the one in the display. In many cases the scaler in the player (at this time mostly the Faroudja FLI2310) does a better job than the display's, hence the improvement.

In some cases though you will actually worse performance via DVI/HDMI on a CRT display. My Hitachi 57SWX20B for example has a terrific scaler in it that, and when being fed 480p component it looks superior to anything I've fed it via DVI (480p/1080i).