HD Requirements and HDMI (1 Viewer)

[davewe]

Am getting ready to switch to HD-DVDand I'm wondering whether my current equipment will do the trick. I have a Mits 48311 (1080i) set and a Panasonic XR50 digital receiver. So neither has HDMI connections. Do I still get the benefits of an HD-DVD's upconversion or will I need a new set and/or receiver? I have a very extensive DVD collection and would like the better picture from my existing DVDs.

Thanks!

Dave

 

[Patrick Sun]

For upconverting DVDs, you'll need at minimum a HDTV set with HDMI inputs, but you should be okay with using either the TOSLink (optical) audio connection or a coaxial audio connection from the high def player to your current receiver for Dolby Digital or dts audio tracks for now.

One other possibility is if your current TV has a DVI input, and if so, you might have some luck using a HDMI-to-DVI converter to connect the high def's HDMI output to the current TV, but be aware that sometimes there are some handshaking issues when going through HDMI/DVI that will make it tough to pass the video to the current TV correctly.

You'd want to upgrade your receiver to HDMI-capable and bitstream decodable (along with getting a high def player that allows it pass the bitstreams for the high bitrate audio streams, like DTS-HD MA tracks). Otherwise, you could just let the High def player do decoding of the audio tracks and send it via HDMI to the receiver, or through the analog audio outputs from the high def player to the receiver with analog audio input (5.1 or 7.1).

 

[Kevin Fox]

I'm having the same issue: new Toshiba HD-A3, Mitsubishi 1080i DLP monitor with DVI and component inputs only, and retail DVDs will not upconvert over component.

I've ordered an HDMI-DVI cable, and when it arrives, I'll try to give my report here on whether it worked.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Can't add anything to what Patrick said, except I was in the same boat back in June. Component only receiver/TV and I purchased an HD DVD player just to see what the hype was about. $3000.00 later and I've now got a 65" DLP 1080p, BD player and HDMI 1.3 receiver. I swear I don't even remember buying them, they just kept appearing one at a time.

The moral of the story is: Watch out!! HD can kick off a bad case of the upgrade bug.

 

[Kevin Fox]

Got my HDMI-to-DVI cable a couple of days ago and hooked it up yesterday between my Mitsu DLP HDTV—whose model number I don't know because I'm not composing this from home, but is about two years old—and my brand new Toshiba HD-A3.

I immediately threw in one of the DVDs that wouldn't upconvert through component (The Fifth Element Superbit), and it went to 1080i without a hitch. Watched the entire thing and never noticed a single issue with the picture. And while it certainly didn't look anywhere near as good as an HD-DVD, it's the best I've seen that DVD look. The scaling from 480p to 1080i makes a subtle yet still-noticeable improvement.

Threw in a couple of HD-DVDs as well, to check for any issues there through the cable, and they looked wonderful.

So, based on this limited testing and not knowing any details about your setup, davewe, I'd say as long as your Mitsu 48311 has a DVI input, you should be fine.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Glad it worked out for you, Kevin!