Understanding HD (1 Viewer)

[Gary Shipley]

I have some questions concerning HD(Blue Ray,HD-DVD, either one,). I have a Sanyo PLV60 projector which will receive at 480p,720p, or 1080i. It does not have an HDMI input as I purchased it about 5 years ago and component input is as high as I can go in that respect. So, my question is, if I were to hook up an HD player and send it to my projector via component cable, will I truly be seeing the movie in HD? Or, is a HDMI cable the only way it can be done? The whole HDMI thing really has me confused and I really want to understand how this all works.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Sure! My Toshiba HD A2 will send a 720p or 1080i signal via component when playing HD DVDs. It won't upconvert standard DVDs over component, though.

 

[Gary Shipley]

Thanks for the quick reply Jack. So, if I want to be able to upconvert my standard dvds, I'll need to replace my current projector with one that has HDMI. Would I need to replace the receiver as well? The Kenwood I have does'nt have HDMI either. Just trying to cover all the bases.

 

[LanceJ]

.....just play that standard dvd and like all imaging systems receiving a signal with fewer scan lines then that imaging system is equipped with, your Sanyo will automatically upconvert the signal (it has to, or there would be parts of the image missing).

There could be players with better upscaling capabilties than the Sanyo's built-in one, but to find out you'll have to buy a player with HDMI and your Sanyo doesn't include that connection method, so.......

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I'm not sure I'd replace everything just to upconvert SD in the player. As Lance mentions, there are players than can look better than a pj's internal scaler (especially an older one) when upscaling, but the differences are often quite subtle in comparison to the large leap to true HD.
Unless you're unhappy with your SD pic, I'd grab an HD player to enjoy HD movies, and upgrade as time allows.

If you did decide to go with an HDMI projector, you wouldn't need to upgrade the receiver to get audio. I send my video from my HD-A2 to AE900 via HDMI but I run optical to my receiver (no HDMI audio here yet).

 

[Gary Shipley]

Thanks for all the usefull info Jack. I really did'nt think I would need to replace the receiver(at least not yet), however,with the way that things are changing, I just was'nt sure if that was the case. I've still got quite a few standard dvds and want to get the most out of them even after I start buying HD movies. Once again, thanks for all your help.