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Author Topic: HDMI vs Component Connection Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-08-2007 12:43 PM                     Not to worry Joe...they have the "RCA" style "Phono" connectors for consumers...I'd just make em adopt to the BNC style anyway.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-09-2007 01:01 PM                     quote: "Bill Gabel" No, you don't have to use the HDMI connection to get a HD signal. The Toshiba HD-DVD decks output the HD signal through the component too at this time. Not quite correct. The following applies to both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray: When playing a HD-DVD or Blue-Ray disc, HiDef is output via component unless the disc is flagged not to permit this. At present time, non of the major studio discs are setting the flag, but that could change at any time. When playing a standard definition DVD, Upconverted HiDef is output only though the HDMI or DVI outputs. The components only outputs 480I or P. This also applies to standard definition DVD players with upconvert capability.  |  IP: Logged Larry Myers Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Herndon, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-09-2007 04:38 PM                 Just exactly what is upconvert anyway? I tried one of these $100 units at Best Buy plus a $35 HDMI cable and I really didn't see any difference. Then on top of that I had problems getting the right anamorphic display. I returned it. The return Manager agreed with me. The standard Sony DVD players using component cables are better buy at about $70.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-09-2007 05:20 PM                        I have an upconverting DVD player that outputs the 720p and 1080i signal via component. It's called an Xbox. Of course you need to install Xbox Media Center onto it first. Upconversion isn't anything special on any player.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-09-2007 05:21 PM                     quote: Larry Myers Just exactly what is upconvert anyway? In the context of HDMI and standard DVD players, "upconversion" is just a fancy way of saying "faking" a HDTV image. The 480p video image is blown up to 720p, 1080i or even 1080p. Still, you only get so much native detail in a 480p image. It compares poorly to material with truly native HD resolution.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 07-09-2007 05:32 PM                        The term "upconvert" usually refers to the conversion of standard definition video to one of the high definition resolutions. For example, taking a 480 line image and converting it to 720 lines or 1080 lines, depending on the capability of your display. Imagine taking a 4x6 photo and blowing it up to an 8x10 or a 16x20. None of that extra resolution can be found anywhere, so the upconverting device needs to interpolate the missing pixels in the hope of creating something acceptable. As you probably realize, the results can be good or bad, depending on the quality of the device doing the upconversion. Anyone expecting a $75 Best Buy special to do a great job is being unrealistic. Your projector will probably do a better job of upconverting SD material than a cheap upconverting player. DVD players are not supposed to send upconverted SD from a DVD via analog component connections. A few do, but I don't know if they're made any longer. I bought a Samsung upconverting player for that very reason, but the player was iffy and the upconverted picture wasn't any better than I was getting out of my Pioneer SD DVD player. As has been stated here already, both HD DVD players and Blu-ray players can be connected to displays via analog component video cables and you will have access to both the 1280x720 and 1920x1080 resolutions. An HDMI connection will allow you to handle everything you can throw at it; upconverted SD, 1280x720, and 1920x1080 (both interlaced and progressive). Very expensive HDMI and component cables aren't necessary, but good ones are. For a couple of feet, just about anything capable of carrying an electrical signal will probably be OK, but good cables can be had for not very much money. I got my 35-foot long HDMI and component cables from Blue Jeans Cable, and I'm very happy with the build quality and the performance of the cables. The component cable was around $140, and the HDMI cable was right around $70. Could I have found them cheaper? Maybe, but these guys have a very good reputation on some forums I read, and places like Monoprice.com make me nervous by selling stuff at way too low of a price (at some point, the quality can't possibly be there). Upconverted SD is a poor substitute for real HD. Once you become accustomed to real HD, you want it all the time! For $255, you can get a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player that will not only play HD DVD's (248 and counting) but also upconvert standard definition DVD's as well. The high end Toshiba HD-XA2 has a Reon processor that is supposedly excellent at upconversion, on par with high end DVD players costing upwards of $1500-$2000.  |  IP: Logged Liam Utley Film Handler Posts: 42 From: Australia Registered: Oct 2003 posted 07-09-2007 06:32 PM                    If you adopted the PAL format you could have 576p.  |  IP: Logged Larry Myers Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Herndon, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-09-2007 07:43 PM                 I have looked at the Toshiba HD-A2 but Best Buy wanted $350 for it. They wanted $500 for the HD-XA2. I also looked at the Blue Ray. To me, the Blue Ray seems to be better on the Flat Screen equipment they were using. I guess the XA2 will play 1080P. I am not really interested in paying $30 per disc right now. Although, Nex-Flex says they included HD disc's in their standard membership. So far I am having fun collecting DVD's at flea markets for less the $4. I have a collection of 50 films that are mostly anamorphic widescreen. My biggest score just last week was a nice copy of the original "Night of the Living Dead" in stereo full frame for $1. So far I have had very good luck collecting since I can mostly tell the difference between a bootleg copy and an original.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-09-2007 08:24 PM                     Assuming you bought one of those $1 copies in those huge bins at Walmart or the dollar store, and not just a marked down Anchor Bay release (or elite, I forget who released it officially), it likely was a "bootleg".... the film is pretty much PD, and whatever company that released the version you bought likely "borrowed" (stole) the transfer from another release.  |  IP: Logged Larry Myers Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Herndon, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-10-2007 10:30 AM                 If indeed this DVD of Night of the Living Dead is a bootleg copy, then they sure did a nice job with the three color label on the back of the disc and the image transfer itself. There are fake items then there are fake items. Many fake items are actually overruns at the sub-contract factory. The factory in China needs to produce 10000 real Nike shoes so they produce 20000 and give the Nike company 10,000 and sell the rest as fakes. Well, not exactly fakes are they?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-10-2007 12:55 PM                     Larry, I don't think you understand the nature and sophistication of counterfeit product operations in China, North Korea and other countries that allow that kind of thing. It is not an issue of selling the surplus of a product run. The bootlegging that goes on is very deliberate. For instance, North Korea has the most advanced setup to counterfeit US currency. The "super notes" coming from that rouge state are the main reason why our money is getting changed so much all of a sudden. Just about anything people want to buy gets counterfeited. Any legitimate product made in China will be an even more likely target of counterfeiters -such as those Nike shoes. To compound the problem further, Chinese citizens have very little buying power with their very low on average wages and very undervalued currency. Imported products cost a lot. Counterfeit versions of the same thing are far more affordable. FYI, most DVDs stocked on store shelves in the United States are replicated at plants in the United States or Mexico. The printed materials may come from any number of countries, but often are generated in North America. It costs too much and takes too long to ship mass produced products like Region 1 DVDs halfway around the world.  |  IP: Logged Larry Myers Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Herndon, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-10-2007 02:08 PM                 I understand all about counterfeiting. I worked on the US Currency Counterfeting project. The biggest issue was the bills were actually better then our own. The counterfeiters didn't have to stick with low bid stuff. They could buy the best of everything. That is paper,ink and equipment. That meant nothing but the best from the Swiss. So the US government was stuck with a Made in America machine for $12 million dollars. The counterfeit people demanded nothing but the best in a $27 million dollar Swiss press. I someone wants to counterfeit a DVD that looks great and plays better then a real one all for a buck and make money, then more power to him.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-10-2007 03:04 PM                     "Better than our own" is a really odd statement to make about counterfeit US currency. A good counterfeit bill is either a faithful reproduction or not. Making a fake bill somehow "better" than the original is still making it different. Knowing a little about professional printing, I do know the equipment used by the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Philadelphia is worth quite a bit more than $12 million. Anyone who watches Modern Marvels on the History Channel regularly has probably seen the episode about making "paper" US currency. The printing process goes through many stages and is much more elaborate than what you would get from most standard mass production offset printing operations. As to the brands and quality of equipment used by North Korean counterfeiters versus that of the US, it sounds to me like you're making up some of your own trivia. How about providing some actual specific proof? quote: If I someone wants to counterfeit a DVD that looks great and plays better then a real one all for a buck and make money, then more power to him. You claim to work on a US currency counterfeiting project but allow a sentence with that kind of grammar to go uncorrected? I also find it very strange to hear you make that claim, but then seem to be 100% in favor of copyright infringement.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 07-10-2007 03:11 PM                     US paper money always seems to have a strange smell to it, rather like very old books stored in a slightly damp room. I'm not sure how you'd reproduce that smell if you wanted to counterfeit the stuff.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-10-2007 03:24 PM                     The "paper" used for American currency can be reproduced if you have the industrial setup used to make it. 75% of the paper in U.S. printed currency consists of cotton -typically left over cotton from blue jean manufacturing. There's a lot of other stuff that goes into the material itself to give the paper its look, feel and snap. Counterfeiters in North Korea have taken great strides to duplicate that paper manufacturing system. They have also copied the "intaglio" printing method that presses the plate into the paper to create that raised feel on new bills. Lots of other details have been duplicated. I don't know how well the latest changes to U.S. currency have thrown off counterfeiters in North Korea, Bulgaria and other places. Ultimately, it seems like printed money will eventually be made useless, all thanks to the thieves in this world.  |  IP: Logged

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