HDMI question - Kinda Lost

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msian

93 posts

Master Geek

#28077 17-Nov-2008 22:17

I have a TV and DVD player both HDMI, HD capable 720p/1080i. Now everything I watch on the tv looks so ordinary. Sky is blur coz im on old decoder.. DVD looks normal.. and im on those normal red yellow white cables.. My question is.. if i connect my dvd player to the tv with a hdmi cable and i watch a normal dvd movie. will it really be clear? will I notice the difference?
also, what else can i do to improve and make use of my hd capable tv. i have been watching normally over a yr now.. and im kinda useless at these. I dont want to spend so much getting the new mysky decoder that has HD. anyone can suggest other things?

stuzzo

534 posts

Ultimate Geek

#178498 18-Nov-2008 00:55

Those yellow, red, white cables are giving you composite video and analogue sound which is towards the bottom of the quality scale.

An HDMI cable or even a component cable will give you component video which should significantly improve your picture. You shouldn't need to pay much more than $20 for an HDMI cable.

Other than that you'll need an HD source to take full advantage of your HDTV. MySky HDi, Blu-ray, hi-def gaming ,HTPC with hi-def are some examples.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#178504 18-Nov-2008 06:18

DVD's will still be standard definition no matter how you hook your DVD player up to the TV. Many DVD players now feature upscaling which attempts to increase the quality of the picture by upscaling it to 720p or 1080p. If your player does support upscaling then using a HDMI cable or component cable will give you a better quality picture but by how much better will really depend on the DVD - it certainly isn't giving you true HD so don't expect it to look like a Blu-Ray or Freeview|HD true HD content.

ShaneT

62 posts

Master Geek

#178572 18-Nov-2008 13:39

msian: I have a TV and DVD player both HDMI, HD capable 720p/1080i. Now everything I watch on the tv looks so ordinary. Sky is blur coz im on old decoder.. DVD looks normal.. and im on those normal red yellow white cables.. My question is.. if i connect my dvd player to the tv with a hdmi cable and i watch a normal dvd movie. will it really be clear? will I notice the difference?
also, what else can i do to improve and make use of my hd capable tv. i have been watching normally over a yr now.. and im kinda useless at these. I dont want to spend so much getting the new mysky decoder that has HD. anyone can suggest other things?

Hi msian,

Definitlley use HDMI , or at least Component from your DVD player... You're currently using a composite video (yellow cable) which only supports up to 576i ....changing to component or HDMI will bump it up to 720p.

Does your DVD player do upscaling? ...if so you may see an improvement (depending on the upscaler) with your DVDs if you upscale them from 720p (standard DVD definition) to 1080i... Will only work if you change the cable as suggested.

Sky is broadcast in PAL (576i) which is the standard definition TV broadcast format...so Sky will continue to look cr@p unless it's upscaled (which it isn't) or you go MySky or Freeview HD...
You may be able to improve the Sky image slighlty by using a SCART to Component cable (instead of the 'yellow' one).... You'll still get a 576i resolution, but the picture quality and colour will improve. You can find out if your decoder will support SCART to component by going to your decoder settings-advanced-SCART setup ...there should be an option to change to component.

Hope this info helps

Nety

2584 posts

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#178594 18-Nov-2008 15:27

ShaneT:
Does your DVD player do upscaling? ...if so you may see an improvement (depending on the upscaler) with your DVDs if you upscale them from 720p (standard DVD definition) to 1080i...

DVD's are SD ie 576p not 720p. 720p is a HD standard and only possible using an HD source.

To answer the OP's question. If you DVD player has HDMI then by all means use it or you will get just as good a picture using component which uses three cables for the picture (green, blue and red) and red and white for sound.
It will not look as good as Blu ray but will look a lot better then what you have now.

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ShaneT

62 posts

Master Geek

#178602 18-Nov-2008 16:33

DVD's are SD ie 576p not 720p. 720p is a HD standard and only possible using an HD source..

Nety, Indeed you are correct ...

Msian, appolgies for the mis-informed advise - native DVD format is 576i, some players can de-interlace to 576p.