HD-DVD Officially HDMI Only?

[jimquinn]

What about the a/v receiver, I route all my devices to the receiver then the video from the receiver to the tv? Looks like another glitch in the plan.

[edDV]

What about the a/v receiver, I route all my devices to the receiver then the video from the receiver to the tv? Looks like another glitch in the plan.

Not a glitch at all, the plan calls for the a total replacement of the video path with "approved" and secure devices. Most people will tie this together with DVR's supplied by their cable or DBS supplier. Microsoft and Apple will also get into the act with secure home media servers.

[junkmalle]

You'll probably need "digital" speakers too -- speakers that will accept an encrypted digital stream. Then the A/V receiver is nothing more than a switchbox.

[waheed]

The question is will the audio also be outputed by digital via HDMI, or will there be an option to output via analog.

Current high definition audio (for example DVD AUDIO) have been prevented from playback via digital, though the content is also encrypted. DVD AUDIO can only be played back via analog output.

It is uncertain to say at this stage, but I think audio will be restricted via HDMI only. But that poses a problem for those who want to use DVI (which uses HDCP) as DVI is video output only.

[ebenton]

Like I said earlier, I have an HDTV with HDMI input and a DVR with HDMI output. I have the DVR optical output going to my AV receiver optical input. I have the DVR component output going to my AV component inputs and the AV component outputs going to my HDTV component inputs. When I switch my HDTV to use the HDMI connector, I lose Dolby Digital, because the DVR detects the HDMI is being used and switches off its optical output. Since HDMI is also supposed to carry audio, I guess the programmers of the DVR firmware decided it didn't also need to put audio out of any other outputs at the same time.
There may be some way around this, such as outputting optical from my TV back to the AV receiver, but I haven't really looked into it or tried it. I just never use HDMI. Hopefully, these types of problems will not occur in the future, especialy if you don't have the latest hardware.

[lumis]

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12115

hmmm... :P

[BJ_M]

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12115

hmmm... :P

already posted here https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1339930#1339930

[Long Rifle]

My 3-year old HDTV only has DVI. For anyone else out there with the same dilema, Monster Cable has HDMI to DVI adaptors and cables:

http://monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=2377

[edDV]

My 3-year old HDTV only has DVI. For anyone else out there with the same dilema, Monster Cable has HDMI to DVI adaptors and cables:

http://monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=2377

But your DVI will need to support HDCP encryption to play HD DVD.

[Long Rifle]

My 3-year old HDTV only has DVI. For anyone else out there with the same dilema, Monster Cable has HDMI to DVI adaptors and cables:

http://monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=2377

But your DVI will need to support HDCP encryption to play HD DVD.

Isn't that the whole point of DVI and then HDMI to begin with? Or am I missing something here? I thought my only worry would be the separate audio channels that DVI doesn't have.

[edDV]

My 3-year old HDTV only has DVI. For anyone else out there with the same dilema, Monster Cable has HDMI to DVI adaptors and cables:

http://monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=2377

But your DVI will need to support HDCP encryption to play HD DVD.

Isn't that the whole point of DVI and then HDMI to begin with? Or am I missing something here? I thought my only worry would be the separate audio channels that DVI doesn't have.

DVI is a hardware interface, HDCP is an encryption/decryption scheme.
If you don't see it in your TV spec, you probably don't have it.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/FAQ/HDTV_12.asp
http://www.projectorpeople.com/tutorials/HDCP_DVI.asp

[paulw]

Hi guys. Why are you all buying into this "Must have HDV or I'll die" ?? Call Hollywood's bluff and stick with regular DVD..

[akrako1]

Hi guys. Why are you all buying into this "Must have HDV or I'll die" ?? Call Hollywood's bluff and stick with regular DVD..

I'm assuming that you don't have a HDTV or you wouldn't be making such a claim. Now that I've seen HD Movies thru my HD cable, I can deffenetly see what standard-def DVD's are missing - as most people should be able to by simply looking at the picture - it's pretty dramatic. As this site tends to cater to video-philes, I think you're preaching to the wrong crowd. But go ahead, stick with your 480 lines of information - and unfortunately, your TV probably can't even display them all... I'll stick with my 1080.

[waheed]

HD does look very good (seen it on my PC Terminator 2 Extreme DVD in WMV HD), but fortunately, poeple here in the UK have not adopted HD yet and are still behind in technology. Its good to know what format will support HDTV, so in future, when HDTVs are readily available in the UK, we could look out for one with HDMI.

There are some so called "HD Ready" sets available in the UK, but those aren't true HD. They are just capable of accepting HD signals (720p, 1080i), but actually downscale the resolution to the TVs max supported resolution. You want one that supports at least 1920 X 1080 pixels.

[edDV]

HD does look very good (seen it on my PC Terminator 2 Extreme DVD in WMV HD), but fortunately, poeple here in the UK have not adopted HD yet and are still behind in technology. Its good to know what format will support HDTV, so in future, when HDTVs are readily available in the UK, we could look out for one with HDMI.

There are some so called "HD Ready" sets available in the UK, but those aren't true HD. They are just capable of accepting HD signals (720p, 1080i), but actually downscale the resolution to the TVs max supported resolution. You want one that supports at least 1920 X 1080 pixels.

At the component analog (576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i) or DVI/HDMI digital (576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i and potentially 1080p) connector stage everything is decompressed to base RGB or YUV for direct display. That is why Hollywood wants to control the signal at this point.

Most HDTV sets are only capable of display at far lower resolutions. Typical "HD Ready" display resolutions are.

LCD: 856 x 480/576 progressive EDTV (Note: in US market, these are not considered HD Ready)
Plasma: 856 x 480/576 progressive EDTV (Note: in US market, these are not considered HD Ready)

CRT: 850-1280 x 1080 interlace or progressive HDTV

LCD: 850-1280 x 1080 progressive HDTV (low end)

LCD: 1280-1440 x 1080 progressive HDTV (mid level)
Plasma: 1280-1440 x 1080 progressive HDTV (mid level)

LCD: 1920 x 1080 progressive HDTV (high level)
Plasma: 1920 x 1080 progressive HDTV (high level)

I'll skip projection systems for now for simplicity. Note that LCD and plasma are native progressive so analog or digital 480i, 576i, or 1080i <*must*> be deinterlaced whereas CRT can directly display interlace.

In a mixed signal enviroment this is an advantage for the CRT since current internal deinterlacers produce significant artifacts. For this reason I argue that a CRT makes a great "entry" HDTV since it can natively handle interlace and progressive at different resolutions.

Over time, broadcast content will shift to progressive and internal deinterlacers will improve favoring LCD, plasma and other progressive displays.

[junkmalle]

In my experience there are very few HDTV models with true 1080 i or p resolution. Most are 1280x768 or thereabouts. They downconvert 1080 material down to 768 for display.

I wish the FCC had set a single HDTV resolution, 1080p.

[edDV]

In my experience there are very few HDTV models with true 1080 i or p resolution. Most are 1280x768 or thereabouts. They downconvert 1080 material down to 768 for display.

1280x768 is the sweet spot* for LCD and plasma @ $3000-5000 but most fall short of that. Many cheaper LCD's are 856x768 (EDTV) or 1024x768 ("HD Ready")native.

There are plenty of more expensive plasmas and some LCDs at native 1440x1080 and a few very expensive sets capable of full 1920x1080 native.

CRT sets can almost all handle 1080i (540p) natively but with horizontal resolutions maxing out in the 850-1000 range.


* 1280x768 is great since it allows direct display of 720p progressive broadcasts without scaling.

[edDV]

...

I wish the FCC had set a single HDTV resolution, 1080p.

It will be awhile before we can all afford 1080p (1920X1080) displays but that will be the native resolution for high def DVD. Films are currently being transferred to 1080p (digital storage) for future release on HD DVD. Broadcast transfers are currently being done to 1080i tape. Those are what we see now on broadcast TV.

I'm still not sure if ABC is getting true 720p transfers off the 1080p masters or if they are converting 1080i tapes to 720p.

[junkmalle]

It will be awhile before we can all afford 1080p (1920X1080) displays...

Yes but that's mostly because of market segmentation. There are $500 21 inch CRT computer monitors that can handle 2048x1536p. Even ~20 inch LCD monitors that can handle 1600x1200 for about $1000. Obviously larger displays would cost more but the only reason the cheapest 1080i/p display is over $5000 is because the industry is soaking those that can offord it -- and fooling most purchaser into buying ~720p displays (or less). Most people I know who've bought HDTV's don't have any idea what 720p and 1080i are.

IF the FCC had set a single 1080p resolution and required any device that claims to be HDTV to be able to display that resolution natively there would be affordable 1080p HDTVs now.