HDMI OR COMPONENT?
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I'm looking for some solid info on Component VS HDMI. I want opinions, or good reviews, but most of all the technical "Why" whichever one looks better.
:lol: Thanks,
Stephanie
I think it depends. HD-DVD looks better on component than HDMI on my TV. However, it could be my HDMI is not calibrated properly.
On AVGuide.com, look for the article "Digital Connectivity Explained". You can find this under Tech Briefings (look on the main page, top left) in the TVs/Displays section:
http://www.avguide.com/tech
CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC
I think this mostly depends on the type of tech your TV uses.
Fixed pixel sets like DLP, and LCD seem to see a benefit from HDMI, but even then I would say its normaly small in terms of picture quality.
If you have a older CRT based HDTV like I do, mine has component and digital DVI. To me color actually looks a little richer over component video than DVI, but its a small difference.
To me the difference in quality is not as big as one might think, I think the coolest thing about HDMI is the single connecting cable to transmit both HD quality video and digital audio, that in terms of added convenience is pretty sweet, and a good enough reason to use the tech if you have it available to you.
Case in point though, a buddy of mine goes out, buys a new 50" DLP based set. Gets home, says oh wow, my AV receiver only switches over HD bandwidth component video. Bummer, I want a HDMI switcher to get the best possible quality, so what does he do, goes out, spends about $1200 on a new AV receiver with a HDMI switcher, and he would tell ya, waste of cash, because he honestly can not see the difference, and on top of it, he can realy only hook up one additional HDMI based items, instead of the three component based items. Not to mention his receiver for all that money does not upconvert to HDMI, so now he has to make multiple connections to his DLP set anyway. So here is someone who traded convenience for perceived value in quality, and in his case it was not a good trade off.
The moral of the story, if you have HD component based gear, dont obsess about HDMI for right now. Dont waste money on switching perfectly decent modern components for HDMI yet. HD component video still looks amazing.
If your shopping for new gear however, it would be smart to make sure its HDMI ready, because it does offer a level of value and convenience, and its the future of gear in general. A extra few bucks for a HDMI switcher in a AV receiver, or a TV set with a extra HDMI input or sometimes two more now, may be a good investment. Just dont go trading in perfectly good component video based gear to get it.
Just my 2 cents.
One is analog. One is digital. The rest is common sense.