HDMI Connections and Interface - A Beginner's Guide

[Clint DeBoer]

<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT size=2><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/hdmi-interface-a-beginners-guide"><IMG style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 157px" alt=[HDMI_female] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/hdmi-interface-a-beginners-guide/image_mini" align=left border=0></A>Starting around 2003 we saw a rapid adoption of the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) across the digital consumer market. This included DTVs, high definition set –top boxes and computer graphics boards. By the end of that year, well over 500 consumer electronics products featured a DVI connection, with approximately 80% of DTVs shipped to the US using that technology. Later in the year, HDMI also emerged as a digital transmission format, but addressed some specific needs tailored to the consumer electronics market. <A href="http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/hdmi-interface-a-beginners-guide">Read on</A> to learn everything there is to know about HDMI.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P><P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">[<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/hdmi-interface-a-beginners-guide">Read About HDMI</A>]</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>

[racquetman]

If that's the beginner's guide, people's heads are going to explode when you post the expert guide :D

[Clint DeBoer]

Haha, well its written a bit for both I suppose.

It covers much of the spec while interjecting explanations in more simplified language for much of the important stuff. We've been talking with people at HDMI.org and wanted to make some of the aspects and capabilities of the relatively new format available so readers could understand why it's such a big deal.

The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) features are especially impressive and should really revolutionize home theater systems once effectively implemented.

[HookedOnSound]

Thanks for posting the guide,

I myself can't wait until all connections are the same (HDMI), imaging the real estate retrieved in the back of receivers!

I have never been satisfied with the spacing for speaker posts/terminals (I got big/clumsy hands), I have gone with banana plugs strictly for ease of installation, this should give them no excuse (spacing). :p

[rockymtnman]

What is the difference bitween switching and upscaling and up conversion? Also, if I buy a receiver that has switching, do I need to get a dvd player that is already hdmi capable to have the hdmi quality? I am getting the Westinghouse lvm42w2.

[MDS]

What is the difference bitween switching and upscaling and up conversion?
- Switching: all receivers switch between sources. If you have a dvd player and a set-top box connected to the receiver, when you press 'dvd' the receiver switches to the dvd player; ie the video and the audio now comes from the dvd player. Press 'Video1' (if that is the input where the set-top box is connected) and now all the audio and video comes from the set-top box.

- Upscaling: Changing from one resolution to another. If eg you are viewing Standard Definition video from a DVD with a resolution of 480i and you have the receiver or dvd player set to upscale to 720p, then it adds lines to the image so that its resolution is now 720 lines instead of 480. The purpose is to match the resolution of the TV. Some receivers and dvd players include upscaling and all HDTVs scale.

- Upconversion: The technical term is actually 'transcoding'; ie changing from one format to another. Upconversion is sort of the simplified colloquial term that everyone uses instead. Upconversion is for the case where you have different source devices using different connections and you want to output using one common connection. For example, the dvd player is using s-video and the set-top box is using composite video but you have component video connections to the TV. The receiver can convert composite and s-video to component video.

Also, if I buy a receiver that has switching, do I need to get a dvd player that is already hdmi capable to have the hdmi quality?
The dvd player has to have hdmi outputs. If your receiver has hdmi inputs and outputs you can connect it to the receiver instead of directly to the tv and the receiver can switch between it and other connected devices. If you want to use HDMI output to the TV along with other devices that do not have HDMI outputs, then the receiver must also be able to transcode the other formats (composite, s-video, component) to HDMI.

[rockymtnman]

- Switching: all receivers switch between sources. If you have a dvd player and a set-top box connected to the receiver, when you press 'dvd' the receiver switches to the dvd player; ie the video and the audio now comes from the dvd player. Press 'Video1' (if that is the input where the set-top box is connected) and now all the audio and video comes from the set-top box.

- Upscaling: Changing from one resolution to another. If eg you are viewing Standard Definition video from a DVD with a resolution of 480i and you have the receiver or dvd player set to upscale to 720p, then it adds lines to the image so that its resolution is now 720 lines instead of 480. The purpose is to match the resolution of the TV. Some receivers and dvd players include upscaling and all HDTVs scale.

- Upconversion: The technical term is actually 'transcoding'; ie changing from one format to another. Upconversion is sort of the simplified colloquial term that everyone uses instead. Upconversion is for the case where you have different source devices using different connections and you want to output using one common connection. For example, the dvd player is using s-video and the set-top box is using composite video but you have component video connections to the TV. The receiver can convert composite and s-video to component video.


The dvd player has to have hdmi outputs. If your receiver has hdmi inputs and outputs you can connect it to the receiver instead of directly to the tv and the receiver can switch between it and other connected devices. If you want to use HDMI output to the TV along with other devices that do not have HDMI outputs, then the receiver must also be able to transcode the other formats (composite, s-video, component) to HDMI.
thanks for your help....is there a device that will upscale and/or transcode that can be added to a system if the receiver doesn't have that capability?

[MDS]

thanks for your help....is there a device that will upscale and/or transcode that can be added to a system if the receiver doesn't have that capability?

Sure. DVDO is one that seems to be highly regarded. I have no experience with any of them personally but you might try a search of the forums because they have been discussed many times. Use search terms like 'video scaler', 'upconversion', 'transcoding', etc or even post a new topic and you're sure to get good replies from those knowledgeable about video.

[rockymtnman]

thanks again MDS, I appreciate all your insight.

[pjviitas]

HDMI is a good send for folks who connect computers to their A/V systems

[pjviitas]

god-send even

[avliner]

- - Upscaling: Changing from one resolution to another. If eg you are viewing Standard Definition video from a DVD with a resolution of 480i and you have the receiver or dvd player set to upscale to 720p, then it adds lines to the image so that its resolution is now 720 lines instead of 480. The purpose is to match the resolution of the TV. Some receivers and dvd players include upscaling and all HDTVs scale.

According to the above explanation, I'd like to say that on another thread on this forum (CD / DVD) , I described my new DVD (Pioneer DV -696-AS) as being an upconverting unit, but it's an upsacling one, as I can match the resolution of my TV from it. The upconversion is done by the 3806 (HDMI to TV).

That makes much more sense now, as I've seen a considerable picture improvement after using HDMI connections though (HDMI out from dvd to 3806 & HDMI monitor out to TV). It really makes a difference!

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers / Avliner.

[avliner]

Does anybody knows whether my conclusion is right??


According to the above explanation, I'd like to say that on another thread on this forum (CD / DVD) , I described my new DVD (Pioneer DV -696-AS) as being an upconverting unit, but it's an upsacling one, as I can match the resolution of my TV from it. The upconversion is done by the 3806 (HDMI to TV).

That makes much more sense now, as I've seen a considerable picture improvement after using HDMI connections though (HDMI out from dvd to 3806 & HDMI monitor out to TV). It really makes a difference!

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers / Avliner.

[MDS]

What conclusion - that your picture quality was considerably improved using HDMI? Only you can make that conclusion.

If you have HDMI out from the DVD player to the receiver and HDMI out from the receiver to the TV, then there is no upconversion. Upconversion ('transcoding') would occur if it were component video to receiver and HDMI to TV.

If you were playing a standard def DVD, then either the player or TV must scale the image to the TV's resolution. You would have to verify that the player is set to upscale because if it isn't the TV will do it anyway.

[avliner]

Thanks MDS,

yeah, that's what I tought, after reading your explanation in another thread.
So, it's also correct to say that "upscaling" will only occur thru HHDMI?

Cheers / Avliner.

[paradox]

Can somebody please elaborate on what effect the HDCP content protection will have? If I want to run mythTV (http://www.mythtv.org/) under linux on my HTPC, will I not be able to use HDMI? Will my expensive TV suddenly stop displaying HDMI content because I plugged in a new device that marked my TV as a 'compromised display device'. What exactly is a 'compromised display device' anyway?

I must say that I like HDMI but the HDCP and in particular the 'renewable' part of the content protection sounds pretty Orwellian.

[pjviitas]

I have been pumping HDMI video and digital coax sound out of my MythTV box through my Sony STR-DG800 for a couple of weeks now without any problems.

I will run some illicit material through my MythTV box and let you know if something blows up.

[pjviitas]

Dual layer copy of Star Trek Nemesis-No problems
DIVX of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith-No problems

Now as long as no one tells on me I should be fine.

[paradox]

Hey, thanks for that, thats great news! I guess the other thing I was worried about was if it all works now can't it be arbitrary 'turned off' in the future? Can anybody give me more information about what the media companies would regard as a 'compromised display device'?

I guess what I am worried about is I will invest in a fancy and rather expensive HDTV. 6 months after it is released somebody will figure out you can pry a panel off the back and plug into some output there and make copies of all your DVDs, etc. My model of TV gets marked as a 'compromised display device' then sooner or later bam! No more HDTV for me.

Does anybody know if thats the way its supposed to work?

[pjviitas]

I think DTCP and HDCP will be more of a battle between content providers than anything and prbably doomed to failure.

Consider this:
Content provider "A" streams HDCP content devices while content provider "B" streams non HDCP content.

So for arguments sake lets just say that everyone who has been watching content provider "B" streams has their devices locked out from watching HDCP content because they where watching content provider "B".

This will result in content provider "A" losing viewers and the battle begins.

This scenario does not even take into account people who for one reason or another decide to stream their content over coax, composite, s-video or component. All of these non HDCP capable streams would technically lock their devices out from watching HDCP content.

I think the only way that HDCP content will work is if every single content provider streams it and if every single content user is conected via HDMI...and whats the odds of that happening?

Just my 2 cents.

Best Regards, Hedgehog

P.S. When I say "stream content" I mean from any A/V source which would include CD player, DVD player, Cable and SAT sources, etc.

[Phantomguy]

I have posted this problem on two other threads but to date NOT ONE single reply .. even tho Clint and Gene were invited to contribute their wealth of knowledge ... so I have taken the liberty of posting here too as there must be thousands of audiohlics with problem or yet to discover it, where they have DVI ported display devices......

================================================== ========
POST 1:

Purchased BenQ PE8700+ 12 months ago. Proprietary delinterlace and scaler were hopeless esp on signals received thru DVI input. eg 1080i->540p and other lower resolutions the aspect ratio is impossible to get right... ssems as tho it is "dropping" vertical lines while maintaining width.. Also it doesnt seem to have any resizing to fill "full screen". Digital Cable signals even worse ... 30% compressed width but full height???? etc etc So gave up on the BenQ internal video processing

So 6 months ago after throrough reading the Yammie 2600 manual and discusing with Yammie customer support purchased the 260 to do all the video processing and just put native 720p into the 8700+. Also hoping the reduced load on the processor will stop fast motion "jaggies".

Found out much later that HDMI source input DOESNT UPSCALE (Shame!) 2700 same! So I have been attempting to upgrade just he analog sources input to the 2600 and using the HDMI MONITOR OUT to the DVI-I port of a BenQ PE8700+ 720p DLP Projector. But the ONLY options I get on the GUI to output are "Through" (no upscaling) and 576p (I'm running PAL so it the equivalent of your 480p).

Yamaha told me forcefully 6 months ago that it was the BenQ that needed an firmware update to its EDID table which is supposed to send back on DVI pin 7the DDC signal with Basic EDID and Extended EDID the display capabilty of the projector. It appeared at first that he BenQ had been programmed to send 576p (or 480p) whereas is should have been sending "I am a 720p"! BenQ claim there is no firmware upgrade for this and they are "sure" the EDID table would be correct (sure???? Yeah).

Later BenQ told me that the DVI port was NEVER fully implemented ... was just VESA standard for PC connection but not CE Standard for Broadcast Video. (Great they didnt tell me before I bought the BenQ one year ago .. or at least some time in the last year of constant hassling with them about various issues including poor de-interlacing and scaling by their onboard proprietary processor esp via DVI). Back to the Yammie ..

Earlier tonite I was reading a "white paper" on the incompatibity of PC based Vesa DDC and TV/Video based CE EDID .. and then I read a posting elsewhere on Audioholics of a problem which looked very much the same a mine. It quoted Yammie engineers allegedly confirming that there was an "undershoot" fault on the DDC line on all 2600s manufactures before April 2006 and there may be a Yammie fix for this (unclear). Anyone know about this?

But as of the last post their 6 months ago there was no solution.

Oh, by the way I got a similar result inputting both 2700/2600 to a Sharp XVZ2000 DVI port recently but in that case (worse) I could not even select 576p (480p) and the only choice was "Through". However the white paper suggested that same EDID tables (or is it HDMI senders?) may default to 576p (480p) where there is "no handshaking at all", but I tend to think in such as case the Yammie would just say HDMI error and/or HDCP error and give no display ???? .

Has anyone had this type of Problem Upscaling Yammie HDMI-> Projector DVI .. and solved it?

If NOT, Clint/Gene do you have any info on this incompatibility. I haven't yet seen a Review on the 2700, and I tried one last week into the BenQ DVI port and the Sharp DVI port in an attempt to sort out this problem but the results was identical to the 2600 ... that is it cant get upscaling above 576p (480p) (because 720p and 1080i are greyed out on the Yammie GUI)
Desparate Now.:(
P.G
================================================== =======
POST2:

Here is an update on my posting earlier today.....

Well how is this for BAD news and BAD customer service from the CE industry ... gross customer neglect, in fact!

I managed to chase up with the Yamie 2700 Specialist Support this "supposed" problem of "undershooting" on the DDC line of the HDMI interface of the 2700/2600. Earlier this year they had logged with the Japan factory the problem of the inability to upscale in the GUI to 720p and 1080i for HDMI to DVI connections in the case of the VAST MAJORITY of display devices INCLUDING their own range of Yammie Plasma panels with DVI-D inputs which they were still supplying until 12-18months ago.

HE CONFIRMED THAT THE UNFORESEEN PROBLEM WAS THAT THE EXTENDED EDID DATA IN THE DVI (WHICH IS BASED ON VESA STANDARD FOR PC IS DIFFERENT TO THAT FOR CE WHICH THE HDMI USES) .... SO HDMI IS NOT 100% BACKWARD COMPATIBLE WITH DVI. I THINK THAT'S WHAT HE SAID.

Japan has refused to do anything about changing their software (for GUI) to accommodate users worldwide who have DVI ported displays as they consider it is a DVI problem not within the scope of the HDMI standards, even though they initially advertised and promoted the 2600 as DVI backward compatible.

In Feb 2006 the factory issue a bulletin making their network aware of this problem and making it clear that they will not provide any solution to this problem.

I asked the Yammie guy why couldnt they provide a manual intervention as was suggested in one industry white paper about 12 months ago (i.e. for customers to override and force an output resolution eg 720p out of the 2700/2600 much like we all used to do with PC Video card resolutions and where the Monitor could not support the setting we just went back and selected a lower setting). He replied that he was in no doubt Japan could do it if they wished and provide a firmware upgraded to load it, but he says Japan has the view that there is not enough customer demand/pressure to do this.

C'MON! HOW MANY CUSTOMERS ARE THERE WORLD WIDE THAT HAVE DISPLAYS WITH DVI -INPUT THAT ARE NOT YET READY TO THROW AWAY DISPLAYS THEY HAVE PURCHASED AND ARE ABOUT TO PURCHASE A 2700 OR 2600 OR A MARANTZ OR PIONEER OR DENON ETC FOR THAT MATTER.

MAYBE EVEN HDMI STANDRADS HAVE LOCKED US IN TOO MUCH ... WHY SHOULDN'T THAT STANDARD PROVIDE A FAILSAFE (OVERRIDE) FOR THIS TYPE OF PROBLEM.

FELLOW AUDIOHOLIUCS AND THE MILLIONS OF OTHERS OUT THERE NEED TO PUT PRESSURE ON THE HDMI STANDARDS CORP AND EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS TO NOT LEAVE US IN THE IN THE COLD AND HIGH AND DRY!

CLINT/GENE HOW CAN SE GET A BETTER DEAL FROM THE INDUSTRY ON THIS DISGRACEFUL SITUATION?

Hope us consumers have some power to get a fair deal.:mad:

What say you?
PG.
================================================== ======
Hoping for some serious helpful replies by posting in this thread!

[paradox]

Hi,
You sound pretty annoyed there :-) Now I am no audiophile but it sounds to me like you should try and return your Yammaha receiver if at all possible. I depends on where you bought it but a lot of large retailers have pretty generous return policies, though you might be pushing it if you bought it 6 months ago.

I don't know about the consumer protection laws where you live but in Australia if you buy a product for a specific purpose and it doesn't fulfill that purpose you are entitled to your money back or an exchange for a similar product. So as long as you told the saleperson "I want this receiver so I can send 1080i to to my DVI projector" and they said that it would work fine, then you might have something to go on.

good luck!

[Phantomguy]

Thx Paradox, you are right. Yamaha HQ will take it back no problems, but I am not confident that any of the other Mainstream AVRs with HDMI will plug and play with a DVI projector for the reasons I said in my first post. So I will not have any video upscaling done before the projector. And the projector has a HORRIBLE deinterlacer and upscaler and (no) resizer... unless I buy a $4000 separate video upscaler. Even then I'm no sure again about its ability to send ANY "unvalidated" user selectable format to the projector (of course all that is provided its within the projector's range).

At present BenQ have reluctantly agreed to "look at" upgrading their projector's EDID table to suit HDMI but the "promise" may come to nothing. They see these DVI ported display devices as 12 months or more superceded having been spec'ed in 2001 and product designed in 2003, despite still in production until 2004 and selling that production until mid-late 2005 when they next introduced the PE8720 with a HDMI input-port. Even that product is about to be superceded with the W1000 - a 1080p projector.

If I didnt say in my original posting ... Yamaha refuses to do any firmware updates to their HDMI functions to read or overrride DVI display data .. even to plug to yamaha's own flat panels that had DVI inputs until 12- 18 months ago.

The industry ethics on such support issues are very very poor. They could take a lesson form PC equipment and pcb suppliers who provide firmware updates to their BIOS's, Video cards, Sound Cards, drivers etc for at least a few years.

My posting was -
(a) to see how much of a problem this is becoming to other owners of DVI display devices and stir up support for pressure on manufacturers and on HDMI LLC. to do what they always said about "DVI backward compatibility" and
(b) the see if anyone had a workaround or some inexpensive gear placed between the AVR and the projector which can be set to send back to the HDMI of the AVR the info that "Hey I am a 720p display device so send that format to me).
Thx for yr interest
PG
Hi,
You sound pretty annoyed there :-) Now I am no audiophile but it sounds to me like you should try and return your Yammaha receiver if at all possible. I depends on where you bought it but a lot of large retailers have pretty generous return policies, though you might be pushing it if you bought it 6 months ago.

I don't know about the consumer protection laws where you live but in Australia if you buy a product for a specific purpose and it doesn't fulfill that purpose you are entitled to your money back or an exchange for a similar product. So as long as you told the saleperson "I want this receiver so I can send 1080i to to my DVI projector" and they said that it would work fine, then you might have something to go on.

good luck!

[FVaiden]

I just ordered by Pioneer VSX 2016 & Plasma set. My DVD doesn't have HDMI out, but the receiver & TV (in) have so I have the option to connect receiver with TV using HDMI & use the upconverting feature of the receiver so I only have 1 HDMI cable to the TV. Currently I don't have any sources that can connect to the receiver using HDMI. Because I still have to buy the cables, I wonder if it makes sense to connect DVD->receiver using component, and receiver->TV using HDMI with respect to the quality. Would using component in both cases provide (noticeable) superior quality (because the receiver does nothing with the signal)? The manual somewhere says that THX recommends setting the video convertor off...

[Phantomguy]

I just ordered by Pioneer VSX 2016 & Plasma set. My DVD doesn't have HDMI out, but the receiver & TV (in) have so I have the option to connect receiver with TV using HDMI & use the upconverting feature of the receiver so I only have 1 HDMI cable to the TV. Currently I don't have any sources that can connect to the receiver using HDMI. Because I still have to buy the cables, I wonder if it makes sense to connect DVD->receiver using component, and receiver->TV using HDMI with respect to the quality. Would using component in both cases provide (noticeable) superior quality (because the receiver does nothing with the signal)? The manual somewhere says that THX recommends setting the video convertor off...

Hi FV...,
Point 1: manuals always quote THX to set video upconversion OFF. Dont know why. Anyone? Probably just a pureist thing. Cant see how it affects sounds functions at all.

Point 2: if your AVR DOES upscale (your post is a bit unclear as you say "does nothing to the signal") I would expect that your AVR only upscales anolog IN and outputs it as digital (HDMI) as my Yamaha does. (Strange these AVRS dont upscale digital IN and/or output upscaled signal as an option to analogue/component OUT). But if you are lucku and your AVR DOES upscale HDMI IN, when you get new sources, I would connect everthing with HDMI so there is no quality losses during DAC and reverse and any re-reverses. Each time you convert, you will lose some quality.

Point 3: Based on your current sources and if your AVR wont upscale HDMI IN signals, just use Y-Pb-Pr or RGB component OUT from sources and into AVR - then select (analog -> digital) Conversion, then select I->P (deinterlacing) ONLY if your source is Interlaced, then select upscale to ... (whatever the native resolution of your display is (720p, or 1080i or 1080p); and of course, before attempting to set these video processes you must connect the AVRs HDMI MONITOR OUT to the HDMI of the TV. THIS WAY YOU WILL HAVE THE MINMUM OF CONVERSIONS AND SCALINGS.

[FVaiden]

Thanks PG.

So you are suggesting to use one HDMI cable AVR->TV and use the conversion function for all (analog) sources.
The confusion bit (does nothing to the signal) I can clarify: I wondered if connecting component DVD->AVR and again component AVR->TV with video convertor OFF would provide better quality than using the conversion & one HDMI cable.
Another question that pops to my mind reading your answer is: my TV can only display up to 1080i. Is this better quality than 720p? (the interlacing stuff....)

[Haoleb]

Hopefully someone can defintively answer this question. can I input HDMI into a reciever and output through component?

My boss seems to think you can, easily. However im not so sure. first of all it defeats the purpose of HDCP, secondly I have seen nowhere in the manual for the denon recievers we install at work that says you can do this. Their video flowchart shows HDMI in ONLY to HDMI out.

[obscbyclouds]

Hopefully someone can defintively answer this question. can I input HDMI into a reciever and output through component?

My boss seems to think you can, easily. However im not so sure. first of all it defeats the purpose of HDCP, secondly I have seen nowhere in the manual for the denon recievers we install at work that says you can do this. Their video flowchart shows HDMI in ONLY to HDMI out.

I've never seen/heard of any recievers that can do this. However, I don't know much about outboard scalers. Someone else can probably help there. You have a good point about HDCP, which is probably the real reason none do it.

[mouettus]

HDMI is a good send for folks who connect computers to their A/V systems

Yeah but still... you're not getting the computer's audio out. :(

I hope they'll come up with a multimedia card (audio and video) for PCs so we can output both signals to the receiver and then receive the hi-def signal and TRUE HD via HDMI from the computer.

[AVRat]

Hopefully someone can defintively answer this question. can I input HDMI into a reciever and output through component?

My boss seems to think you can, easily. However im not so sure. first of all it defeats the purpose of HDCP, secondly I have seen nowhere in the manual for the denon recievers we install at work that says you can do this. Their video flowchart shows HDMI in ONLY to HDMI out.

So far it looks like the upcoming Sherwood Newcastle R-972/872 are the only ones that will be able to do the transcoding (down-conversion). http://www.audioholics.com/news/trade-show-coverage/2007-consumer-electronics-show-ces/sherwood-newcastle-r-972-hdmi-1-3-receiver

[Haoleb]

Thanks for the replies, Its great when you know your right about something. And you actually are! My boss is trying to get us to use HDMI more often so we dont have to make cables, But unless we're just installing a tv and dvd player and thats it, It really doesnt work in our systems. Personally, im not very fond of the format because i didnt have great luck with it in the past. Unfortunatly though it seems like this is where the HD market is heading so we'll see what really ends up happening!

[Mathetes]

I just spent an hour or more on-line with Sony this morning because our new HDTV, after operating flawlessly for a couple weeks, suddenly yesterday started displaying a clipped HD picture. Specifically, the right and left portions of the picture weren't there. All else was still fine, but clearly some of the basic information from the original picture, that which comprised the right and left bars, was simply gone.

We concluded that the problem is most likely in the cable box, either not decoding or not transmitting that portion of the picture ... my question to Sony, which they couldn't answer, is whether the center of a HiDef picture is encoded, compressed, etc., separately from the two side portions. Indeed, from what I have read here and elsewhere, it does appear entirely possible that there is a 4:3 aspect ratio component for the center, and that is supplemented, in full HD, for the full 16:9 picture. So it is possible that those two sections could have gone missing in the cable box. Or IS IT? That's my question...

(I'll add that the section of the picture that does appear is undistorted (no stretching, no compressing (whatever the opposite of stretching would be called), supporting the hypothesis that we're just missing right and left. And I'll also add that the screen works across its face; a DVD played with 16:9 aspect ratio source program will display normally ... again, that seems to support the notion that there's something about the signal coming from the cable box.

I'm just curious on the technology, whether indeed the various sections of the 16:9 full HD picture are "packaged separately" in such a manner that a part of the picture could fail and manifest itself in the manner described.

[Mike4Online]

Clint,

My Oppo 980H DVD player gives me the choice of RGB 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:4:4 or YCbCr 4:2:2, and I am trying to choose the best color quality (My Pioneer Pro150-FD Plasma TV "supports RGB/YCbCr30 bit/36 bit signals").

According to your HDMI Connections Beginners Guide,

"HDMI pixel encoding includes support for RGB 4:4:4 as well as digital TV's YCbCr 4:4:4 amd YCbCr 4:2:2 color spaces. The two 4:4:4 encoding formats are both 8-bit per component sampling for 24-bit per pixel delivery. The 4:2:2 encoding format uses up to 12-bits per component for greater color depth."

However, a Wikipedia article (title = Chroma subsampling; heading = "Types of subsampling) implies that YCbCr 4:4:4 carries more data than YCbcR 4:2:2.

If I go with your article, YCbCr 4:2:2 sounds superior,
but the Wikipedia article suggests YCbCr 4:2:2 trims color info for the sake of greater luminescence info, and that yCbCr 4:4:4 doesn't do this.

I am a "bit" confused!

Any clarification you could provide would be great.

- Michael