My misadventures with HDMI and why it should be dragged out back and shot

[stratman]

You got that right! HD is the cool word nowadays for marketing. You know what I saw the other day? HD EYEGLASSES! lollll. I didn't know our vision had a definition. Is it interlaced or progressive? Then I hope it supports HDMI 1.3! lol

I saw that on TV! I didn't know if I should get angry or laugh! HD has become the de facto catch phrase for anything cool, remember "hi-tech", when everything was "hi-tech?" Or "Space-Age", that's an oldie, but that was everywhere.

 

[flexodude]

Hold off buying HDMI cable

I'm glad I stumbled onto this discussion, I was just about to order a HDMI cable because my new Panasonic Plasma, only has 2 component inputs, and I have 3 component devices I'd like to attach.

The SA 8300HD PVR can use HDMI output, but after reading this I might stick to the component hookup and switch the Playstation 2 to S-Video.

SA 8300HD PVR - Component direct to plasma, audio to Yamaha
Pioneer DVD - Component direct to plasma, audio to Yamaha
Playstation 2 - S-Video direct to plasma, audio to Yamaha

I will do this for now, until I've read more. I only hooked it up yesterday, and watching the Montreal - Boston game in HD last night, was simply amazing.

 

[mouettus]

was simply amazing.

Amazing?! They lost the game again! How low will they go?! They face elimination now! Can't wait to see their performance on monday.

 

[Hi Ho]

I'm glad I stumbled onto this discussion, I was just about to order a HDMI cable because my new Panasonic Plasma, only has 2 component inputs, and I have 3 component devices I'd like to attach.

I say give it a shot. You can get a good HDMI cable for around $6.

Reading this thread may make it sound like HDMI is nothing but trouble but in my experience as an installer it really isn't. A few years ago I may have stated otherwise but it has been a really long time since I've seen any compatibility issues relating to HDMI and I work with a wide variety of equipment and use HDMI connections as much as possible.

 

[TLS Guy]

I say give it a shot. You can get a good HDMI cable for around $6.

Reading this thread may make it sound like HDMI is nothing but trouble but in my experience as an installer it really isn't. A few years ago I may have stated otherwise but it has been a really long time since I've seen any compatibility issues relating to HDMI and I work with a wide variety of equipment and use HDMI connections as much as possible.

I think you probably install equipment that is of the same era. If you mix equipment that is over a year apart you can have trouble. In my case the equipment was 18 months apart, and the HDCP codes would not talk. I have a fundamental objection to that.
I like your speakers and sub by the way. Nice to see another set of DIY speakers on the forums. That's the way to go. Good chance they are a cut above the pack.

 

[danp]

...No matter what I do, I cannot get my Denon 2910 DVD/SACD (HDMI ver 1.1) to shake hands with my Denon 3808 receiver (ver 1.3a) over HDMI. Rather than bitstream dts or DD in its native form, it is converted (or perhaps decoded at the 3808) to PCM. I was going to post this thread last night but I wanted to make sure this hadn't been solved with a firmware upgrade. Upgraded firmware for both the 2910 and the 3808, still no dice.
I know there are some of you who will say, who cares? PCM sounds just fine. Problem is, I only get 5 flags (+- a LFE) flag at the receiver end, even with dts-es sources -- so the SB channel is at best matrixed. Yup, so here I am with this fancy new receiver and I still have to use a coax cable to get an "uncompromised" digital audio signal....

I sympathize. I have the exact same setup: 3808 with a 2910. The 3808 always reads MULTI CH IN, whether the 2910 is set to multi(normal) or multi(lpcm). There are a few other reports on this over in AVS Forum.

What's happening is that the 2910 is decoding DD and DTS and sending it as lpcm. I suspect that the 2910 isn't recognizing the 3808 as hdmi 1.1 compatible for some reason, a bug (how do you test 1.1 to 1.3 compatibility when 1.3 is in the future?). But hey, there just ain't that many dts-es dvds on my shelf.

This all goes away when my new 3800BDCI comes in. There simply comes a time when you have to reboot the whole architecture and get new stuff front to back. HDMI 1.3a is that time. Yeah, expensive to refresh all the gear, but it seems necessary to get it all working together correctly.