hdmi or opitical

[dohpredator]

i want to know what is the best hook up to use hdmi or optical? i have a yamaha rx-v2600 that has hdmi outputs. i have a sony bdp-s300 blu-ray and a toshiba hd-dvd

 

[jamie2112]

i want to know what is the best hook up to use hdmi or optical? i have a yamaha rx-v2600 that has hdmi outputs.

For ? What do you want to hook up?

 

[Stripes]

i want to know what is the best hook up to use hdmi or optical? i have a yamaha rx-v2600 that has hdmi outputs. i have a sony bdp-s300 blu-ray and a toshiba hd-dvd

What Display are you using? If you have a 1080p then you will cheat yourself with HDMI becuase the rx-v2600 will not process a 1080p picture. If you have less than a 1080p then go with HDMI. If you have a 1080p it would be better to hook up HDMI from source to display then optical to reciever.

 

[The Dukester]

I agree with Stripes. Since you mentioned optical, I assume you are more concerned with audio than video. It depends on what you want or value the most and, as mentioned, what your display's native res is. The two advantages for using HDMI would be having a one cable connection and you can take advantage of some of the high res audio tracks. Using optical will only give you the core DTS or DD track.

Not sure which Toshiba unit you have so can't say for sure on that one, but the Sony BD will decode True HD if you have the latest firmware and will send that PCM to the 2600 which will play it. Some folks claim they can't hear the difference in True HD and reg DD and some want the "best" whether they can or not. I suggest you try both and let your ears be your guide if you have both of the cables.

As mentioned, 1080i for video will be the best you will get out of the 2600 if you use HDMI. Then again, depending on your screen size and veiwing distance, some say they can't tell the diff in 1080p and 1080i, either.

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

 

[jliedeka]

If you are concerned about audio, HDMI will give you access to the better codecs available on Blue Ray and HD DVD. Optical will let you get standard Dolby Digital and DTS plus ES and EX versions. You need HDMI to get DTS-MA or Dolby True HD.

I would presume you wouldn't lose anything with video as long as any upscaling is done in either the player or the TV. Your receiver should pass the video through at least.

Jim

 

[dohpredator]

i have a 1080p tv its a mitsubishi dlp 65inch. i figured the yamaha receiver would just pass through the 1080p video.

 

[randy98ss]

The Yamaha RX-V2600 will not pass through 1080p. I used to use that model as my main receiver and it would only pass 1080i.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Yamaha RX-V2600 will not pass through 1080p. I used to use that model as my main receiver and it would only pass 1080i.

Yikes. So if it does not pass-through 1080p, then I guess it would downscale to 1080i, then send it to the TV, which will then upscale back to 1080p?

1) If you are not using TrueHD or DTS-HD MA, then you could just hook HDMI straight from the player to the TV, assuming your TV will accept 1080p, unlike my Mitsubishi TV which only accepts 1080i and upscale to 1080p. Then use Optical for your receiver.

2) You could also get a HDMI splitter ($50) that will take one HDMI 1080p Input and split into two 1080p Outputs (one for receiver to get PCM TrueHD/DTS-MA) and one for TV for 1080p.

Personally, I would just use the HDMI cable and not use the Optical.