Hi there, i want to ask a question as im new to the HDMI Features as my brother got an LCD TV, I noticed he has a scart lead from his telly to the dvd player & didnt notice any HDMI cables around, shouldnt he have got one with the telly & get a better picture also i didnt notice a slot for the HDMI cable? The reason im asking this as i was viewing LCD's the previous day at an electrical store & reading up on the literature & offers with the telly's. The salesperson i got talking to (turned out in the end i told her more about it than she did LOL) Also does Most/some LCD's have 2 or 1 HDMI conn's at back? Thanks for any help, as im trying to learn as much as i can before purchasing one in the near f;ture & at the same time getting the best out of my brother's, heh!
I'm not too familiar with British TVs, for some reason they're different from American TVs which is really stupid. It could be, however, that his hi-def signal is delivered to the TV though a DVI cable or the three cable component cables (they are actually three cables with the colors red, green and blue markings on the cables. HDMI is relatively new, if the TV was bought a year or two ago, it could well not have HDMI and still be high def through DVI or component.
On what i saw he was using or what was on it a 21pin Scart/EuroAV cable plugged in to it & i'd imagine that he'd only need the component cables (Yr,Yg,Yb) As you see the terminology for cables is confusing but all used for the same purpose (do you's have scart cables in US?) btw what's a DVI cable-if i may ask? He got the telly last christmas & made sure he was getting a HD LCD one, but noticed no slot for a HDMI cable on the dvd player-maybe cos a few yr old? & so what would be the nearest cable to reach that capability on the dvd player or unless i've gone wrong somewhere here? & someone can clarify that for me!
HI Norm! American TVs don't have "scarts" (Frankly, I don't know what a scart is!) A DVI input is actually the same sort of input as HDMI even if looks different, it's the same in that its direct digital to digital without the signal having to be processed. The big difference is that HDMI also carries audio while DVI is only video and you must use audio cables. There are a couple of different types of DVI but, for the most part, the look like this: An older DVD player won't have either DVI or HDMI. The best pic will come from component cables, the second best would be S-Video which looks like this: The only time a DVD player will have a DVI or HDMI connection is if it's an "upconverting" player which, essentially, upgrades the signal to 1080i for a considerable better picture quality (technically it isn't really high def, but the pic is far better nonetheless). Hi Def DVD players only just came out this year but at the moment, it's risky to buy one because there are two types fighting for dominance of the market and the two aren't compatible. One is called "HD-DVD" and the other is called "Blue Ray". One of the two will dominate the market in the next couple of years and if you guess wrong, you'll be stuck with a piece of equipment for which you can't buy any DVDs. Too risky in my opinion. If you were to buy a new DVD player, its still best to get an "upconverting" one. To answer your question again, your DVD player won't have HDMI or DVI and the best connection is component, second best is S-Video. It may well have digital sound though depending on the quality of the DVD player. If it has digital sound, it will have an optical out (I believe they call it "toslink" on your side of the pond and/or "digital coax" which looks like a regular RCA plug but the the actualy cable to which the plug is connected is different. The RCA plug will usually be marked with and orange strip, ring or sheath. I can provide pics of them if you need them.
There you go a scart lead http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1475441/2/istockphoto_1475441_scart_lead.jpg
I should have realised the Euro part when i typed this in, 21pin Scart/EuroAV cable... it replaces the component cables being used if the telly or video doesnt have it, but i've noticed it in my other brother's telly on the side panel, if you're 2 scart sockets at back of telly is used up! AFAIK in this side of pond If im right the DVI cable looks a lot like a conn. i had when i had dial-up from the pc to the external modem i had, many moons ago but thats another story! Yeah i came across that a while back 'upscaling' its known here, of what i've read/heard! Didnt Toshiba (i think) come out with a player that could play the 2 versions a while back? Probably Aldi or Lidl will have that version out sometime, as they had something like this out a few weeks ago for about 300.00 EUR = 401.391 USD. It was reviewed very highly on an irish forum, but i didnt know that much about it when i saw it, but do now & look up the glossary on this site for the info-which is neat! Yeah do that, as i can find out what cables i've collected over the past while as i dont know the name for them all, but the 'coax digital' im not too sure, but i think they use that for Digital Satellite here for your digital sat. receiver AFAIK.
