Xbox 360 HDMI/COMP. comparison

[RyanMurf]

I was just wondering what you guys think looks better. I have an xbox with HDMI. But i am starting to think that component looks a little better. Is this just me or has someone else experienced this also?

[D_N_G]

you shouldnt really be able to tell the difference, your everyday person cant

some tvs have poor quality via one or the other, so if you are seeing a difference it is probably your set itself has poor quality for that input, or your set needs a calibration for the lacking input


one advantage to HDMI on the 360 models is that you can display a 1080p signal, where the component version is limited to 1080i, and even then your everyday person cannot distinguish the difference between 1080i/p

the other advantage to HDMI is that almost all data can be upconverted to 1080p, where component is limited via the xbox software

the third advantage to hdmi comes with HD content being able to broadcast true dolby and dts + signals, but this will only benefit you if your home theater supports the audio formats and you are using the HD add on

the bandwidth is greater via HDMi than component, but whoopde do, it has to be because you are combining the audio/video data

so in the end upconverted standard data is really the only benefit for the 360, other than only having to plug in a single cable (which still sucks if you have a HT system without HDMI passthrough)

[njiska]

the third advantage to hdmi comes with HD content being able to broadcast true dolby and dts + signals, but this will only benefit you if your home theater supports the audio formats and you are using the HD add on

That depends. Is the 360 using HDMI 1.3? It's required to do HDCP encrytion which is required by the HD DVD spec if you wish to transmit high quality audio over a digital interface.

The PS3 is notably lacking this.

[Anthony1]

the third advantage to hdmi comes with HD content being able to broadcast true dolby and dts + signals, but this will only benefit you if your home theater supports the audio formats and you are using the HD add on

Unfortunately, this isn't actually true. Despite the fact that it has HDMI, there is no lossless sound for the Xbox 360, whether you are using the HD-DVD add on or not. This is extremely dissapointing, because I was actually about to get an Elite so I could finally hear the lossless audio on HD-DVD's, but alas, the 360's HDMI output is gimped from an audio standpoint. It will provide regular Dolby Digital and DTS, and it might provide Dolby Digital plus, but it won't provide any of the lossless sound. Aparently, for the 360 to output lossless audio via the HDMI port, it would have required a serious reworking of the motherboard, and Microsoft determined that too small a number of people would benefit from that, to make it worthwhile to do that, so they didn't bother.


Also, you don't need HDMI 1.3 to output lossless audio. HDMI 1.1 and 1.2 will also output lossless audio. The fact that the 360 isn't HDMI 1.3 has nothing to do with it not outputting the lossless sound. It simply has to do with a cost/benefit ratio of totally reworking how audio is done on the motherboard, something that Microsoft deemed not worth the trouble.

That depends. Is the 360 using HDMI 1.3? It's required to do HDCP encrytion which is required by the HD DVD spec if you wish to transmit high quality audio over a digital interface.

The PS3 is notably lacking this.

The PS3 is lacking what? The PS3 passes lossless audio just fine. The vast majority of Blu Ray movies offer the option of hearing the uncompressed 5.1 PCM soundtrack, and the PS3 fully supports that, as long as you connect it to your receiver via HDMI, and the receiver can process audio over HDMI. There are quite a few receivers that act as a HDMI switcher, but don't process the audio over HDMI. You need a receiver that can handle the lossless PCM over HDMI. Right now, it appears that the Yamaha RX-V661 is the best option under $500 for this. Not only can it process the lossless audio, all the way up to 7.1 LPCM, but you can even layer Dolby Pro Logic IIx on top of 5.1 LPCM, to make it work as 7.1. (Alot of receivers that can handle lossless sound can't do this)


The only thing the PS3 is lacking from a lossless audio standpoint, is a firmware update that will allow the PS3 to decode DTS-MA HD. Supposedly this is coming soon, but you never know.

[jonjandran]

A lot of times people will see a difference between Component and Hdmi. But theres not much of a difference between the two, there is just a difference in the way their TV handles each connection. Change TV's and you might think one looks better than the other, change back and then the other seems better.

Point.... calibrate your Tv for every input seperately.