is HDMI RGB or componant?

[ProgrammingAce]

i was always led to believe that hdmi is just a higher bandwith capable stream. which is why 1080p is only available through it (not component) [afaik]

You can't send/receive 1080p through component because movie companies don't want to send a "high quality" signal through an unprotected channel. Component itself is more then capable of handling it.

[Soviet Conscript]

thanks j_factor for explaining that.

[rbudrick]

RF, composite, svideo, component, scart (Euro, Japan), vga, dvi/HDMI. That is the order of quality. Some may argue the order of component and scart, and that's fine. Scart is superior for a lot of other reasons, but not nearly universal, so I don't care.

Scart, VGA, and DVI/HDMI are all RGB formats with extra crap thrown in. HDMI is considered by most to be the best and is the onlydigital one of the bunch. Does that answer everything?

-Rob

[jonjandran]

xbox wont send a 1080p over component.

[afaik]

The Xbox 360 will send 1080p over component via upconverting Dvd's and with Games but not with the Hd-Dvd player.

[Graham Mitchell]

On a side note...when hooking up my 360 via HDMI I'm required to come up with some other RCA cables for the "digital sound". Do to space/arrangement constraints, I have to just use the TV's built-in speakers, and I can't hook anything up to an amp. Am I gonna notice any difference than if I just used the stereo cables from the Component cable? Does this digital sound stuff really do anything?

The only game I've got that would test sound performance is Bioshock. Now, there's a lot of dynamic range in the game (gunshots being incredibly loud while speech, ambient sound requires me to crank the volume), and that's cool, but it's most likely a function of how the game was mixed, not of what kind of audio cable I'm using. Other than this, I don't really notice a hell of a whole lot. Should I?

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

ahh, thank you again

so HDMI is fully capable of transmitting RGB and/or componant. what signal is sent to the TV depends on the device sending.

though i can't say i understand the idea of something above RGB as i thought it was the
"purest" method that can be used. i mean...is their hidden colors in the world that a new standard is going to magicly allow me to see? but thanks for explaining the HDMI question. I appriciate the help.

ProgrammingAce explained everything in his first post, you shouldn't have brushed it off. The type of RGB you're thinking of is an analog signal meant to be displayed on an analog CRT display. xvYCC is a digital standard for displaying digital images on an LCD or other digital display. It is in fact quite impossible to compare analog things to digital things without accounting for such difficult concepts as infinity and God. So stop it.


...word is bondage...

[Soviet Conscript]

ProgrammingAce explained everything in his first post, you shouldn't have brushed it off. The type of RGB you're thinking of is an analog signal meant to be displayed on an analog CRT display. xvYCC is a digital standard for displaying digital images on an LCD or other digital display. It is in fact quite impossible to compare analog things to digital things without accounting for such difficult concepts as infinity and God. So stop it.


...word is bondage...

i was just curious what kind of signal an HDMI cable transmitted. now i thought you guys pretty much answered me but now you've given me more questions.

is digital inherently "better" then an analog signal? does digital RGB look exactly like analog RGB with the only diffrence being on the type of display they are ment for?

[ProgrammingAce]

Alright, alright. Let me put this in simple terms.

Every TV/Game Console/Movie Player combination is going to display differently across different devices. You might have an awesome Sony plasma that displays great over component, but HDMI looks washed out. You might have an HD-DVD player that looks crystal clear using HDMI on that Sony set, but is slightly blurry on an RCA plasma.

To flat out say HDMI is better then VGA or component is impossible. You have to look at the individual devices you're planning to use and see what looks best for you.

As for HDMI itself, it was only created for 2 reasons and higher quality video isn't one of them.

- To create a connection simplifying the number/size of cables needed.
- To create a vehicle to force HDCP down the consumer's throat.

HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, but that an issue for another day.