Surround sound: Cables vs HDMI

Dave

Dave

Well-Known Member
I'm getting a new TV this week.
Should I go with the gold tipped cables (R,B,G,Y,W) I have for the current set or go with an HDMI for the surround sound?
Does it make that big of a difference either way?
 
HDMI is the digital version of RGB plus the audio all in one. Visually, there is no difference since the color are seperated on both. The major advantage to HDMI is fewer cables to screw with. I use both...depending on the set.

Just don't spend the outrageous amounts of money that the superstores are asking for "high end" cables. Best Buy sells a 8' Monster Cable HDMI fo about $80. I bought one for $7.99. The only difference? A name & seventy two bucks in my account.
 
Gonz said:
HDMI is the digital version of RGB plus the audio all in one. Visually, there is no difference since the color are seperated on both. The major advantage to HDMI is fewer cables to screw with. I use both...depending on the set.

Just don't spend the outrageous amounts of money that the superstores are asking for "high end" cables. Best Buy sells a 8' Monster Cable HDMI fo about $80. I bought one for $7.99. The only difference? A name & seventy two bucks in my account.
Click to expand...

QFT :thumbup:

Dave said:
Which would you use for a plasma?
Click to expand...
If you are using the plasma as a video monitor only, the component cable set you have would work just fine (same quality picture).

If you are using the plasma for video and sound , HDMI is the way to go.

(sorry for butting in, Gonz.) :eyemouth:
 
HDMI also allows the TV to communicate with the cable/satellite box, Blu-Ray player, etc. Component video cables won't. Right now, that's not a problem with DirecTV, and thus, I have my DirecTV hooked to my TV with component (my TV only has one HDMI input). I have an upconversion DVD player hooked up with HDMI. If you want to get your upconversion DVD player or your Blu-Ray player to show HD, you have to use HDMI because the TV has to be able to tell the player it's legit. Otherwise, the copy protection will force it back to standard-def, even with Blu-Ray discs. Right now, DirecTV doesn't have that "feature" turned on, but I can't speak for Dish or whichever cable company serves your area.

As for sound... I'm pretty sure HDMI only carries stereo sound, not surround. In any case, you'd be using it to connect from the cable/satellite box or Blu-Ray player straight to the TV, which has two speakers in it. Then, you'd use either a coaxial or an optical cord to connect to the surround sound receiver to do your 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 or what have you.

Gonz has a point with the HDMI cable. HDMI is a digital signal that either works perfectly or not at all. Upgrading your HDMI cable will make no difference in picture quality at all. Upgrading an analog cable can make a difference, but HDMI, not so much.
 
As I understand it, 5.1 audio over HDMI depends on the equipment but is typically not available (yet). In any case, I run HDMI from my cable box and blu-ray player to my TV (42" LCD) for video (separate inputs) and run the digital audio from each separately to the surround sound. I also have coax audio from the TV to audio 3 but as far as I can tell surround doesn't work.
 
PS. Remember Dave, HDMI is an uncompressed digital signal, RGBYW is analog. High quality analog, but analog none the less.

More info on 5.1.

Maybe I'm wrong about that. I think I'm going to have to do more research.
 
Set just got delivered. :D

Hooked the cable coax to it...picture quality was pretty poor.
Back to the store for an HDMI cable. Right after I read the 100 page users manual...

As best as I can tell, there is no HDMI on the surround sound component. (I had to take pictures of the back of the unit as I couldn't pull it out far enough to see.)

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm the "electronics expert" in the family (most of them are lost after plugging something in) and had no one to ask. lol

Now I just have to wait until Tuesday when the TV stand comes in and I can get a couple extra sets of hands to hook everything up and move furniture around.
 
You can output all kinds of audio formats via HDMI (in encoded form obviously), it's just a matter of capabilities on either side of the cable.

And Gonz is right, I got an hdmi cable for around 20usd and the quality is superb. Remember that hdmi cables transport digital information, which means that it either gets to its destiny or it doesn't, there's no such thing as hdmi cables that improve picture quality or sound. That'd be like saying that a "high end ethernet cable" gives you a better quality while watching a youtube video ;)
 
Gonz said:
Just don't spend the outrageous amounts of money that the superstores are asking for "high end" cables. Best Buy sells a 8' Monster Cable HDMI fo about $80. I bought one for $7.99. The only difference? A name & seventy two bucks in my account.
Click to expand...


Not true. Moster cable's 24k gold plated HDMI cables have pointier 1s and 0s...everyone knows that.
 
Are pointy 0s a good thing?

BTW, after further research, my surround sound works just fine over HDMI, so clearly at least I learned something from this thread.
 
chcr said:
Are pointy 0s a good thing?
Click to expand...

No, when transmitting a digital signal it only matters if it is a 0 or a 1, not the exact voltage on the cable. If it is greater than a given value then it is a 1, if it smaller then it is a 0.

Some might argue that a quality cable will protect the signal against errors and interference, thus preventing data loss or data change. This however is rarely the case on short cables (provided they are built right). Also, any digital stream has error correction methods that makes the signal tolerant to a great amount of errors on the cable without affecting the actual data.
 
Luis G said:
No, when transmitting a digital signal it only matters if it is a 0 or a 1, not the exact voltage on the cable. If it is greater than a given value then it is a 1, if it smaller then it is a 0.

Some might argue that a quality cable will protect the signal against errors and interference, thus preventing data loss or data change. This however is rarely the case on short cables (provided they are built right). Also, any digital stream has error correction methods that makes the signal tolerant to a great amount of errors on the cable without affecting the actual data.
Click to expand...

I knew that, I was really just wondering what a pointy 0 looked like. I was being a smarty-pants. :D

Also, isn't error correction typically built in to any digital system?

Note that I did buy one cheap HDMI cable that didn't work, but I had it replaced with the same brand which worked fine.

Dave, here you go.
 
Dave said:
Where?

Cheapest one I could find was $30 at the Super Wal-Mart.
Most expensive was $140 at Best Buy.
Click to expand...

www.newegg.com also sells them cheap. Bought 2 cables for $6.99 each and they work lovely.


It's always a blast to hear Best Buy employees try to sell me $130 Monster HDMI cables because they have new fangled nifty features. I sometimes play dumb just for fun to see them get excited.
 
chcr said:
Also, isn't error correction typically built in to any digital system?

Note that I did buy one cheap HDMI cable that didn't work, but I had it replaced with the same brand which worked fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, all digital transmissions systems should have some sort of error correction.

The cable was probably defective.


And a pointy 0 might look like a V :D
 
Well... got everything put together. Now to mess around with the settings to get an optimal picture.

Thanks for the links. They were most helpful.
 
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