Pre-Newbie with stupid questions.

[pete65]

Hello All,

First and foremost, please excuse my ignorance; I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

Second, a little background. I call myself a "pre-newbie" because I'm about to embark on the road to HDTV ownership with a Voom subscription. I'll be moving into a an apartment soon and will have a some spare cash to splurge on an HDTV. I've already got a Yamaha 5.1 sound system, but I'll be picking up a Samsung 61" DLP RPTV and a Samsung HD-DVD player.

This is where my question comes in: The Samsung HD-DVD player comes with a DVI output. I understand that the Voom STB also comes with a DVI output. Unfortunately, the Samsung 61" only has one DVI input. In your collective experiences and knowledge, which should I connect to the DVI and which to the Component inputs of the HDTV, the DVD player or the Voom STB? I understand that much of the answer to this question lies in whether I'm a bigger DVD or HDTV fan, but I'd like your opinions and advice anyway.

 

[wasch_24]

Welcome,
I would connect the DVD player via the components since it is upconverting the DVD and you can only polish a terd so much
Although, you may experience issues with the DVI output of the Voom STB...some folks have had issues with it. Order Voom and try both and then decide. Again, welcome aboard.

 

[Sean Mota]

pete,

welcome. It's up to you. There's a solution that can cost you up to $300 by buying a DVI HDCP compliant switch and you can have both of them connected. If you don't want to spend that much money, you will have to decide which one should go to component or DVI. In my setup I do not have a DVD player with a DVI output so the decision was easy.

 

[DarrellP]

There's also very little difference in PQ on the Voom box between DVI & Component. I would go with DVI on your DVD player and Component off the Voom box. Some people prefer the Component picture of the Voom stb as it seems to have a richer color palette than the DVI.

 

[Silly Rabbit]

I was under the impression that these HD dvd players only output the upconverted signal through the DVI port. If so, that would answer your question. Check the model dvd player you are looking at. It most likely only outputs the higher resolution through the DVI cable.
My set doesn't have DVI, so I can't compare, but the Voom picture looks plenty good through component as long as the source is good.

 

[vurbano]

wouldnt buy an HD dvd player yet since there arent any to play and its probably just a fancy overpriced upconverter

 

[Ilya]

wouldnt buy an HD dvd player yet since there arent any to play and its probably just a fancy overpriced upconverter

I agree. Why buy an up-converting player, if the true-HD DVD players are coming out this year? Personally, I am waiting for Bravo D3, or something of that sort.

 

[DarrellP]

I was under the impression that these HD dvd players only output the upconverted signal through the DVI port. If so, that would answer your question. Check the model dvd player you are looking at. It most likely only outputs the higher resolution through the DVI cable.
My set doesn't have DVI, so I can't compare, but the Voom picture looks plenty good through component as long as the source is good.

There is at least one player I've heard of that will output the upconverted image through Component. Go here and poke around.

 

[pete65]

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone who welcomed me into the fold.

DarrellP, you mentioned that there isn't much of a difference in the PQ between DVI and component. I'm no videophile, so I probably wouldn't notice anyway, but there are quite a few people who are adamant that the difference is black and white. Could you steer me to more information in this area? I'd also like to know more about the "richer color pallette" of the component output of the Voom STB. Is this a widely accepted view?

Vurbano and Ilya, the HD-DVD player I'm considering is the Samsung HD841. I thought this was a true HD-DVD player. I'm sure it up-converts all existing DVD titles, but now that HD capability is here, I figured I'd be ready for the torrent of HD DVD titles. I was looking at DVD players in the $120-$150 range, but the HD841 is $180; I didn't want to invest money in a temporary player when I could "look to the future" for not much more.

Sean Mota, great forum!

 

[wasch_24]

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but this DVD player only up-converts 480i/p DVD's to HD and is not a HD-DVD player...blu-ray, wm9, or red laser HDDVD.

 

[Ilya]

Yes, HD841 is an up-converting player. It can only play standard DVDs. It cannot play any HD source (e.g. WM9). Make sure to check this thread at AVSForum before you buy it.

 

[pete65]

Thanks Wasch 24, I guess that makes up my mind for me; I'll be holding off on the purchase of an HD-DVD player until its true HD. That, in turn, would open up the DVI connection for the Voom STB. However, if the Voom STB component output has a richer color pallette (as per DarrellP), than I'd probably be connecting both items through the component outputs. Does this make sense?

 

[wasch_24]

Makes sense to me.

 

[pete65]

Thank you too, Ilya, for the information and for pointing me to the AVSForum.

 

[DarrellP]

Check the threads around here, there are numerous complaints about Vooms DVI output. It should be day & night difference but it's not.

 

[andrzej]

Check the threads around here, there are numerous complaints about Vooms DVI output. It should be day & night difference but it's not.

It shouldn't be day & night difference. A lot depends on the quality of A/D converters in your display and stb. Cables matter as well. All other things being equally good the perceived difference should be small or nondetectable.

 

[vurbano]

Yes, HD841 is an up-converting player. It can only play standard DVDs. It cannot play any HD source (e.g. WM9). Make sure to check this thread at AVSForum before you buy it.

And being the tightwad that I am I will wait 2 years after the first real HD DVD player hits the streets and pay 1/2 of the release price and have 1/2 of the bugs. LMAO

 

[iceshark]

Check the threads around here, there are numerous complaints about Vooms DVI output. It should be day & night difference but it's not.

Totally agree with DarellP. The night and day differance for me is Component smokes my DVI with better colors.

 

[andrzej]

Totally agree with DarellP. The night and day differance for me is Component smokes my DVI with better colors.

Ha? You totally disagree with DarellP. You see the difference and he doesn't.

 

[DarrellP]

Ha? You totally disagree with DarellP. You see the difference and he doesn't.

I do see the difference. Component has more saturated color, I didn't mean there was no difference, I meant that the DVI does not blow away the Component. To me, the DVI is a tad sharper but is lacking in color depth that the Component has.