setup with HDMI question...helppp

plattq45

HI, i'll make everything short to read.

*Harman Kardon 635 AVR (doesn't support HDMI)
*Sony HDMI upconvertion dvd player/SACD
*HDMI TV

question is that, a friend of mine want to take full advantage of the HDMI (TV/DVD) connection but the receiver is not supporting it,which he can't connect thru the receiver. how can he still have multichanels (5.1) audio while using HDMI cable from DVD to TV.

option 1****
DVD (HDMI) ----to--> TV and use the TV audio output --to--> Receiver?

Option 2****
DVD (HDMI)----to---> TV and...
DVD Optical cable---to--> Receiver?

will the above 2 option give him digital audio with the receiver while using HDMI cable from dvd direct to tv. if not can someone pls show a way to do it...thanks ahead for anyhelp.

Kris Siegel

While HDMI supports both Video and Audio, I've found very few receivers and/or TVs that actually support both coming from 1 cable.

Having said that, option 2 should work fine. I've setup several systems at my old job that had HDMI going into the TV and Optical going into the Receiver.

iworkfortweeter

HDMI is currently a fairly new technology and only very high end equipment will be able to process this type of signal. some cable boxes and dvd players may not be able to correctly distinguish this type of signal being fed, and thus will not work, even if they do have a jack for the hdmi signal. i would use component cables and an optical as you have suggested, because in fact only to a very trained eye can you tell that one signal is better in quality than the other. i do home installs, and i can tell the difference, though on my equipment i do not use hdmi simply because it doesn't make that big of a difference. since your buddy already has one, use an optical in conjunction.. they are great.
good luck to ya.

Kris Siegel

iworkfortweeter wrote:

HDMI is currently a fairly new technology and only very high end equipment will be able to process this type of signal.

What do you mean by "equipment"? If you mean receivers, than yeah most of the ones that include any HDMI support are very pricey but if you meant to include televisions in that category, than I wouldn't call that very high end as you can get TVs today for under $1,000 that include HDMI and are HD ready.

iworkfortweeter wrote:

some cable boxes and dvd players may not be able to correctly distinguish this type of signal being fed, and thus will not work, even if they do have a jack for the hdmi signal.

HDMI is a standard and products that include the HDMI input/output have to meet specific specifications. Also, I have never seen a cable box or DVD player that included an HDMI input (not sure why you'd want to fed that kind of signal into those components like you mention).

Don't forget, HDMI is backwards compatable with DVI (HDMI A with single-link DVI and HDMI B with dual-link DVI). Any box that can drive a DVI monitor can also drive an HDMI monitor and vice versa.

iworkfortweeter wrote:

i would use component cables and an optical as you have suggested, because in fact only to a very trained eye can you tell that one signal is better in quality than the other.

He didn't suggest using component cables and optical. He suggested using HDMI and optical.

You're right though; component cables would be fine. However DVI and HDMI give much better results at higher resolutions (around 1080p or so) so going with HDMI now would be preparing more for the future. Plus, Blue-Ray and HD-DVDs are coming out this year and they'll be able to get to those high resolutions.

just_visiting

plattq45 wrote:

HI, i'll make everything short to read.

*Harman Kardon 635 AVR (doesn't support HDMI)
*Sony HDMI upconvertion dvd player/SACD
*HDMI TV

question is that, a friend of mine want to take full advantage of the HDMI (TV/DVD) connection but the receiver is not supporting it,which he can't connect thru the receiver. how can he still have multichanels (5.1) audio while using HDMI cable from DVD to TV.

option 1****
DVD (HDMI) ----to--> TV and use the TV audio output --to--> Receiver?

Option 2****
DVD (HDMI)----to---> TV and...
DVD Optical cable---to--> Receiver?

will the above 2 option give him digital audio with the receiver while using HDMI cable from dvd direct to tv. if not can someone pls show a way to do it...thanks ahead for anyhelp.

Only HDMI 1.3 or greater will passthrough SACD. I have yet to see any HDMI 1.3 on receivers.

Kris Siegel

just_visiting wrote:

Only HDMI 1.3 or greater will passthrough SACD. I have yet to see any HDMI 1.3 on receivers.

According to the 1.2 specification, they added support for SACD. Also, on the HDMI website, it only shows 1.2a specification has been released so I would be surprised to see anything with 1.3.

Or am I totally off base here?