I really dispise HDMI sometimes

Rivrrat

So, I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks, and being home alone today, I was in the mood to watch some concert dvd's at a volume not normally heard in the Rat house. Everything was fine until I decided to go out and get a new one (the new Sammy Hagar disc)

I get home, drop it in, and........... nothing but the green screen.

So I start the process. I put in a known working disc. Nothing. So I pulled out the Oppo 981 and check the connections. Nothing. I pulled out the Pioneer Elite tsx80txv (lots to go wrong back there), and check that. Nothing. I disconnect the cables and isolate the Oppo to the Philips plasma. Nothing. Ok, now it's either the plasma, the Oppo, or maybe the cable. Damn.

I turn off the set and turn it back on. VOILA a clear picture. :rolleyes:

Digital handshakes can be such a touchy thing.:mad: But I'm glad it's really nothing, since it's Fri concert dvd and margarita/beer night. Mrs Rat would not be happy if it wasn't working.:eek:

engtaz

Let alone the Damm things don't lock in. Heck optical has a better lock to hold it in place.

Rivrrat

engtaz wrote: »

Let alone the Damm things don't lock in. Heck optical has a better lock to hold it in place.

Bingo.

danger boy

that's why component is the preferred high def connections.. they are perfect. it separates the colors.. and looks great to boot. dump HDMI, go component instead.

never had one problem with component cables or them not staying in place.

disneyjoe7

Is the new tech stuff? HDMI to AVR, HDMI to Plasma? If so can you go old school, HDMI to Plasma and Optical to AVR. It's the way I do it and never had a video issue.

Early B.

engtaz wrote: »

Let alone the Damm things don't lock in.

Yeah, who the hell designed that? The connections are very loose. My Oppo 970 also has a loose power cord connection.

MikeC78

I love HDMI! One cable that carries the best video and audio from all my HD devices. No problems here(knock on wood)...

MikeC78

For those of you that have loose connections, stop using those heavy guage cords or use port savers.

Serendipity

Same thing here. The connections are very loose and sometimes can be intermittent.

For now I'm sticking with RGBHV and Component for video. No HDMI until all the problems with HDMI+HDCP have been worked out.

Early B.

MikeC78 wrote: »

For those of you that have loose connections, stop using those heavy guage cords or use port savers.

Nope. Not gonna give up the heavy guage cords.

What are port savers? Got any links?

disneyjoe7

Nope staying with HDMI since I feel it's a better picture and I have no issues with it.

mantis

I have found the better hdmi cables not make any difference. once you get a good quality cable, a better one isn't really better.

Longer runs yes but 4.5 metes and under seems not to make any difference. I also hate the hdmi connection. They should have learned something from DVI which was a awesome connection(unless you had to run it).
having one cable to do everything is golden. I hope the redue the end at some point as it's a great idea. if you use lighter weight cables , they do stay in alot better. Direct tv and Fios both give you a very good hdmi cable.

[Deleted User]

Kind of off subject....so I get home tonight and want to record the Raven's game on my DVR (Motorola). Hit the button and get "not available..call cust service". So I do so. They try to reset it from their end and pretty much fry my box. Doesn't work at all and is locked up. So now I have to make a trip to go to HQ and hope they have one in stock so I'm not stuck with standard def all weekend. Friggin' new plasma and I'm watchin' **** **** standard def.

bobman1235

I guess I don't use as heavy cables as everyone else, but I have never had an HDMi come even remotely loose on me. S-Video and other **** connectors, sure, but HDMI seems like a pretty solid connection to me. Similar to USB.

Ron-P

HDMI = Worst connection ever developed. Let's hope something better comes along very soon.

disneyjoe7

God I hope not I'm tied of something for 3 years and then we all switch. I ask who wins Ron who?

engtaz

I would rather have RGB or VGA for video and optical for sound. Both RGB and VGA have great locking hardware and unlimited video quality.

MikeC78

Early B. wrote: »

Nope. Not gonna give up the heavy guage cords.

What are port savers? Got any links?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024005&p_id=2891&seq=1&format=2&style=

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041907&p_id=3733&seq=1&format=2&style=

MikeC78

Ron-P wrote: »

HDMI = Worst connection ever developed. Let's hope something better comes along very soon.

Not going anywhere anytime soon.

engtaz

Optical and Coaxial are all the same to me. They both give me surround sound. That's why I picked up my Denon 4802, lots of optical and coaxial connections, more then most I have encountered.

MikeC78

engtaz wrote: »

Optical and Coaxial are all the same to me. They both give me surround sound. That's why I picked up my Denon 4802, lots of optical and coaxial connections, more then most I have encountered.

They will not give you uncompressed 5.1, or any of the new HD formats. They simply don't have the bandwith, unless your into 2-channel.

disneyjoe7

I can't believe that Coax or Optical doesn't have the bandwidth not to give you uncompressed 5.1.

Can you provide a link to such a statement.

MikeC78

http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/faq.aspx

Q. What is the difference in quality between listening to Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD over HDMI, SPDIF (i.e. coax or optical), or analog from the player to the A/V receiver?

HDMI provides the highest quality as it enables the full, lossless audio data of Dolby TrueHD to be transferred digitally to the AV receiver, and enables the A/V receiver to apply its full digital audio processing capabilities (such as bass management, or sound field processing effects) to further enhance the audio quality. SPDIF does not have the ability to support the data rates required by Dolby TrueHD, and thus will not support it. Analog will be lower quality than HDMI due to two reasons: 1) the nature of analog transmission is lossy and will degrade while transported over the cables, 2) many A/V receivers will not apply any digital audio processing to the analog inputs, and in such cases analog signals will be sent directly to the amplifier without the benefit of such processing.


The S/PDIF digital connections (optical and coaxial) can get (depending on which "Digital out S/PDIF" setting you choose in the player's on-screen menus) a bitstream that has been "transcoded" by the player to DTS — the kind of up-to-5.1-channel DTS long familiar on standard DVDs. Or they can get a digital, 2-channel linear PCM transcoding that, I believe, is downsampled as necessary to 48 kHz (48,000 digital samples per second).

The HDMI digital connection can, depending on the setting of another user-menu item, "Digital out HDMI," get either of those two, or it can get a digital, up-to-5.1-channel linear PCM transcoding at 96 kHz (96,000 digital samples per second). (Note that, unlike the S/PDIF digital connections, the HDMI output also carries a video bitstream, in addition to the audio stream.)

MikeC78

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

I can't believe that Coax or Optical doesn't have the bandwidth not to give you uncompressed 5.1.

Can you provide a link to such a statement.

The only way you would get the bandwidth using an analog cable, is by using the 5.1 analogs(If available). No way with a single cable like HDMI.

disneyjoe7

This doesn't really relate but in my world Coax is 45 Mb where optical could be 8640 Mb I don't think at that bandwidth there would be any problem getting 5.1 uncompressed.


Now back to the 96k thing... is just that they want it that way. I find hard to believe 96k is the limit it could do, and then find the HDMI link just marketing hype.

MikeC78

Then go find out for yourself then...

Ask anyone with any experience, they'll tell you the same thing. No marketing hype here, just the facts.

MikeC78

Very good read here.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=640949&highlight=multi-channel+audio

disneyjoe7

Well I be old school for a long time, HDMI video only to TV Optical or Coax for Audio to AVR.

lomic

Welcome to my world, OP - I do software quality assurance in the HDTV industry, and what you're describing is my worst nightmare - the HDCP handshake :mad:

Based on that, your problem probably isn't with with HDMI, but that pesky HDCP the industry requires. Every company has to create their own scheme for handling the HDCP handshake over I2C bus, and getting source and display working together can be a delicate proposition.

We go to an industry event every 6 months where most major companies bring their Displays and Sources to a 5 day convention and make sure that all our HDCP implementations work well together. You'd be surprised - even though everyone is basing their work off the same specification - we see some really wacky things happen, your green screen of failure being one of the most common.

DisplayPort is the upcoming replacement/competitor for HDMI. I'm not too excited, but we'll see how it works in the next year or so.

disneyjoe7

Then too me this HDCP handling is even more complicated if an AVR is used for a HDMI switcher also.

lomic

You're correct. Using a splitter/switch AKA "repeater" is even worse. Most companies don't even take the time to test with them because it's seen as such a niche market.

Last time we had that HDCP convention I was talking about, I think only one AVR maker even bothered to show up.