More HDMI questions

ken brydson
ken brydson Posts: 8,779
edited January 2010 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
There have been several threads recently on the subject but I don't want to hijack or muddy them up with my situation. Recently upgraded to a Panny 50" G10 plasma. Santa brought me a Panny BDP. I've been looking at Monoprice for HDMI cables and trying to decide what I need to get. I originally was looking at 1 from BDP to receiver and 1 from receiver to TV. Would I benefit from adding another from cable box to TV? Also, if I want to watch TV or BD without having the receiver turned on (TV speakers only), does anyone know if the Pioneer Elite VSX01 passes the signal without running redundant cables?
Post edited by ken brydson on
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  • wutadumsn23
    wutadumsn23 Posts: 3,702
    edited December 2009
    As for where to get your cables, you are already in the right place at Monoprice, buy with confidence from them. They come highly recommended from many members here at Club Polk. As for benefiting from an HDMI connection from your cable box, that all depends on whether or not it is HD or not (kinda silly I know, but I have to ask, lol) If it is, then yes, you will, assuming you have an HD package and have HD channels to view. However, the way I would do it would be to run it from your cable box to your AVR, then run one from the AVR to the TV (that one will take care of the cable box and the BR player) and you will just have to select which source you want when watching TV or a Blu Ray. Keep in mind though you will have to have your AVR on to be able to watch TV, since the HDMI cable is now carrying the video and audio signal. You don't have to run it that way if you don't want (as you stated in your post) but that will cut down on cables. You can run a digital coax or TOSLINK digital optical cable, or even the standard RGA cables from your cable box to your AVR (depending on what connections it has for audio out) and then change the settings accordingly so that it will pass the audio via those cables to your AVR and use the HDMI for the video, that is what I do. Hope this helps.

    -Jeff
    HT Rig
    Receiver- Onkyo TX-SR806
    Mains- Polk Audio Monitor 70
    Center- Polk Audio CS2
    Surrounds- Polk Audio TSi 500's :D
    Sub- Polk Audio PSW125
    Retired- Polk Audio Monitor 40's
    T.V.- 60" Sony SXRD KDS-60A2000 LCoS
    Blu-Ray- 80 GB PS3


    2 CH rig (in progress)
    Polk Audio Monitor 10A's :cool:

    It's not that I'm insensitive, I just don't care.. :D
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  • dvran
    dvran Posts: 280
    edited December 2009
    +1 for Monoprice.

    All my HDMI cables are from them and they work great. Just make sure to get the correct insulation for your application. Either in wall or regular.
    ~Dan

    Projector: Epson 705HD on 106" DaLite
    TV: Samsung 50" Plasma PN50B550
    Receiver: Onkyo 607
    Fronts: Polk 1000i
    Center: Polk Csi40
    Rears: Polk Fxi30
    Sub: Velodyne Minivee 10
    PS3 and Xbox
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  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,779
    edited January 2010
    OK, + 1000 for MP. Just received my order of 3-3' HDMI's, 1- 6" HDMI, 2- 100' spools of 14g speaker wire and 10 pairs of nanners for less than $80 shipped. Great deals!
    Now my new question. Working on getting everything wired up and noticed my cable box has a smaller HDMI port. Were the earlier versions of HDMI different, plug wise? Is their an adapter that I can get or a cable with 2 different ends or do I need to upgrade my cable box?
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,990
    edited January 2010
    ken brydson wrote: »
    OK, + 1000 for MP. Just received my order of 3-3' HDMI's, 1- 6" HDMI, 2- 100' spools of 14g speaker wire and 10 pairs of nanners for less than $80 shipped. Great deals!
    Now my new question. Working on getting everything wired up and noticed my cable box has a smaller HDMI port. Were the earlier versions of HDMI different, plug wise? Is their an adapter that I can get or a cable with 2 different ends or do I need to upgrade my cable box?

    Thats most likely a DVI port. Yes you can go to any Rat shack and get an adapter. But, the better road is to update the cable box, most will do it for free. Check it out.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,779
    edited January 2010
    tonyb wrote: »
    Thats most likely a DVI port. Yes you can go to any Rat shack and get an adapter. But, the better road is to update the cable box, most will do it for free. Check it out.

    It's labeled HDMI. I think there's a DVI port too. I wouldn't mind exchanging the box but we have a bunch of stuff on the DVR that we haven't watched.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,201
    edited January 2010
    There is no such thing that I know about as HDMI pass through. It needs 5 volts in order to work and it has to go HDCP before it will allow a signal to pass. EDID is what it checks.

    Good quality HDMI cables are those who are rated for High speed or HDMI 1.3 rated. There is nothing better you can do with this cable as long as it meets spec. This is true for all digital cables.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • wutadumsn23
    wutadumsn23 Posts: 3,702
    edited January 2010
    It might be one of these (link below) Mini HDMI to regular HDMI, I have seen them around before.

    -Jeff

    http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Mini-HDMI-HDMI-Cable/dp/B000TT80DG
    HT Rig
    Receiver- Onkyo TX-SR806
    Mains- Polk Audio Monitor 70
    Center- Polk Audio CS2
    Surrounds- Polk Audio TSi 500's :D
    Sub- Polk Audio PSW125
    Retired- Polk Audio Monitor 40's
    T.V.- 60" Sony SXRD KDS-60A2000 LCoS
    Blu-Ray- 80 GB PS3


    2 CH rig (in progress)
    Polk Audio Monitor 10A's :cool:

    It's not that I'm insensitive, I just don't care.. :D
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