The Wonderful and Sometimes Confusing World of HDMI Connections (HDTV)

hdtvmagazine.com ^ | February 15, 2008 | Robert Fowkes

[Las Vegas Dave]

HDMI (which stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface) was developed to accommodate the emerging HD digital technologies which have now entered the mainstream of home entertainment. It was planned as a "one wire" digital solution to both audio and video requirements. It is also one of the most confusing connection technologies available to the general public - especially when people are used to more traditional interconnectivity. As HDMI attempts to do what it was designed to do, part of the process involves the pieces of the puzzle communicating with each other (sometimes referred to as "handshaking"). This two way communication causes some unfamiliar, and therefore unsettling, things to happen as each component tries to find out what it's connected to while concurrently announcing itself to the rest of the system. People used to the instant-on nature of most analog and non-HDMI digital connections are disturbed when they see momentary flickering, "blue screens" and other indications that something is going on. While this isn't your father's audio/video system it's also not an indication that anything is wrong - as long as everybody is following the HDMI guidelines. The purpose of this article is to provide you with some insight into what to expect when incorporating HDMI into your A/V system, whether it involves a simple connection between a television and a High Definition set top box or a much more complex system that includes multiple sources including HD television content, standard and HD players (both formats), gaming systems and many other peripherals. It goes without saying that the more complex your particular setup is, the better the chance that at least one of the components will not play completely by the HDMI rules.

[Las Vegas Dave]

I don't intend to go into great detail about HDMI itself (its specifications, various forms, history, future direction, etc.) except how it applies to helping you adjust to and use the technology. There are many, many excellent resources already out there that go into detail about HDMI and you can easily access them on the internet. A Google-type search on the term "HDMI" will produce a wealth of background information and I refer you to that. There's everything from Wikipedia to vendor sites offering some information (take what you see with a grain of salt, keeping in mind the authors and the agendas). Most of it is very informative. My personal favorite writer on this topic is my friend, Rodolfo La Maestra, who wrote an excellent series of articles for HDTV Magazine (web-based) in his role as Senior Technical for that publication. You can find these articles located at:

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/articles-author.php?author=Rodolfo+La+Maestra&id=16

They come highly recommended and will provide you with a strong foundation in HDMI in a lucid and comprehensive fashion. It's a ten part series beginning with the July 25, 2006 article and well worth perusing. It is my intention to focus on connecting all the parts of your particular HDMI-equipped system by providing some of the basics and then turning to a couple of possible solutions from a few selected manufacturers. This is by no means a complete summary of what's available out there. The landscape is changing too fast to provide such information without it quickly becoming dated.

(NOTE: the thread posted is a few months old, but very informative. I suggest that those interested click on the links provided, very informative with many photos. - LVD)

[Las Vegas Dave]

Pinging the HDTV list..

HDTV pings.

______________________________________________________

Interested in HDTV?
Please Freepmail (works best) me if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list.

The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials, Blu-ray/HD-DVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.

Las Vegas Dave

[ken21]

aren’t you over due for bed?

i just woke up to take a leak and found myself on my ‘puter.

[megatherium]

So I hooked up my new Panasonic BD-30 blu-ray player to my Panasonic plasma TV last weekend, select the second HDMI input (to which the player is connected), and put a movie into the player. I see the blue screen, with the blu-ray logo on it, on my TV, while the disk is loading. Then suddenly, I’m watching cable TV. The TV mysteriously switched to the other HDMI input; I pushed not one button. I switched inputs, to put the player on the other HDMI input, and it still happened. This strange behavior seems to be connected to something called EZSync, which I turned off. It works properly now (and indeed, the picture quality is outstanding—none of the compression blur that “HD” cable has).

[texas booster]

HDMI - A Digital Interface Solution

The start of an excellent series on HDMI.

[auboy]

Thanks, Dave! Link has been bookmarked.

[Dr. Sivana]

Okay . . . back to twin lead 300-ohm cable to a Yagi antenna on the roof.

[holden]

There's a good chance the Panny TV automatically switched over to cable TV because it didn't detect a usable signal coming from the Blu-Ray player. Displays often seek to the first usable signal they find in cycling through the possibilities.

The output of the Blu-Ray player may have been set to a screen aspect ratio and timing your TV can't handle, e.g., 1080p at 60Hz.

Try setting the output from the BD-30 to 720p (60Hz, always), making sure it's outputting onto HDMI.

"compression blur that 'HD' cable has". There's certainly always more to learn hanging out high def video, eh?

HF

[holden]

our need for simplified cabling is not as much as the motivation of the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) to protect their content

Now there's a mouthful of multi-billion dollar interest at work!

It's this kind of cart-before-the-horse that has foisted all manner of complication and expense onto the life of manufacturers and consumers on down the A/V line. A large preponderance of them, who don't share the MPAA's "protection" interest, or HMDI royalty interest, have learned to become resistant to HMDI and its moving-the-goalposts, changing standards.

HF

[Scutter]

Thanks for this post. It is very timely; I am moving into a house with a TV mount over teh fireplace, and I need to buy some HDMI cables long enough to fish through the wall to the TV. I was confused about whether I needed an “HDMI 1.3a” cable, and this article answered my question.

[SunkenCiv]

Trials/Tribs update — I’ve tried two different set-top aerials, both amplified. The RCA one worked okay on the older set (this was out in the country) and not so well on the newer set, but I understand that most of the broadcast towers are north of there and the newer set is on the south side of the house. I got a Terk TV5 for my set here, and the Insignia converter box found more dtv stations, but not one, not one, will come in with sound, and all are in black and white. I’d not watched broadcast TV in a long while (at home), and in fact hadn’t been able to (no reception), but the TV5 worked for the analog broadcasts, worked very well in fact.

My guess is that it’s analogous to feng shui — the locations and orientations of buildings, hills, etc, as well as the structure of the house itself, has an impact on performance, thus the wild variation of experience with any given model. Seems to me the best approach would be to buy a different make/model, each in a different store, trying each one out, and taking back all but the one that worked best. :’)

[megatherium]

I had the player set at ‘auto’, as far as selecting aspect ratio; it was supposed to select by itself. What I forgot to mention is that after the TV switched HDMI inputs to the cable box, if I manually switched it back, I had perfectly good output from the player. Anyway, the problem appears to be solved by turning off the (default setting) of EZSync. But thanks for the suggestions.

[JDoutrider]

Good info Dave... Thanks for the Ping!