Technical Problems with new HDTV

[donny0]

1) Bluejeancables.com - cheap prices, good quality (not affiliated, just used them and really liked them)

2) I have comcast in the bay area with their dual tuner dvr/hd box, and the hdmi port is currently buggy from their firmware. Everytime you turn off the tv and turn it back on, you either have to power cycle the cable box (only works if you're not recording everything), or unplug/plug in the cable. My googling tells me its something to do with the encryption key for hdmi being lost when the tv turns off.

HDMI is still nice, but that's currently a big pain in the ass.

[cking]

buy a 360, save urself on the laser disc style bs that is the PS3

[mlagoo]

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1) Bluejeancables.com - cheap prices, good quality (not affiliated, just used them and really liked them)

2) I have comcast in the bay area with their dual tuner dvr/hd box, and the hdmi port is currently buggy from their firmware. Everytime you turn off the tv and turn it back on, you either have to power cycle the cable box (only works if you're not recording everything), or unplug/plug in the cable. My googling tells me its something to do with the encryption key for hdmi being lost when the tv turns off.

HDMI is still nice, but that's currently a big pain in the ass.

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what is the next best thing? i see a bunch of "composite" inputs in the back, but i dont really know what any of it means.

[jba]

component cables are next best to HDMI - they look like composite but have 5 connectors instead of 3.

FYI - my cable box (from RCN) has an HDMI connection but it isn't enabled. might want to check on that before you buy the cable.

also count me in for another vote for monoprice.com.

[gusmahler]

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component cables are next best to HDMI - they look like composite but have 5 connectors instead of 3.

FYI - my cable box (from RCN) has an HDMI connection but it isn't enabled. might want to check on that before you buy the cable.

also count me in for another vote for monoprice.com.

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Technically speaking, component (which is next best to HDMI) only has 3 cables--usually colored red, green, and blue. And composite only has one input, usually color coded yellow.

The other two inputs (usually white and red) are for the audio signal.

To answer the original question, if you have a cable box, you don't need any cable into the analog and digital slots. Those are for signals that aren't decoded by the cable box. The reason it works is that many cable systems are analog for a certain channels and digital for other channels.

What you should do is connect the cable from the wall to the cable box. Then connect an S-video cable from the cable box to the TV. Then, when you're HD cable box gets installed, use component or HDMI, whichever the new box has.

[KOTLP]

FWIW, HDMI doesn't necessarily look better than component for a cable box hookup. You really just have to try both and see what looks best.

[unfrgvn]

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If you are looking for HDMI good cables, check Monoprice.com. They are very good cables and very reasonably priced (as compared to the store bought brands like Monster). The AV geeks at AVS forums swear by them.

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I bought some of these after reading the AVS forum. No probs and they are about 80% cheaper then most others.

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I find myself watching warthogs bone in HD before I'd watch a football game in SD.


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QFT

[gusmahler]

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FWIW, HDMI doesn't necessarily look better than component for a cable box hookup. You really just have to try both and see what looks best.

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HDMI is theoretically better because the signal goes through one fewer D-A and A-D conversion.

However, many people cannot tell a difference between component and HDMI. And others have handshake problems with HDMI. I actually don't use HDMI for exactly those reasons.

[KOTLP]

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FWIW, HDMI doesn't necessarily look better than component for a cable box hookup. You really just have to try both and see what looks best.

[/ QUOTE ]

HDMI is theoretically better because the signal goes through one fewer D-A and A-D conversion.

However, many people cannot tell a difference between component and HDMI. And others have handshake problems with HDMI. I actually don't use HDMI for exactly those reasons.

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In the real world, what actually looks better depends on several factors. My HD DVR/cable box actually looks notably better through component than HDMI on my 50" Samsung DLP. My upconverting DVD player looks better over HDMI (no doubt largely due to the fact that it doesn't upconvert over component).