17 replies to this topic

[Bass]

I was ready to buy a Hd dvd player a while back,then I got nervous when the war started. Good for me I didnt buy that obsolete thing! Blu-ray won the vhs Beta type war thing. I decided to wait for prices to fall b4 buying. Then I see this controversy. I want opinions from people who own and use them to decide if these articles are correct. Thanx
What if HDMI Actually Worked?
Silicon Image (SIMG) Show First HDMI 1.4 Parts For "Liquid HD" Over Ethernet Systems

[John E]

Please. If it were really an issue more people would be complaining about it. HDMI has been around long enough that almost all current equipment has HDCP built into it. Nothing to worry about.

[JimJ]

Granted, a lot of the commercial stuff is still RGBHV

[John E]

JimJ, on 06 January 2010 - 09:19 AM, said:

Granted, a lot of the commercial stuff is still RGBHV

True, but if you're using RGBHV with an HDMI optical player, you'll be using it with a receiver that most likely accepts HDMI and outputs Component or RGBHV. And any receiver that does that will have HDCP.

Unless of course you're using it in the pro environment with a switcher/scaler. Then you might run into some issues.

Recently I hooked up a MacMini to a DVI distro and discovered no output on all of the connectors of the distro. Turns out the Distro wasn't HDCP compatible and the Mini outputs that on it's DVI out.
Switched it to VGA and everything works.

[Deephaven]

John E, on 06 January 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

JimJ, on 06 January 2010 - 09:19 AM, said:

Granted, a lot of the commercial stuff is still RGBHV

True, but if you're using RGBHV with an HDMI optical player, you'll be using it with a receiver that most likely accepts HDMI and outputs Component or RGBHV. And any receiver that does that will have HDCP.

Unless of course you're using it in the pro environment with a switcher/scaler. Then you might run into some issues.

Recently I hooked up a MacMini to a DVI distro and discovered no output on all of the connectors of the distro. Turns out the Distro wasn't HDCP compatible and the Mini outputs that on it's DVI out.
Switched it to VGA and everything works.

Had a similar problem with my old Graphics board on my pc. DVI to HDMI, but it was really intermittent on how the monitor responded. New video card, no longer a problem.

[Bass]

So, if I bought a blu-ray player for the pc I might need to upgrade the video card?
My current video card only has vga and Dvi outputs ----Nvidia GeForce 6600.
I hadnt decided if I was gonna get a bigger monitor (have a samsung 20" now) or a projector.
I am still running a Denon non-blu-ray in the bedroom.

[John E]

Bass, on 06 January 2010 - 02:41 PM, said:

So, if I bought a blu-ray player for the pc I might need to upgrade the video card?
My current video card only has vga and Dvi outputs ----Nvidia GeForce 6600.
I hadnt decided if I was gonna get a bigger monitor (have a samsung 20" now) or a projector.
I am still running a Denon non-blu-ray in the bedroom.

A BluRay drive for your PC isn't what's going to stop you from playing BD discs. It'll be if your card and monitor are HDCP compatible.

[Bass]

John E, on 06 January 2010 - 08:47 PM, said:

Bass, on 06 January 2010 - 02:41 PM, said:

So, if I bought a blu-ray player for the pc I might need to upgrade the video card?
My current video card only has vga and Dvi outputs ----Nvidia GeForce 6600.
I hadnt decided if I was gonna get a bigger monitor (have a samsung 20" now) or a projector.
I am still running a Denon non-blu-ray in the bedroom.

A BluRay drive for your PC isn't what's going to stop you from playing BD discs. It'll be if your card and monitor are HDCP compatible.

Wow to play Blu-ray I have to replace all my stuff it seems!

[John E]

Maybe not, you can always use HDMI for video and use another source for Audio
http://www.tomshardw...-32-bypass-hdcp

[Bass]

John E, on 06 January 2010 - 10:39 PM, said:

Maybe not, you can always use HDMI for video and use another source for Audio
http://www.tomshardw...-32-bypass-hdcp

the way i do it now is to send bitstream out through my X-fi card to my 7.1 receiver anyway. My receiver is too old to have hdmi and I would just run it direct to screen and not throuigh the receiver. Do video cards send full hd pic throught the DVI out as well as HDMI out?

I have anydvd already. So maybe I'll just buy a player and see what happend. Worst case, I just take it back.

[Deephaven]

Or use the VGA output. Not really a big deal in that regard.

[Bass]

wouldn't there be a big drop in video quality from hdmi or dvi down to vga, or is that just hype?

[John E]

The biggest difference you'll see in DVI vs VGA is DVI=Digital and VGA=Analog. In most cases, the DVI will look a bit sharper and support more widescreen resolutions. But in reality, any card worth something should support all kinds of wacky resolutions through VGA.

[Deephaven]

John E, on 07 January 2010 - 02:50 AM, said:

the DVI will look a bit sharper

That is arguable*. Optimized analog will be fine, but there is a lot more that can go wrong with it while digital should be safe as it will pretty much either work or not.

*of course card dependent, crap will be crap
**I do realize we are saying the same thing as you put "in most cases" in front of it, but I wanted to clarifyp

[Bass]

This is the video card I have right now. Is this good enough? I bought it new in 2006 sometime.

OutletPC.com - PNY 6600 256MB PCI Express Video Card - SALE PRICE: $68.98

[John E]

Bass, on 07 January 2010 - 03:13 PM, said:

This is the video card I have right now. Is this good enough? I bought it new in 2006 sometime.

OutletPC.com - PNY 6600 256MB PCI Express Video Card - SALE PRICE: $68.98

It's not HDCP compliant.
PNY
Video, but no audio will pass through HDMI.

On another note, if you are asking if it's physically capable of BD playback, I'm unsure.

[Deephaven]

On the physically capable, that I'd bet on as the specs seem way more than sufficient. I know nothing about that card other than clicking on the link though.

[Bass]

I am going to run audio through my creative X-fi card spdif or bit stream or whatever like I do now to be decoded by my receiver anyway, just the video passing through the dvi out is my concern if I stay with this card and just upgrade to a blu-ray drive.