Are HDMI ports meant to remove the need for Scart cable??

InisMor

Hi,

Is a HDMI socket on a TV or DVD player a replacement for SCART sockets or do you need to use both?

Cheers

Idleater

HDMI is the exact same as Scart only entirely different.

Both fundamentally do exactly the same thing (transfer audio and video), only in a different format.

Generally yes, you use one or the other, but sometimes you can use both (or more), though again not at the same time. Sometimes I connect via HDMI to transfer content digitally, but sometimes I prefer to use the analog signals offered by scart.

InisMor

thanks.

Why would you prefer to use scart sometimes?

Idleater

InisMor wrote: »

Why would you prefer to use scart sometimes?

My AVP will distribute analog (but not digital) signals to zone 2,3 and 4, so I can watch dvd over component in zone 2, but not dvd over HDMI.

Similarly, for any signal up to DVD (576p) there is no benefit other than convenience of the cable for using HDMI over Component or RGB. For 720p/1080i, HDMI and component are interchangeable, with HDMI being able to transfer HDCP (Copy protected) material.

L.

LFC5Times

I might hijack this thread with a couple of basic questions as i am not too up to date with all the HDMI stuff etc.

1) If I have an LCD and Sky Digital - just the normal Sky Box, would a HDMI cable & port be the way to go to get a better reception?

2)Does the same apply to a dvd player? ie. connect to the HDMI port?

3)Is it true that there is not much if any difference between HDMI cables, despite varying prices?


Thanks in advance

Idleater

LFC5Times wrote: »

1) If I have an LCD and Sky Digital - just the normal Sky Box, would a HDMI cable & port be the way to go to get a better reception?

There is no HDMI port on the plain sky box so you are stuck with SCART. Even if there was a HDMI port, HDMI does nothing to improve picture quality. Reception has to do with how the sky box decodes the 1's and 0's from out of the air, HDMI (and SCART, S-Video, DVI, VGA, Component, RGB, Composite, SDI, and many many more) are interfaces over which video and sometimes audio can be transferred from a source (eg dvd player) to a sink (eg tv screen).

LFC5Times wrote: »

2)Does the same apply to a dvd player? ie. connect to the HDMI port?

Again no, HDMI offers nothing extra for DVD players other than a convenient way of carrying both audio and video. There is sufficient bandwidth in analog RGB or Component to carry 720p/1080i video, and dvd is only 576p.

These are standards, so all devices that adhere to said standard can convey the content to another device listening on the same standard.

Differences exist where some more rigorous in the encoding of the information, and specifications more demanding on throughput, but at the end of the day they are a series of conductors that carry electrical signals between devices.

LFC5Times wrote: »

3)Is it true that there is not much if any difference between HDMI cables, despite varying prices?

At a mundane level, yes you are correct. Issues will become apparent when bandwith extents are reached or when signal attenuation limits are reached. These vary with the purity of the conductors in the wires. The more expensive the cable, one would hope that the attenuation is minimised, thereby maintaining bandwidth.

Over 1m, I don't think there is any difference, but 15+ meters you may begin to notice signal drop.

andy1249

3)Is it true that there is not much if any difference between HDMI cables, despite varying prices?

Yes it is true , for all practical purposes.

The highest quality signal in existence out there is currently 1080p 60fps , and even that only uses 75% of the available 10.2Gbps bandwidth available on every HDMI cable.
Even the new 3D capable players only need 2 x 1080p 24fps streams to deliver the picture , slightly less than a 1080p 60fps single stream.

Note that attenuation on long cables is largely a resistive phenomenon and involves the voltage levels dropping below the levels needed to trigger the receiving device , it is not significantly affecting the bandwidth of the cable ( in terms of its frequency response and the positioning of the 3db points ). Proof of this lies in the fact that with a long cable , a simple active volume booster can recover the signal in its entirety.

Attenuation problems on long cables manifest themselves as one of two things , either no picture at all , or massive breakup of picture and sound every 10 or so seconds. As both of these can be said to be not working at all , then any working cable produces exactly the same picture and sound quality.

So in terms of picture and sound quality , there is nothing to be gained by spending more on HDMI cables , the ones they have in argos for 7.99 do the job as well as any other.

Expensive HDMI cables , the type you see in the likes of Currys , Dixons , etc for 60 euros and up , are a complete scam. It is totally impossible for a more expensive HDMI cable to improve the picture.

This is the real advantage of using HDMI over Scart or any other analog cable , analog cables can and do suffer from a lot of internal and external effects which can affect picture and sound quality , expensive analog interconnects do make a difference to quality and cheap and nasty cables can deliver a cheap and nasty result.

With HDMI , if its working , you can be sure you are getting the best possible result full stop.

As far as functionality goes , there are some things that a scart cable can do that a HDMI cannot , or at least not as universally as a scart can do it.

One is autoswitching , the line that does this on a HDMI interface is the CEC line , this line must be programmed and not only that it must be programmed with the same code as the receiving device , and these are not all the same between manufacturers.

For example . Samsungs code is Anynet , Panasonics is Vieralink , and so on , they do not work together , so for autoswitching to work like a scart , your either need a universal remote or you need to have all your gear from the same manufacturer.

Another thing that wont work over HDMI is Teletext , OK , thats a bit of a throwback of a system these days , but plenty of people still rely on it for things like flight arrivals at Dublin airport and so on ... it doesnt work over HDMI , you still need scart for that.