Hello All,
This thread has come about from worries I have as I get close to building my HTPC. Specifically, they are around component versus digital (DVI and/or HDMI). Up till now, I have always been using component. My current Setup is:
[list]
[*]Samsung 50″ 720p Plasma bought in 2006 (I don’t believe it has DVI inputs, but it does have component and HDMI inputs)
[*]XBOX 360 Elite with component out (I believe I also have an HDMI cable output on this too)
[*]Just purchased Tivo HD, don’t have it yet, but it has both component and HDMI
[*]Zektor component cable switcher (http://www.zektor.com/hds41/index.html) lets me choose between up to 4 component video inputs (and digital optical audio)[/list:u]
This allows me to run a single length of component video cable to my plasma.
My HTPC that I am going to build will have a discrete video card. I plan on using it to play recorded HDTV from the Tivo, and to play Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies. If I go with either an nVidia or an ATI video card, I will have SVIDEO out or DVI out. Obviously DVI out is much better. But then I will feel compelled to covert the DVI out to component and plug it into my component switch. After all, I don’t have a DVI input.
From what I understand, that means the digital signal will need to be converted to an analog signal, and then converted back to a digital signal when it gets to the plasma TV. Right?
So my real question is: Won’t all that converting hurt the quality of the image? ???
Should I try to find an all-digital solution? If so, is it HDMI? Is it DVI, and then convert the DVI to HDMI just before it goes to the plasma?
Or is component good enough? :'(
I am really putting a lot of time and money into this HTPC, and I want to make sure I get the best video out of it.
.
