I swear I have tried to find the answer to this before posting but never did find anything.....

I have an upconverting DVD player with HDMI output and a 50" DLP TV with HDMI ports. Currently I am connecting this via component cables. I am also connecting my DVD player to my receiver via an optical cable.

I know that HDMI carries audio and video signals digitally. If I connect my DVD player to my TV via HDMI what happens to the audio signal? I will still have to connect my DVD player to my receiver via optical right? Or do I need a receiver with an HDMI port as well? But then again how does it work when my DVD player only has 1 HDMI output?

I'm guessing your DVD player may have a setting for HDMI to do video only? (the only HDMI player I have is the PS3, and it has such a setting, but I'm not sure about upconverting DVD players with HDMI). In that case, the HDMI takes the video to your TV, and the audio goes through optical to your receiver. If and when you get a HDMI receiver, you would send everything from your player to the receiver first, via HDMI. Then you would need another HDMI cable to send the video signal to your TV from the receiver.

Hmm... I'm not sure if my DVD player has that setting (didn't even know that there would be a setting like that). My DVD player is the Panasonic DMR-EH55S :
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMR-.../dp/B000F4CVE4

Under Technical Specs it says upconversion done via HDMI so I am guessing that by connecting it via component I am not actually upconverting my video?

Have you tried it yet? The audio will probably just run along both outputs simultaneously. Just turn down the TV's volume if you don't want to hear it there.

Yeah, that was going to be my next suggestion. (but definitely turn down your TV volume, or you'll heard a weird echo effect from the small delay)



And yes, I'm pretty sure you need HDMI to get the upconverted signal.

I am running HDMI to my TV and Coax Digital to my receiver and it works just fine. So I would suspect you could do the same without issue. I have an OPPO 970.

And yes, you must turn down the TV audio. But sometimes I leave the TV sound on as well after a few beers. Kinda adds a neat confusion to things......

Thanks for the replies. I haven't tried it yet since I didn't want to buy expensive cables and get a disappointing result so I thought I'd ask here first. Somehow I forgot about that I can get it cheaper at monoprice so I think I'll get the cables there & give it a try.

Yes, go to Monoprice and get the cables. You won't be sorry.

First of all, you can ONLY upconvert copy protected DVDs (90%+ of them) using HDMI, so right now you won't be using the upconvertion feature!

And yes, HDMI (video) to TV, optical (audio) to receiver works fine. So go get yourself a HDMI cable!

My HDTV is serveral years old and doesn't have the HDMI plug and some said that I could purchase a HDMI-to-DVI adaptor to go from my 8300HD Cable Box (HDMI) to the DVI on my HDTV. My question is.... will I be able to tell that much of a difference to go out and purchase this adaptor ?

No, they are the same thing, HDMI and DVI. As far as the video signal, anyway.

Are you asking if you'll see a difference in CBL->HDMI->DVI->TV over CBL->Component(?)->TV?

I don't know... I didn't notice any difference on my Motorola DCT-6412 and since I only have one HDMI input on the tv, I decided to leave that for the upconverting dvd player (which I did see a significant difference over component) instead of spending the money for a monoprice HDMI switch box.

I don't recall which Cable Box I have, but I didn't notice much difference (if any) when I changed from Component to DVI.

Well I finally ordered and received my HDMI cable from monoprice (the cheap 3 ft one - only cost me $2.78). The audio did output from both the receiver and the TV but it was no big deal since I can always mute the TV. However, when I select the HDMI input from my TV the picture is noticably noisier (and brighter) rather than compared to component (I have both HDMI and component hooked up from my DVD player to my TV). I have tried removing the component cables but the HDMI picture remains the same (noisier and brighter). Is this common? I thought for sure that HDMI would output a better picture (or at the least the same as component) especially since this would be an upconverted video signal.

Upconversion doesn't mean better. Your signal is always upconverted from DVD to an HDTV. The question is: Does the TV convert or the DVDp? Usually the player is the best place to convert, but not necessarily.

But you are comparing apples and oranges unless you have calibrated the TV for each input. Try Digital Video Essentials for less than $20.

wouldn't calibrating the TV input only affect sharpness/brightness/color? It would certainly explain why my HDMI input is brighter but it wouldn't have anything to do with the picture noise would it?

Depends on what the source of the noise is. Sharpening creates noise, digital errors create noise, etc. Without more details or maybe pics, it's hard to say whether a simple disc calibration would help.

When I first started using my upconverting player, I was disappointed. It took some fiddling and trying different settings to get an outstanding picture. I think I turned on the HD Enhancer on the DVD player menu and that helped a lot. Good luck!