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| Registered: April 6, 2007 |  Posts: 466 |
| | Posted: | | | | For those of us with older WS TVs we're stuck until they die. I have no DVI or HDMI connections. Component only. Any insight on any of the following: 1) Helios H4000 upscaling DVD player over component? 2) Oppo 970 DVD player with 'edited'  firmware? TIA!  |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | Reputation:  | | Posts: 585 |
| | Posted: | | | | Wait a tick... are you saying upconverting may be possible without HDMI depending on the player/hacks available for it?
I'm in the same boat being a somewhat early (though, not really) adopter of an HDTV set. I waited for prices to drop and apparently bought an earlier model that came with 2 component inputs, but no HDMI inputs so I'm basically screwed. Otherwise the TV is perfectly good and HD looks great on it. Originally I'd hoped to find something like a HDMI -> Component coverter box but obviously the whole digital to analog and the stupid copyright protection built into HDMI makes that a sticky situation.
I've actually been searching the net looking for the answer to this, so may as well ask it here (hopefully it's not a complete thread hijack). Instead of purchasing a new TV, what if I bought a new AV receiver. So what if said recevier had HDMI inputs and I connected my HDDVD (be it HD-DVD or Blur-ray) and my HD cable box via HDMI but then I ran Component output into the TV. Do Receivers allow that or is the hardware set so that HDMI input can only go through HDMI output? | | | "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas Bader
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 |  Posts: 350 |
| | Posted: | | | | I'm in the same situation (no HDMI inputs on TV). I purchased the XBOX360 HD DVD add-on, which will display over component; it works great. Other than that approach, I don't know of any way of getting HD DVD over component, and I know of no way of getting Blu Ray over component. | | | | -fred |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 585 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting FredLooks: Quote:
I don't know of any way of getting HD DVD over component, and I know of no way of getting Blu Ray over component. HD-DVD and Blu-ray will both work just fine over component (all of the players I've looked at have both HDMI and Component outputs). What doesn't work over Component is the upconverting capability of standard DVDs. Everywhere I've read claims you need HDMI for that to function. | | | "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas Bader
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams |
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| Registered: April 6, 2007 | | Posts: 466 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Vega: Quote:
Quoting FredLooks:
Quote:
I don't know of any way of getting HD DVD over component, and I know of no way of getting Blu Ray over component.
HD-DVD and Blu-ray will both work just fine over component (all of the players I've looked at have both HDMI and Component outputs). What doesn't work over Component is the up-converting capability of standard DVDs. Everywhere I've read claims you need HDMI for that to function. As far as I know, absolutely not true.  NO HD signal from a standard HD or Blu-ray player will transmit an high def signal over anything other than HDMI. No HDMI, no HD. Up-converting the same. I've read too many sets of specs and forums. A hacked Oppo or an H4000 are the only two options I've found. | | | | Last edited: by Fingerlakes Dave |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 350 |
| | Posted: | | | | Sorry, I mis-typed.
XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on will display 1080i and 720p over component from an HD DVD (and maybe 1080p; my TV doesn't accept 1080p from component) As far as I know there is no other way to display HD DVD in high definition over component cables, and there is no way AFAIK to do high-def over component with Blu Ray.
For everything else, no HDMI, no high-def. | | | | -fred |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 585 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Fingerlakes Dave: Quote:
As far as I know, absolutely not true. NO HD signal from a standard HD or Blu-ray player will transmit an high def signal over anything other than HDMI. No HDMI, no HD. Hmm.. looks like I need to do a bit more research then. If that's the case then it changes my Christmas upgrade plans.  | | | "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas Bader
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 585 |
| | Posted: | | | | Okay, I've been doing some reading and here's what it looks like. The players themselves will do HD over component cables just fine. The crippling comes from the movie studios themsevles based on a flag on the DVD. So the studios have the option of downconverting HD over component if they wish. As far as I can tell, none of the current releases have this flag set so you can watch the HD movies over component just fine. | | | "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas Bader
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams |
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| Registered: April 6, 2007 | | Posts: 466 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Vega: Quote:
Okay, I've been doing some reading and here's what it looks like. The players themselves will do HD over component cables just fine. The crippling comes from the movie studios themsevles based on a flag on the DVD. So the studios have the option of downconverting HD over component if they wish. As far as I can tell, none of the current releases have this flag set so you can watch the HD movies over component just fine. Vega, What payers have you researched? I can find no players (on store shelves or on the net) where what you say is possible except the I listed. ALL up convert over HDMI only. For those of us with no HDMI, we're s.o.l. unless you find a viable option. I was just hoping someone had insight on the two options I am aware of. |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 585 |
| | Posted: | | | | For upconverting standard DVD's you are correct, HDMI only. Im bummed about that but I'll get over it. But for simply playing a HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc you can do this over component.. for now. No studio (that I can find) has announced any cut off date as to when they will start setting the flag to downconvert HD over component, but it's going to happen eventually. Hopefully by then I'll be ready to upgrade my TV set.  | | | "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas Bader
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams | | | | Last edited: by Vega |
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| Registered: May 25, 2007 | | Posts: 21 |
| | Posted: | | | | I currently use my old Xbox (original) with XBMC and it upscales quite nicely to either 720p or 1080i.
Plus it has the added advantage of being region free.
PAL units don't natively do HD but you can hack the EEPROM to an NTSC one.
Hope that wasn't too complicated. |
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