HDMI Ripoff Scam??? Or am I just crazy???

[Alpha Sixx]

Ok guys maybe I'm just not that bright when it comes to HT/HD etc. But maybe someone can help me with this question. Ok I have the Samsung LN52A650 I have had it for about 6 months and of all the hd TV's my Friends have it is the clearest I have seen. But anyways here is my question. I got back from a deployment to Iraq about 7 months ago and I stayed in the barracks for a little while till I was ready to get back into a house. I also have 2 LGBH200's witch plays HD DVDs And Blu rays I also have the 60 gig PS3 and the Elite 360 so I think I have a idea what an HD movie or video game looks like I also have monster HDMI cables for all of my componets. So my roommate had already had time warner cable installed in the room because he had got to the barracks a few days before I did. And he had his cable hooked up with the RGBY cables to his 32 inch hd tv. So i just pick up one of those old cables I used to use to hook up my cable and tv to the vcr back in the 80's and I spliced into his cable turned on the tv and Conan O'Brien was on and it was the clearest and brightest HD picture I have ever seen and i own over 130 blu ray and HD DVDs and about 30 360 and ps3 games combined. But it was as if I was seeing HD for the 1st time again and I had to step back a little bit and let my little eyes adjust to such a beautifull picture I flipped thought the other channels that offer free hd and they where all the same but the clearest ones where the talk shows like jay leno. So the question I pose is how in the hell was a picture that beautifull realistic and vibrant and better than any HD material I have ever seen piped through that cheap cord I bought for about 2 dollars?????? And also since then I have had my tv hooked up directly to the cable box with the RGBY cable and and when I was on leave I had it conected directly to the cable box with an hdmi cable. But to date the best picture was the one in the barracks with that cheap cord!!!

[Lord_Stewie]

Its a discovery on your part.

[My_Two_Cents]

If I understand correctly, you simply tapped into the existing cable TV cable from the wall and fed it into your set using a standard RG6 black (or white) cable? Your set does all of the processing of the raw signal (turns it into an HD picture), so the cable quality really doesn't matter. It may be a good loking HD signal, but it shouldn't be better than a good 1080p BD.

Edit: And thanks for the job you did in the big sandbox!

[Alpha Sixx]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

If I understand correctly, you simply tapped into the existing cable TV cable from the wall and fed it into your set using a standard RG6 black (or white) cable? Your set does all of the processing of the raw signal (turns it into an HD picture), so the cable quality really doesn't matter. It may be a good loking HD signal, but it shouldn't be better than a good 1080p BD.

Edit: And thanks for the job you did in the big sandbox!

Yes I conected it directly from the wall to my tv and disconected my roomates tv becuse he went on leave before I did.

[mdabb]

Let me get this right !!! Your saying component video looks better than HDMI ???

I don't know the technical capabilities of your TV, but I would say you simply just have a user settings issue. Not saying that using the component video source should look "bad", but HDMI should not yield bad results for you. Also Jay Leno looks so clear because it's recorded that way (video based). When watching a film don't you want it to look like a film ???

Certainly people here will be willing to walk you through this, but I would research a lot of this here on this site. That way you will be better off understanding how and why all of this works. Should be a wealth of knowledge in the stickies !!!

[Alpha Sixx]

Originally Posted by mdabb

Let me get this right !!! Your saying component video looks better than HDMI ???

I don't know the technical capabilities of your TV, but I would say you simply just have a user settings issue. Not saying that using the component video source should look "bad", but HDMI should not yield bad results for you. Also Jay Leno looks so clear because it's recorded that way (video based). When watching a film don't you want it to look like a film ???

Certainly people here will be willing to walk you through this, but I would research a lot of this here on this site. That way you will be better off understanding how and why all of this works. Should be a wealth of knowledge in the stickies !!!

I don't think it is user settings on my tv. Because anyone who comes and watches a movie or plays a game on my tv is blown away. Im not saying it is the greatest tv ever! but it is the best looking tv any of my freinds say they have seen even if they own hd tvs themselves. and if I want something to look live I would just switch the 120hz setting to med or high. It was not just the talk shows it was also any of the other free hd channels.

[Deciazulado]

Probably because it's live? (meaning 60 fields per second instead of 24 frames per second?). One word: Plastics err... I mean MotionFlow

[mdabb]

Originally Posted by Alpha Sixx

I don't think it is user settings on my tv. Because anyone who comes and watches a movie or plays a game on my tv is blown away. Im not saying it is the greatest tv ever! but it is the best looking tv any of my freinds say they have seen even if they own hd tvs themselves. and if I want something to look live I would just switch the 120hz setting to med or high. It was not just the talk shows it was also any of the other free hd channels.

I think I need to go back and re-read the OP, I'm either confused or something.

But, Blu-ray is better than HDTV, fact. Just no way around it. So if in all seriousness you are saying a cable TV signal is better than Blu-ray, you definitely got an issue somewhere. Anyhow it's late and I'm lost on this one

Sorry couldn't be of more help. I'm sure someone will help straighten this one out !!! Still I would read up on it .

[RiseDarthVader]

Originally Posted by Alpha Sixx

Ok guys maybe I'm just not that bright when it comes to HT/HD etc. But maybe someone can help me with this question. Ok I have the Samsung LN52A650 I have had it for about 6 months and of all the hd TV's my Friends have it is the clearest I have seen. But anyways here is my question. I got back from a deployment to Iraq about 7 months ago and I stayed in the barracks for a little while till I was ready to get back into a house. I also have 2 LGBH200's witch plays HD DVDs And Blu rays I also have the 60 gig PS3 and the Elite 360 so I think I have a idea what an HD movie or video game looks like I also have monster HDMI cables for all of my componets. So my roommate had already had time warner cable installed in the room because he had got to the barracks a few days before I did. And he had his cable hooked up with the RGBY cables to his 32 inch hd tv. So i just pick up one of those old cables I used to use to hook up my cable and tv to the vcr back in the 80's and I spliced into his cable turned on the tv and Conan O'Brien was on and it was the clearest and brightest HD picture I have ever seen and i own over 130 blu ray and HD DVDs and about 30 360 and ps3 games combined. But it was as if I was seeing HD for the 1st time again and I had to step back a little bit and let my little eyes adjust to such a beautifull picture I flipped thought the other channels that offer free hd and they where all the same but the clearest ones where the talk shows like jay leno. So the question I pose is how in the hell was a picture that beautifull realistic and vibrant and better than any HD material I have ever seen piped through that cheap cord I bought for about 2 dollars?????? And also since then I have had my tv hooked up directly to the cable box with the RGBY cable and and when I was on leave I had it conected directly to the cable box with an hdmi cable. But to date the best picture was the one in the barracks with that cheap cord!!!

Well there's your problem

[Alpha Sixx]

Originally Posted by RiseDarthVader

Well there's your problem

I think u lost me you might be talking way over my head

[tntkain]

Originally Posted by Alpha Sixx

I think u lost me you might be talking way over my head

Most people here hate monster cables, because of the price. They were just being sarcastic

[katharsis]

Monster cable are way overpriced and honestly not the best cables on the market. You can get better cables for a lot cheaper!

Try www.monoprice.com or http://bluejeanscable.com

No need to shell out $60-$80 for HDMI cable.


What kind of cable is the one you bought for $2 ?

And I also think the picture on the tv looks like it, because you have Motion Flow activated. Check the video or picture quality settings. If you watch sports or shows like Conan it will give it the extra "enhancement" that might look it run a lot smoother. You can also activate it when watching Blu-rays, but it might give the film a cheap kind of tv movie look... all preference though.

[Alpha Sixx]

Originally Posted by tntkain

Most people here hate monster cables, because of the price. They were just being sarcastic

Well about 3 years ago friend of mine bought a cheap 10-15 dollar hdmi cable and his picture was juttering really bad on his 360 and his blu rays. So we used one of mine and it worked just fine so he took the cable back and got one a little better and it worked. sometimes you get what you pay for and i don't have the time for the hassels. but anyways we are not talking about my hdmi cables or their quality i was asking why the cable picture directly out of the wall minus hdmi hookup rivaled any hd source I have ever seen using hdmi.

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by Alpha Sixx

Well about 3 years ago friend of mine bought a cheap 10-15 dollar hdmi cable and his picture was juttering really bad on his 360 and his blu rays. So we used one of mine and it worked just fine so he took the cable back and got one a little better and it worked. sometimes you get what you pay for and i don't have the time for the hassels. but anyways we are not talking about my hdmi cables or their quality i was asking why the cable picture directly out of the wall minus hdmi hookup rivaled any hd source I have ever seen using hdmi.

As I understand, cheap HDMI cable will not introduce jitter that can be fixed by an expensive HDMI cable. Hard to explain that.

The reasons for you getting a vibrant and better picture on your Cable in comparison to blu-ray cannot be explained (based on my knowledge) other than guessing that there is something wrong with your blu-ray configuration or you are not using a good quality blu-ray disk for the comparison.

Hope someone will figure this out.

[lojack1976]

Edit: After re-reading your post and realizing that you are using an RGB cable I'm guessing that since you are not getting a 1080i signal, but instead a 480i signal and your TV's scaler is upconverting this signal pretty well which is the reason the resulting picture looks good. A 1080i signal which is what's normally broadcast has to be deinterlaced, downconverted, and then upconverted to your TV's native resolution which is why the quality doesn't look as good. A 480i signal doesn't have to go through as much processing and the resulting picture can look pretty good if the TV's scaler is good.

[McGarnigal]

At first glance 1080i conan can be pretty breathtaking, the blues and shines in the set really pop out at u... Alot of the most beloved Blus are 2.35.1, 2.40.1, and dont take up the whole screen and dont always floor you until uve had them on a few minutes and think back to dvd (and you're expecting to be blown away at any second). If the OP puts on something 16x9 like Dark Knight IMAX scenes, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, or a Pixar flick i think he might get back some of that intial floored feeling

[wallendo]

I doubt that there is anything wrong with your equipment (or your eyesight).

Blu-rays (and HD-DVD's) reproduce their underlying sources better than 1080i video. The 1080i picture looked better to you because:

1) TV shows are recorded with greater depth of field than most movies, hence more of the picture is sharp.

2) TV programs are frequently brightly lit with bright (over)saturated colors.

3) 1080i30 and 720p60 reproduce motion much more smoothly than 24 fps movies.

If these shows were recorded on blu-ray you would find that the picture was just as bright and sharp as you remember, and would likely look even better since BD can distribute video at higher bitrates than broadcast (or cable) TV

I suspect that most of you BD's (and HD-DVD's) are based on movies. These are filmed at 24 fps and uses many cinematic technics to get the "film look" which often includes a narrow depth of field (the background is frequently and intentionally out of focus), often includes dark scenes, and frequently soft focus. These sources don't have the "Wow" factor you expect.

If you have connected your set to the cable box with HDMI instead of component cables, the picture you saw on your screen would be just as good, and probably better.

[DIY_HD]

Alpha_Sixx, I'm not sure I know what you mean by RGBY cable. Are you talking about the old RCA round connectors with the post in the middle, or coax cable?

In either case, you are dealing with upscaling vs. true 1080p video. Your set may have optimized upscaling algorithms for video of that kind. That is you are not getting more detail, but a synthesized image based on the incoming low-resolution signal. While this may be appealing, it's not actually higher resolution than BD or HDMI. The the TV's digital video processing circuitry makes it more uniform, and therefore, brighter and sharper. So the lower the resolution of the incoming signal, the more processed the image. RCA analog would be standard definition and upscaling would produce the most synthesized picture (fills in the most dots on the screen to display 1080p).

If upscaled video looks better than 1080p sources (BDs), you may want to check the settings on your TV. I've got some DVDs that look really good after being upscaled, but they still do not look better than Blu-ray discs via HDMI. Many TVs have a "Vivid" setting that is set as a default for shipping. This is to wow buyers with its ability to display brilliant colors. While this setting is great for watching films like Fantasia, it overdrives colors and makes the picture look less natural. Upscaled images would look better on this setting since it produces areas of pure color. Turning the setting to normal or standard will be a shock after watching it on vivid for 6 months, but it will produce a more natural color balance and a more realistic image. Try changing the settings while watching Cartoon Network and live TV news.

As for HDMI, it's not a scam. Your friend probably had a defective cable. Although many swear by their Monster cables, I paid $6.29 for mine and they work fine. Digital doesn't suffer from gradual signal degradation like analog. Either it works or it doesn't.

[YodasFootPowder]

Originally Posted by wallendo

I doubt that there is anything wrong with your equipment (or your eyesight).

Blu-rays (and HD-DVD's) reproduce their underlying sources better than 1080i video. The 1080i picture looked better to you because:

1) TV shows are recorded with greater depth of field than most movies, hence more of the picture is sharp.

2) TV programs are frequently brightly lit with bright (over)saturated colors.

3) 1080i30 and 720p60 reproduce motion much more smoothly than 24 fps movies.

This. Pretty much what I was going to post.

[DMC86X]

Originally Posted by DIY_HD

Alpha_Sixx, I'm not sure I know what you mean by RGBY cable. Are you talking about the old RCA round connectors with the post in the middle, or coax cable?

In either case, you are dealing with upscaling vs. true 1080p video. Your set may have optimized upscaling algorithms for video of that kind. That is you are not getting more detail, but a synthesized image based on the incoming low-resolution signal. While this may be appealing, it's not actually higher resolution than BD or HDMI. The the TV's digital video processing circuitry makes it more uniform, and therefore, brighter and sharper. So the lower the resolution of the incoming signal, the more processed the image. RCA analog would be standard definition and upscaling would produce the most synthesized picture (fills in the most dots on the screen to display 1080p).

If upscaled video looks better than 1080p sources (BDs), you may want to check the settings on your TV. I've got some DVDs that look really good after being upscaled, but they still do not look better than Blu-ray discs via HDMI. Many TVs have a "Vivid" setting that is set as a default for shipping. This is to wow buyers with its ability to display brilliant colors. While this setting is great for watching films like Fantasia, it overdrives colors and makes the picture look less natural. Upscaled images would look better on this setting since it produces areas of pure color. Turning the setting to normal or standard will be a shock after watching it on vivid for 6 months, but it will produce a more natural color balance and a more realistic image. Try changing the settings while watching Cartoon Network and live TV news.

As for HDMI, it's not a scam. Your friend probably had a defective cable. Although many swear by their Monster cables, I paid $6.29 for mine and they work fine. Digital doesn't suffer from gradual signal degradation like analog. Either it works or it doesn't.

i think he means componnet cables. Red Green Blue Yellow