Can you get HD DVD quality with no HDMI cable?

Question

If you have a HD DVD player but a HDTV (55 inches) that doesn't support HDMI, can you still get HD DVD quality? I know that you won't be able to upconvert, but I'm not worried about that.

Answer 1

i have an hd dvd player and i tried both HDMI cables and the cables that came with the player and there is very little difference with the two.  the HDMI cables make the picture look a tad crisper than the standard cables but honestly, you are not missing that much.

Answer 2

use component cables!

Answer 3

Agreed - component cables can get you to 1080i in most situations. But if your tv doesn't support HDMI if probably can't do 1080p anyway. Check it out.

Answer 4

Yes.

I had both my BluRay and HD-DVD player hooked up with component cables. When I added the HD cable box, I converted to HDMI, but had to go back to component for the BluRay as it did not want to work through the 4-port HDMI switch I bought.

Answer 5

common mistake is belief you cannot get full 1080p through component cables. you infact can as long as its supported by your tv and the component youre connecting to the tv. My xbox 360 allows for 1080p through component cables on my sharp 32 inch lcd tv

Answer 6

Actually, you're a little mistaken. The best you can do is probably upconvert. IF you can only use let's say Component cables, you wont get the full benefit of HD-DVD and probably only get 1080i (Depends on your set and if you HD-DVD player can output 1080p through component, which is unlikely) Your HD-DVD player will still upconvert to a maximum 1080i resolution.

Answer 7

Wait a minute -- you're confusing cable types with definition quality.

If you really have an HDTV, then it supports some kind of HD input. If it really doesn't support HDMI, it probably supports DVI, which is essentially the same except that you need a separate connection for the audio. You can hook a DVI output to an HDMI input (or vice versa) if the plugs on the end of your cable are the proper ones.

Upconverting really doesn't have much to do with the basic question -- how do you get an HD signal into your TV?