HDMI vs. Component

[al]

For the record, BOLOGNA. My HR10-250 came with HDMI cable many many moons ago.

I have been selling and installing Directv since 1998, and Directv has not supplied HDMI cables on a regular basis until about 8 months ago. I'm not saying that they didn't provide you one, because as I recall, an occasional HDMI cable was included with H10's. As the H10's and HR10-250's were sold concurrently, then it is very possible to have had an HDMI cable included with your HR10-250. What I am saying is that it was not a consistant thing. Most of the time prior to 8 months ago, we sold the customer an HDMI cable if they needed one, because they were not usually included with the receiver.


As to the op's question, it has been our experience that HDMI shows a noticable difference with LCD & DLP, not so much with Plasma. Audio improvement is noticable, imo due to digital vs. analog. Biggest advantage is one cable vs. 5. Biggest disadvantage is price on long cable runs, as higher grade HDMI is needed for longer runs, and sometimes repeaters are necessary. We have run component video and analog audio well over 100 feet with no noticable loss of quality.

 

[the_Drake]

This is a good topic. I recently got a replacement HR20 and the "new" one had issues with the HDMI. I noticed on mine, after quite a bit of tuning, the HDMI delivered a better picture. Right now, I am waiting on the replacement for the replacement, so I can connect HDMI, and the comp is doing well. I have it on 720p. The HDMI gave a better picture at 1080i, much smoother. So, it is all up to you. If you plug it in and tweak the set, then you may like it. I had it on both switching back and forth until I decided that on my HDTV the HDMI was better. All in the user's eye.

 

[paulman182]

My HR20-700, installed last October, did not include the HDMI cable.

My HR20-100, installed last month, contained the HDMI cable.

I have purchased a 6-ft. HDMI cable at a local store for $9.

 

[vurbano]

I have been selling and installing Directv since 1998, and Directv has not supplied HDMI cables on a regular basis until about 8 months ago. I'm not saying that they didn't provide you one, because as I recall, an occasional HDMI cable was included with H10's. As the H10's and HR10-250's were sold concurrently, then it is very possible to have had an HDMI cable included with your HR10-250. What I am saying is that it was not a consistant thing. Most of the time prior to 8 months ago, we sold the customer an HDMI cable if they needed one, because they were not usually included with the receiver.

The cable has been listed on the side of the box for at least 2 years. Whats the name of your company?

Heres a picture of the box contents from 2005:
HR10-250 Review
This is the entire contents of the box minus the access card (forgot it was still in the box). The box contained the HR10-250, power cable, users manual, component cables, S-Video cable, HDMI-to-DVI cable, HDMI cable, A/V cables, phone cable, phone line splitter, remote and batteries.

 

[tds4182]

The cable has been listed on the side of the box for at least 2 years. Whats the name of your company?

Heres a picture of the box contents from 2005:
HR10-250 Review
This is the entire contents of the box minus the access card (forgot it was still in the box). The box contained the HR10-250, power cable, users manual, component cables, S-Video cable, HDMI-to-DVI cable, HDMI cable, A/V cables, phone cable, phone line splitter, remote and batteries.

Vurbano, don't pass out, but I totally agree with you on this one!!!

I was one of the first purchasers of the HR10-250 from ValueElectronics. I've still got my old box and the contents listed above were exactly what was in my box.

History has been made today.

 

[jcrandall]

I use both, and notice no difference.

I use the HDMI to feed monitors in my office. I use the component outputs to a 4 port component switch. The switch then feeds a 4 port component output splitter (with digital audio too) and that feeds 3 more HDTVs throughout the house. Combined with the RF remote, it is a great setup, with no noticable loss of video or audio quality.

Best part for me, I got the component switch for $33 from monoprice, and the component splitter from a CompUSA that went out of business for $50. They used it to power their HDTV displays.

 

[al]

The cable has been listed on the side of the box for at least 2 years. Whats the name of your company?

Heres a picture of the box contents from 2005:
HR10-250 Review
This is the entire contents of the box minus the access card (forgot it was still in the box). The box contained the HR10-250, power cable, users manual, component cables, S-Video cable, HDMI-to-DVI cable, HDMI cable, A/V cables, phone cable, phone line splitter, remote and batteries.

Okay vurbano, I will give you this one and agree that the HR10-250's did include an HDMI cable, as well as a DVI to HDMI adapter. It is printed on my two boxes as well. Funny thing is that the included HDMI cable was useless on alot of HR10's, as the HDMI port would sometimes die. I had one that did, and one that didn't.

The HR10 not withstanding, Directv did not supply HDMI cables on a regular basis on the H10, nor on the H20 or the HR20 series until recently. Now they are offered on a regular basis, prior to 8 months ago, it was very sparodic.

Oh, and the name of my company is ALSAT Home Electronics.

 

[vurbano]

Okay vurbano, I will give you this one and agree that the HR10-250's did include an HDMI cable, as well as a DVI to HDMI adapter. It is printed on my two boxes as well. Funny thing is that the included HDMI cable was useless on alot of HR10's, as the HDMI port would sometimes die. I had one that did, and one that didn't.

The HR10 not withstanding, Directv did not supply HDMI cables on a regular basis on the H10, nor on the H20 or the HR20 series until recently. Now they are offered on a regular basis, prior to 8 months ago, it was very sparodic.

Oh, and the name of my company is ALSAT Home Electronics.

If it was printed on the box the customer should have gotten one free of charge. Obviously the boxes that didnt have cables in them must have been open boxes buy instead of contacting D* you went ahead and charged the customer for the cable? I would have told you to pack up your crap and get off of my property and not signed anything, then got on the horn to D* about you. The competent thing would have been for you to contact D* before charging the customer a dime. Over even more competent would be to check that everything was in the box prior to arriving at your customers address. Have you ever even talked to D* about this?

 

[texasbrit]

I have been selling and installing Directv since 1998, and Directv has not supplied HDMI cables on a regular basis until about 8 months ago. I'm not saying that they didn't provide you one, because as I recall, an occasional HDMI cable was included with H10's. As the H10's and HR10-250's were sold concurrently, then it is very possible to have had an HDMI cable included with your HR10-250. What I am saying is that it was not a consistant thing. Most of the time prior to 8 months ago, we sold the customer an HDMI cable if they needed one, because they were not usually included with the receiver.


As to the op's question, it has been our experience that HDMI shows a noticable difference with LCD & DLP, not so much with Plasma. Audio improvement is noticable, imo due to digital vs. analog. Biggest advantage is one cable vs. 5. Biggest disadvantage is price on long cable runs, as higher grade HDMI is needed for longer runs, and sometimes repeaters are necessary. We have run component video and analog audio well over 100 feet with no noticable loss of quality.

It's certainly true that the HR20s did not have HDMI cables included until about 7-8 months ago.
There are probably more posts on the subject of HDMI vs component picture quality than any other. If the inputs on the TV are correctly calibrated (and most of the time they are not) then there should be no difference between the picture quality on component and the picture quality on HDMI, on shorter-length cables. Audio should not be a factor - with component cables you should be using an optical audio or digital coax audio cable and the quality should be identical to HDMI. The advantage of HDMI is one cable versus four (not five).
You are absolutely right about the issues with HDMI over long runs. Component video can hold up very well over 100-200 feet with the right cable. HDMI, because it uses twisted pair cable, starts to suffer problems, often at lengths as low as 50ft, and requires an equalizer/repeater to reconstitute the signal. Here's an interesting article What's the Matter with HDMI? -- Blue Jeans Cable and here's another one. HDMI Cable -- An Overview -- Blue Jeans Cable

 

[Brewer4]

I got a 90 foot HDMI cable and absolutely no problems. Its even coming off an HDMI Matrix switch.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I only notice a difference in my H20, HDMI looks slightly better then Component. But HR20 looks no different,Nor does my Vip 622.

 

[texasbrit]

I got a 90 foot HDMI cable and absolutely no problems. Its even coming off an HDMI Matrix switch.

Yes, I don't think anyone is saying that it's always a problem. If you look at the web site of someone like monoprice, they have 100ft cables without equalizers at 22 AWG (they are the really thick cables). But their 130ft 24 AWG cable has a built-in equalizer, and at 26AWG (thinner cables) the 75 and 100ft cables have equalizers.
Bluejeanscable are more conservative - they say up to 50ft should always be OK, up to 100 ft may or may not be, depending on the cable, the electrical environment and how clean (and square) the HDMI signal pulses coming out of the HDMI device are....

 

[Brewer4]

Yes, I don't think anyone is saying that it's always a problem. If you look at the web site of someone like monoprice, they have 100ft cables without equalizers at 22 AWG (they are the really thick cables). But their 130ft 24 AWG cable has a built-in equalizer, and at 26AWG (thinner cables) the 75 and 100ft cables have equalizers.
Bluejeanscable are more conservative - they say up to 50ft should always be OK, up to 100 ft may or may not be, depending on the cable, the electrical environment and how clean (and square) the HDMI signal pulses coming out of the HDMI device are....

Just made a statement. Its a cable from Monoprice and its thick.

 

[al]

If it was printed on the box the customer should have gotten one free of charge. Obviously the boxes that didnt have cables in them must have been open boxes buy instead of contacting D* you went ahead and charged the customer for the cable? I would have told you to pack up your crap and get off of my property and not signed anything, then got on the horn to D* about you. The competent thing would have been for you to contact D* before charging the customer a dime. Over even more competent would be to check that everything was in the box prior to arriving at your customers address. Have you ever even talked to D* about this?

There is nothing to talk to Directv about. Directv only recently began to include HDMI cables in ALL of the H20 and HR20 boxes. The boxes that include an HDMI cable have a colored label affixed to the box that says "HDMI" printed on it. We leave the cables with the customer that come in the box. If the receiver comes with HDMI cable, the customer gets the cable. I am not going to rehash the HR10, I already said you were correct on that. In the case of the HR 10's we installed, the customers all have the HDMI cables that came with the receiver, but we rarely used the HDMI then, due to high failure rates of HDMI output, and that alot of HDTV's we came across didn't have HDMI ports.

As to HDMI cables we sold, this was only when they were not included with H10, H20 and HR20 receivers, but were needed for the install. We also sell HDMI cables to most of our DISH HD customers, as DISH does not include HDMI with their HD receivers.

And as to our competancy, we have never had a complaint with any install we have ever done, whether DISH, Directv, or Hughesnet, or any custom work. We are constantly repairing installs for customers who had sub-par installs from fulfillment installers, and people gladly pay us for the work we do for them. We work from referrals only, and folks come to us for our experience, quality of work, and service. My guess vurbano is that even you would be happy with our work, and would not as you put it tell us to "... pack up your crap and get off of my property .... "

The op was asking about HDMI cables for his HR20. The purpose of my original post was to inform him that based upon when he said he had his receiver installed, Directv wasn't providing HDMI cables with HR20's on a regular basis, so he wouldn't think he had been cheated out of a cable. I made the mistake of including the HR10 in my list of receivers that did not include HDMI cable, and have admitted that mistake. I am done with the discussion as to what cables come with what receiver. But it was fun discussing it!

 

[vurbano]

I made the mistake of including the HR10 in my list of receivers that did not include HDMI cable, and have admitted that mistake.

Glad you admitted the mistake all of your customers got free cables with their HR10's. I didnt see where you said that. Sorry.