morehd wrote:
I'm pretty easy on AT&T, but c'mon they need to fix this. I have numerous hookups to my TV and with HDMI there is far less clutter. Even when the HDMI works, it crushes blacks. For a company to tell you to go to lesser technology to "fix" their problem is ludicrous.
Yes, HDMI is digital, and Component is analog. But I think calling it "lesser technology" is a bit extreme. If it works better, how is it "lesser" ?
Digital does not mean "better". I personally feel that Component gives a much more natural picture, and removes some of the sharp noise present in a pure digital signal. Our eyes don't see the world digitally, and our ears don't hear it that way, so why the push to make everything digital?
I want the best picture I can get, given the equipment I have. If the U-Verse receiver messes up HDMI, then I will use Component. Don't let a false mystique surrounding "digital" prohibit you from using the best thing available to you, even if it uses 4 or 5 wires instead of 1. 
SomeJoe7777 wrote:
Yes, HDMI is digital, and Component is analog. But I think calling it "lesser technology" is a bit extreme. If it works better, how is it "lesser" ?
Digital does not mean "better". I
I agree with you 100%. All digital really means is the signal should remain constant from start to finish. All things being equal a digital signal will not degrade. BUT, if the signal is junk to begin with, the fact that it is digital is not going to improve or correct the junk. It merely means you can be sure you got the exact same junk that was sent out in the first place. 
Don't forget, computer virus' are digital too.
morehd wrote:So Jim what are you saying? Are you saying Uverse has a crappy signal to begin with so use Component cables? I'm sorry I don't think you will see anywhere that component cables are better than HDMI, except on this forum. Conventional thinking at it's best says that there is very little difference, and when HDMI first came out cables were $100 so the advice was to stick with Component. Now with quality HDMI cables at $10 the price advantage of Component is gone. And let's not forget the digital sound that is carried with HDMI. Sorry AT$T needs to to better than "use component".
I know you were responding to the other poster, but I'll give you my opinion as well.
I believe every provider has a crappy signal. U-Verse, Comcast, Brighthouse, Cox, Time-Warner, Charter, DirecTV, Dish, etc. All of them compress the signal, some more than others. Compression is evil. It intentionally throws away picture information to reduce bandwidth requirements. And the compression operation introduces artifacts that can ruin the picture. Many of those artifacts are digital noise. So you're left with a signal in your home that is crap when coming out of the STB, no matter what interface it's coming out of.
I have two HD interfaces on my box, Component and HDMI. If the Component cables can introduce the slightest blurring (they do) which can remove some of the digital noise left by the compression, that's a good thing. HDMI will not. HDMI will faithfully deliver the digital noise directly to your TV, with no loss or degradation. You will be able to see every compression artifact in stunning detail. 
I'm not really interested in "conventional wisdom", or how many forums say HDMI is better or how many forums say Component is better. I'm only interested in the picture quality that appears on the TV, as I see it with my own two eyes, because that's the final word. You should be too. You should hook up a set of Component cables on your TV, and flip back and forth between Component and HDMI and look at the picture and see which one you like better. Don't take my word for it or anybody else's word for it -- you should make your own decision.
As far as the sound, what's wrong with optical? That's the same Dolby Digital stream you will get over HDMI -- same 5.1 surround.
If you have a choice between lots of digital noise and crushed blacks vs. proper blacks and less noise, which would you choose? Does it matter what kind of wire delivers that performance? You're not sitting on the couch staring at the wire ... you're watching the picture.
Now, if you want to argue that AT&T has work to do on the HDMI implementation to fix the crushed blacks and work to do on the HD encoding to improve the picture quality, those are legitimate, separate arguments that indeed should be made.
Also, keep in mind that this rationale that I'm going through here is based on U-Verse (or other providers) as the source material. If we were talking about a Blu-Ray player as the source material, then HDMI wins primarily because of lossless audio and 24p support. Although even there, arguments can be made that Component+Optical can give almost equal performance under certain conditions.
Mine would prefer the picture just mysteriously appeared in thin air somehow and the sound is just heard. Hates the 52" LCD ("Its so big") but loves the picture ("Its so big"). Hates the components ("Do they have to be black? You can't get them in different colors?"). I had to run all my cables in the wall to a box I cut in behind the LCD. Added a power outlet too. Not a single wire showing - at least I got that right! 
