Component verses DVI?

[blibman]

My TV has both component video in and DVI. Would there be any quality difference between using the component video and using a HDMI to DVI convertor cable?

Thanks.

[atlcrei]

Component is similar to Analog VGA. Basically, if you can tell the difference in quality between VGA and DVI; then you should use the HDMI to DVI converter.

HDMI is definitely better, IMHO. I currrently use the HDMI/DVI input with my HTPC, and leave the TiVo on the component input.

[Shawn95GT]

I'm in the same boat. I didn't have a HDMI--> DVI adaptor or cable so I just used component. I'm very happy with the picture vs the S2!

[snathanb]

Much of it will depend on the type of TV you are using. Without a long drawn out paragraph on why, I'd say try both and keep what looks best to you.

[blibman]

I have a 40" Sony CRT. It is a 4:3 "smart screen" HDTV.

One problem I currently have is that when the TV station sends an SD feed as HD, I get black borders all the way around the video. The ASPECT button does nothing to eliminate the border. I wonder if changing to a digital input would help?

B

[IceStorm]

I do not see any noticable difference between Component and HDMI on my Sony KDF-42WE655 Rear Projection LCD, but as noted it'll vary from TV to TV.

As to the 4:3 in a 16:9 strip issue, have you tried using the native aspect ratio options on the TV? Not sure if the 4:3 40" has that button, but if it has a Wide button maybe that will allow zooming up the input signal to fill the screen? Or run the TiVo in 16:9 mode and set Aspect to Full? Aspect and TV ratio seem to apply to all outputs simultaneously - I see no difference in the display size/ratio when using composite, s-video, component, or HDMI, across both my 42" widescreen and my Slingbox.

Wow. The 40" 4:3 Sony. That was the end of the line for 4:3 direct view home CRT sizes, wasn't it? The biggest thing stopping me from getting one back in the day was the 300+ pound weight combined with the two flights of stairs it would have to ascend and later descend. :-)

[Rob Helmerichs]

I have a 40" Sony CRT. It is a 4:3 "smart screen" HDTV.

One problem I currently have is that when the TV station sends an SD feed as HD, I get black borders all the way around the video. The ASPECT button does nothing to eliminate the border. I wonder if changing to a digital input would help?

B
Your problem is that an HD signal is 16:9. An HD signal containing a 4:3 image has black bars built in to "pad it out" to 16:9. Your 4:3 TV takes the 16:9 HD image (which already has black bars left and right), and puts black bars above and below it. There's probably nothing you can do about it; that's the compromise you pay for having a 4:3 TV to watch a 16:9 image.

Changing to a digital output, if it has any effect, would hurt, not help. My Samsung HDTVs (new and old) can't/won't scale/zoom HD signals, although they can scale/zoom 480p or 4801.

[moyekj]

Much of it will depend on the type of TV you are using. Without a long drawn out paragraph on why, I'd say try both and keep what looks best to you. Agreed, always try both if you can. There are some problems with HDMI/DVI on some TVs. My HDTV does not overscan with DVI input so sometimes I would get noise on the top of the image. Researching a little on the web I found quite a few reports of several TVs suffering from same problem on DVI/HDMI input. That problem doesn't exist for component input on my TV and component looked just as good anyway.

[snathanb]

I have a 40" Sony CRT. It is a 4:3 "smart screen" HDTV.

One problem I currently have is that when the TV station sends an SD feed as HD, I get black borders all the way around the video. The ASPECT button does nothing to eliminate the border. I wonder if changing to a digital input would help?

B

Make sure you have the Tivo set to a TV type of 4:3. The ASPECT button only works when the Tivo is set for 4:3. This will let you stretch the picture and get rid of the sidebars when the TV station broadcasts 4:3 content in a 16:9 signal.

[blibman]

My tv does not have any way of zooming or controlling aspect. If it gets a 16:9 signal, it creates its own bars by actually compressing the scan lines to fit into that pattern; that way, you don't lose lines of resolution to the "bars", you get all 1080/720 lines for the actual image.

It sounds like staying Smart 4:3 and using component video will be the best for me. If I can just get my non-HD switched to simulcast digital, I'll use that instead (I have another thread on this already, look for "Simulcast" in the topic).

snathanb: If I put in in 4:3 instead of "Smart 4:3", I never get rid of the top and bottom bars. When I zoom, it just stretches the image to fill the screen left and right.

IceStorm: Yes my TV is the "last of its kind". Very bright, Very sharp, Very heavy. I love it. It does seem a little small in widescreen (approximately 36-37" diagonal).

Thanks everyone.

[jeffrypennock]

My HDTV does not overscan with DVI input so sometimes I would get noise on the top of the image. Researching a little on the web I found quite a few reports of several TVs suffering from same problem on DVI/HDMI input. That problem doesn't exist for component input on my TV and component looked just as good anyway.
THAT'S why I see a line of orange or white at the top of my screen from some HD programming??? It's my HDMI/DVI cable??? Would that be solved by a better quality HDMI-to-DVI cable or does it have to do w/ my TV set exclusively?

[rodalpho]

No, it's not the cable quality, it's that his TV doesn't do any overscanning at all on DVI. Mine doesn't either, so I have to use zoom mode on a lot of content to avoid the little line. (I have a westinghouse lvm-42w2.)

[SNJpage1]

The bars above and below or right and left are some times inserted by the broadcasting channel. On the high def network channels such as ABC-HD some of the commercials will be broadcasted that way. There is nothing you can do about it.

[blibman]

If you set the panel color to gray in the Tivo settings, you will be able to tell the difference between the panels Tivo is adding and the panels that the TV station is adding (they will be black or filled in with a pattern).

[woodie]

When using component cables, my TV would flicker when going from 1080i to 480p.
This would happend while channel surfing, or going to TiVo Central from an HD show.

With HDMI, everything is smooth, no more video sync sillyness. Also, my TV has all kinds
of settings to mix 5.1 and other digital audio formats into the two built-in speakers, and
I don't usually feel like bothering with the audio receiver.