Alright had another concern raised recently in my quest for the ultimate home theater with very limited resources. Todays dilemma: HDMI or Component? I'd thought all along HDMI would be the sure way to go since it's an uncompressed digital signal that can't get any interference from the many other cables in my room but I've heard over in the CRT forum people have noted getting better looking color out of their component cables and the sharpness has been just about the same. On top of that I've heard with both the Mits HD1000U and the Optoma HD70 you can only get 10-bit color through analog whereas digital will only be 8-bit. So I'm thinking is component the better way to go? I do have a super long Monster component cable from my PS2 that I could use with my PS3 so that could actually work in my favor.

Is this true re:HD1000 and 10bit available only through component?

Only way to be sure is to get an HDMI cable from monoprice.com (probably costs 1/10th what you paid for the Monster cable) and check it for yourself.

Only way to be sure is to get an HDMI cable from monoprice.com (probably costs 1/10th what you paid for the Monster cable) and check it for yourself.

Yea I don't like buying from Monster, there like Bose you're just buying a name pretty much and paying 20x what you would buying a similar quality cable else ware. Unfortunately it's slim pickins when it comes to finding quality cables for game consoles. As for buying an HDMI cables, that's what I was hoping to avoid buy asking this question, I don't really want to pay $20 just to compare cables.

The HD70 is 8bit the HD1000 is 10bit.

I think component/HDMI on a CRT is different as a CRT display is Analog.

You can also only do HD-DVD and Blue-Ray over DVI/HDMI.

The HD70 is 8bit the HD1000 is 10bit.

I think component/HDMI on a CRT is different as a CRT display is Analog.

You can also only do HD-DVD and Blue-Ray over DVI/HDMI.

From what I understand after a long discussion on both the HD70 and HD1000U they are both 10bit over analog and 8bit over digital. The CRT in question was an XBR970 which is a digital TV and HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are both capable over component but only in 720p (which is fine because I don't have nearly the cash to dish out on a 1080p pj).

The HD70 is 8bit the HD1000 is 10bit.

I think component/HDMI on a CRT is different as a CRT display is Analog.

You can also only do HD-DVD and Blue-Ray over DVI/HDMI.
this is not true ...the 8bit digital limitation is a result of the 720p dch2 that both the hd70 and hd1000u (or any other dch2 720p dlp for that matter ) share.....its limited by the integrated TI solution not to be confused with the scaler or deinterlacer. Many people just refuse to believe this to make themselves feel better and no one has any proof otherwise.... Although we do have the recient confirmation from a top optoma engineer through guitar man and although he may be a optoma dealer i'm inclined to believe what hes saying is not a total lie The engineer should know seeing how optomas parent company , Coretronics manufacters both the hd70 and the hd1000u. (that and thats not the first time I heard this information). Show me something to the contrary?
BTW the actual picture difference between hdmi and component acan be non existent depending on the quality of the hardware. Hdmi is theoretically more color acurate from the source meaning less adjusting the settings to compinsate but both are capable of the same resolutions and picture quality as many have posted and debated time and time again. Once calibrated most said they could find no image quality advantages over hdmi worth mentioning. The real purpose driving hdmi is copyright protection.....being able to limit what you can watch or record and also limit the resolution you can record it at....a lot less dvds would be purchased if you could just record anything in hd. Why do you think upscaling dvd players can output upconverted hd resolutions through hdmi but not through component (at least not without hacking into the dvd player firmware and changing this) Its all about selling something to the public that can limit options in the future when they decide to utilize these features incorporated into "HDMI".

I should also mention that I utilize both the hdmi and component inputs on my hd70 and I have an OTA reciever that will output both. I tested them and after ajusting the color slightly on the component input I could see no superiority as far as picture quality on either. this was not true on my bravo d1 because of quality limitations on the component output of that dvd player.

Both the PJC and projectorreviews.com reviews notices a difference between the HD70 and HD1000 in gradation of skin tones.

"For example, flesh tones on occasion showed a clear differentiation, essentially a line, between two very close shades of the same basic color, instead of a smooth gradient."

http://www.projectorcentral.com/optoma_hd70.htm

"8 Bit Color per channel (24 bit): One minor downside to the HD70 is that it processes colors at a maximum of 16 million colors. Now that may seem like a lot, but almost all home theater projectors today are at least 10 bit, which gives you about 1 Billion colors. Believe it or not, you can see the difference. If you have 8 bit processing, you may run out of subtle shades in a face, so you get a bit of flatness, in the image."

http://www.projectorreviews.com/Manufacturers/optoma/HD70/imagequality.asp

Mitsubishi specifically markets 10bit over 8bit on it's HD1100 model, which is an HD1000 without a white segment

"The HC1100's formatter board is equipped with a combined full 10-bit processing I/P converter and scaler, and a 12-bit floating point digital gamma controller. The result is approximately four times the number of gradations of a conventional 8-bit model, so even skin tones are faithfully reproduced."

This is also mentioned in the cine4home reivew. Some of the best and most technically adept reviewers there are.

"Picture Noise and False Contour (ghost images with fast movements in dark areas) will remain to be artifacts with single chip projectors for some time to come, every DLP fan has to live with them. But the manufacturers are always seeking improvements. Using the DDP3020 control chip in combination with the LVDS DMD, and a faster signal processing (10 bit!) the mentioned artifacts were already visibly reduces with the HC3000. The results are the same with the new models:"

http://www.cine4home.com/reviews/projectors/MitsuHC3100-1100/HC3100-1100Review.htm


http://www.mitsubishielectric.com.au/PRODUCTS/PROJ/HC1100.htm