I have a new Premium 360 with HDMI, running on a brand new Samsung 56" slim DLP, the model w/ an LED bulb.

I have been using the 360's included component cables, but just bought a 6' 28AWG HDMI cable from Monoprice. So far I am not impressed with the quality of dark blacks using HDMI. My comparison was done on the Bioshock demo. When viewing a shadowed corner from afar, the black looks the same with HDMI and component. When I walk closer, the black color of the corner brightens gradually until it looks extremely washed out, and this happens only with the HDMI. There is an in-game brightness setting, and I made sure that I set the initial brightness to the exact same thing.

It seems that the HDMI is brighter overall even in the Dashboard, where the bright colors of the blades look more washed out. Is this just a calibration issue, and I need to change the settings of my brightness, etc.? I am just confused because even when set to the same in-game brightness, the components performed much better.

Any ideas?

There is a video range/black-level setting in Xbox 360 dashboard (after this may's update). You should set it to standard if your TV expects standard video level from HDMI port. I don't have a Samsung DLP but I know some models let you set input signal spec. Make sure it is set to video instead of PC to match the Xbox 360 setting.

There is a video range/black-level setting in Xbox 360 dashboard (after this may's update). You should set it to standard if your TV expects standard video level from HDMI port. I don't have a Samsung DLP but I know some models let you set input signal spec. Make sure it is set to video instead of PC to match the Xbox 360 setting.

Yeah the settings on the TV and 360 are both set to standard black levels, and every other setting is the same for both inputs.

Any other suggestions as to what could be causing the change in performance or other settings that should be modified to enhance HDMI performance? The only annoying thing is that I don't think I can set different settings for different inputs on my TV, so if I switch from my 360 on HDMI to, say, my Wii on component, I would have to change my TV settings all over again.

I would ask the fine folks over at the AVS 360 forum.

Much more experience for these two items there.