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New Home Video Distribution to HDMI or not to HDMI

1697 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by matthaios, Jan 3, 2009

matthaios

Discussion Starter · Jan 3, 2009

Hey everybodylong time reader first time poster. I'm hoping some of you can give me your input/advise on my situation.

The Situation:

I'm currently building a house and I'm looking to locate all my equipment in the basement. To start, this will be powering my greatroom and the master bedroom. Two other bedrooms could possibly follow down the road along with a theatre in the basement. I was going to do multiple CAT6 runs behind each tv for balun runs for Component/HDMI/IR and any other future expansion.

The majority of my content will be served via HD Bell ExpressVu (HDMI or Component), DVD Player (Component) and HD rips off my HTPC (DVI->HDMI). I will also have an Xbox 360 and a Wii in the mix (both Component). I'm looking to possibly add an upscaling DVD Player (HDMI only) and a PS3 (HDMI for 1080p BluRay). And this is where I kind of second guess myself. I have a good portion of devices that are Component nowbut my HTPC and 2 other future purchases will be HDMI and I will be ideally sharing these between all the different rooms so I'll be looking at putting a Matrix in.

Currently I'm torn between distributing over Component or HDMI. I have read so many posts from people having issues with HDMI, but my TV's do not accept 1080p over componentso what should I do? My two TV's that will be displaying all this are the Panasonic TH-50PZ850U and the TH-46PZ80U, so throwing something like the hdfury into the mix wouldn't really work for me.

If I invest the money into BluRay I would prefer to watch it at 1080p, which means I have to use HDMI. Anything I watch off my HTPC I would prefer 1080p so I would have to keep that as DVI->HDMI as well.

How are people currently distributing HDMI for centrally located devices? I know there are HDMi Matrix Switches out therebut how many people are actually using these easily? How many issues are you having per say with your PS3 playing BluRay? Am I better off going with my gut on this one and sticking to Component for distribution and live with 1080i?

If you were doing a new install what would you doComponent or HDMI or both?

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AV Doogie

· #2 · Jan 3, 2009

I have a similar situation with trying to distribute HD video to three additional locations within my existing home. Some questions I have asked myself are:

1) Do I really need 1080P capability for distribution or will 1080i work?

2) Component distribution seems to be somewhat more mature and cheaper than HDMI, Plus you do not need to worry about HDCP with component (1080i only?)

3) What source components are capable of 1080P distribution, and will I see any apparent difference in the video?

Answers:

1) I really don't need to have 1080P, 1080i is good enough for distribution around the house for me

2)HDMI distribution currently requires at least two Cat5/6 cables to each location whereas component requires one including audio. Component distribution currently seems to be cheaper than HDMI.

3)I currently have one BluRay player with 1080P capability, and my Dish 622 DVR with 1080i capability, plus a music system. I have experience with the 1080i/1080P video system through my front projector setup....I can not tell the difference. How about you?

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petern

· #3 · Jan 3, 2009

I'd wire for both (plus extra, as you said) and plan on distributing via Component until the majority of my equipment is HDMI. Keep your options open.

Also, I know the PS3 is a good Blu-Ray player, but if you're planning to use it as a whole-house disc source (ie not as a gaming machine) you might just want to get a plain old player that you can control with an ordinary IR remote control, without add-ons. You could get a player that has both Component and HDMI outputs.

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matthaios

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 3, 2009

Thank you for your feedback AV Doogie, I really do appreciate it!

I think you are right based on the majority of my equipment, 1080i would be fine. I believe my TVs are deinterlacing properly as I haven't noticed any motion/artifacts when looking closely.

I think my big concern is that my HTPC will not output even close to 1080i over componentit maxes out at 1024x768 (so for the HTPC it currently is very noticeable). This could be a Radeon driver/Vista problem atmI'm still trying to isolate the exact issue as it should not be locking it down to such a low res Other then that I do not have any other HDMI devices to compare 1080p to 1080i with

I think I'm just concerned that I put all this $$ into centrally locating everything and add BluRay into the mix and then they start drastically lowering the res they allow titles to output onto component (which as I've read they could potentially do).

I've also thought of locally locating some of the devices (ie: Wii and Xbox), but I'm not quite sure on the best way to do this since all my AV receivers will be in the basement. This just seems like another level of complexity and expense Is it common to have another set of baluns there to pass the audio/video back down into the matrix and then have that distributed out to the tvs?

So I'm guessing HDMi is still kinda finicky to distribute and as you said more expensive to distribute?

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matthaios

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 3, 2009

Thanks petern!

Yeah I think I'm looking at starting off with Component distribution for sure now...I just have some issues with my HTPC to resolve. I think it's that stigma of 1080i

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emcgrath

· #6 · Jan 3, 2009

I'd matrix everything with component (except the bluray) because it is the only thing that works now.

Then I'd direct wire the blueray to the hdmi input on the set in the great room. That way you get 1080p where it really matters. In a few years when (if) HDMI actually works with multiple sources and TV's, you can swap out the matrix and baluns (or run both wires now and just swap out the matrix).

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fletch999

· #7 · Jan 3, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by emcgrath /forum/post/15449008

I'd matrix everything with component (except the bluray) because it is the only thing that works now.

Then I'd direct wire the blueray to the hdmi input on the set in the great room. That way you get 1080p where it really matters. In a few years when (if) HDMI actually works with multiple sources and TV's, you can swap out the matrix and baluns (or run both wires now and just swap out the matrix).

This is the best solution. Although some BD players can output component and HDMI at the same time, so you could use it for both the matrix and a direct source. Check the individual players for this capability.

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matthaios

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 3, 2009

Thanks for the info/tips on the Matrix and BluRay player emcgrath and fletch999this sounds like the best of both worlds!

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