Hey,

My tv is old (2001) but still works great, so i have no reason to upgrade. It runs 720P great, but i want to buy an HD DVD player. I have a Onkyo 605, so it has HDMI1.3 What I want to do is run the HDMI cable to the receiver from the dvd player (most likely a Toshiba A20) and also run component cables from the DVD player to the TV directly.
What i need to know is a) will the receiver decode the audio even though the video is not getting passed through the HDMI out to the TV since my TV does not have this;
and b) will the component cables still output video even if i have an HDMI cable running out of the DVD player. In other words, does running HDMI 'shut off' all the other outputs?

Thanks,

I don't believe so. You will be able to get HDMI audio, however, the player will know that you are using component cables and thus will not upscale SD DVDs to HD.

I have an A20 but my HDMI cables have not arrived yet so I can't help you out.

It would probably be better to ask this question here at avsforum

Thats ok, Im not concerned about upscaling SD dvds, i just want to play HD dvds at 720p and get the HD audio that comes with HD DVD

By "I don't believe so" I meant that your setup will probably work...not sure why I said it that way...

I think this setup should work fine, you should also be able to run your HDMI to the receiver for sound and run component straight from the HD DVD to the TV for video.

You ask an interesting question….. I don’t know for sure… Your best bet is to download the player’s manual and read up on it or do as Rob suggests and ask the HD fanatics at AVS (they tend to get just a weeee bit carried away at times).

I think, but not sure…., that you may be asking the player do something that it can not do. You are basically asking if the both HDMI and Component outputs of the HD player are live at the same time. I have not tried this configuration, so I don’t know what will happen. Considering the restrictive nature of DRM and HD copy write protection, I’m betting on red ( NO ).

Another option would be to rout HMDI to the 605 and component out of the 605 to your display but I don’t think that will work either. If HD data comes in on HMDI, I do not think it can be output component.

If you find out for sure what is allowed, please post back. I have a spare HD player and an older 720 TV with component inputs that my son uses. He’s been bugging me to hook up the HD player.

Since it was easy for me to check this with my setup, I disconnected The HDMI cables from the TV and ran component cables directly from the TV to the HD-XA2 , leaving the HDMI from the receiver to the XA2 intact.
Picture and HD sound both work fine.
I also reconnected the HDMI to the TV along with the component cables and was able to get a picture off both inputs from the TV, It appears the XA2 keeps several of the outputs live.

I believe it will be the same way with the A20...

Can you tell what input resolution the TV is accepting with component?? And are you still getting Multi channel PCM via HDMI??

Mike, I can't tell what resolution my TV is accepting it's a 720p and the XA2 shows outputting 1080i, the picture through the HDMI connection is cleaner though. I do know the XA2 will only do 1080p through HDMI.
And yes I'm still getting Multi channel PCM via HDMI. through my receiver.

Wait, so your receiver is converting from HDMI (digital video) to component (analog video) to feed the TV? I thought HDCP specifically prohibited this to prevent the "analog hole" piracy/fair use method.

both outputs are from the player, component and HDMI.

Oh, ok. That makes more sense.

In this case running the test, the component cable ran directy from the DVD to the TV bypassing the receiver, the HDMI cable was still able to carry the HD audio from the DVD to the receiver while the component cables were carrying the video from the DVD to the TV.
I may have to test running HDMI from the DVD to receiver then component from the receiver to the TV to see the results.

I'm almost certain that that config (#2) won't work.

Hi Homedad,

As Ken mentioned, I believe that the Toshiba HD-DVD player will output only 480i or p over component video cables because of the HDCP anti-piracy codes. If you use HDMI, then you can output 1080p or 720p if it's HDCP compliant.

My understanding is that no Blu-ray or HD-DVD players will output greater than 480 over component video because of the content protection. Hollywood lawyers don't want you making HD copies of their movies, hence the 480 restriction on component video outputs.

Regards,

I believe you are incorrect, Alan. They should output full res over component. However, there is a bit that can be set on HDCP protected discs (HDDVD/Blu-Ray) that will cause the player to downsample to 540i. However, no studios have set this bit on.

What is prohibited currently is conversion (full res) from HDMI with HDCP (protected digital) to Component (unprotected analog). And that should be prohibited in all HDCP certified equipment--TV, receiver, player, etc.

Hi Ken,

I think you are correct, Ken, though I do not believe they will output 1080p over component video.

Regards,

I did notice there was a difference in PQ when using component vs HDMI running from my XA2 to my TV, the XA2 still showed outputting 1080i, but my TV doesn't show what resoluting it's displaying so it could have very well been 480i through component. My XA2 will only output 1080p through HDMI.
Another question would be if the HD DVD was connected to the receiver via HDMI then component was run from the Receiver to the TV would the receiver take care of the HDCP issues enabling the component to carry HD back to the TV.
As a side note my old XBOX 360 add on HD player used component cables and was able to deliver a 720p picture through component.

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and thus will not upscale SD DVDs to HD.

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Can anyone tell me if a HD-DVD or BluRay player will make my SD DVD's look any better on a 720p 61" DLP TV than a good upscaling DVD player like the Oppo 971???

I have too many SD DVD's to start buying them all over again in HD, or BluRay, but if one of the players can make them look better than my Oppo I might be interested.