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Friday, June 8, 2007
Hooking up with HDTV
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You need to be well-connected to really enjoy HDTV.
The connections I’m talking about have nothing to do with getting invited to the right parties. Even if you don’t get a birthday card from Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt you can still have good connections.
Setting up your HDTV is a far cry from the days when hooking up a new television involved plugging in the power and connecting the cable for the antenna or cable box.
That’s because your new HDTV isn’t really a television set. Instead - even if it has a built in tuner - think of it as an entertainment screen for displaying movies, games, photos and, yeah, even television.
You’ll end up connecting a lot of gadgets to the HDTV to do all that. There’s the cable box, or satellite receiver most of us use to get our programming. Add on a DVD player, a digital video recorder (DVR), and - in many households - a game machine like the xBox 360.
That’s a lot of gadgets and a lot of cables.
The back of an HDTV has rows of inputs where these cables connect. Facing those rows and rows of mysterious inputs - all with fancy sounding initials and names - can cause excessive sweating and bloodshot eyes.
What about the TV manual? I don’t know about yours, but mine is filled with bewildering illustrations. If the creators had to explain how to make toast, we’d all go hungry.
To make things even more confusing, there are many ways of connecting gadgets to the set. For instance, your cable box could connect using the inputs called component, or it could connect to one labeled DVI, or another called HDMI. It’s the same deal with your DVD player — you may have the choice of using connections called S-Video, component, or HDMI.
Pick one. There are no wrong answers. But some answers are more right than others.
Making connections
For my money, the best choice is HDMI. HDMI stands for high-definition multimedia interface and - unlike most methods of connecting a DVD, cable box or satellite receiver - a single cable carries both the stereo sound and the picture.
HDMI gives you the best possible picture and sound and makes for less mess, fewer wires and reduced confusion.
Way back when I bought my set I was lucky to find a model with a single HDMI input. But HDMI is almost a standard now and you’ll find sets with multiple HDMI inputs. But while your new set probably will have HDMI connections, some of your accessories may not have HDMI outputs. Don’t worry, you’re still not out of luck.
If your set and your gadget offer a connection called DVI - digital video interface - use that. It’s another high quality way to go. But since DVI is not as common as HDMI, you may not have that option.
The next best choice is to use the component connection. More cables are involved using component and you’ll need separate connectors for the sound. But you will still get a terrific picture and fine sound.
Only use the S-Video connection if there’s no other choice. There will be a noticeable difference in picture quality. Some old DVD players will force you into that corner, but most new ones will have HDMI or component connectors.
Fat cables
If this alphabet soup of choices shocks your system, wait until you’re forced to buy the cables. The prices can be shocking too. But high quality cables can make a difference you will see. Most of the best ones are big and fat - it’s a fact that bigger wires make for better signals.
One of the first big names in big cables was Monster. You’d pay a staggering $150 for one of its best HDMI cables for instance.
If you have the money, go for it. Few would argue with the quality.
Personally, I use no-name cables that are equally fat but much less expensive. Browse the cable selection at a big store that sells a lot of HDTVs or check out a Web site such as this one. You can get by just fine with an HDMI cable at a third of the price.
After all, those of us who are really well-connected seldom pay full price.
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