VGA or HDMI for Blu Ray?

peanutismint · 18 Jun 2009 at 13:29

I'm looking to watch BluRay movies on my new HDTV and figured I could save a bit of money by adding a BluRay player drive to my PC. This PC has a motherboard with onboard graphics (no laughing) via a standard VGA port, but it also has an HDMI output onboard, as well as optical sound output.

Firstly, and apologies if this is a really dumb question, but which port would give me the best video quality, considering i have a full 1080p HDTV? Should I take video from the VGA or the HDMI port?

Secondly, HDMI carries sound too, right? (again, apologies for the dumb). I have an amplifier which powers my surround speakers, so would it be better for me to take video via VGA to my TV and sound via an optical or other cable to my surround amp for decoding, or is there a better way to do it all via HDMI?

I'm new at this!! :-)

PistolPete · 18 Jun 2009 at 13:47

1) HDMI
2) Yes, HDMI can carry sound. If your amp has HDMI inputs and outputs and switches both the audio and video, then plug the PC into the amp via HDMI and then back out via HDMI to the TV. If not, HDMI from the PC to the TV and setup the sound via the optical out. Plug the optical out into the amp.

iNPUt · 18 Jun 2009 at 14:20

Definatly HDMi, vga is old news.

chris.hoops78 · 18 Jun 2009 at 16:36

VGA is rubbish. When I first got my LCD Tv i tried running it on VGA simply because i didn't have the right DVI -> HDMI cable and the picture quality was BAAAAD.

Now I run DVI -> HDMI and my PC works the telly at native resolution 1920 x 1080p and the picture is sweet.

However I get nasty motion blur @60Hz, unfortunately but that's another story Samsung LE40A557P2F

Rroff · 18 Jun 2009 at 17:01

chris.hoops78 said:
VGA is rubbish. When I first got my LCD Tv i tried running it on VGA simply because i didn't have the right DVI -> HDMI cable and the picture quality was BAAAAD.

Now I run DVI -> HDMI and my PC works the telly at native resolution 1920 x 1080p and the picture is sweet.

However I get nasty motion blur @60Hz, unfortunately but that's another story Samsung LE40A557P2F

That was just a mis-configuration or bad hardware support for VGA on the TV - the differences are pretty subtle on a good setup between VGA and HDMI. Tho HDMI is a little bit sharper and clearer when compared side by side.

As to the OP - go for HDMI if you can - although right now blu-ray/HDCP works with VGA and at full quality the spec was originally to prevent VGA or reduce quality over VGA and who knows what the media industry will do in future.

chris.hoops78 · 18 Jun 2009 at 17:18

Well, i can tell you that on VGA the picture was terrible, and no higher resolution options available in windows using 8600gt, so I wouldn't risk it.

As for HDCP i thought that only works over HDMI (not VGA or DVI). In fact the only reason i haven't got a blu-ray drive for my HTPC yet is the fact that i only have a DVI output, which can't handle HDCP?

Casdawer · 18 Jun 2009 at 19:37

The only place that VGA beats HDMI is on the Xbox 360.

VGA is sharper and more vibrant then the HDMI.

peanutismint · 18 Jun 2009 at 20:44

Casdawer said:
The only place that VGA beats HDMI is on the Xbox 360.

VGA is sharper and more vibrant then the HDMI.

That's another issue - my main games console is an Xbox 360 - it has an HDMI port but I also have a converter cable that takes the main AV output to a VGA output - are you saying I'd be better off connecting the PC via HDMI but the 360 via VGA? Surely the HDMI output is meant for full HD resolution?

And slightly off-topic - I heard that only a few Xbox 360 games actually put out at full 1080p resolution, but I was in Comet last night and the sales assistant said that was a myth and that all games would up-sample from the 360 to full HD @ 1080p - was he just trying to get me to buy a full HD set??!