HD TV but is it HD?

jimmyob · 5 Apr 2006 at 15:20

Just got my X360 home and put it on the TV we have. It's apparently HD ready but in the manual says the only socket that HD officially works on is the DVI socket. So i connected my VGA cable to it but it doesn't recognise the input.
I've been using it as the TV's "PC" input, it looks ok but how do i know it's actually in HD?
Is there anyway i can test for HD?

Nismo · 5 Apr 2006 at 15:52

Check the resolution that the screen is running at, or what the 360 itself is set to use.

AFAIK anything 1280 x 720 upwards is HD, although dont quote me on that.

Bear · 6 Apr 2006 at 08:24

Dont have an xbox but on my TV you have to select the HDMI/DVI input on the TV itself and then on the thing you have plugged into it, in my case it was a DVD player.

pinkaardvark · 6 Apr 2006 at 09:33

To be HD Ready the TV has to suppport at least 720p and have HDCP support on a digital connection either DVI or HDMI. Many TV's support 1280*720 but do not have HDCP support so aren't officially HD Ready.

FrankJH · 6 Apr 2006 at 10:12

pinkaardvark said:
To be HD Ready the TV has to suppport at least 720p and have HDCP support on a digital connection either DVI or HDMI. Many TV's support 1280*720 but do not have HDCP support so aren't officially HD Ready.

While I agree with what you have stated, I have never understood why an hdtv couldnt be technically hd ready with componant inputs (without hdcp support) - if anything componant is as good as anything over dvi/hdmi

sunama · 6 Apr 2006 at 12:10

Because once the blu-ray and hd-dvd players are released, they will almost certainly have some form of HDCP protection on them, meaning that if your tv is not hdcp compliant, the blu-ray/hd-dvd player may not output in high resolution and may (by default) down sample to standard definition and output that low-res video stream instead.

Of course, im sure that even if this is the case, eventually there will be ways to disable the hdcp recognition (just like dvd region codes).

Until we start buying these new generation blu ray and hd-dvd players, we wont know for certain, so we just gotta wait and see how things unfold.

Technically though, u r right, there is no reason why a tv equipped with component inputs, that uses at least a 720p resolution without hdcp couldnt be classed as HD Ready.

If i were buying a HD Ready tv right now, i would ensure that it must have the following

1. at least a 720p resolution
2. is hdcp compliant
3. has an hdmi connection

jimmyob · 6 Apr 2006 at 13:25

in PC mode i'm running it at 1370x768 or something like that.
the DVI port is supposed to be an HD port so i'm assuming that's ok.
It's just i dont understand why the TV wont pick up the signal as HD from the xbox.

pinkaardvark · 6 Apr 2006 at 15:15

jimmyob said:
in PC mode i'm running it at 1370x768 or something like that.
the DVI port is supposed to be an HD port so i'm assuming that's ok.
It's just i dont understand why the TV wont pick up the signal as HD from the xbox.

Your connecting an analogue signal VGA to a digital connector (DVI). It is my understanding that the DVI cable standard can carry an analogue signal, I assume some of the pins are reserved for this and that's why you can use a cable convertor(which just swaps wires around) to convert DVI to VGA. But I don't think all Devices have to have support for the analogue signal, ie the pins are't wired on the socket or there is no convertor built into the device. Hence why your XBOX perhaps does not work through the DVI port. There also seems to be two or more types of DVI support, I know my samsung telly only supports PC use through the VGA socket and not via DVI or HDMI though I've no idea whether it would if the PC was outputting at a recognised HD res rather than the native 1360 * 768

pinkaardvark · 6 Apr 2006 at 15:20

FrankJH said:
While I agree with what you have stated, I have never understood why an hdtv couldnt be technically hd ready with componant inputs (without hdcp support) - if anything componant is as good as anything over dvi/hdmi

Devices that meet the specification you describe are often described as HD compatable which is just a good way of misleading consumers in my opinion. People are buying these sets becuase they will want to watch HD content from SKY+ or from HD-DVD/BluRay and unless they buy a HD Ready device they are not guaranteed to be able to do that.

At the end of the day a standard is a guarantee of sorts so if something falls below the bar of that standard I can't see why you'd want it to be falsely described as meeting it?

If your simply asking why can't HD run on component then that has been answered, ie component does not support HDCP as it's not a digital input.

thepharcyde · 7 Apr 2006 at 13:46

Its been said before, that the difference between DVI & HDMI, is that HDMI carrys picture and audio, and DVI is purely video.

xknight2000 · 7 Apr 2006 at 14:53

Are you sure that your 360 has the HD switched on, in the software and on the cable in the back of the 360.

jimmyob · 9 Apr 2006 at 05:03

If i turn the HDTV switch ON on the cable, the screen goes blue. so i'm assuming it only works when the DVI cable's in...

Bear · 9 Apr 2006 at 09:49

My TV screen goes blue if the correct connection isnt selected on the TV, so you sometimes have to go into the menu and select HDMI/DVI