Suggested SD/HD Device Input Configuration

Mon, Oct 30, 2006 (No Ratings, Click to rate this article!) Loading ...

I recently found myself in an interesting situation. When I first got the Mitsubishi WD-65831 I thought it had too many inputs, especially HDMI. Now that I’m starting to look at more HD devices I’m running into the problem that my A/V receiver does not have any HDMI switching on it, and I seem to be getting very skimpy on HD inputs on the TV, so I have to make some concessions. Here is a diagram of the inputs on the back of the WD-57/65831:

Your Sony XBR2 and Samsung 87/88 series sets are going to look similar enough to this that I think the problem applies to most of them in a recognizably straight forward fashion.

The devices I have to connect right now are:

Sony VCR (?)
Sony DVD Player (480i)
Motorola DCT-6200 STB (1080i)
XBox 360 (1080i)

The devices I may be looking at getting very shortly are:

Playstation 3 (1080p)
HD Media (BluRay/HD-DVD) Player (1080p)

So looking at that list you see only 2 1080p sources, 2 1080i sources and the rest 480i or lower. I originally had the STB connected to HDMI on the set using a DVI-HDMI cable, but I think that’s overkill. While not all inputs are created equal, I’ve seen folks on AVS mention that inputs coming in over the component connections on this set and the Sony XBR1/A2K/XBR2 look “softer” than connections over HDMI or DVI. Considering the fact that I’m watching overly compressed HD from the STB that doesn’t bother me.

Then onto the XBox 360. The 360 added 1080p output recently as a last ditch effort to stay competitive with the PS3 “on paper”, considering that some games can’t push 1080p on the PS3, I sincerely doubt that *any* game that is in the realm of a triple-A title will push 1080p on the 360. Given that, I’m not worried about connecting the 360 to an HDMI connection if they ever add a connector for it.

So I needed a configuration that would allow me the best picture out of my devices without requiring the addition of an HDMI switch box or some other piece of hardware. Here is what I came up with:

Sony VCR - Composite (That’s right, not even a S-Video out on it)
Motorola DCT-6200 STB - Component 1
Sony DVD Player - Component 2
XBox 360 - Component 3
OPTIONAL: HD Media (BluRay/HD-DVD) Player - HDMI 1
OPTIONAL: Playstation 3 - HDMI 2

This configuration will allow me to get the highest quality out of all my components and fill every one of the inputs on the WD-65831 without wasting any bandwidth or high quality connection for a low quality component.

God help me if I buy a Nintendo Wii and need to try and figure out how to squeeze it in here (480p)

Update #1: In reference to my half-joking comment above about the Nintendo Wii, it just dawned on me that if I get a next-gen HD media player, that would replace the DVD player; freeing up a component connection that the Wii could then live on. Ahh, life is good again.

Update #2: Someone pointed out that I didn’t mention a HTPC (Home Theater PC) for either gaming, browsing web or using as a PVR. That’s true, but if I did integrate a device like that into my setup, I would set it up on the DVI connection. It is pretty incredible when you actually count take a step back and look at all the SD and HD devices you can have hooked up to this TV without the need for external hardware: