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How many HDMI's?


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Old 02-05-2006, 21:47
mulcahy
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Hello,

I am looking to buy an HD TV to plug in Sky HD, but I want to make sure that I don't run out of connections.

What I intend to have running (eventually) is -

1) Sky HD
2) Computer (prop an Apple Mac Mini) for DVD's (Blue Ray?), music and photos.
3) Playstation 3

Will I need an HDMI input for each or will I be able to use component or VGA?

Will HDCP screw all my plans up!

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Sean.
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Old 03-05-2006, 10:12
David (2)
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Ideally, you need a tv with 3 HDMI inputs. The most I have seen on a tv is 2 HDMIs.

2 options, you could buy a HDMI adaptor (2 into 1).

Maybe, if like Sky said they were going to do, you could hook up the SkyHD box using phono connections instead of HDMI.

Doesnt the Mini Mac come with DVI? In which case you need a DVI-HDMI crossover cable. Also, I dont know of any computers (let alone a entry level Mac Mini) that ships with a Blue Ray compliant optical drive.

You could wire the Mac up using a DVI-VGA adaptor (in 2005, Apple put one of these in every box sold), which would be fine if your screen has VGA input. I have no idea if this would some how downgrade the high def content back to SD quality.

Dave
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Old 03-05-2006, 15:28
Astaroth
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As with the original TVs with Scart sockets - there aint enough of 'em on the current sets. It certainly wont be uncommon for people to need 3 if not more.

You can use analogue connections like VGA or Component but in theory the picture quality wont be as good - you will be taking a digital source (like a DVD) and converting to analogue to pass it along the VGA cable and then converting it back into digital to display it on your screen - each conversion introduces room for error.

There are switches available for HDMI, AV amps are now having HDMI switches built into them and I imagine that over the next couple of generations of screens we will see extra hdmi inputs appearing on sets (just another reason for early convertors to upgrade)
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Old 04-05-2006, 21:32
mulcahy
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Thanks for the responses, they've clarified what I need now.

Looking at this I think that I may be able to get away with 2 x HDMI sockets, one for the HD box and the other for the Playstation 3 (when it arrives!).

The reason for the Mac option was that I am hoping that Apple have got something in the pipeline (pure speculation at the moment) and it would be good to have it as the DVD player.

Now all I need to do is find out which 40"/37" TV's have 2xHDMI's!

Any recommendations?
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Old 05-05-2006, 11:42
Astaroth
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Panasonic (as usual). If you have the external tuner (as in your sky HD box) then I would recommend getting a screen rather than a TV - the PWD8 will fit your bill nicely but remember to budget for the HDMI cards (the screen comes with a component & VGA connections only but 2 slots which you can plug in extra connection cards like HDMI or scart.

If you want a TV then either the PD60 or PV500 - the PV500 is the flagship of the 5 series screens and the pd60 is the lower spec of their new 6 series but the PD600 isnt due for release until the end of the year.
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