Expert: Wayne Tapia - 12/14/2008

Question
I am moving into the Blu-Ray arena and I am still a bit confused about 1 thing and hoping you can help me.
I have a HD / widescreen TV that I am using with an HDMI cable connected from my HD CABLE TV box into the TV.
I am using component video cables with stereo audio cables out of my old DVD player (old DVD is NOT HD)
So when I get my new Blu-Ray player... would it be best to run the HDMI out of the Blu-Ray into my TV... or stay with the component/analog?
Or maybe the problem is that I only have one HDMI input into my TV?
I am writing to you for your suggestions...
Thank you for your time and your help!
Bruce


Answer
Hi Bruce

My answer kind of depends on if your TV can achieve full 1080p resolution. If it is not able to go to a full 1080p (NOT the same as 1080i), then using the component cabling is just fine, since Blu-Ray only allows a maximum of 1080i from the component video outputs.

If your TV DOES go to 1080p, I'd use the HDMI on the Blu-Ray, and move the component cables to the Cable box (assuming the cable box has component outputs - some do, some don't). Most cable boxes and cable companies aren't up to 1080p anyway.