Big Picture Big Sound

Question:

Hi, Big Picture Big Sound,

MY PIONEER HD 710 DOES NOT HAVE HDMI--IS THERE A WAY TO ADD THIS OR USE SOMETHING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW HD DVD OR UPCONVERSION THAT THEY OFFER? OR DO I HAVE TO BUY A NEW SET?

THANK YOU.

-ANDY

---

Answer:

Hi, Andy,

I assume you're talking about the Elite PRO-710 rear projection HDTV, right? That set does lack digital inputs, so you probably will not be able to take advantage of standard DVD upconversion to 720p or 1080i resolution. Most of the commonly available upconverting DVD players require HDMI or DVI connections in order to upconvert the signal to resolutions higher than 480p.

Your HDTV will scale the DVD picture up to fit the panel's native resolution of course, but it may not do quite as good a job as some of the most advanced current upconverting DVD players.

But all Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD players do support 1080i and 720p outputs over component video, so you can definitely take advantage of the higher resolution high definition signals of these next generation formats using a standard component video (Y, pB, pR) connection.

For more details on this, see these articles:

• Is It Possible to do 720p/1080i DVD Upconversion over Component Video?


• Which is Better for HDTV? Component Video or HDMI Connections?

Regards,

-Chris

Related Articles:

• How to Hook up an HDTV, Part I: The Numbers Game - HDTV Formats and Resolutions
• How to Hook up an HDTV, Part II: Hooking Up Your HDTV
• How to Hook up an HDTV, Part III: HDTV Calibration and Tweaks