Get Hooked On High Def: Hooking Up Your System with HDMI

High definition is emerging as the preferred format in the consumer electronics market. With the growth of HD as a major factor in the quality of the home theater experience, take special note to discover what HDMI is and what makes it better for home theater than other connections.

We all have seen have seen the connections for home theaters progress from Composite to S- Video to Component to DVI and now to HDMI. HDMI is High Definition Multimedia Interface and has quickly become the de facto standard for hookup. The primary purpose of HDMI is to transmit, or convey, between two devices of high definition content in an uncompressed format. The other interfaces are not capable of supporting that.

In addition to the audio/video information in a non-compressed format, it also provides the ability to transmit control functions between devices by creating a control network. It is a combined interface that supports both high definition audio and high definition video. If you look at component it only supports high definition; but not even high definition in terms of 1080p because component only goes up to 1080i. An HDMI interface is required for anything greater than 1080i. It is a single cable solution for non-compressed HD content, whether it is audio or video, as well as control information.

Having un-compressed data is important for home theaters because you don’t want to lose any of the original signal quality through the compression/decompression cycle. With all compression schemes, there exists what is referred to as “signal to noise” as part of the compression/decompression algorithms. With HDMI there is no need to have compression of the content. Players (for example Blu-Ray players) can transmit the HD content and uncompressed format over to the display devise or the television for the best picture and best sound possible.

In order to maximize your home theater experience, Smarter Home Theater recommends that you stay up-to-date on industry standards and the latest technological advancements. HDMI is currently the connection standard to maintain the credibility of the original high definition signal for both audio and video.