I do not understand HDMI

[iBozz]

Let me lay my cards on the table.

I do not understand HDMI and that, presumably, lies at the heart of my problems.

I have inherited a Panasonic VIERA TX-26LXD8 TV and Panasonic DIGA DMREZ28EB DVD recorder and I am in a digital only area and I use Freeview. I have no satellite system and there is no cable anywhere near us so I can't (and wouldn't) sign up to that.

Which is mostly irrelevant!

I have successfully set them up using only a co-ax TV aerial connection and they both work just fine. I can watch either unit (via the TV screen, of course) or I can watch just the TV or I can watch one TV channel and record another channel simultaneously.

Which is just as it should be.

But I also inherited a mysterious HDMI cable - so, being of an inquisitive nature, I plugged that in too.

And this is where I realise that I am out of my depth.

If the HDMI cable and co-ax aerial lead are both plugged in, the signal strength shows as variable and the picture breaks up in that annoying digital way.

If I then leave the HDMI cable attached but remove the co-ax aerial I lose the picture which, to my untutored mind, means that the HDMI cable does not double up as an aerial feed.

In addition, with the HDMI cable attached, I can not record one programme on the DVD recorder and watch another on the TV, I seem to have to watch the programme being recorded.

Also, the menus mention "Viera Link" and yet, when I try and explore that menu it tells me that there is no such link detected.

So, a number of questions, if I may ...

1) What is the point of the HDMI cable if all it seems to do is worsen the signal and prohibit the "record one channel, watch another" facility?

2) What is a VIERA link, how can I enable it (if, indeed, I would benefit from having one) and why does it tell me that I have one then tell me I haven't?

3) What am I doing wrong, apart from breathing, of course?

I should add that I have attempted to but the trouble is that the TV one was written by a blind Lithuanian trying to write in ancient Swahili by translating word for word via an intermediate Greek dictionary and the DVD recorder was written by a dyslexic Patagonian trying to write in ancient Sanskrit by translating word for word via an intermediate Vogon dictionary.

Neither author had access to a Babel fish and nor do I so the manuals remain totally unintelligible to me. They are, in fact, probably the most unintelligible manuals that I have ever seen.

No doubt I am overlooking the bleeding obvious and shall be hurled into The Hall of Shame and be pelted with digital rotten tomatoes and eggs, but I really am struggling here!

Help! Please!

[garagekru]

Hdmi is for video and sound. Shove the hdmi in to the back of the tv. Then place the other end in to the nice hdmi on the DVD recorder or digi box. Then select the hdmi channel as the input for a nice digital signal

[Over Carl]

On some tellys the hdmi sockets need to be linked to an av input via a menu.

I couldn't figure it out on my pioneer and had to resort to the manual.

[iBozz]

Thanks, I shall have a play and report back. Just plugging in as you suggest, garagekru, doesn't seem to do the full link as I get the problems which I described.

I shall have a look and see if there is some form of matching option in the menus.

But why oh why can Panasonic not write manuals which a) make sense to the non-expert and b) actually are compatible within themselves for two pieces of VIERA kit seemingly designed to work together?

Zero out of 100 for the bl**dy Panasonic manual writers.

[furrry]

HDMI uses handshaking to talk to each device in the chain this can often not complete properly resulting in audio or video or both intermittantly blanking out during viewing or even devices not linking properly like vierra link..unless u do a full power cycle on all attached devices

also inmy experiences with them hdmi cables are prone to failure especially cheap ones giving the above symtoms aswell

hope that helps

[jw_2000_uk]

Hdmi is the way forward..

Think of it compisite against scart = scart the clear winner

Well scart vs hdmi .= hdmi the clear winner.

[iBozz]

HDMI uses handshaking to talk to each device in the chain this can often not complete properly resulting in audio or video or both intermittantly blanking out during viewing or even devices not linking properly like vierra link..unless u do a full power cycle on all attached devices

also inmy experiences with them hdmi cables are prone to failure especially cheap ones giving the above symtoms aswell

hope that helps

I'm not sure it will be a cheap cable. I inherited the TV and recorder from a late friend who knew about such things and he didn't usually do cheap. I also know the supplier shop and they have a good reputation and again I wouldn't suspect they'd tolerate cheap.

The TV is on an energy saving multi-plug - the ones where when the TV goes off anything plugged into one of several other sockets go off too. The recorder, though, is attached to one of the two sockets which remain live all the time so is never "switched off" completley and remians on standby.

Over the next few nights, because I am due to record nothing, I'll switch them both off and on at the same time and see if that improves matters.

Is it a "one off" full "power on" of the devices or, if this is the cause, would it have to be done each time they start?


Thanks also, jw_2000_uk. I take it that by composite you mean co-axial cable? At least that's what I call it but I am of advanced years so thins may have changed. I'm aware that HDMI is supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, but I remain sceptical based on my limited experience so far - and anyway I don't like sliced bread!

[jw_2000_uk]

Compisite is the red white and yellow mate...

;-)

P.s. From what i gather you tried the hdmi from tv to dvd??

Make sure the dvd is set as hdmi as your video output ;-)

[DejaVu]

HDMI from a DVD player will only upscale at best and the picture quality will not be much better than using a Scart Lead. Upscaling just doubles the pixels and it cannot improve the information it does not have.

To get the most from HDMI, you need a source capable of at least 720 pixels. A HD Freeview/FreeSat/Cable/Satellite Reciever or Blueray Player.

Will need to click the preview and maximise the following image.

[Over Carl]

Think of it compisite against scart = scart the clear winner

Erm, most scarts (not thinking about rgb) are just composite with a different connector.

[jw_2000_uk]

Erm, most scarts (not thinking about rgb) are just composite with a different connector.

And i take it the last 10 years of tv's havn't got rgb?

So u plugged ur ps2 / xbox in compisite yeah?

[iBozz]

HDMI from a DVD player will only upscale at best and the picture quality will not be much better than using a Scart Lead. Upscaling just doubles the pixels and it cannot improve the information it does not have.

To get the most from HDMI, you need a source capable of at least 720 pixels. A HD Freeview/FreeSat/Cable/Satellite Reciever or Blueray Player.

Will need to click the preview and maximise the following image.

Thanks, and apologies for the delay in replying - my mail provider suddenly decided to class all forum reply notifications as spam! Now resolved.

The Freeview DVD unit isn't, as far as I can tell, HD so that may explain it.

However, I still have a signal strength of 10 and a variable signal quality of anything from 10 to zero.

I'm ditching the HDMI cable and going back to the standard aerial connection which I had before I discovered the HDMI cable - it all worked fine back then.

And I've looked at HD TV in a specialist showroom and, to be quite frank, I can't see the point. Probably that's something to do with my eyesight and spectacles, but I wouldn't pay for the "difference".

Mind you, when my TV finally breaks down, I can't see me replacing it. Documentaries are completely spoiled by music and portentous "cliff-hanging" narrator deliveries and both they and TV news are aimed at lobotomised amoeba.

But then I'm a grumpy old man!