"The argument often made for the HDMI signal format is the "pure
digital" argument--that by taking a digital recording, such as a DVD or a
digital satellite signal, and rendering it straight into digital form
as an HDMI signal, and then delivering that digital signal straight to
the display, there is a sort of a perfect
no-loss-and-no-alteration-of-information signal chain. If the display
itself is a native digital display (e.g. an LCD or Plasma display), the
argument goes, the signal never has to undergo digital-to-analog
conversion and therefore is less altered along the way.
That might be true, were it not for the fact that digital signals
are encoded in different ways and have to be converted, and that these
signals have to be scaled and processed to be displayed. Consequently,
there are always conversions going on, and these conversions aren't
always easy going. "Digital to digital" conversion is no more a
guarantee of signal quality than "digital to analog," and in practice
may be substantially worse. Whether it's better or worse will depend
upon the circuitry involved--and that is something which isn't usually
practical to figure out on paper."
-http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/dvihdmicomponent.htm
digital" argument--that by taking a digital recording, such as a DVD or a
digital satellite signal, and rendering it straight into digital form
as an HDMI signal, and then delivering that digital signal straight to
the display, there is a sort of a perfect
no-loss-and-no-alteration-of-information signal chain. If the display
itself is a native digital display (e.g. an LCD or Plasma display), the
argument goes, the signal never has to undergo digital-to-analog
conversion and therefore is less altered along the way.
That might be true, were it not for the fact that digital signals
are encoded in different ways and have to be converted, and that these
signals have to be scaled and processed to be displayed. Consequently,
there are always conversions going on, and these conversions aren't
always easy going. "Digital to digital" conversion is no more a
guarantee of signal quality than "digital to analog," and in practice
may be substantially worse. Whether it's better or worse will depend
upon the circuitry involved--and that is something which isn't usually
practical to figure out on paper."
-http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/dvihdmicomponent.htm