We recently bought a flat screen, 42 inch LG TV. Now, it has little labels on the side, and one says "HDMI". Would anyone care to explain what this is?

quote Wikipedia

The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a licensable audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams.

HDMI is a multimedia interface that transmits both digital audio and video over a single cable. See HDMI.org if you need more information.

HDMI is a high definition cable. Its similar to Component video, which can only carry up to 1080i and audio on 5 cables, but HDMI can carry up to 1080p and 5.1 surround sound on all on a single cable.

Its easier to hook up (one cable verses 5), and carries a higher resolution.

Thanks for the info, guys. Is HDMI the same thing as HD, or not? And does having HDMI change the performance on my PS3 or anything?

High-Definition Multimedia Interface

HDMI carries the high-def signal. It wont change how the PS3 will run, it may give it a better picture depending on the model of your TV.

It's good to know that, thanks!

Do the majority of the new TV's out today have HDMI?

quote Oceanic Sun

It's good to know that, thanks!

Do the majority of the new TV's out today have HDMI?

It would make sense that the majority of HDTV's would carry it, but thanks, guticb.

I followed the link that Enhance provided, but I didn't understand how to navigate around the website. Is there anything else that I need to know about the HDMI on my new television?

No, there's really nothing particularly interesting that you need to know as a general consumer. HDMI allows for maximum quality sound and video through one cable and is the preferred choice for a cable if you have a television set that supports it.

I guess that's all I need to know then. Thanks for explaining that, everyone. I was pretty clueless.

I actually know of a few tv's which look worse with HDMI than with component cables (note I'm referring to the 3 cable component, not the very poor single interconnect composite). I think older HDTV's might have really cheap HDMI inputs that actually degrade quality since they assumed nobody would use them. My CRT 34" had the same problem except on the S-Video connectors: S-Video looked worse than Composite, which is totally ridiculous.

I have a 52" projection tv in my living room with the exact same problem. The Component looks perfectly fine, but the S-video looks very jagged compared to the single Composite. Luckily, I just use the Component ones instead. It's something I certainly can't explain, that's for sure.


BTW Red, good luck ever moving that CRT tv if you ever need to. My god those things weigh a ton.

Quality-wise, an HDMI cable barely surpasses that of a component cable set. My only qualm with HDMI cables is that they don't actually latch into the unit. You've got to make sure its good and tight in the unit, otherwise you have to go and replug it in, and thats no good for convenience purposes.

This message was edited by Inuyasha19 on Jan 13 2008.

you sure you're putting it in fully Inu? The only cables that fall out now and then out of my TV are the scart cables from my Freeview box and Xbox. All others are firmly in place