The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    How helpful is HDMI?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Gregory_WE, Sep 4, 2007.

  1. Gregory_WE

    Gregory_WE Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I'm trying to determine how useful having HDMI on my laptop will be when I choose between laptops that do have it and those that don't.

    As I understand it, I will be able to connect my laptop to any HDTV (that should have an HDMI port on it) and play anything like movies from it and both the video and sound will play on the TV.

    Now, this should provide much better quality and be simpler to do than say using S-Video along with separate audio cables. But, how much better will it be? I'm not sure what else I'd be using it for, but if I was say playing Divx/Xvid movies from my laptop connected to the TV, would it make much of a difference whether it was HDMI or S-Video?

    Are there any other advantages or things that you could do with it that are useful that I may not be aware of?
     
    Gregory_WE, Sep 4, 2007
    #1
  2. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

    Reputations:
    5,504
    Messages:
    9,788
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    HDMI = hi-def, crystal clear
    S-Video = poop

    Hope that was mature enough to explain it.
     
    Lithus, Sep 4, 2007
    #2
  3. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,319
    Messages:
    14,119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    455
    SVideo/VGA is analog and way overdue. DVI and HDMI is much better but unfortunately, still rare in notebooks.

    In saying that, S-Video/VGA is decent for low res output, but HDMI will be so much better and noticeably better too.
     
    coriolis, Sep 4, 2007
    #3
  4. Gregory_WE

    Gregory_WE Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    For a standard DivX/XviD movie would it make any difference?

    Also, would I potentially have high enough resolution and enough clarity to hook my laptop up to an HDTV (your average one) and operate it that way (i.e. surf the web w/ wireless keyboard/mouse, etc.)? I know with S-Video that's not possible.
     
    Gregory_WE, Sep 4, 2007
    #4
  5. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,319
    Messages:
    14,119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Watching a video with S-Video or VGA is decent, it'll be a bit blurry but fully watchable. However, surfing or reading ANYTHING will be impossible on SVideo, cause it'll be way too blurry. VGA will be....somewhat tolerable, of course, it will also depend on the TV quality and cable quality.
     
    coriolis, Sep 4, 2007
    #5
  6. azan

    azan Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Im buying a new notebook, and the first thing Im looking for is a HDMI output. A HDMI output cannot be compared to an S-Video output as S-Video is almost obsolete in the home theatre world. HDMI is the ****.
     
    azan, Sep 5, 2007
    #6
  7. Gregory_WE

    Gregory_WE Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Can you hook up your laptop to a lot of TVs using a VGA cable? If the TV only had component, could you get a cable that would work from VGA on your laptop to component on the TV?

    Also, if you aren't using HDMI, what's the best way to deal with sound?
     
    Gregory_WE, Sep 5, 2007
    #7
  8. Gregory_WE

    Gregory_WE Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Bump .....
     
    Gregory_WE, Sep 7, 2007
    #8
  9. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,319
    Messages:
    14,119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Not without some sort of 3rd party device/gadget that allows it to.

    As for sound, if there is no HDMI, then you either use the laptop speakers or you connect speakers to your laptop via the sound output.
     
    coriolis, Sep 7, 2007
    #9
  10. ToxicBanana

    ToxicBanana Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    19
    Messages:
    170
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I don't think HDMI will offer any advantage over Svideo when displaying content that is 480i (dvd) or less.

    HDMI's advantage is that it carries sound and offers HDCP (not too important yet)

    VGA still confuses me. For a long time now, people have been using VGA with monitors at resolutions far above 480i. However, technically VGA is limited to 480. There is a long heated discussion about this here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146774

    I too had to settle for a laptop with a VGA/Svideo combination (2 analogue outs makes no sence), but I am hoping that HD content using VGA will look as good as HDMI.
     
    ToxicBanana, Sep 7, 2007
    #10
  11. einhander

    einhander Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    31
    Messages:
    818
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    good desktop/laptop with dvi/hdmi input/output with hdmi lcd monitor + 1080p goodness :D
     
    einhander, Sep 7, 2007
    #11