Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
To my understanding component hook ups ARE digital. Is there both digital and analog component? Am I mis-informed on the component being digital? My cable box is HD and it only has an component output, I have to set the box internally to 1080i, is the cable company being deceptive by saying I'm getting 1080i and I only receive 480p? I know when I compare the analog to the same HD channel there is a big difference. And component was delivering HD before HDMI and DVI was on the market, so what gives?
Component video is an ANALOG video output, and it has sufficient bandwidth to carry a high definition progressive video signal. In reality, there's no technical reason to upgrade from component video to HDMI or some other digital video connector. The issue with the upcoming HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats is that they will downsample the video resolution for the analog video outputs to 480p, which is identical to the resolution for progressive scan DVD. The true HD signal will only get sent through the digital video signals -- HDMI being the most common digital video connector getting fitted onto newer HDTVs.

The reason? Once again, it comes down to copy protection. Analog component video is a nonsecured connection, and studios are paranoid as hell about anyone being to create copies indistinguishable from their video library masters.

Analog component video WAS around long before HDMI or DVI came along, and that's why there are so many HDTVs out there with no digital video connectors at all. While there are plenty of output devices out there right now that will support 720p or 1080i resolution through analog component video outputs, there's no guarantee that this will continue indefinitely.

The same kind of pressures that the studios have exerted to make sure that the upcoming HD video disc formats only output in HD through copy protected digital video connections, they are now applying to ALL device manufacturers. If they have their way, the next generation of HD digital cable/satellite receivers and HD DVRs might have similar output restrictions that limit the true HD output to the digital video connections. Without affordable digital-to-analog video converters coming out soon, this will screw the thousands of HDTV owners who bought their sets before digital video connections became standard.