Gary Eickmeier wrote:
Steven Sullivan wrote:

Denon started with their own link (it uses a RJ45 plug, but I don't

know if it has anything to do with Ethernet), but now has also models
with i.LINK.

But IIRC their digital outs only do DVD-A, but not SACD!

So far Pioneer seems to be the only ones who have players + AVRs that
will do it all (though I'd bet they convert DSD to PCM for any digital
processing).

OK, now I'm royally confused. I just bought this Pioneer VSX 814 because
it has two component inputs, for future High Def switching ability.

Component input/output (3 RCA-style jacks, R/G/B)
refers to analog video information transmission,
and doesn't necessarily imply high definition (though analog high-def
connections have to be component connections) -- it's been
available on TVs/DVD players since long before there was consumer
hi-def. Two other popular analog interfaces are S-video and
composite (a single RCA-type connector, usually yellow).



Then
I meet a salesman going out the door, who tells me that this isn't the
ultimate Hi Def switching or input type. What I want, he goes on, is DMI

DVI -- a Digital Video Interface

or HDMI, a new digital type connection that none of their current
receivers even has. Further, he says, the local cable company's digital
box doesn't have component out, just HDMI (I think).

So what do I not understand about all this? Is component switching
sufficient for at least a few more years, into the hi def era, or not?
What is this i-link you're all talking about?


Again, Component connections are analog, and can be used for
hi-def video. ilink is digital,
a single connection that can carry multichannel hi-rez audio.
ilink has been around for some years, as a computer data
transmission interface (Firewire/IEEE13940.
DVI is a digital video-only interface that can handle
high-def video.
HDMI can handle high-def digital video *and* can also carry
hi-rez multichannel audio, though AFAIK no components
employing it for such combined purpose are yet available.

here;s a nice summary page:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/howto-dvi-hdmi.html




--

-S
If you're a nut and knock on enough doors, eventually someone will open one,
look at you and say, Messiah, we have waited for your arrival.