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How Many HDMI Ports Does Your HDTV Have? 143

Posted by Cliff from the don't-you-wish-they-could-daisy-chain dept.
harryk asks: "Ok, this is a serious question and one I don't think has been covered, at least not with a quick glance in Google's direction. With all of the media center components that we'll all have in our entertainment racks, the biggest question that I have (actually my wife prompted me on this) is how many HDMI ports does your TV have? With the PS3, my HD-DVD player or up-convert DVD player, and my fancy schmancy new cable box or satellite receiver, how on earth will I connect all of them?"
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How Many HDMI Ports Does Your HDTV Have? More

How Many HDMI Ports Does Your HDTV Have?

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  • zero (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inio ( 26835 ) on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:34PM (#16111000) Homepage
    Yep, zero. None. Nadda. Zip.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ErikZ ( 55491 ) *
      Also zero.

      I bought one of those projectors designed for business people. It can do 1080i and I use a component to VGA adapter to do it.

  • re: (Score:4, Informative)

    by asparagus ( 29121 ) <koonce&gmail,com> on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:34PM (#16111001) Homepage Journal
    a) 2.
    b) http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hdmi%20switch er [google.com]
  • I have only seen two at most. Try this: http://www.octavainc.com/HDMI%20switch%204port.htm [octavainc.com]

  • My HDMI Count = 0 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Freaky Spook ( 811861 ) on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:36PM (#16111009)
    Im not adopting HDMI yet, there are too many question marks sitting over it for me to invest the large amounts of $$$ needed to get everything onto it.

    Its going to be a good and successful format but I don't want to purchase devices now and find out in 2 years I have to replace my reciever just because some movie studio's aren't happy with its Encryption and decide to use something else.

    Im going to wait until this technology is well and truley adopted before I change. Thats why I have been holding out on getting a new TV/Reciever and will not worry about the PS3 as I will be getting a Nintendo Wii

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by arivanov ( 12034 )
      A DVD player with HDMI is only 10 pounds or so more then an equivalent DVD player without (based on Philips prices). All TVs above 23in are now HDMI enabled as well so HDMI and HDMI price are not really a distinguishing factor when buying new kit. It is the other ports, legacy support and relevant features which matter - VGA, DVI, SuperScart, card reader for digital, digital support etc. I spent quite a bit of time making sure that my new TV got the lot - every single one of them and funnily enough it ende

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lectrik ( 180902 )
        A DVD player with HDMI is only 10 pounds or so more then an equivalent DVD player without (based on Philips prices).


        Well, those ten pounds make it a much more effective blunt weapon... Imagine what those ten pounds worth of electronics could be doing if it weren't being used for Evil (tm) incryption

        And yes I know you were probably talking the monetary unit, but that isn't as funny.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Osty ( 16825 )

      You act like that's something new. Audio Authority [audioauthority.com] has had 2x1 and 4x1 DVI switches supporting 1080p and HDCP for some time now. Nothing supporting HDMI directly (neither does the one you linked), but HDMI <-> DVI is trivial.

      You'll still need an audio mux (I like the 1177 [audioauthority.com]), and it doesn't look like AA's cheaper DVI switches support auto-switching, which is disappointing. Still, the IR remote should be convenient enough.

      The only benefit to the Gefen item you linked is that it ships with cables for

  • Two on TV, but devices can daisy chain (Score:5, Interesting)

    by linuxkrn ( 635044 ) <[moc.nigolxunil] [ta] [nostawg]> on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:36PM (#16111013)
    Well my TV has two. However, many devices, the higher quality ones anyway, have in and out HDMI. For example, some receivers have HDMI switches built into them. Also my DVD player allows you to have HDMI in, and OUT. When the player is on, it shows DVD content, otherwise it goes into pass-through mode.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by flooey ( 695860 )
      Well my TV has two. However, many devices, the higher quality ones anyway, have in and out HDMI. For example, some receivers have HDMI switches built into them. Also my DVD player allows you to have HDMI in, and OUT. When the player is on, it shows DVD content, otherwise it goes into pass-through mode.

      That sounds suspiciously like how USB was originally sold. "Yeah, the computer only has two ports, but practically every USB device will allow another device to daisy-chain onto it, so that won't be a prob

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Jaruzel ( 804522 )
        In Europe this concept has already been proved previously using the SCART or Peritel [wikipedia.org] connector. Devices with these sockets tradtionally have two of them, and when the device is off the signal is passed through from one socket to the other with supposedly no degradation.

        I can tell you now, MOST homes in the UK are currently daisy chaining their Cable/Sky box through their DVD player/recorder into their TVs via several SCART cables.

        So, no, HDMI chaining isn't silly, it's a damn good idea.

        On a personal note, I

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by joto ( 134244 )
          Just because most people have to put up with it, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Personally, I find it much easier to just have to turn on my TV and playstation, than to turn my TV on, VCR off, DVD off, playstation on, only to find out that I have to switch cables anyway, because the playstation was disconnected because I used the nintendo last time. Given the choice between 1 and 20 input connectors, I would choose 20, even if they daisychain.

          Daisychaining is good as a last resort. It should not be the de

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by flooey ( 695860 )
          So, no, HDMI chaining isn't silly, it's a damn good idea.

          I wasn't saying that HDMI chaining is silly, I think it's quite a good idea. I was just observing that that's how USB was originally described, yet none of the manufacturers actually went ahead and put those ports on their USB devices, so it ended up useless. I'd be interested to see if anyone making HDMI devices actually puts the port on there.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by LunaticTippy ( 872397 )
            I have a keyboard with 2 usb ports on it. I thought it was brilliant and wished every USB device had it. Now you tell me it was the plan all along. Pretty sad!
    • Does a set up like that give you any signal loss/signal lag?
    • The question is how good this chain will work. Or rather, whether chaining through devices from different manufacturers will cause the DRM to hicckup and refuse to work.

  • Not Enough (Score:4, Informative)

    by TrailerTrash ( 91309 ) * on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:38PM (#16111019)
    My "TV" is a projector with HDMI input. The receiver is an upsampling unit that has two HDMI inputs, a series of component inputs, and the obligatory s-video and RCA inputs. It upsamples whatever it gets from non-HDMI sources and shoots it up to the projector.

    The two HDMI inputs I have are the HD-Tivo and the DVD player. I hooked a PC to the component input, but the upsampling process made the display fuzzy. I'd get a video card with HDMI output and try that, except both of my HDMI inputs on the receiver are used up. You can buy "hubs" to multiplex the HDMI, but they are very expensive.

    Sigh. My next A/V system will have to have 3-4 HDMI inputs, one for the computer, and possibly one for (the as yet unpurchased) HD-DVD player.

    Guess that's the cost of being an early adopter.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nazmun ( 590998 )
      Why not just add a switchbox for the lesser used hdmi devices, and switch between them? I haven't bought a graphics card in the last 4-5 years without a dvi port which is the most important function to most for hdmi.

      You also said "dvd" player and not hd, since when and why do you need hdmi for standard res dvd's?
      • When last I checked (a while ago) switchboxes were pretty expensive (and one more thing to deal with, possibly *shudder* something not on my master remote control). If that's changed, that's great.

        Everything I have has to end up on the HDMI wire - the HDMI wire to the projector is the only way to get the signal to the projector, which is permanantly mounted in the ceiling, with the HDMI wire behind the drywall.

        If I run a second physical cable from a PC/laptop DVI to the projector, the display is great. Pres
      • Newer DVD players will upsample. My Sony one I got when we got the Samsung DLP upsamples (to 720p) and is connected via HDMI. The DVD's look better than they did on the old analog TV (with no upsampling of course).

  • No line out??? (Score:3)

    by Deliveranc3 ( 629997 ) <<deliverance> <at> <level4.org>> on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:39PM (#16111025) Journal
    What happens when "Dad's on TV!" We can't record anymore... FUCK THAT!
  • only 1
  • You'll get lots of replies about HDMI switches, and most will probably have links to overpriced switches. I've always found the best deals at monoprice. They've got some HDMI switches here [monoprice.com].

  • Um, harryk, bud (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by UbuntuDupe ( 970646 )
    With the PS3,

    I stopped reading at that point. You're pretty much beyond hope.
    • plus, if he's prepared to wait for the PS3, he can wait for the TV's to come out with more than 2 ports!

      in answer to the question of how to plug them all up, most people buy an AV Amplifier (that way you get the surround audio as well) and theres no point upconverting a DVD player to 1080 over HDMI, you might as well use the component cables into an Amp and let it upconvert onto HDMI for the Amp-to-TV transport.

      oh, and my Toshy TV has 2 ports. :)

  • Carry-offs. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14, 2006 @11:44PM (#16111046)
    "How Many HDMI Ports Does Your HDTV Have?"

    Better question is: how many have a HDTV set to begin with?*

    *Please put your addresses and times you'll be home below.
  • 2 hdmi, and 2 dvi. as I understand it, hdmi is pin-compatible with dvi (or something along those lines where a converter is easy and works).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by adrew ( 468320 )
      Yeah, I just bought a Sony 34XBR970 (34" widescreen CRT HDTV) -- was waiting until prices got into the 3-digit range. It has an HDMI port (and two component inputs). I bought a $15 DVI -> HDMI cable to hook my MacBook Pro to the TV. It works great...the computer immediately recognized it as a "Sony TV" and displayed the compatible resolutions. It will do up to 1920x1080 but 1280x720 looks the best.

      Skip the home theatre section and look around the computer cable section for the best prices (I got mine
  • and soon it will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine muhah muhah muhahuhahuhah
  • My TV has 5 HDMI ports because I spent ~$130 on a 5-to-1 HDMI switch. [monoprice.com]

  • Why isn't this... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    a poll? I mean... he is asking for a poll....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jZnat ( 793348 ) *
      Because it takes like 20x longer to get a poll posted than an Ask Slashdot article...

  • Zero. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Grym ( 725290 ) * on Friday September 15, 2006 @12:06AM (#16111134)

    And I plan to keep it that way... Is it really worth selling control of devices you own just for a slightly better display? Any minor (I would argue barely perceptable) gains you might get from upgrading from DVI or component video are completely outweighed by the DRM-potential of the HDMI port.

    -Grym

  • My tv has one hdmi; one vga, two component, two composite, 1 coax, one marked dtv, two s video. It's just a 37'' $1000 lcd tv. olevia brand. We primarily just use it with the vga for my pc; but there's also the xbox on a component and a ps2 and gc on the composites. I don't plan to buy an xbox360 until something truly amazing is released for it; so thus far I've not got anything hdmi to plug in. Might get a ps3 sometime in '07 if a few great exclusives come out, but probably will just get a wii this year
  • 1 HDMI port from a TV I got around 2 years ago.

    Not a HDTV luddite like most slashdotters...

    • There is a difference between luddism and boycott. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by plasmacutter ( 901737 ) on Friday September 15, 2006 @12:46AM (#16111276)
      Not a HDTV luddite like most slashdotters...

      considering the D in HDTV might as well stand for DRM with the rediculous number of restrictions most people will have to deal with, most intelligent slashdotters are doing a hard thing for nerds, theyre boycotting them.

      Already hundreds of thousands of early adopters have been burned because the so called "image constraint" or "down-rezzing" token will reduce their picture quality on most major HD media even though they were promised full resolution.

      Even tv's which were promised as fully drm compatible by hollywood and their manufacturer lapdogs mere months ago are being relegated to this ever growing list of "noncompliant" hdtv's which will never really be allowed to display true HD content.

      Considering the distinct possiblity that the standards will be changed again in another few months as they have been umpteen times in the past (as the DRM get's cracked before it's even fully off the shelf), the idea of laying out thousands for a supposed "HDTV" set seems less and less compelling.

      Add to that the fact that each standards change will result in an increasingly huge maze of expensive and heterogenous cables and the likelihood that the license terms for any newer standards will require compliance with "broadcast flags", at least on cable and satellite, then youre basically paying them to ship off your convenience, time, and fair use rights wholesale.

      The confusion, the continually shifting standards, the DRM.

      If this were the real estate market, it would be like trying to sell a suburban new yorker a house on a bed of quicksand sitting next to a CAFO fecal lagoon.

      It wouldnt matter how much more palacial the house was, or if it came with 3 dozen full time servants and a 50 acre garage of limos, it'll still reek of pig crap and it'll still be sinking into the earth.

      • Wow! You sure know what the majority of slashdotters are up to!

        I mean, it's not like you are projecting your own beliefs onto others... Or assuming that everyone aspires to the same stereotype that you do... No, that wouldn't be right. I'm impressed with the detailed analysis you've done about slashdot readers HDTV shopping habits. Thank you!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by llZENll ( 545605 )
        "Already hundreds of thousands of early adopters have been burned because the so called "image constraint" or "down-rezzing" token will reduce their picture quality on most major HD media even though they were promised full resolution."

        FUD

        90% of TVs that don't support HDMI use a cablecard type system, so at most the user may have to buy a new cablecard with an HDMI port for a few hundred bucks. besides, no broadcaster in their right mind will be enabling DRM on their signial anytime soon, they would by cut

        • at most the user may have to buy a new cablecard with an HDMI port for a few hundred bucks.

          Tell you what: if content providers are so paranoid about the eeevil hackerzez, then let them pony up the few hundred dollars. I've got better things to spend money on.

  • I don't actually use it since the picture from my PC is much better on the VGA port than on the HDMI port. And my TV is a new Samsung. Go figure.
  • I got a few Component connections and thats it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ender- ( 42944 )
      I got a few Component connections and thats it.

      I'm with you there. My TV has 3 component inputs, plus 4 sets of Svideo/composite connections, and two coax inputs.

      [rant]
      No VGA, no DVI, no HDMI. And let me just say that I am going to be PISSED if these media companies decide that my TV is only worthy of displaying their movie in 540p, even though my [$1200 2.5 years ago] TV will display 1080i with no problems.

      Sure, I can understand the fact that this TV will not display 1080p. THat's a techncial issue and I d
  • Like the title says. You connect everything with a HDMI switch. Or a DVI-I + HDCP switch...

    I personally prefer Gefen [gefen.com], but there are others out there, although none as high quality. As you can see from the link, they make MANY different types. Everyone has different needs. Most of them are remote controllable (for all those with learning remotes, or home automating systems). Do you simply need multiple inputs? They even make ones with multiple outputs as well for controlling more then one TV with the same

  • the best answer to questions like this (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    own less crap!

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday September 15, 2006 @12:56AM (#16111309)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Someone give this guy a cookie! He deserves it for being so elite and for "sticking it" to the tv industry!

      Hey, call me what you will, but I happen to think there are some very good content on TV. "House" is a favorite of mine, as well as "Lost" and "The Office" (yes, the U.S. version).
  • Sorry, but if you're worrying about how many port are on your TV, then you're missing half the problem to begin with. What part? The sound! If you want HDMI to you're TV, you're not getting a home theatre receiver. If you think that HDMI is more imporant than a home theatre sound system, then you're dreaming (unless you're deaf of course).

    Most new mid-range receivers these days are coming out with 2 in, 1 out HDMI. If you're really that worried about running out of ports then pick up a higher end unit ($$)
    • I run 2 HDMI to my HDTV (Samsung 46" DLP) - one from the Verizon HD DVR and one from my DVD player. Audio for both of those boxes is optical to my receiver. So, my sound is taken care of.
  • ... my TV isn't a HDTV.

    (on a more serious note: I don't really care about HDTV at all. I don't really watch the tube that much. As long as my 1983 vintage TV works, it'll be what I use...)
  • 2 HDMI ports, and Sky HD looks great on it, especially the football - that'd be soccer for you heathens who think that football is played with a rugby ball.

    cheers

    Alex
    • The World Cup was phenomenal in HD... and I am not even a big soccer... oops, football fan! :-)
  • Well, if I got it right, HD* manufacturer are forced to make it impossible to crack the DRM in their products. What happens if it happens? Well, my guess would be that the corresponding key gets revoked or (if that would be deemed too damaging for the partner), at the very least they will have to pay a fine.

    In other words, if you want to bring a manufacturer to its knees, crack its products' keys.
  • I've got a projector with a M1-DA connector on it. Right now I've only got the adapter cables for DVI and VGA+USB, but I can get a HDMI adapter as well if I want. I don't see a purpose though, since I will not be buying a PS3 in the forseeable future except possibly to resell, and both my cable box and the HTPC I'm building have DVI outputs.
  • Boycott HDCP. Demand a television without High Definition Digital Compatibility Prevention. Use DVI instead. Or do what the studios do and use HD-SDI [wikipedia.org].

    Buy a high quality digital mixer/scaler [miranda.com] for all your inputs. If you happen to have already bought a player which will not work with your very expensive non-HDCP-encumbered scaler, demand your money back.
  • I have the Westinghouse LVM-42w2, which has 1 HDMI port and two DVI ports. All three are HDCP enabled, so I can use HDMIDVI converters on the two DVI ports if needed in the future.

    Frankly I find HDMI a stupid cabling standard to begin with. Audio and video *should* be connected discreetly - how many people actually *use* the speakers on their TV??? If you aren't using them, then of what use is piping the audio over an HDMI cable? I can see some use if your reciever supports full HDMI switching, since it wou
  • ... and I only have one device, my upconvert DVD player. When (if) I need more, I'll upgrade the receiver with one that has HDMI ports. The TV only needs one.

  • ... is zero. And until some video components fail and are replaced by components that happen to have one or more, that's not gonna change. The same goes for the HD prefix alone. Simply put, I don't need HD for watching my Babylon 5 DVDs, and the absolute crap that's available in HD isn't really an argument either. And I'm also pretty sure that we will see a new "standard" connector that's incompatible with HDMI hit the market before 2009, making all those precious HDMI devices useless.

  • One (Score:2)

    by NekoXP ( 67564 )
    I opted out of the TV that had two. Most of Sony's nice new XBR TVs have two. But I got mine for $350 (a 32" CRT Toshiba) the last time Black Friday rolled around.

    It does have 3 component inputs, 3 S-Video inputs, optical audio in and out though, for people who only have a DVI + optical player, or want to use other devices.

    The trick with the Playstation 3 is it replaces - pretty much - every other device that you have that's got HDMI output anyway. Your PS3 *and* your upsampling DVD player? But the PS3 *IS*
  • My HDTV is a 2-year-old rear projection Hitachi. It has no HDMI, but it does have 4 sets of component, all of which support HD resolutions.

    Component is great, so long as companies keep providing me with an HD component singnal and don't require me to "upgrade" to the DRM of HDMI+HDCP.
  • RGB SCART is more than good enough.
  • A nice Sharp Aquos.

    It has 2 HDMI ports (supporting HDCP) for your cablebox and other device, and a DVI-I port for either VGA (with adapter), DVI, or HDMI (with adapter). Yes, it supports HDCP on the DVI port as well, giving you up to three ports (assuming you don't intend to connect a PC to it). I believe most of the Aquos line has DVI-I ports instead of VGA to which HDCP is supported, thus giving you up to 3 HDMI ports. But like most LCD TVs, you'd want to use an HDMI-DVI cable rather than an adapter due t
  • One component, two VGA, and a variety of composite and S-Video ins and out. Came with a free (through rebate) progressive DVD player that has become unreliable, and a little Nipper doll because of the delay in getting me the DVD player.

    Also it's a 32" 4:3 HDTV tube which can only display 1080i video by filling the screen, so everything is taller and thinner with no options to adjust it. Not even an accessible manual v-size pot.

    I was looking to get myself a better set, 42-50", but then Apple had to release
  • At one point, wasn't the high-end A/V world heading in the direction of using a top-notch receiver as the center of your system, with your display device (HDTV or Projector) as a pure monitor? All inputs would go to your receiver, which would then connect via one cord (video only) to your monitor.

    What the heck happened to do that? Is that even possible in the new, HDMI world? I know that you can do that with 0 degredation via DVI; am I going to have to stock up on those magic-DVI/HDMI descramblers?

    I _like_

  • Zero (Score:2)

    by jafac ( 1449 )
    My (toshiba RP) HDTV has colorstream. It's fucking beautiful. Even if it's not "real" HDTV.

    My biggest complaint about my DVD player is that it defaults to HDMI out. Every time we have a power glitch, the (samsung) DVD player reverts to the default. I keep the S-Video connector connected so that I can access the menu to switch back and enable the colorstream output. That's a pain in the ass.

    I want to put my TV and DVD player on a UPS so I can keep my custom settings. Is that sick?
  • I haven't moved to HD yet but my new receiver has HDMI inputs and can upscale. I do NOT want to use my TV as a switch, I want to use my recdiver to switch among components as I have forever.

    What I found interesting when purchasing this receiver though was the VERSION of HDMI. Seems that it has been revised several times now and that the receiver I was buying was one point revision back from current. I'm not exactly sure what the impact of that will be but it does occur to me that while we're all counting po

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