Digital Home Thoughts: A Harbinger of Things to Come: Westinghouse's LVM-37W1 LCD TV

Subtleties
Lesson 5: acceptable HDMI input modes do not include 480i.
Not that I care, but it does bring up an error message when the STB tries to send 480i. (It works fine on the analog ports.)

Lesson 6: Not all HDMI devices support HDCP.
This is critical. More, not all HDMI devices properly support the spec. For now, at least, DVI+HDCP seems to be more universally compatible. (I had no problems with either of my two HDCP-capable sources.) This will likely change but you should be aware of this.

Lesson 7: HDCP devices expect the display to be fully powered up before them.
Do it the other way around and you get a glimpse of an error message. Only a glimpse, ‘cause the two devices quickly establish a handshake once the display is up.

Lesson 8: It takes time to switch resolutions.
Setting the STB into pass through mode is a great way to see what resolution each channel broadcasts in, but it also results in a “double-blink” when you switch channels because both the STB and the display have to switch resolutions and synch the video, at the cost of a two second lag. Setting the STB to send everything in 1080 mode eliminates the double blink and results in a slightly better image. To my eyes, anyway…

Lesson 9: Not all 1080p displays actually accept 1080p signals.
This was a bit of a shock. While, the LVM-37W1 accepts and properly displays 1080p signals through the VGA and DVI1 ports (and 1080i through the DVI2 and component inputs) some other 1080 displays on the market, however, do not accept 1080p signals at all. Some, like the Sharp 45” can be hacked to get it to accept 1080p PC inputs while others limit PC inputs to 1280 resolution. To complicate matters, I have seen reputable reports that the current HDMI spec, 1.1, does not support 1080p at all because of a channel bandwidth limit of 165MHz and that it won’t be until late ’06 that the new HDMI 1.03 allows 225MHz channel bandwidth and 1080p support. This is, of course, puzzling because DVI is also limited to 165MHz channels and PC displays (and the LVM-37WI) have no problem displaying 1920 by 1080p/60Hz content today, using DVI. The best I could figure out is that the DVI spec is adequate for 8-bit per channel color at 1080p/60 but that some (most?) of the HDMI chipsets in use today are limited to 150MHz channel width.

The bottom line here is that 1080p offers real value both when connected to a Media Center or Home Theater PC and for de-interlaced 1080i content, but that compatibility with Blue Laser players in 1080p mode (if even they support it) is uncertain. (I’ve seen reports that first-generation HD-DVDs and BD-ROMs will only output 1080i.) Whether any current display will be truly compatible with blue laser players is uncertain until they actually come out next year. Most definitely: Caveat Emptor.