HDMI/DVI vs Component video cables

[phildlight]

Ok, so I just got a fancy new 42" HD plasma w/ 1080i res and 10k contrast ratio. Now, the next step. Upgrading the rest of my equipment. Now I find out about all these nifty cables. It seems to make sense to me that if i'm using a dvd player with HDMI out, and that goes to the tv via HDMI cable, then only one device does the processing, say the dvd player, then sends a seperated, uncompressed/encoded signal to the tv, where it's displayed natively. vs. player converting sending through analog component cable or s-video cable to tv, where the tv has to uncompres and display.

Is this right? I've read that it doesn't matter whether you use HDMI or component, but that doesn't make sense since to send through component, the signal has to be compressed and encoded with an rf to be sent over the wires. Red, blue, green component is supposed to be better, but still compressed/encoded, vs hdmi being all channels uncompressed. So both devices (dvd and tv) have to do more processing to display the signal.???? Any A/V home theatre experts here?

[Neilg]

HDMI is higher quality, running at the resolution of 1080i you might get ghosting or a kind of double image effect.
//Actually, this may not be true - thats for something else. Still dont see any reason to use it though. Try them both and compare the quality, although make sure its running at the native res.

Also, i'm jelous

[percydaman]

I've done alot of experimenting recently when I purchased a 42" dell plasma. Basially both component and HDMI look great. I had issues with the HDMI though not being recognized on my tv coming from my HD cable box. After reading some on the internet, I found out that many people believe that HDMI was rather rushed to the market and still has alot of bugs.

I have an HDMI dvd player I use, and the rest I just use component. I'm plenty happy.

[phildlight]

well, I was looking over my setup last night and realized that I have a toshiba dvd player/recorder that has hdmi out, so that's going to be my first step. I'll run hdmi from the player to the tv and see if there is a quality difference. The cables are friggin expensive, so if it isn't a noticible difference, then I won't upgrade the rest. Thanks for the replies...