What is the point of having an HDMI Video Input and an HDMI Video Output on my Receiver?

Question

My Onkyo has a HDMI Video input and Video Output... I still have to connect a fiber optic from my HD DVD player to the receiver to get Audio, there is no HDMI Audio Input or Output. What is the purpose of the HDMI in and out? I could just connect my DVD player video directly to the TV through HDMI and then Audio through the receiver via fiber optic. Why would my receiver have this HDMI Video Input and Output feature?

Answer 1

If you have one HDMI input on your TV and multiple HDMI video devices, then you need a device that allows you to use all of these devices. The AV receiver will act as the HDMI switcher. You can use the AV receiver remote to switch video and audio sources.

Answer 2

It depends on the receiver. The point of a receiver is to send all you signals to it, then one cable from the receiver to the TV. Because the video signals coming from different sources many also be through different types of cables (i.e. HDMI, component, etc...) the receiver needs the internal software to upconvert the signals. Some receivers do, others don't. I don't know about yours in particular. But My receiver upcoverts any video signal (even if over a simple video cable), so it passes through the HDMI out to the TV. I have only one cable running from the receiver to the TV because of this, even though I have four different inputs.



Also, a good receiver will accept both audio and video over HDMI. So you may just have a cheap receiver with design flaws.

Answer 3

so that the receiver can control the home theater system