diff --git a/jOOQ-test/src/org/jooq/test/_/testcases/RenderAndBindTests.java b/jOOQ-test/src/org/jooq/test/_/testcases/RenderAndBindTests.java
index 243e7c074c..c9675a19ac 100644
--- a/jOOQ-test/src/org/jooq/test/_/testcases/RenderAndBindTests.java
+++ b/jOOQ-test/src/org/jooq/test/_/testcases/RenderAndBindTests.java
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ extends BaseTest<A, B, S, B2S, BS, L, X, D, T, U, I, IPK, T658, T725, T639, T785
         Timestamp ts1 = Timestamp.valueOf("1981-07-10 12:01:15");
         Timestamp ts2 = null;
 
-        byte[] by1 = null; // "some bytes".getBytes();
+        byte[] by1 = "some bytes".getBytes();
         byte[] by2 = null;
         Boolean bool1 = true;
         Boolean bool2 = false;
@@ -324,6 +324,8 @@ extends BaseTest<A, B, S, B2S, BS, L, X, D, T, U, I, IPK, T658, T725, T639, T785
         assertEquals(asList(s1, s2, s3, s4), asList(array1));
         assertEquals(asList((Number) b1, b2, sh1, sh2, i1, i2, l1, l2, bi1, bi2, bd1, bd2, db1, db2, f1, f2), asList(array2));
         assertEquals(asList(d1, d2, t1, t2, ts1, ts2), asList(array3));
-        assertEquals(asList(by1, by2, bool1, bool2, bool3), asList(array4));
+
+        array4[0] = new String((byte[]) array4[0]);
+        assertEquals(asList(new String(by1), by2, bool1, bool2, bool3), asList(array4));
     }
 }
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Val.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Val.java
index 8d59956c21..bec9ef8add 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Val.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Val.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import static org.jooq.SQLDialect.POSTGRES;
 import static org.jooq.SQLDialect.SQLITE;
 import static org.jooq.SQLDialect.SQLSERVER;
 import static org.jooq.SQLDialect.SYBASE;
+import static org.jooq.conf.StatementType.STATEMENT;
 
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -63,6 +64,8 @@ import org.jooq.Param;
 import org.jooq.RenderContext;
 import org.jooq.SQLDialect;
 import org.jooq.UDTRecord;
+import org.jooq.exception.DataAccessException;
+import org.jooq.tools.JooqLogger;
 import org.jooq.tools.StringUtils;
 
 /**
@@ -250,6 +253,8 @@ class Val<T> extends AbstractField<T> implements Param<T>, BindingProvider {
      * Inlining abstraction
      */
     private void toSQL(RenderContext context, Object val, Class<?> type) {
+        SQLDialect dialect = context.getDialect();
+
         if (context.inline()) {
             if (val == null) {
                 context.sql("null");
@@ -258,7 +263,7 @@ class Val<T> extends AbstractField<T> implements Param<T>, BindingProvider {
 
                 // [#1153] Some dialects don't support boolean literals
                 // TRUE and FALSE
-                if (asList(ASE, DB2, ORACLE, SQLSERVER, SQLITE, SYBASE).contains(context.getDialect())) {
+                if (asList(ASE, DB2, ORACLE, SQLSERVER, SQLITE, SYBASE).contains(dialect)) {
                     context.sql(((Boolean) val) ? "1" : "0");
                 }
                 else {
@@ -266,9 +271,25 @@ class Val<T> extends AbstractField<T> implements Param<T>, BindingProvider {
                 }
             }
             else if (type == byte[].class) {
-                context.sql("'")
-                       .sql(Arrays.toString((byte[]) val).replace("'", "''"))
-                       .sql("'");
+                byte[] binary = (byte[]) val;
+
+                // [#1154] Binary data cannot always be inlined
+                if (dialect == H2) {
+                    context.sql("X'")
+                           .sql(StringUtils.convertBytesToHex(binary))
+                           .sql("'");
+                }
+                else if (Util.getStatementType(context.getSettings()) == STATEMENT) {
+                    throw new DataAccessException("Cannot inline binary data in dialect " + dialect + ". Use StatementType.PREPARED_STATEMENT instead");
+                }
+
+                // This default behaviour is used in debug logging for dialects
+                // that do not support inlining binary data
+                else {
+                    context.sql("'")
+                           .sql(Arrays.toString(binary).replace("'", "''"))
+                           .sql("'");
+                }
             }
             else if (Number.class.isAssignableFrom(type)) {
                 context.sql(val.toString());
@@ -276,7 +297,7 @@ class Val<T> extends AbstractField<T> implements Param<T>, BindingProvider {
             else if (type.isArray()) {
 
                 // H2 renders arrays as tuples
-                if (context.getDialect() == H2) {
+                if (dialect == H2) {
                     context.sql(Arrays.toString((Object[]) val).replaceAll("\\[([^]]*)\\]", "($1)"));
                 }
 
@@ -312,13 +333,13 @@ class Val<T> extends AbstractField<T> implements Param<T>, BindingProvider {
 
         // In Postgres, some additional casting must be done in some cases...
         // TODO: Improve this implementation with [#215] (cast support)
-        else if (context.getDialect() == SQLDialect.POSTGRES) {
+        else if (dialect == SQLDialect.POSTGRES) {
 
             // Postgres needs explicit casting for array types
             if (type.isArray() && byte[].class != type) {
                 context.sql(getBindVariable(context));
                 context.sql("::");
-                context.sql(FieldTypeHelper.getDataType(context.getDialect(), type).getCastTypeName(context));
+                context.sql(FieldTypeHelper.getDataType(dialect, type).getCastTypeName(context));
             }
 
             // ... and also for enum types
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/Convert.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/Convert.java
index 5e7473f80c..081c3ef363 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/Convert.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/Convert.java
@@ -223,10 +223,18 @@ public final class Convert {
         else {
             final Class<?> fromClass = from.getClass();
 
+            // No conversion
             if (toClass == fromClass) {
                 return (T) from;
             }
+
+            // [#1155] Do this early: identity-conversion into Object
+            else if (toClass == Object.class) {
+                return (T) from;
+            }
             else if (fromClass == byte[].class) {
+            	
+                // This may not make much sense. Any other options?
                 return convert(Arrays.toString((byte[]) from), toClass);
             }
             else if (fromClass.isArray()) {
@@ -242,11 +250,6 @@ public final class Convert {
                 return (T) from.toString();
             }
 
-            // All types can be converted into Object
-            else if (toClass == Object.class) {
-                return (T) from;
-            }
-
             // Various number types are converted between each other via String
             else if (toClass == Byte.class || toClass == byte.class) {
                 return (T) Byte.valueOf(new BigDecimal(from.toString().trim()).byteValue());
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/StringUtils.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/StringUtils.java
index 66a6ab6339..09ee20ae0c 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/StringUtils.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/StringUtils.java
@@ -936,4 +936,38 @@ public final class StringUtils {
         String cc = toCamelCase(string);
         return cc.substring(0, 1).toLowerCase() + cc.substring(1);
     }
+
+    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    // XXX This section is taken from the H2 Database
+    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    private static final char[] HEX = "0123456789abcdef".toCharArray();
+
+    /**
+     * Convert a byte array to a hex encoded string.
+     *
+     * @param value the byte array
+     * @return the hex encoded string
+     */
+    public static String convertBytesToHex(byte[] value) {
+        return convertBytesToHex(value, value.length);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Convert a byte array to a hex encoded string.
+     *
+     * @param value the byte array
+     * @param len the number of bytes to encode
+     * @return the hex encoded string
+     */
+    public static String convertBytesToHex(byte[] value, int len) {
+        char[] buff = new char[len + len];
+        char[] hex = HEX;
+        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+            int c = value[i] & 0xff;
+            buff[i + i] = hex[c >> 4];
+            buff[i + i + 1] = hex[c & 0xf];
+        }
+        return new String(buff);
+    }
 }