Bought new HDMI, picture worse?

Brymo · 01-03-07, 08:28 PM

Well I thought I would get a HDMI cable from monoprice the other day. I get it today, hook it up to my comcast DVR and my samsung plasma. The picture seemed to be worse. More pixulation and what not. I have now switched back to component.

Am I doing something wrong?

MephistoSan · 01-08-07, 12:30 PM

I had this same problem, HDMI looked horrible compared to component on my cox DVR. I don't blame HDMI for this, as I now have my PS3 and DVD player hooked up through HDMI and they look amazing.

My guess is it has something to do with the video compression cable companies use in conjuction with the analog to digital conversion that takes place with HDMI, but I'm not sure.

miniz · 01-08-07, 04:11 PM

Have you tried adjusting or calibrating your TV or do you have the HDMI input set on "VIVID"? Go into your menu on the TV and bring down the "sharpness" to minimum and report back.

Ace R. · 01-08-07, 08:37 PM

I kind of have a similiar issue. I just got a cox cable dvr box thats doing 1080i via component. The HD channels look fantastic but I noticed that SD channels looked a lot better when the cable was hooked directly into my TV. Some channels looked ok to decent and others looked really bad like MTV and CNN. Picture is very grainy.

The cable box should improve SD viewing as well correct?

GeekGirl · 01-08-07, 10:20 PM

There's nothing wrong with HDMI (looks great on my Sammy). It's that the STB may not be telling you the whole story.

When you connect your cable to your TV tuner, I'll bet that you're watching the analog channel, which is probably OK quality. When you set the STB to the same channel, I'm betting that it's remapping the analog channel number to the SD digital equivalent, which probably looks a lot worse than analog - it's been reprocessed / compressed.

The STB won't tell you what channel it's watching except by the diagnostic screen. Hit "power off", then "Select" with 5 seconds. One of the status screens should tell you if the channel is analog or digital. Power off the STB to exit the diagnostics.

01-03-07, 08:28 PM	#1 \| Link	<a href='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adclick.php?n=a4ac4393' target='_blank'><img src='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adview.php?what=zone:30&n=a4ac4393' border='0' alt=''></a>
Brymo New Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 10	Bought new HDMI, picture worse? Well I thought I would get a HDMI cable from monoprice the other day. I get it today, hook it up to my comcast DVR and my samsung plasma. The picture seemed to be worse. More pixulation and what not. I have now switched back to component. Am I doing something wrong?

01-08-07, 04:11 PM	#3 \| Link
miniz OFFICAL HOME OF HDTV Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Small Town X, HDTV Land Posts: 2,221	Have you tried adjusting or calibrating your TV or do you have the HDMI input set on "VIVID"? Go into your menu on the TV and bring down the "sharpness" to minimum and report back. __________________ "PLEASE HELP STOP HDTV ABUSE! FEED YOUR HDTV AN HD SIGNAL!"

01-08-07, 10:20 PM	#5 \| Link	<a href='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adclick.php?n=a591f81a' target='_blank'><img src='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adview.php?what=zone:36&n=a591f81a' border='0' alt=''></a>
GeekGirl Señora Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Yardley, PA Posts: 1,509	There's nothing wrong with HDMI (looks great on my Sammy). It's that the STB may not be telling you the whole story. When you connect your cable to your TV tuner, I'll bet that you're watching the analog channel, which is probably OK quality. When you set the STB to the same channel, I'm betting that it's remapping the analog channel number to the SD digital equivalent, which probably looks a lot worse than analog - it's been reprocessed / compressed. The STB won't tell you what channel it's watching except by the diagnostic screen. Hit "power off", then "Select" with 5 seconds. One of the status screens should tell you if the channel is analog or digital. Power off the STB to exit the diagnostics. Last edited by GeekGirl; 01-08-07 at 10:28 PM..

01-08-07, 12:30 PM	#2 \| Link
MephistoSan Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cranston, RI Posts: 83	I had this same problem, HDMI looked horrible compared to component on my cox DVR. I don't blame HDMI for this, as I now have my PS3 and DVD player hooked up through HDMI and they look amazing. My guess is it has something to do with the video compression cable companies use in conjuction with the analog to digital conversion that takes place with HDMI, but I'm not sure.

01-08-07, 08:37 PM	#4 \| Link
Ace R. New Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 9	I kind of have a similiar issue. I just got a cox cable dvr box thats doing 1080i via component. The HD channels look fantastic but I noticed that SD channels looked a lot better when the cable was hooked directly into my TV. Some channels looked ok to decent and others looked really bad like MTV and CNN. Picture is very grainy. The cable box should improve SD viewing as well correct?