SA 8000HD & 8300HD w/ Passport software (TWC) - Page 30

Kasey, does your Sony allow you to shift the picture vertically?

The menu allows me to adjust vertical image and tilt, i've tried maxing both in each directon, makes no difference plus the logo is on the horizontal plane anyway, ie:


--------------------
| ----------------- |
| ----------------- |
| -----------------H D< -- D is cut off
--------------------

Also, Sony tech guy told me to press "guide" on the 8300 HD remote, all of you know this brings up the guide and makes a small PIP image of the current channel in the upper right side of the screen. Viewing this image the Discovery HD logo or Fox 50HD logo fits in the box and can be seen. Sony tech said that if it was the TV, the logo would be cut off there as well. This didn't make much sense to me but that's what both Sony tech online and the service technician said.

The 8300HD boxes can actually stretch the HD signals. When I turn my cable box on when I have it set to stretch 4:3 content it will also stretch 16:9 content. However, it only stretches the video on the channel that it was on when I turned on the TV. For example, I turn the cable box off on channel 255(CBS HD). Then I turn it back on and it reverts back to the last channel I was on(255). The HD image is stretched so I can not see part of the CBS logo. I just change the channel up or down and now everything is back to normal for widescreen HD content and stretched for 4:3 content. I too am in Cary NC. Gorgeous Day out today!

mpgxsvcd,

Thanks for the reply but my box is not set to stretch when the logo is cut off, I've played around w/ the stretch function and it just really screws the 16X9 picture up even more. I was getting the same screen using the previous two 8000HD boxes that I have tried and they do not allow stretching of HD content.

Any other ideas?

Mike,
I'm in Chapel Hill and don't have the problem you're describing with my TWC 8300HD, the logo's are clearly postioned in the corners where you would expect them. Your comment about going to the guide to view the image in the pip window is interesting. If I do that with the HD Net test patterns, I do see more of the test pattern image (particularly the bottom edge) than is displayed in normal viewing mode. I assume the portion I don't see in normal viewing is outside the viewing area due to overscan, but in the pip window, the entire pip image is well within the viewable screen. Your tech did check the overscan of your set?

ChrisFix,

Thanks for the reply. The tech brought in a HD video generator which he hooked up via component cables. He then set the generator to display both 720p and 1080i test patterns, and the patterns aligned correctly with both sides of the screen, almost perfectly, we're talking 1/9" off. Even when I switch my box to 4:3 sidebar, the right sidebar is actually a little shorter than the left one, once again the tech measured this and it was about 3/4 inch difference on the right, and he stated this was due to the cable signal. The tech explained what he could fix in the service menu, but that the tv was already displaying both HD signals correctly.

Since I swear for the first 2 months of owning the TV the picture displayed correctly, my only option seems to be to take this 203lb monster over to someone elses place who has TW HD w/ a 8000 or 8300 hd box to see if it displays the same over there. If it does then I know it's the TV, if not then it has to be my cable signal.

--Mike

Maybe you could reverse that procedure. Try to find a friend with a small LCD 16:9 HDTV, and bring it to your place and see what the result looks like.

-barry

kasey,

When you say "aligned correctly... almost perfectly" do you mean:

a. The picture is correctly centered,

or

b. There is zero overscan?

Since all TVs have some overscan, I assume you meant a. So, did your Sony tech tell you how much overscan your TV has? What was your percent overscan?

It is sounding to me like TWC may be right...

Sooke

The test pattern he used had + signs on all corners and sides of the screen, then on the top and bottom had a \\___/ type arrow looking design, on the top and bottom the full down arrow was not visible, but the sides did not seem to be cut off, nor did the tech say anything about it. He seemed to know what he was talking about, but who knows. Also stated they were the only ones in the area with a HD generator. Anyway, I just got back from lunch and took a picture of the Fox screen, didn't have time to do the Discovery because I couldn't find a show with it on there.


http://mdbotkin.smugmug.com/photos/16892707-L.jpg

You are not alone. My setup: Toshiba 65" HDtv/TWC 8300 HDDVR and for the previous 8000DVR box this would happen as well. Happens on Fox and DiscoveryHD too. I've not done anthing about it as I guess I'd never heard of others having the issue and just thought it was the programming coming in from the stations? Maybe I'm missing something??

Those channels have their logo at the extreme edge of the frame, they should be in at least 5% to allow for typical overscan.

So should I be able to modify the overscan in the service menu? These two channels really drive me nuts to be honest, it just doesn't look right.
I know how to get into the 34HS420 service menu but I do not have the guide or what settings should be changed.

--Mike

Look in the Display forums:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=34hs420

I sure you can adjust the picture size & position in the service menu.

Time Warner Cable in Milwaukee (Mayfair Mall Outlet) does, indeed, have the 8300HD's in stock ... and lots of them. I'm not sure why you just didn't tell Plumberman what their number was -- it's not a secret! TWC Mayfair # is 414-257-3608. I was told they had lots in stock!

I just brought in my old 8000HD and the power cord (you don't need anything else) and walked out with a brand spankin' new 8300HD. Cool! SD channels look better already!

EDIT: And it's so much more responsive! Menus, changing channels and changing to Hi-Def channels is much quicker.

Hi Jk27

I also went and exchanged my 8000hd for the 8300hd. I too noticed the improvement in the sd channels and there is a small improvement in the hd picture too. I like the quicker channel change when in hd, none of the contortions the 8000hd did. I also like the new search for using the dvr. I asked the TWC person about the vcr archive on when it will be activated, but he didn't know. Did you here anything about when they will have that feature. I would like to get a dvd recorder and be able to recored from the dvr. My wife and kids want to have their HGTV, TLC and noggin programs saved to a disc for future viewing and not take up space on the dvr for a long period of time. Also I believe I read a while back that the 8300hd has double the capacity of recording over the 8000hd. Is that true?
Thanks

Just in case you didn't realize it, you can copy any show to DVD/VCR now, on the 8300HD, by merely watching the show, and recording while it plays. If you don't want to actually watch the show, you can power off the TV set after you start up the recording.

-barry

To answer your last question first, it's not true (the 8000HD and 8300HD have the same capacity, but they have twice the capacity of the 8000SD and 8300SD). You don't need to have a feature called "vcr archive" to copy recorded programs from the 8300HD to a DVD recorder. Just connect the recorder to the 8300HD's S-Video output or configure its component output to deliver only 480i and use that path instead.

Back to the overscan issue. I know its the HD box, 8000 in my case. Go to fox news or cnn or any channel with a ticker at the bottom. Press pause. On my tv the side bar mode will show at least three more letters from the ticker than the stretch mode. Meaning the strech mode is cutting off or zooming in on the picture. I think its the same on 16:9 HD stuff too. Also, on a 16:9 tv set the tv strech mode to normal. Set the HD box to 4:3 mode with letterbox 16:9. The grey bars on the sides will be much larger than the ones visible during everyday 16:9 , 4:3 sidebar type viewing. What I'm saying is that the 8000HD is zooming in on HD and streched 4:3 material. I'm using component cables obviously. I hope the 8300 is better.

If you select 'Zoom' on either the 8000HD or 8300HD, it will do exactly that, it zoom's in on the image, showing a smaller area of the picture that is displayed larger on your screen, so yes it will cut off some viewable picture on all sides - that's what it is supposed to do. If you have a 16:9 TV and you set the 8000/8300 Aspect Ratio to 4:3, you've set the box incorrectly and it will display incorrectly as well. The issue that was being discussed was of a TV using 'Normal' viewing settings not being able to see all of the station logos, which is more than likely the TV's Overscan setting being a little to high.

For those of you in the TWC Milwaukee area, the 8300HD outputs composite video, S Video, component video and hdmi/dvi video at the same time. I was curious to see if dvi would give me a better picture than component so I bought an expensive Monster HDMI to DVI cable to try it out. My opinion? I could see no difference whatsoever in video quality. This experience is the same as many others on this forum that own Sony Wega LCD rear projection hdtv's. I'm returning the cable. Just mho.
Dick Teschendorf
Sony Grand WEGA 60" LCD Rear-Projection HDTV KF-60WE610

Maybe it is your cable? I bought an $11 HDMI cable online and I see a huge difference between it and my Monster THX component cables on my Sony 55 GWIV LCD with my 8300HD. Monster cables are a complete waste of money!

On my direct view Panasonic HD monitor, I get a huge big difference between Component and Digital (HDMI to DVI) but the reason isn't the cable, it's how my TV displays from its internal inputs. The DVI input is much brighter and better balanced than the component input, so it changes the PQ totally. The difference is the same for my DVD player or SA8300HD through component vs DVI, so I know it is the input not the cables. I think a lot of individual experiences related to HDMI/DVI or Component, both good and bad, are caused by the fact that our TV inputs aren't created equally.

or, to be more precise, calibrated equally.

There was a poster that claimed that the SATA port on the 8300HD was active.


www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=516559


He had the SARA software though. Can anyone confirm that the SATA output on our 8300HD with passport software has been activated? I was initially told by my TWC CSR that the HDMI port wasn't active, and it was ever since it was released. I'd like to add some extra hours to my 8300 asap.

Time Warner has purchased Maxtor external drives made to be connected to the SA8300HD (see here). Where and how they will deploy these is not discussed in this PR. Note that TWC use Scientific Atlanta's SARA IPG on these boxes on some systems, so whether or not they're supported by Passport Echo is also uncertain.

I was surprised that the one guy reporting that he got an off-the-shelf SATA drive to work with his STB did so, mostly because Maxtor's external drive product spec sheet says that the cable company has to enable the use of them. I suspected that this would mean that they'd only be available as a lease-option.

Finally got my HDMI cable and connected my 8300 to my Panny HD TV. All is well, but now when I want to control the volume, I have to do it on the TV - the 8300's volume no longer has an effect! Any ideas why this is happening?

I'm having a problem recording to my VCR when my TV is off.

I have an 8300HD box (from TWC in NYC) connected to my HDTV via HDMI and connected to my VCR via RCA cables. If I try to make a recording with the TV off, it doesn't work. Sometimes I get a message that my HDTV does not support HDCP.

One solution is to record to my DVR and then play it back into my VCR. But is there a way to record directly to my VCR without having to leave the TV on?

Thanks for any suggestions.