[storman]

Hello all -

I'm finally taking the HiDef plunge with Charter HD service. My display is a 42 Hitachi 42HDT50 plasma. It comes with the AVC controller box,which has both component and DVI inputs. I do not know what kind of digitial cable decoder box Charter will be installing for HD.

I have several questions.

1) Short of finding out the day of the install, does anyone know if the box Charter uses has a DVI output ?


2) If it has DVI, will that be the one to use ?


3) Does anyone know if the HD box from Charter gives you picture parameter controls over brightness and contrast ? If I'm not mistaken, the Hitachi surrenders control of that to the DVI input source. ( this may force the answer to question #2. )


4)Do I need to recalibrate picture settings, color management, and color decoder settings for HD ? If so, that creates a conundrum, as both SDTV and HDTV material will be displayed on the same input, whether I use DVI or component.


5) If I do make and save a separate HD calibration, what can I use for test patterns ? My only other input device is a venerable old 2nd gen Panny A110 DVD player.



Thanks much !


Bill

 

[Masrhallw]

Quote:

Originally posted by storman Hello all - I'm finally taking the HiDef plunge with Charter HD service. My display is a 42 Hitachi 42HDT50 plasma. It comes with the AVC controller box,which has both component and DVI inputs. I do not know what kind of digitial cable decoder box Charter will be installing for HD. I have several questions. 1) Short of finding out the day of the install, does anyone know if the box Charter uses has a DVI output ?

Charter uses a number of different STBs for HD in different areas. In my area (Louisiana) I was given a Motorola 6200. It has an active DVI output.


Quote:

2) If it has DVI, will that be the one to use ?

For me it is. It give a better picture than the component cables they supplied. But you may see it differently. I use a $5 DVI cable, so it was a cheap thing to test.


Quote:

3) Does anyone know if the HD box from Charter gives you picture parameter controls over brightness and contrast ? If I'm not mistaken, the Hitachi surrenders control of that to the DVI input source. ( this may force the answer to question #2. )

None of the Charter boxes I know of do that type of control.


Quote:

4)Do I need to recalibrate picture settings, color management, and color decoder settings for HD ? If so, that creates a conundrum, as both SDTV and HDTV material will be displayed on the same input, whether I use DVI or component.

For my TV, each input has separate picture settings. This means that I set my TV for DVD settings, and separately for Charter STB settings. I could split my Charter cable before the STB and run one input directly to the TV for analog input, but I don't bother. There is no need for different settings for SD and HD - at least on my set.


Quote:

5) If I do make and save a separate HD calibration, what can I use for test patterns ? My only other input device is a venerable old 2nd gen Panny A110 DVD player.

I believe one of the HD channels (INHD?) provides a test pattern early in the morning - you can do a search for that. And then get up at 4:00 AM to use it if you want. I like my sleep too much.


Quote:

Thanks much ! Bill

Good luck, and have fun! You will love HD!

 

[storman]

Masrhallw,

Thanks for the reply. I look forward to having HD in the house.


One question - do you have any aspect ratio control issues with the cable box's DVI output ? When I was picking up a DVI cable from BB last night, one of the sales guys there ( ya, I know, I take info I get from them with a grain of salt ) told me he had a similar setup and said the SDTV channels in 4:3 through the DVI had black sidebars which his plasma couldn't get rid of even with "stretch" modes. He thought the reason was that the DVI input bypassed the video processor of his set, making the "stretch" modes inoperative. Hmm, sounds plausible. I think I recall reading about aspect ratios getting locked in certain situations, but I'm not sure it applies here. Anyway, I brought home both DVI and component cables and will find out for myself what happens. I can always return them for full refund.


Bill

 

[Masrhallw]

I have a DLP so sidebars are not an issue for me. I had to fiddle with the setting when I had component to get rid of stretch mode. You may have to fiddle a bit - I don't know how it will work out. The STB box has several choices as to how you can output the 480i signal - just pick one that works best for you.


I hope you didn't buy an expensive DVI cable - my $2 special from eBay works great. For less than 5 meters, most any cable will do - mine is for a PC to LCD panel.


Good luck!


- Marshall

 

[storman]

Marshall,

Spent a bit of time yesterday ( I had the day off ) staring in awe and wonder at hidef programing from HDNet. So clear. Even my wife noticed the difference - she pointed out how 3 dimensional looks compared to standard def.


Back to cables. Well, it seems the BB guy was half right. He was right about getting locked with black bars, but wrong about it happening over only DVI and not component, and wrong about it for SDTV and not HD. The only time I get black side bars that my plasma won't stretch is when any of the HD channels is broadcasting a show that was originally shot in 4:3. Looks like they matte the image with black side bars to make a 16:9 image. My plasma's video processor sees it as a 16:9 1080i image. I can get rid of sidebars, however, by using the 16:9 Zoom mode, but that adds noise to the image. As an example of this was "Friends" on NBC-HD last night. 4:3 with sidebars. However, the following show, "Joey", was in 16:9. Must have been shot in widescreen. I guess there's not much the networks can do if the program was not originally filmed or shot in a widescreen format. I should be thankful it wasn't 4:3, non-anamorphic matted widescreen !


So, which cable did I stay with ? Well, it took a bit of watching, but I eventually felt the picture was better with component. I connected both cables and switched back and forth. HD movies was showing an older movie, I think it is called "Auntie Mame". I noticed blacks looked richer and the picture had overall better contrast with component. Since the movie was shot in cinemascope or some other very wide aspect ratio, it had black bars where I could easily compare how each cable performed in this area. Standing at less than one foot from the screen, I could easily tell there was more noise with the DVI cable. That explained why the image did not appear to have as much contrast with DVI and looked flatter and appeared to have less depth to it. In other respects both cables seemed to be equal, although colors seemed a tad more vibrant with component, while DVI might have looked just a bit smoother. In the end, I had to choose the one which overall looked better, and to me component won out.


You know, those older movies made between '55 and '65 seem to have a wonderful palette of colors that you just don't see too often any more. They're absolute eye candy, especially in 1080i. I suppose it was the film stock they used then, and the artistic choices of the cinematographers of the day.


Bill


- - - lovin' HD

 

[Masrhallw]

Glad you like the HD - your wife's comment was the same as mine. Discover HD has some really awesome content for HD viewing.


You are right about the pillars on the 4:3 material on HD broadcasts - nothing you can do.


Enjoy!


- Marshall