[DigitalfreakNYC]

My parents live in CT with Comcast cable and their reception on their 8300HD's is horrible. It's frustrating me every single time I go home to their house. Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I should look for in a diagnostics setting?


Both TV's are hooked up using HDMI and look exactly the same from the digital cable: dull and washed out. Nothing is vibrant in the least. My dad watches a lot of baseball and football and all the games look like crap. The grass looks like a darker green than it should be.


However, when I put in a blu-ray, it looks phenomenal on both TV's on the same settings.


At this point, I'm convinced they should just switch to U-Verse or something else but figured I would (and should) check here first.


Here are some caps that I took this weekend. Everything looks to have too much red and is too dull and dark, no?

And here is part of the diagnostics page.

 

[John Mason]

Using Cinema mode (24p material) with my pro plasma for non-24p programs--most non-dramas--usually gives a fuzzy appearance to images, with the color too 'rich'--like overly green grass or reds too strong on uniforms, etc. The standard plasma mode, a cooler temperature setting, eliminates this. But viewing 24p programs in standard mode usually makes colors too weak. So I switch back and forth for extended viewing of any show. I've calibrated settings with a Blu-ray test disc, and while Cinema and Standard mode might be tweaked for greater similarities I've settled on switching between them.


The longer-range bleacher shot seems to make people too blurred, like it's 720p poorly upconverted to 1080i/p. Find that keeping my TWC cable converter (8300HD) set to 1080i output, with the plasma converting to 1080p, is best image-wise. Recently tried viewing a sports match from ESPN-HD (720p) and setting the 8300HD to 720p output. The image on the screen was a mess (too blurred), so I went back to 1080i output, which cured the brief problem -- John


EDIT: BTW, found using 8300HD YPbPr with my plasma provides slightly higher resolution than HDMI. If HDNet is acccessible at that location you could use the HD.Net Saturday am resolution-wedge test pattern to measure and compare. Important: make sure displays are set for 1:1 pixel mapping or aliasing and blurring of details can occur.

 

[DigitalfreakNYC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mason /forum/post/20774915


Using Cinema mode (24p material) with my pro plasma for non-24p programs--most non-dramas--usually gives a fuzzy appearance to images, with the color too 'rich'--like overly green grass or reds too strong on uniforms, etc. The standard plasma mode, a cooler temperature setting, eliminates this. But viewing 24p programs in standard mode usually makes colors too weak. So I switch back and forth for extended viewing of any show. I've calibrated settings with a Blu-ray test disc, and while Cinema and Standard mode might be tweaked for greater similarities I've settled on switching between them.


The longer-range bleacher shot seems to make people too blurred, like it's 720p poorly upconverted to 1080i/p. Find that keeping my TWC cable converter (8300HD) set to 1080i output, with the plasma converting to 1080p, is best image-wise. Recently tried viewing a sports match from ESPN-HD (720p) and setting the 8300HD to 720p output. The image on the screen was a mess (too blurred), so I went back to 1080i output, which cured the brief problem -- John

This has nothing to do with "modes" on the TV. The pictures taken came directly out of the cable box.


And, again, my issue isn't with the sharpness. It's the colors.

 

[John Mason]

Okay. How did you acquire the images right from the 8300HD? BTW, added a note to my post just before you posted your reply. -- John

 

[DigitalfreakNYC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mason /forum/post/20775014


Okay. How did you acquire the images right from the 8300HD? BTW, added a note to my post just before you posted your reply. -- John

Using the Hauppauge. They look exactly like the picture on the screen.


And, again, has nothing to do with sharpness.


To me, it looks too washed out. The colors look bland and have too much red.

 

[Ken H]

What output mode is the box on? Did you try both 720p & 1080i?

 

[DigitalfreakNYC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken H /forum/post/20775071


What output mode is the box on? Did you try both 720p & 1080i?

It's on 1080i. I keep it there for them.


Unfortunately, their menu system absolutely sucks. The one we have for Time Warner is much more user friendly.

 

[John Mason]

Perhaps a Comcast tech should check signal levels. For a NYC TWC QAM reading with my 8300HD, likely a different network system, I'm reading 4 dBmV and 11 dBmV (2nd QAM). Yours shows -9 dBmV. My FDC level is 5 dBmV. Yours is -6 dBmV. No idea if your negative values shown are passable, but perhaps this engineer at the NYC TWC thread , or others there (or HDTV recorders section), could advise. I'd compare the computer-tuner-card/display diagnostic values to those on the HD displays. -- John

 

[olyteddy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC /forum/post/20775092


It's on 1080i. I keep it there for them.


Unfortunately, their menu system absolutely sucks. The one we have for Time Warner is much more user friendly.

Perhaps they should move to a town that has Time Warner then.

 

[DigitalfreakNYC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy /forum/post/20780967


Perhaps they should move to a town that has Time Warner then.

Nope. They just need Comcast to get their act together.

 

[Weags]



Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mason /forum/post/0


Perhaps a Comcast tech should check signal levels. For a NYC TWC QAM reading with my 8300HD, likely a different network system, I'm reading 4 dBmV and 11 dBmV (2nd QAM). Yours shows -9 dBmV. My FDC level is 5 dBmV. Yours is -6 dBmV. No idea if your negative values shown are passable, but perhaps this engineer at the NYC TWC thread , or others there (or HDTV recorders section), could advise. I'd compare the computer-tuner-card/display diagnostic values to those on the HD displays. -- John

Signal levels will have nothing to do with the OP seeing something he feels is washed out or too red. If his signal is too low it will pixelate or not have a pic. That's all. No correlation to actual picture quality if the channel is being received uninterrupted.

 

[Weags]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC /forum/post/0


My parents live in CT with Comcast cable and their reception on their 8300HD's is horrible. It's frustrating me every single time I go home to their house. Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I should look for in a diagnostics setting?


Both TV's are hooked up using HDMI and look exactly the same from the digital cable: dull and washed out. Nothing is vibrant in the least. My dad watches a lot of baseball and football and all the games look like crap. The grass looks like a darker green than it should be.


However, when I put in a blu-ray, it looks phenomenal on both TV's on the same settings.


At this point, I'm convinced they should just switch to U-Verse or something else but figured I would (and should) check here first.


Here are some caps that I took this weekend. Everything looks to have too much red and is too dull and dark, no?


And here is part of the diagnostics page.

Honestly it looks fine to my eyes. Your screen caps are of a golf tournament that appears to be in Europe or a lesser tour event such as nationwide or something to that effect. There is quite a difference between the broadcasts of these tourneys and those of say The Masters. Not matter the provider.


Your other caps of the Yankees game look fine too. I don't know how "vibrant" you would expect the grass to be. It looks fairly normal to me depending on time of day and whatnot. Things like that do make a difference in the presentation. Night games always give a more artificial look to the playing field. Which is why most people can tell if a game is night or day, without seeing the sky or knowing the time it took place.


The last screen is of a Steve Martin movie from 20 years ago or so. Not really sure what type of vibrant quality your expecting there.


Comparing the blu ray vs cable or sat can be a tad misleading. While the movie your watching is set for optimum lighting and picture quality,after all it's done on a set and is a completely controlled enviournment, the live events you show have many factors that could contribute to less than perfect picture or differences from scene to scene.


I have comcast and pic quality is fine for me here. I see ups and downs from program to program but it is the same with just about any service provider.


I would suggest toying with picture settings as rarely is a tv great out of the box. Some people like the artificial "vivid" mode. I like things to look natural. The screen caps look natural to me, so I would adjust the picture on your TVs to yours or your parents liking. Just an opinion based on what I've seen and have seen with the many different TVs I've viewed and the many different providers I have dealt with or viewed.


On a side note, if you want the easiest way for your parents Comcast hdtv to look great, switch to U-verse for a month and then switch back.

 

[McDonoughDawg]

Have you checked in your local area of the AVS forums?


My comcast here looks good, but it is very subjective....I've never thought screen shots were the best way to judge video myself.


I tend to agree with the poster just above me, it's looks good to me.

 

[DigitalfreakNYC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Weags /forum/post/20785782


Honestly it looks fine to my eyes. Your screen caps are of a golf tournament that appears to be in Europe or a lesser tour event such as nationwide or something to that effect. There is quite a difference between the broadcasts of these tourneys and those of say The Masters. Not matter the provider.


Your other caps of the Yankees game look fine too. I don't know how "vibrant" you would expect the grass to be. It looks fairly normal to me depending on time of day and whatnot. Things like that do make a difference in the presentation. Night games always give a more artificial look to the playing field. Which is why most people can tell if a game is night or day, without seeing the sky or knowing the time it took place.


The last screen is of a Steve Martin movie from 20 years ago or so. Not really sure what type of vibrant quality your expecting there.


Comparing the blu ray vs cable or sat can be a tad misleading. While the movie your watching is set for optimum lighting and picture quality,after all it's done on a set and is a completely controlled enviournment, the live events you show have many factors that could contribute to less than perfect picture or differences from scene to scene.


I have comcast and pic quality is fine for me here. I see ups and downs from program to program but it is the same with just about any service provider.


I would suggest toying with picture settings as rarely is a tv great out of the box. Some people like the artificial "vivid" mode. I like things to look natural. The screen caps look natural to me, so I would adjust the picture on your TVs to yours or your parents liking. Just an opinion based on what I've seen and have seen with the many different TVs I've viewed and the many different providers I have dealt with or viewed.


On a side note, if you want the easiest way for your parents Comcast hdtv to look great, switch to U-verse for a month and then switch back.

It's just the way it naturally looks. To me, it doesn't look right. It might possibly be a black level issue, as someone pointed out on another board.


I, personally, have Time Warner cable in NYC and, as much as I've complained about them in the past, they've been GREAT the last few months. No problems with the picture quality nor any break-ups.