[jbiel]

I am extremely new to HDTV, so please excuse me if this question is way retarded.


I have Cox Communications for HD service. Below are the current issues I am having.


I am not sure if these results are normal or what.


Cable Box Settings:


480p Std


TV Settings:


1080i - Auto Aspect Off


Results - Non HD channels fill the screen fully, while the HD channels have gray bar at top and bottom.



Cable Box Settings:


1080i


TV Settings:


1080i - Auto Aspect Off


Results - Non HD Channels are in 4:3 mode, while HD channels fil the screen fully.




From my understanding, the HD channels should fill the entire screen AND the non-hd channels.


Please help....

 

[mjones73]

From my understanding, the HD channels should fill the entire screen AND the non-hd channels.


Non HD channels are in 4:3 mode, they will have grey bars on the side, you need to use the pic size button on the Toshiba remote to stretch them if you want them to fill the whole screen.

 

[jbiel]

So I should set the cable box to 1080i and when viewing non-hd channels, just resize the picture.

 

[mjones73]

Quote:

Originally posted by jbiel So I should set the cable box to 1080i and when viewing non-hd channels, just resize the picture.

That's usually the best case if you don't mind the stretch modes.

 

[pittdog1]

If your cable box is set to output 1080i, the set will not let you change the stretch mode. You need to make sure the cable box is set-up correctly for your set. 16:9 (widescreen) should be chosen in the setup menu. You will probably have a choice of at least one stretch mode to pick from for sd viewing in the cable box set up menu. Not all HD channels show HD all the time and there will sometimes be bars present on them. They won't stretch when they are not HD on an HD channel at all.

 

[ceccacci]

Pittdog1 is right, but just to clarify one thing- if you were to set the output of the cable box to 480p, you aren't watching HD at all. It must be set to 1080i (or 720p for those TV's which support it, which I don't think yours does).

 

[cgw]

My cable box (Motorola 5100) allows me to select between 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i as the default component output, and 1080i is the correct choice for hd. But it also allows me to set a 4:3 override setting of 480i or 480p. This means that programs that show up in a 4:3 format will be sent in 480i or 480p mode and can be stretched. The information on how to adjust these settings in a Motorola box was not provided by Comcast-my guess is that they would prefer that I not change from the default settings. But the information is in the Users Guide that can be downloaded.


You may also want to split your cable and send one input into the tv's antenna input and the other to the cable box. This avoids having to use the cable box for nondigital channels and also allows you to adjust the screen size settings of sd channels. It also lets you watch one channel while you record another, which you can't do if you use the cable box to watch all the channels. You also lose some split picture options with only the cable box input.


These comments reflect theory; not practice. The 65H84 I ordered from Costco back on 9/21 has not yet arrived, so I haven't been able to try out various settings.

 

[jbiel]

Only ouput settings on the cable box were 480p std , 480p wide, 1080i.

 

[jbiel]

I have not tried hooking up the cable box with two connections, I will have verify I have the ability.

 

[Barrybud]

You should output 1080i other wise you are watching the HD channels on 480. Since I don't know your TV what happens if you allow the auto aspect on?

 

[ceccacci]

Quote:

Originally posted by jbiel I have not tried hooking up the cable box with two connections, I will have verify I have the ability.

You have the ability, it only takes a splitter. Doesn't matter what kind of cable box or TV. But the receiver in your set will only be able to pick up the SD analog cable channels.

 

[1canuck2]

Wouldn;t auto-aspect let the TV stretch the 4:3 content while leaving the 16x9 content alone?


Try this and see what happens:


Cable Box Settings:


1080i


TV Settings:


1080i - Auto Aspect ON


On one of the TVs I was demoing, the auto-aspect seemed to detect if there were bars present and zoom/stretch accordingly, even if the bars were part of the signal itself (i.e. watching a HD program on 4:3 means it gets broadcast with black bars top and bottom, in the auto-aspect mode, the TV zoomed/stretched the black bars out of the picture as well.

 

[jbiel]

I will try all the suggestions tonight after work.


Thanks for all the help.

 

[ceccacci]

Quote:

Originally posted by 1canuck2 Wouldn;t auto-aspect let the TV stretch the 4:3 content while leaving the 16x9 content alone? Try this and see what happens: Cable Box Settings: 1080i TV Settings: 1080i - Auto Aspect ON On one of the TVs I was demoing, the auto-aspect seemed to detect if there were bars present and zoom/stretch accordingly, even if the bars were part of the signal itself (i.e. watching a HD program on 4:3 means it gets broadcast with black bars top and bottom, in the auto-aspect mode, the TV zoomed/stretched the black bars out of the picture as well.

Perhaps some do, but most TV's cannot reformat a 720p or 1080i signal.

 

[jonwww]

Unless Tosh. changed their aspects in the last year xxh83 (which I don't think they have), you cannot change the aspect of the hd/1080i picture, you can change the aspect when viewing analog or digital channels on component input though. Yes the hd box should be set at 1080i as stated earlier otherwise you won't be viewing HD(might as well have tv on ant. A and channel 3 to watch hd if you have box set at 480i). It would have helped a little if you said which hd box you have, moto. or SA but I'm assuming you have SA if you don't have 720p as an option. On the moto. boxes generally the override is at 480i but some tvs don't display analog pics correctly set this way, must be set to 480p.(Tosh. tvs never have problem set to 480i from what I"ve seen.

 

[jbiel]

Sorry, the cable box is a SA Explorer 3250HD

 

[pittdog1]

You would think that any HD box would have some kind of stretch mode for non HD signals. But, if it doesn't, hook up the Component cables(red green blue) from the box to the set. Also, either run the antenna (direct cable line)

connection to antenna input on set from the box or a splitter or a composite video(yellow cable) from the box to the set. Then you'll have to change inputs and signal formats and that would be kind of a pain in the butt. Also, try and see if you can highlight 480 and 1080i at the same time. I'm not sure if that box will let you or not but some boxes will send 480 on sd channels and 1080i on HD channels when both are selected at the same time.