[asawadude]

I have a 4 month old Phillips 30" CRT (30PW8402/37) connected to my SA8300HD (Charter Cable) using component video. It was initially set up by a Charter technician. I'm not sure what settings he used the first time, but all of my SD channels viewed at 4:3, while all of the HD stations automatically filled the screen in 1080i mode. I believe he had the picture format set on FIXED because the picture size settings showed 1080i, 720p, 480i, 480P instead of normal, stretch, zoom, etc. About 2 weeks ago, the HD channels would no longer upsize, in fact, it appeared as if it were downsizing to 4:3 with thick bars on all 4 sides of the screen.


After researching the SA8300HD box on the internet, I tried setting the 8300HD to passthrough and going through the advanced HD setup, enabling all HD modes. However, when I go through this setup, the orange test screens that appear for each mode are all the same size! They appear to be 4:3 mode. Shouldn't I see 4 different size screens as I go through each mode selection? Keep in mind that I am referring to the actual test screens, not the menu screens.


Charter Cable came out and gave me a new box, but this particular technician was totally clueless and didn't even go through the diagnostic screen on the 8300HD. He just plugged it in and left.


Does this point out a problem with my TV as opposed to my SA8300HD box? I have no problem changing the screen sizes using the TV remote, but somehow I still can't get my HD channels to automatically upsize to 16:9 and what does appear is defnitely not HD PQ.


Any ideas? TV or 8300HD malfunction? Or possibly a cable signal problem?

Thanks in advance for help.


Regards, ML

 

[CountZero75]

Is the component video the only video connection between your 8300 and TV? If there is another video connection, e.g. S-Video, and your TV is set for that input then the HD picture will be letterboxed (i.e. black bars on all 4 sides).

 

[asawadude]

I think I'm a little closer to solving the problem, but I'm just not knowledgeable enough to get this completely fixed. To answer CountZero75, only the 8300HD is connected to my TV using CVI. However, I realize now that the last cable guy had my TV set on AV1 instead of CVI. I tuned to the CVI channel and voila, the picture is now much clearer. The 8300HD HD setup menu now functions better, but I am still having problems getting 1080i to fill my screen. The 480i and 480p widescreen modes fill the screen, but 1080i shows up with black bars and orange bar to the left and right of the menu screen. 720p does not display.


As of now, I have the 8300HD set to fixed, 1080i only mode, but it is cutting off the right and left of the screen for HD channels. I'm going to read through more of the forum messages to see if I can understand the 8300HD settings, but if anyone has any suggestions on the best setup, I'd appreciate it.


Regards, ML