Just bought a new HDTV, its made by ELEMENT... a 42" plasma I got from CC for $699. Overall, I'm very happy with purchase... PS3 and Blu-ray look great, the unit looks great etc.. The only problem is HDTV. I just got the HD/DVR from Comcast and hooked it up. The HD channels come in letterboxed and it looks like its squished a little bit. Using the TV options(which are wide, standard, cinema, user, and normal), I can make it take up the whole screen but its obviously zoomed in and is cut off on all sides.. Using the cable box, you can choose (16:9, which is recommended for HDTV), 4:3 letterbox, and 4:3 pan scan. 16:9 is what I described earlier.. letterboxed and a lil squished, 4:3 letterbox looks like crap, 4:3 panscan gets rid of the letterbox but is again zoomed in and cutting off on all sides... Looking for ideas as I am stuck... Really hoping the answer is not "you bought a crappy tv, deal with it"...lol
I have a sony HDTV and on the tv my choices are normal, wide, full, and zoom. normal is 4:3 wide stretches the picture to fit 16:9, Full fills the screen, and zoom crops the picture. I set my directv receiver to 16:9 hooked up using component cables and the tv defaults to Full when I first turn it on. You can change it manually and I've played with all of them. The receiver allows you to choose to stretch, crop, or use sidebars for the channels in 4:3. I prefer the tv on Full and the receiver set to 16:9 with side bars for the channels broadcast in 4:3. The side bars are annoying at first, but the other options sucked. When you stretch the picture everything looks a little weird. Zoom cuts too much off, and normal defeats the purpose of having a 16:9 screen. I assume you have component or HDMI connecting the Comcast box to your TV. If so, I would use which ever option on the TV that complete fills the screen without distorting the picture (I'm not familiar with your tv's options). Then play with the comcast receiver settings to find what looks the best to you. Hope this helps. Notice I didn't say anything about the tv or the service provider
Right now, I'm using RCA's.... I have the HDMI cable, and am just waiting on the digital optical to hook it up that way.. do you think that'll change how the picture is diplayed?
itd make sence if your tv is trying to display 16:9 stuff and it was 16"10 a1 unit of height would have to be taken away.. ( by the lines )
Sounds like our options are similar... I use wide on the tv as it looks the best, all the other options are not good. Regular 4:3 channels look fine, its just HD that is giving me issues. I just can't seem to find a tv/receiver combo that gives me an undistorted full screen for HD channels... There is a setting on the tv called "user" which leads me to believe I can customize it.. The manual doesn't tell how to use this, so I have some playing around to do.. Right now, receiver on 16:9 and tv on wide is the best I can come up with, although it letterbox's and squishes as stated earlier..
RCA composite cables? or Component? if component you probably won't see much difference between that and HDMI, but RCA composite won't give you HD.
You should only be using the RCA component (red, green and blue) or HDMi to get High def signals to your TV. If you are using the yellow RCA or S-Video, then you are not seeing HD on the TV. You can use the red green and blue or HDMI for the video feed without the fiber cable. No need to wait. If you are a purist and enjoy watching the TV shows and Movies like they were inteneded to be watched then you will leave the black bars. That is called Original Aspect Ratio (OAR). In my opinion a circle should always look like a circle, not and egg. Make sure your Comcast settings are also set for 16:9 too and your DVD player. They both have their own menus that you can configure them with. I was over at a friends house recently and he was showing off his new LCD. We were watching Cars. It was squished IMO but he thought it looked right. I popped the move out and set the DVD player to 16:9 instead of 4:3 letterboxed then put the movie back in. His jaw hit the floor. edit: Looks like you said you have your Comcast box set to 16:9. Next thing to know, not all HD stations send the signal to your TV correctly. Comcast just sends you what the stations send them so it's not their fault. They will stretch the image from 4:3 to 16:9 to fill the screen thinking that should be normal ( and it's not). Food TV does this and TNT and HGTV. Few others too. Only some of their shows are true HD. They mess up everything else. At least that's the way with DirecTV.
Red, yellow and white......... could this be the issue? I just used them since they where allready hooked up. The comcast receiver came with RCA's that were blue,green, and red that I could use if those are better. Like I said though, I will be using HDMI/Digital optical very soon... anyone think this will fix the issue?
yes, it is an issue. HD programming has too large of a broadband stream to be transmitted through composite cables (red, yellow, white). The blue, green and red cable each carry a different spectrum for the HD shows, allowing them to be 'put back together' by the tuner. With composite cables, only the yellow cable is transmitting video, the white and red cables are for stereo sound. Switch over, you'll notice the difference
I have the comcast HD/DVR box and the component cables make all the difference. The picture will not be right until you get them. If you don't have the component cables, go directly to a comcast store and they will hand you a set for free if you are nice - its how I got mine. Actually, after thinking about it - comcast might supply them for free anyway... I never asked... :wiggle:
You need to connect your red green and blue HIGH DEF cables from the Comcast box to the red green and blue HIGH DEF input on your TV. This is a good place to learn about all the different cables and what they do and don't do and when you should use them.... http://www.crutchfield.com/Learn/le...tions_glossary.html#term=coaxial_digital_jack Also, you can get cheap and good cables from www.monoprice.com. They sell HDMI and component for very low and they work just as well as Monster which is nothing more than marketing hype. No need to spend $50 - 100 for a cable that a $10 can do the same thing. Everyone at www.avsforum.com recommends that place and their cables.
I do have the green, blue and red hook-ups that came with the HD receiver.. I used those and hooked them from the cable box to my tv and was having issues... I got a picture, but it was black and white... and no sound. Now that you guys are pointing out the diference, I was trying to hook up comosite cables into component jacks, der...I don't think there's green, blue, and red jacks on the back of my tv. Since I allready had the red,yellow, white hookups there from my old cable box, I hooked those up and got a picture and sound. If I hook up my HDMI cable I have and then use the audio cables supplied by comcast, will this work?(I have a digital optical cable in the mail I can install when it arrives)...
You will get a black picture if you hook up the red, green and blue cable incorrectly. Look at your user guide, page 6 and connect it that way, three component cables (red, green and blue) and two audio cables (red and white). http://www.elementelectronics.com/Manuals/PLX-04202_5002_manual.pdf You have to connect the red cable from the red video jack on the TV to the red video jack on the Comcast box. You have to do the exact same for the blue and green video cables. Don't mix them up. Do not connect the red video cable to the red audio jack that is right next to the white audio jack. (read that link I posted above from Crutch field) You will need to connect the red and white audio cables from the TV to the Comcast box to get 2 channel stereo audio. The HDMI and Fiber cable will give you Digital audio. If you connect these to a Home audio receiver, you will get 5.1 surround (Dolby Digital and DTS).
That is because with component you have to hook up 5 cables. 3 for video (green blue and red) and 2 for sound (white and red usually) if you got black and white and no sound you may have plugged one of the video cables into a sound jack...
Thanks guys.. Trey, I think the issue is my tv doesn't have the blue, green, red.. only red, yellow, white... It also has HDMI, S-Video and a few others... I didn't know what the deal was with the green and blue, I just figured comcast had a different color scheme..lol I'll have to look when I get home if the tv has the blue, green, red.. but its a moot point since I'm going to hook up my HDMI cable... HDMI from TV to Cable box, Red & white cable from tv to receiver... this should work right?
I have never seen or heard of a Plasma or LCD TV not having component inputs. Also, I think you have to go into the settings in the Comcast Cable box once you have it hooked up correctly and set it to HD output to the TV. When hooking up your audio, you want to use either an Optical Cable from the Cable box to the receiver, or if you don't have any optical inputs on the receiver, a single (orange) coaxial audio (a single RCA cable). You can take a normal RCA cable (Red and White) and pull it apart and just use 1 wire for this. With the optical or Coax, you will get high def sound (5.1), With a normal RCA cable you will only get Surround.
if you need wires/cables on the CHEAP, check out this site. www.monoprice.com BEST prices, hands down
420,Yeah, its quite possible I just overlooked the component ports... I'll have to look when I get home. But like I said, I'm gonna hook it up thru HDMI tonight. Digital optical is in the mail, so I figured I'd use the red/white in the meanwhile... So, your saying just use the red? 2pt5rs, got the cables covered.. just waiting on them to arrive.. thx though, I'll check them out for future needs...
Yes, if you have a Coax input on the receiver. It should be an Orange jack. You can use a normal RCA cable and just use one line of it. On the comcast box, just above the Optical output, there should be a single Orange RCA jack labeled SPDIF. Run a single RCA from that to the Orange input on the receiver. If you do this, there is no need to do the Optical output, both carry High Definition Audio. And I was wrong, there is no setting that you have to set in the Cable box. It should automatically recognize the HD output.
in order to get sound with compnent cables you will actually need 5 cables all together. Red, Green, Blue make your picture. then you'll also need the red and white cables (audio) to make sound. I'd recommend using a digital coax or fiber optic, tho if you're only using the tv for sound then the red and whites are fine. but ALL 5 MUST BE hooked up. if you got black and white picture the first time you hooked it up then you had one of the colors mixed up more than likely. EDIT: didn't read the second page, haha
Does anyone actually read anything before they post a reply! Lots of reiterations in this thread. Sonic, your TV has component, look at page 5 of your owners manual. The area labeled number 4 is component. YOUR OWNERS MANUAL----->>>> Clicky pow!! Also, your TV only has optical audio out not coax (orange) so you'll need the fiber cable from the Comcast box to your receiver. One other thing to consider is that HD only comes in two sizes at the moment, 1280x720p and 192x1080i/p. Your TV can only display 1024x768. What that means is that whatever resolution is fed to the TV from the comcast box, the TV scales that down to it's native resolution. Standard definition shows (480i/p) will be upscaled to the TVs native resolution. All of this will affect the picture in some way.
VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got done hooking it up.. Digital optic cable came in the mail today. So I'm hooked up thru HDMI to tv and Optic to receiver and all is well... HD looks awesome on channels with true HD programing(ESPN etc..)... Other HD channels look great but have black bars on the sides now instead of top/bottom. Can this be fixed, or is this a case of just how it comes in like you guys are saying? We're hooked up correctly now, just need to fine tune.... Almost there guys... lil more help... PS...Trey, found component video jacks as you found for me..lol.. like I said, when I was hooking it up last week, I didn't know the difference...
The black bars on the sides of the screen happen when the show you are watching isn't broadcast in HD. Just because it is an HD channel doesn't mean all programs are HD. With my Sony, HD channels can't adjust the picture. If a show has the black bars on the side, I would have to go to the non-hd equivalent of that channel and I can tell the TV to zoom to make it full screen. It looks like crap at first. You will think people look weird and fat, but after viewing it like that for a little bit your eyes can adjust to the point where you don't really notice it. Be prepared for all of your friends to mention it though when they come and hang out. I don't use the zoom, but it is an option.
^^^Brain Fart, I did know better. Glad to hear Sonic!!! Those black bars are totally normal like 420 said (HD channel only sending a 4:3 image) and should remain on your TV. If you stretch the image to fill the screen you are doing nothing more than distorting the image = not good. Why look at short fat people? It's not natural. Standard definition programming and some old moves converted to HD (like Rudolf the red nosed reindeer) will always have black bars on the side. This is also known as 4:3 aspect ratio. HDTV programming will always fill the screen. DVDs and certain Movie channels will most of the time have black bars at the top and bottom in varying degrees, depending on the way the film was shot and the cameras used. Most common: Less common: These are all different based on what the director wanted and you will go nuts trying to sort it all out. Just embrace the black bars and enjoy the movie/ TV show the way it was intended to be viewed. All of the ratios on a TV screen: * red: 4:3 * green: 3:2 * blue: 16:9 * yellow: 1.85:1 * purple: 2.39:1
Also, when you buy DVDs, buy the widescreen version. You can look on the back of the DVD case to see what aspect ratio it is. 2.39:1 will be listed most of the time. The Fullscreen ones will be 4:3. You can learn all this and more at http://www.avsforum.com
I went to the Crutchfield site and man, there are way too many cable choices out there.I know it gives us better sound/picture but it sure was easier back in the day.
Yeah, I went coax from wall>Cable box, HDMI from Cable box>TV, Digital optical from Cable box>Onkyo receiver.. and all is well... A big ole' THANKS! to everyone who helped my A/V retarded ass figure this out... Who would have thought it was "user error" the whole time...lol...I'm so glad it was user error and not "You bought a crappy tv, deal with it"... I'll learn this stuff one day, I swear! Question for Comcast users: What settings do you have your cable box at? There are 3 main ones that can be adjusted by pulling up the menu with the cable box off... TV Type, contrast, and 4:3 override. TV Type is an obvious one, 16:9... Contrast I'm getting conflicting opinions on. A few have told me to put this on 720p since thats what my TV is.. I've tried 720p and 1080i and to me and my gf 1080i looks better. And finally 4:3 override I have no clue. options are 480i, 480p, Stretch and off... I've been leaving it on 480i, want to see what everyone else is running...
Agree 100%.. hence what this thread is about... What happened to the days of red, yellow, white + coax = done??? lol...
720 p is the way to go. P is for progressive scan which means that it shows all the lines of the picture all the time with in this case 720 of them. 1080i is for interlace, which means that it shows every other line for each frame, then switches as the frames change. So in this case you are really only seeing 540 lines in each picture. Hope that helps with your setup.
^^^ Hmm... I understand the theory behind what your saying, as I said others have told me the same thing. Its just the few times I've tried it, 1080i looked better than 720p... I'll have to try a few more times.. Any idea what this 4:3 override is and what setting I should have it at? 480i, 480p, stretch, off????
actually does not =. 720p is 1280x720 which is 921,600 1080i is interlaced 1080p 1080p is 1920x1080 @ 60fps (in US) interlaced is 1920x540 @ 60fps 1920x540 = 1,036,800
well the point being 1, they are not equal. 2, 1080I does in fact contain more actual picture data and therefore more potential for quality under certain conditions where amplitude is more important than detail, and 3, any 768 rez tv that can handline a 1080i signal is downsampling it on-the-fly and pretty much negating any of that potential benefit. ...looks like you got a good bargain. 42" plasma Element, right?
Yup, $699. I love it so far, Blu-ray and HD channels look awesome.. I was looking at Samsung's and Phillips in 1080p for around $1200, and decided to roll the dice and give el cheapo a shot... I think the picture is great and I think I would probably not be able to tell the difference with the models costing 2x as much... Though, I have heard they have a lot more features.. but I'd bet I wouldn't use them so who knows.. If I'm still problem free in a few months when I get the cash, I plan to get another one for the bedroom... So, which is better suited for my set-up? 1080i or 720p??? And still waiting on some insite on the 4:3 override question and what to set it at..
Np. I deal extensively in video post-production, but unless its really top notch gear and high density source (like a game console or a high bitrate bluray), even I can't tell the difference. Thats why I hate HDTV broadcast because they compress the heck out of their video, even live events, and all you see is artefacting on high motion scenes like a sharp pan on a soccer field. In fact, interlacing is very helpful in tricking the optic center of the brain to not see artefacting effects, so that to many people, watching an SDTV often looked better and smoother than the jagged blockiness that a progressive image showed them. Of course, this is just the 'perception' of looking better, but thats all that matters in the end, right?