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Hello all!I have a small problem I hoped someone could help me with, as I'm not very familiar with video. My stepfather wanted to buy the best CRT he could at a certain pricepoint and after some research I decided on the Sony KV-34XBR910. We now have it hooked up with Comcast Digital cable, and I'm pretty disappointed with the performance.
Comcast supplied a gray/silver Motorola box with component video out cables. The picture on standard (non HDTV) channels is pretty mediocre. It looks pretty good from a far, but no better than most sets we've owned in the past.
It's the HDTV peformance I'm most concerned with. When you select a HDTV channel, the image does look better than the non-HD channels, but not a lot better. I've seen this set do better in the store. And the biggest problem is this: When you select the HDTV channel, the image does not fill the entire screen. The image shrinks down to the equivalent of about a 20"-22" screen size in the middle of the 34" widescreen and is surrounded by black on all four sides. Is this normal? Do I need another set top box to go between the Motorola/Comcast box and the televison? Do I need to go into the DVI jack somehow to make this work?
And one last question: Would there be a dramatic difference between the Comcast-supplied component cables and something like a nice set of nice MIT cables?
Thanks much in advance....I can't imagine trying to solve this through Sony or Comcast.
james@derdock.com
Follow Ups:
I have recently purchased a kv-34xbr910 and installed it with the following inputs: Motorola HD cable box - component input
X Box - component input
Bose 321 GS - s-video input
Sony DVD - rca input
The problem is that there are three distinct thin black horizontal lines in the picture - this occurs with every input. There are no power lines, cables or speakers close enough to interfere with the picture. The really puzzling thing is that I called the store of purchase - they sent out another new set and it does the same thing.
Can anyone help?
The Comcast monkeys hooked up both the component out AND the coax out to the television. I guess the Sony didn't like that or it chose the coax in over the component in.It looks GREAT! 100x better! Thanks for everyone's help!
I had no idea.... but I'm glad you got to the bottom of it. That Sony is capable of looking so much better than what you initially described. Have fun!
You're right...it looks awesome! I was even watching hockey tonight! Woo hoo!
I have the earlier model Sony 34XBR800 16:9 TV. The problem is probably not with your TV but with Comcast. I tried (non-HDTV) Comcast digital cable for two weeks and promptly returned the set-top-box and kept my regular analog Comcast cable service. My first observation was that Comcast digital cable was no sharper than their regular analog cable. The ONLY stations that were sharp and crisp were their premium channels (which I would have dropped anyway after the special promotional period). The set-top-box was a major drawback for me because 1)It took up valuable space in my equipment rack and 2)It is very slow when channel hopping compared to just using the TV with analog cable.That being said, I use a Samsung over-the-air HDTV tuner via the DVI port and the picture quality is incredible! As previously mentioned in another posting, many 'digital TV' broadcasts are in 'standard definition' so your 16:9 screen will be filled with a standard 4:3 picture with blank space on either side. This is normal. Still, the picture quality is very good. There are many prime time network TV programs broadcast in true HDTV 16:9 as well as NFL football. I also find that the local PBS stations are transmitting mostly in very high quality HDTV 16:9. Any poor picture quality is not likely to be the fault of your TV or wiring.... It's probably a deficiency with your cable provider. How do your best DVD's look thru your Sony TV? HDTV should look even better... I'm not kidding!
Abe - I can understand the two sides being black with a 16:9 screen when the broadcast is 4:3. I thought James said ALL FOUR sides were black, however. If so, I can't help but wonder if maybe he needs to do more set-up. No?
Good point but I've also noticed in *some* cases that when an HD broadcast switches to a commercial (that is not in HD format), it will sometimes show black on the top, bottom, and both sides. If this is the case on ALL of his HD programs, there may indeed be a setup problem somewhere.... possibly in the set-top-box or the Sony TV.I'd be real curious to know if he can get a very sharp picture on a progressive scan DVD movie using moderately decent component video cables since he also complained about the picture quality in general not being very good. I suspect this might have to do with the rather poor quality signal from Comcast.... At least this is the case where I live. Both digital and analog cable from Comcast are not especially clean here. A DVD picture, on the other hand, is very nice while HDTV is even sharper.
Here is the Sony with a normal/no-HD broadcast in normal 4:3 mode:http://derdock.com/aa/normal_ratio.jpg
Here is the Sony with a supposed HD program using the "normal" or auto wide-mode setting (the picture is very good here, but it doesn't fill the screen):
http://derdock.com/aa/hd_ratio.jpg
Here is the Comcast set-top box (please excuse the AIWA speaker, it's not mine!:
http://derdock.com/aa/stb_front.jpg
Here is the back:
http://derdock.com/aa/stb_back.jpg
I'll make an effort to watch an HD network broadcast like Monday Night Football.
Thanks again for the help !
Thanks for the reply, Abe.As not to take up too much of your time, could you tell me what I would search for if I want more information on the "over the air HDTV Samsung" that you mentioned?
DVD's don't look great yet. Some MIT component cables are on the way. Right now our DVD player is using some leftover garbage RCA's.
Go to http://google.com and in the search field enter:Samsung SIR T351
then hit the Google Search button. It will return several hits. Someone here mentioned they were having problems with their Samsung HDTV tuner but I've been totally satisfied with mine. Keep in mind that depending on where you live, you may not have much choice in HDTV channels. The major metro areas and their suburbs are pretty much alive with HDTV but rural areas may be lagging behind. And again, depending on your location, you might do OK with an indoor antenna but in most cases an outdoor UHF antenna will perform best. Here's the Samsung HDTV tuner in my system:
Another brand to consider might be Zenith and possibly a couple more. If you ever plan to get Satellite, some satellite set-top-boxes will not only decode HDTV satellite broadcasts but also integrate an off-the-air HDTV tuner.
Good luck, and hope you are able to clean up your picture. I don't think it's your TV.
What you have to realize is that MOST of the shows on the high def channels you get with comcast are NOT in HD though they might be enhanced definition so you get a slightly cleaner picture. The fact that they aren't in HD means that they are going to be in 4:3 format so yes it will be shown as a square picture in the middle of your screen. I have the non-xbr KV-34hs510 and it is really the equivalent of roughly a 27" when I am watching a non-HD channel.The networks only show some shows/events in HD such as Monday Night football. The best channels they carry for HD content are probably HBO, Showtime and INHD. These show almost all (INHD is all HD) HD content. ESPNHD isn't worth the time of spitting on my TV. If they aren't showing something in HD (almost nothing is in HD) they just stretch out the picture to fill the screen and it looks like a warm pile of donkey vomit.
So if a show, such as Monday Night Football, IS presented in HD, it will automatically fill the screen with a 16:9 picture?Thanks for the clarification and the vivid mule imagery :)
"So if a show, such as Monday Night Football, IS presented in HD, it will automatically fill the screen with a 16:9 picture?"Well, it kind of depends.... ;-) Your set-top-box or OTA HDTV tuner may also have an 'aspect ratio' button. In some cases this button has no affect and the HD picture is a full 16:9. In other cases, the aspect ratio button will change the picture from 4:3 and 'stretch' it to 16:9 but this doesn't look natural. And yet in other cases, the broadcast, depending on the channel / network, may be in 4:3 but still with a nice sharp image. When I'm receiving a TRUE 16:6 HD broadcast, the aspect ratio button on my HDTV tuner has no affect. Also, there is a similar button on the TV but I found that since I'm going thru the digital DVI port, it has no affect - however, it works when going thru the normal component analog input. It's a bit confusing but you get used to it after a while.
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