Picture quality from digital cable

[Ruhvngfun]

Hi,
I'm looking for some encouragement in purchasing my 1st hdtv projection tv. Based on reader's comments, I'm concerned that the picture quality on a projection tv may be poor compared to the basic 32" I currently have. I'll be viewing mostly digital cable which is nonhdtv and am looking at the 57" Toshiba 57hdx82. I'll be viewing from about 12-14 ft away. Any encouragement regarding basic picture quality off cable is greatly appreciated!

[mikehbkwm]

Well I work for a cable co. so hopefully I can help.. First if you want good PQ then make sure that out of your wall outlet that your getting 2 to 3 db. Thats a pretty good range for a good pic. Second make sure you have good RG6 coax running through your house. Im hoping to in the future to have my buddies come out and we can run some RG11 but thats some pretty thick stuff. Also make sure all female and male connectors are on tight. And thats basically all I can think of, oh one more thing if your cable co provides a dig box that has an s-video out then use that cause that will also give you a better pic.. I have great PQ and have no complaints, was watching Shrek the other night on HBO on the digital side and it looked great.

[Ruhvngfun]

Sounds like you know your stuff since you work with cable tv as a profession. Not sure how to measure the "db". My picture currently looks good off digital cable on my 32" tv and guess I can only assume it will look much better on a larger projection. It's a comcast digital box and will look for an s-video connect. Thanks

[Sidious]

I can't count how many times I have watched Shrek and Harry Potter in the past two weeks on HBOHD. The PQ is crystal clear for both films!!

[Cucumber1949]

I've had my 50HDX82 for three days now. Currently using Cox Cable (Cleveland) with no converter box - RG-6 cable connected directly to Antenna 1 input. Picture quality is very acceptable in my opinion. Some channels are better than others, but most are good. I have DNR on, and SVM off. Am waiting for the HDTV cable offerings to solidify before I consider a sat system.

I looked at the 57HDX82 as well. Both would fit my room, however I chose the 50 inch in the end, and I'm glad I did. I sit 14 feet back. If I'm horizontal on the couch then it is 11 feet back. The 57" would have been too big in my opinion. My local TV shop recommended the 57" set for those who watch starting at a minimum of 15 feet back. He was right, at least for my situation - very comfortable viewing angle with the 50". My original thought was that with the 57" being only a few hundred more, I should go for it. Would have been a poor decision.

[hammerman]

I recently turned in my digital cable box, for a couple of reasons. First, there's the cost. My family almost never watched any of the digital only channels, so to pay this premium for only the on screen guide (which I do miss!) is simply not worth it. And since I can get all the local HD channels off my rabbit ear antenna, the cable HD package does not offer me anything more. They do not yet carry DiscoveryHD, HDNet, or ESPN HD. They do have some HBO and Showtime HD, but I do not subscribe to them anyway. I like to watch HD programing as much as possible, so I was using OTA most of the time.

The second is: the compression is WAY too high on digital cable here. Analog channels are actually much clearer! This is especially noticable on my 55" projection HDTV. The digital compression is so high that artifacts were appearing on the screen! A very noticable way to see this is watching "Stanley" on Disney. We have Disney on analog and it looks great for a 480i signal. If I flipped to Playhouse Disney on digital and watched the same show, the lines in the annimation would make artifacts when in motion (the side of Stanley's head would have several small black lines). For some reason this paticular show suffers a lot from this. (can you tell I have have 2 young children?) I have not seen this same thing happen on my father-in-law's DirecTV service and his HDTV. Have I discovered a poor man's quality benchmark for digital cable?

[57U]

Welcome to the forum. These compression artifacts can sometimes result if you leave SVM on, or have sharpness set too high on your TV.

Check out the FAQ section on the home page. See the post on "what you need to do to your new HDTV". This should help with some of your "issues".

If a cable company offers HD, then the digital cable channels should be excellent. They tend to vary somewhat depending on the amount of compression, but the best ones should look very good - they do on my set.

[m.mosqueda]

I JUST HOOK UP MY HD CONVERTER FROM TWC. THE PQ IS GREAT IN DIGITAL AND HD. IM AM HAVING TWO PROBLEMS THOUGH. FIRST, WHEN I SWITCH TO HD COLORSTREAM THE DIGITAL CHANNELS COME IN WORST THAN THEY DO WHEN IN VIDEO 1,WHICH IS REGULAR DIGITAL. I WOULD THINK THAT THE HD COLORSTREAM MODE WOULD NOT EFFECT THE REGULAR NON HD PROGRAMS, THAT WAY I CAN LEAVE IT IN COLORSTREAM MODE ALL THE TIME. SECOND THE CONVERTER BOX ONLY HAS ONE AUDIO OUT SO EITHER I CAN PLUG IT IN THE VIDEO 1 INLET AND HERE THE AUDIO FROM VIDEO 1 =DIGITAL, OR I HAVE TO SWITCH THE AUDIO PLUG FROM THE BACK TO HEAR HD PROGRAMS FROM COLORSTREAM INLET. I CANNOT HEAR BOTH ONLY ONE OR THE OTHER. SHOULD I GET AN AUDIO SPLICE SO I CAN HOOK UP TO BOTH OR IS MY SYSTEM INCORRECT TO BEGIN WITH. I HAVE A 57HDX82 AND IS LOOKING BETTER EVERYDAY. 57U DO YOU HAVE ANY ANSWERS . THANKS

[57U]

If you have an SA3100HD, the SD channels typically look better through S-Video or composite video than they do through the component video connections. This is a known issue which will be resolved with the next generation of STB..

Most people run the digital out to a receiver, instead of a TV, then the sound comes out the receiver without needing a splitter and changing the TV inputs doesn't change the sound....

You can either get a splitter if you don't have a receiver, or simply listen to the analogue audio which also probably needs to be split to your two inputs.?

Two additional items:

1. No need to cross-post - we'll find your post.

2. Please turn off your caps lock - it's difficult to read and some people might think you're shouting...

[m.mosqueda]

thanks 57u , i will definitly get the s video soon and will work on the audio also. thanks for the reply, sorry for the caps, computers at work usually in cap lock.

[hammerman]

Originally posted by 57U
These compression artifacts can sometimes result if you leave SVM on, or have sharpness set too high on your TV.

Check out the FAQ section on the home page. See the post on "what you need to do to your new HDTV". This should help with some of your "issues".

If a cable company offers HD, then the digital cable channels should be excellent. They tend to vary somewhat depending on the amount of compression, but the best ones should look very good - they do on my set.

These artifacts are not caused by my sharpness settings. I have sharpness set at medium. The analog and digital channels are received from the same input with the same video settings. I assume the digital box uses a pass-through mode on the analog channels because they look the same as analog cable without the coverter. However the digital only channels are the ones that use compression, and those are the ones that show artifacts.

[samoth]

Hammerman, you mentioned getting HD content on rabbit ears. Is this really possible? I am currently renting an apartment so I can't really install an HD antenna on my roof. Does anyone know if there is an indoor option for an HD antenna?

[hammerman]

Yes its true, I get my HD from my rabbit ear antenna! I recommend a power amplified one though, that is what I am using, a Philips model. It definately pulls in an HD picture better than an analog TV signal. But occasionally, pixelation occurs. Sometimes it gets annoying, so I will probably get cabel HD if they ever get some better channel selection (I want my Discovery HD, ESPN HD, and HDTV!) Right now though I get more local HD channels of my antenna than TWCable offers. Except I can't pull in PBS, their signal must be very weak.

If you have the option of mounting a decent outdoor antenna, do it, but if that is too expensive or a pain, rabbit ears will do the job.

[hdtvtv]

Yes you can get HD signal from small indoor HD capable rabbit ears. I have a rooftop antenna that picks up several/most of the local HD channels with a very strong signal, but I have that connected to an A/B switch with a indoor set of rabbit ears. I use this dual system because for whatever reason, I cannot pick up a few of the local OTA HD. I use the indoor to pick up the local PBS HD feeds (KCET, KOCE) and that signal is quite strong w/ no pixelation. It also picks up some of the local foreign language HD channels. With this two antenna system combined w/ Directv HD, I get quite a bit of HD content and it's awesome baby!

OTA\HD
KTLA-DT 31 WB Los Angeles CA
KMEX-DT 35 UNI Los Angeles CA
KNBC-DT 36 NBC Los Angeles CA
KLCS-DT 41 PBS Los Angeles CA
KWHY-DT 42 IND Los Angeles CA
KCAL-DT 43 IND Los Angeles CA
KOCE-DT 48 PBS Huntington CA
KABC-DT 53 ABC Los Angeles CA
KCET-DT 59 PBS Los Angeles CA Also 59-2 Simulcast
KCBS-DT 60 CBS Los Angeles CA
KSCI-DT 61 IND Long Beach CA
KTTV-DT 65 FOX Los Angeles CA
KCOP-DT 66 UPN Los Angeles CA
KRCA-DT 68 IND Riverside CA
COMING SOON
KPXN-DT 38 PAX Nov 1 2003
KVEA-DT 39 TEL Under Review
KDOC-DT 32 IND Anaheim CA Jun 15
KFTR-DT 47 TFA Ontario CA Jul 1
Just had 61-2 come in. It's a Chinese HD channel.

And of course the DirectvHD lineup
HDNet - HBO® HDTV - SHOWTIME HDTV®
AND JULY 1 2003
ESPN HD - Discovery HD Theater - HDNet Movies

High Definition television is great!

[kevinw]

HD content on rabbit ears. Is this really possible? Depends upon your location and distance to broadcast towers. If you are reasonably close( 10-20 mile), have no large obstructions(tall buildings or basement walls) then you may have a chance of using a settop antenna. You still need a HD tuner(unless your TV has an integrated one).