Pace DC551p & Toshiba 57HDX82

[Canadagord]

This is my first post, I’ve been lurking for years and recently joined and actually used a lot of the information here to purchase my TV (5years ago).

I’ve not had the set professionally calibrated, but it has been adjusted per the FAQ’s here and I’m comfortable with the settings. (e.g. it isn’t on “stun” brightness etc.) I’ve also read through the FAQ on picture quality for SD.

First, apologies if this is posted in the incorrect thread, please move it as you see fit.

I have a Toshiba 57HDX82, and I just the other day hooked up to a Pace DC551P HD STB with service provided from Rogers (Ottawa). I replaced an older Scientific American STB as a recommendation from a Rogers Tech who I was speaking with on an unrelated matter.

I have the STB connected directly to the TV via components, I do not have it connected via HDMI/DVI. I have it set to pass through and have two settings chosen on the STB, 1080i and 480i. So when I turn on the TV and go to an HD channel it changes to 1080i and when I’m on a SD channel it changes back to 480i automatically. My old STB had both a cable in and out and I had the HD connected via component and the SD connected via the cable out, so when I went from an SD channel to a HD channel I would change the input on the TV itself from HD (to watch HD) to Cable (to watch SD). So it’s kinda cool that the STB does that now and I don’t have to futz with the TV settings.

Sooo.. two questions.

1. My SD picture quality has gone down from what it used to be since I installed the new Pace STB. While it is acceptable, there is a difference. As an example when my 6yr old watches Rogers 221 (Treehouse TV) specifically “Rollie Pollie Olie” the picture quality used to be close to DVD quality. It isn’t anymore. I can also see a difference in the other SD channels. HD quality is just fine and is as good as it always was. The only other video signal “out” option on the new Pace STB I have is HDMI. If I connected the STB using an HDMI / DVI cable (audio is going through my receiver) would that improve my SD picture quality? Any other thoughts on getting my SD quality back to where it was?

2. I have an ancient (well perhaps not ancient but it’s certainly on the old side…) DVD player. I don’t even think it is progressive scan…(ok then I guess that would make it ancient…) I was looking at the Pioneer DV-400V-K DVD (upconverting, progressive scan etc). If I replace this component, will it basically be plug-and-play? It has HDMI connection but I thought I would simply use the component “out’ since picture quality is supposed to be a wash between the two. Thoughts? Will I see a large picture quality difference with the new machine?

Thanks for taking time to respond.

[57U]

1. I can only assume that the previous STB you had was the very old SA3100HD. You could try the SA3250HD, or try connecting the Pace via S-video, or put a splitter upstream and use the TV's internal tuner for the SD channels - these are all outlined in the SD FAQ and would mean going back to your previous input changes. It may simply be that the tuner in the new Pace is actually better than the old STB and shows you the imperfections you didn't see before (or vice versa?).

2. Although the component video cable is perfectly capable of HD signals equivalent to HDMI, all new consumer upconverting DVD players only upconvert via HDMI. The only way to get the improved PQ from the upconverting players is with HDMI.

Are these plug/play - well yes and no. Most of the defaults are set correctly for most users, however, there is a setup menu that you should go through for how you want things handled:

- 16:9 setting
- audio settings
- How to handle non-anamorphic (sometimes called 4:3) DVDs (sometimes an option)
- Etc.

[Canadagord]

Thanks 57U! I'm humbled with your 16k+ posts vs my 1 (ha!)

I'll try the splitter / direct to TV turner and let you know what happens.

gord