Poor SD performance after changing to modern HDMI cable

[mattf0124]

I'll try and keep this as short as I can.

I have comcast cable and one of the later motorola DVR boxes. I have been using it for a good while with an old HDMI cable that came with an upconverting DVD player, last week i scored a PS3 in a trade, and since my TV only has one HDMI in, I hooked the box up via component,I noticed a dramatic drop in video quailty, so I bought an HDMI switcherit switches fine, and HD channels come in fine, but non HD channels look awful.....the whole screen is "slightly pixelated" up close it looks like everything is broken into little moving rectangles. I've tried two HDMI 1.3 cables straight in, no change, same thing happens via component.

I've narrowed it down to two possible problems, either its a huge coinicidence that my signal is causing the problem right when I change something, or its the 1.3 cables, when i was rooting around behind the TV I removed the old HDMI cable I had been using that came with the upconverting DVD player and handed it to my brother and told him to put it somewhere safe....its really safe cause a few days later....its no where to be found.....could the new spec cables have problems with a cable box? As stated, HD signals are very acceptable, non HD arent, the higher up the non HD channels, the wrose the problem appears. the problem happens via component (not as severe but same problem) and I've tried two 1.3 cables straight in from box to set switcher removed from the equation, the PS3 displays fine via any combination, straight in with the 1.3 cable i got with it, with a new 1.3 I got today, straight in, or via the switcher....

All advice/suggestions are welcome, thanks!

[mattf0124]

I found the old cable....same problems....it worked perfectly for a long long time...dunno what the problem is.

[57U]

I suspect you have a signal issue in the STB - you may have worsened the connection going into the STB. Change the RF-coax cable, disconnect/reconnect it, temporarily remove any splitters upstream of the STB, etc.. Check the S/N ratio, outlined in the following:

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=16973

Here are more things to check:

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=15263

Here's a post on SD PQ.

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=14280

[mattf0124]

Thanks for always helping 57U. I got a new box today, a moto DCH 3416....same problems on SD, plus HD is much worse.....I'm getting frustrated. I went back through all the faqs and my old posts, I remeber, mebbe from you learning how to update the firmware, but cant seem to find it again, cazn you point me in the right direction? Google isnt helping me out too much tonight.

Thanks!

[57U]

Firmware is updated automatically - it is "pushed" from their end. There is nothing that you can do about it. Is your signal good?

[Knicks4973]

You need to make sure the STB is set up correctly for the HDMI cable or for the Component cables. This will ensure the STB is sending the correct signal to your TV. You also need to make sure how your handling SD content. You can have it pass-through or have it fixed with HDMI. This can be done through the STB remote.

The change in cable shouldn't have much of a difference.

I hooked the box up via component,I noticed a dramatic drop in video quailty, so I bought an HDMI switcherit switches fine, and HD channels come in fine, but non HD channels look awful.....the whole screen is "slightly pixelated" up close it looks like everything is broken into little moving rectangles. I've tried two HDMI 1.3 cables straight in, no change, same thing happens via component.

In fact, after re-reading your post, it seems you left out changing the STB settings for each type of connection.

Can you tell us step-by-step everything you did with both the old box and the new box (type of setup, etc)? That will help us determine where the problem lies.

[mattf0124]

I've tried all possible combinations of settings and imputs, the only thing I havet tried is a different screen, might try hooking up my 22" lcd monitor to it and see if the same problems persist....outside of that I'm out of ideas.

The signal strngth checks out fine from the box and from comcasts readings over the phone, a friend of mine that works for comcast unofficially checked it out, plugged a handheld device into the main feed line in my apartment and noticed I get steady dips in the signal.

I know the box itself isnt overheating as I use an old aluminum dual fan laptop cooler on top of it, it has about a 1/2" gap from the top of the box with one fan blowing cool air into the box, the other fan situated over the hard drive area pulls heated air out. It can be on for a week, unhhok and pull it out, and the only slightly warm area of the box is the rear panel, and thats just barely warm.

[mattf0124]

UPDATE

I'm very sure the poor SD problem is either the feed , box, or both. Just got done running it through my PC's LCD and the same issues appear. I asked them to bring another box to my service call thurday, doubt that will fix the problem, but hopefully HD will be better, its considerably worse with the replacement box we got on monday.

I really wish I had a real alterantive to comcast in my area, the loss of NFL network really frosts my pumpkins .....now the sudden inferior picture quality is just rubbing salt deep in the wounds.....