Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions HDTV cable card

I have to leave but will get back to you with full details

---- But, I have also seen many comments about poor picture quality that ended up being a function of wrong settings between the cable box and the TV. I would read the cable box instruction manual a couple of times and then "play" with the settings. ------

Not to much to play with here I have the option of specifing
Y Pb Pr Output resolution. Options are 1080i 720p 480p and 480i it is set to 1080i

--- By the way, how are you connecting between the cable box and the TV? ----

I am using the component video type (Y Pb Pr)

--- If you want to use both a cable box and a cable card, all you need is a cable two-way splitter. One of the splitter ends goes to your cable box and then whatever connection from the cable bax to the TV. The other splitter end goes directly into your TV cable input. ---

This is not going to be as easy as it seems. I agree with adding a splitter but will use a tap instead as I can avoid the 3.5 db signial loss by using a tap.

The real issue is going to be with the audio as I need to run the optical digital output from the TV to my receiver when I run the cable directly into the TV.

With the cable box the the audio is hooked up between the cable box and the receiver. So I need to figure this one out.

The TV has one optical output and one regular RCA audio type output.

I think I will be able to run the optical audio output from the TV to the receiver TV audio input for the cable card path.

With the cable box I will use the other audio output from the TV to the Cable box.

This stuff gets complicated quick

Thanks Jerry

Getting a cable card and getting rid of the cable box (SD) was a great thing to do. We could have gotten a HD box but I like the direct connection to the TV. Don't have to worry about more cables, etc. The picture is great except for a few SD stations. We ran the auto setup and got all the channel listings updated so the only thing we can't do without the box is order movies. Never did that anyway!! Haven't been able to pick up any "extra" channels yet but I'm still searching...:-)

Jerry:

1. Try setting the output to 720P and see what happens.

2. Have you tried a different set of component cables? Maybe you could borrow a set and see if it makes any difference.

3. Most of the cable company's signals are strong enough where a 3 dB loss due to a splitter will make no difference.

4. If your audio receiver has multiple optical inputs, run one from the cable box and one from the TV. All of the cable box's that I have seen have a seperate audio out, so this may not be an issue for you. My old Kenwood only has one optical input and it is becoming an issue with me.

The cabling may get a little complicated, but it shouldn't be too tricky.

I will give the 720P a try it is hard to test as the quality is normaly very good just in certain content does it display the problem.

I do have another set of cables so I could give that a try.. Major pain because the equipment is in a hutch and I need to move the monster away from the wall to access the cables...
I really wonder if this is going to make a difference though cables I am using came from Comcast...

On the splitter I know this but have already split the signal.

I do have multiple optical inputs so I can give this a try
The TV has one optical out and one RCA two wire output for audio to the AVR

Well until I get Comcast back out here I can not really do anything else.

JerryJ and Rat:

You should always set the output of your external HD cable box to the native resolution of your HD set. For most fixed-pixel arrays, like your Panasonic, that would likely be 720P. But check your Panasonic's specs to see what its native resolution is.

Doing that eliminates a further conversion by your Panasonic's internal scaler from 1080i to 720p.

Regards,

Alan
The native res on my TV is 1024 X 768 so what would you advise for me to set it at 720P or 1080i?

HDTV Compatibility 480p/720p/1080i

HDTV Compatibility Defined by Panosonic
Determines the types of high definition signals that a TV is capable of displaying. An HDTV monitor can accept signals in either 480p or 1080i format, with some models upconverting 480p to 540p for display. Some models can also accept 720p natively.

So it looks like the TV can accept 480P 720P or 1080i natively

Thanks Jerry

Hi,

I'd set it to 720P, which is closest to its native resolution of 1024 x 768. In theory, the less scaling (conversion) that the Panasonic has to do to make the input signal "fit" its 1024 x 768 pixel array, the better.

You can always try the 1080i setting and compare it to the 720p setting to see if there's any improvement with one or the other.

Regards,

Alan: I agree. Native resolution should be the target for your setup!

Unfortunately, that is not always possible. For example, my SXRD has its "native resolution" as 1080P. To the best of my knowledge none of the SXRD's inputs will accept anything "higher" than 1080I. There have been some reports that the PC input will take 1080P, but that remains an issue.

My Sony has a banner on the top that indicates what the cable content is broadcasting. In my Comcast case, it varies from channel to channel. It could be 1080I or 720P for HD and then 480 for SD. All of the signals, HD or SD, are "converted" by the Sony to 1080P.

The HD channels, no matter whether they are 1080I or 720P, all have the WOW factor.

I get the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX channels both in SD and HD. Whether they are broadcasting in HD or not, all of them look better on the HD channel, rather than the SD channel. That may have something to do with the SD channels being analog and the HD channels being digital, I am just not sure yet.

For what it is worth, just a few observations thus far with HDTV.