HDMI ?
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- fooler0
I bought that 42 Sharp Aquos and had the same problem until COMCAST told me I needed to upgrade by cable box and service plan. At first I felt ripped off but the picture looks great now!
Have you upgraded the cable box?
- nope never upgraded...they swapped out my old DVR box for an HD-DVR box, so I wouldn't think I am in need of an upgrade, I'll call to make sure
rodzilla
- nope never upgraded...they swapped out my old DVR box for an HD-DVR box, so I wouldn't think I am in need of an upgrade, I'll call to make sure
- enjine0
i am having the same problem. going to try this tonight:
http://www.bigpicturebigsound.co…i guess it's best to turn your tv on before the cable box, so that the cable box can recognize the display's resolution capabilities. if it can't determine how high the resolution can go, it defaults to 480i (shit)
- joyride0
http://www.amazon.com/2-Meter-HD…
For $0.26? me and my buddy just ordered a few... will let you know how it goes
- SungRyan0
are they digital channels? most cable companies still have analog channels even though they say digital cable.
- rodzilla0
Its time warner - They claim to be "all" digital, but knowing them its still analog.
Is there more of a compression when going from analog to the HDMI cables?
- Time Warner is digital but its not all HD. hehe I have the same box as you Im sure and yes, a lot of stations are still pixelated. They do have amazing high def on Discovery channel though.TheTofuFactory
- Buckyball20
I have Comcast here in Atlanta and regular channels do look awful. They say they're digital but it doesn't make a difference.
Part of it has to be HD sets. I have a high end Sony and even it doesn't handle SD channels very well.
HDMI is your best bet though for picture and sound.
- mitee_0
Ok im no expert but here is my quick "i went thorough this" guide:
If you have a TV that supports 1080P (people sometimes refer to it as true high def) you need the following to make it work right.
1- An HDMI cable.
2- A HD Source.So, If you have cable, the you will need to upgrade your box to a HD cable box. You will also need to pay for and upgrade to a HD package to get the HD channels. This is the same for satellite.
For DVD/HD media:
You will need a HD player, like Blue-Ray or HD. Get Blue Ray, HD is dying. HDMI cable. You blue ray player will upscale your current DVD's to 1080P using software.If you dont want to spend the $$ on a BlueRay player, you need to buy a Upscaling DVD player. These go for about $60-$150. You will also need a HDMI cable. make sure the DVD player upscales to 1080P.
If you have this set up and your picture is crappy, then contact your cable company, cause it shouldn't.
- SungRyan0
no, not really. compression happens before it get to your cable box. the cable box decompresses and sends the picture to your tv. cable has the worst picture. cheap TVs with bad video processor also hurts analog channel picture.
- rodzilla0
I have an LCD Sharp Aquos. I'm pretty sure the Aquos is their "high end" tv.
I tried to do some research on the whole compression thing, but couldn't find anything that made much sense to me.
- Sharp Aquos is in the top 3 LCD's made. Sony Bravia, Samsung, Sharp Aquos. Either way, nice LCD you have.TheTofuFactory
- sung_konajalinejox0
yeah with a sharp aquos, i would say that it's times warner's fault. although, i don't know how bad your grainy-ness is. i have Cablevision and all the analog channels look terrible.
- rodzilla0
Its pretty grainy. My wife is the one who initially started complaining. She is the one who couldn't tell a bit of difference between HD and the regular channels. I told her she is finally noticing the difference between HD and regular cable.
- Raniator0
Digital and HD aren't the same thing.
On an LCD TV, HD should look very good. I've got Sky and the picture is pretty shitty on my LCD, but HD games and Blu-ray content through my PS3 look awesome.
- Yeah, I know they are not the same thing. My 360 looks amazing on the TV and so does the picture of the HD channels.rodzilla
- Raniator0
Yeah, sorry, I wasn't assuming you didn't know the difference...
It's a bummer... I got a better 'resolution' picture out of Sky on my old CRT TV, but the colours are much much clearer and brighter on the LCD. It's a bit strange how this new technology can make existing digital TV technology look worse, but hey, you can't have it all...
- sung_konajalinejox0
cable has limited hardware and bandwidth compared to satellite and fiber optic. to compete, cable companies have been adding more HD channels by haevily compressing all channels. right now on cablevision, all channels look terrible. the hd channels look worse than copies I can bitorrent.
- ok_not_ok0
is your TV 1080i/p?
- tkmeister0
the standard definition is 480i. HD is 1080i. so when you watch SD on your 1080i HDTV, you are stretching the SD image to fit to HD dimension and that's why it looks grainy. Some HDTV handles SD better than others but native 1080i content always look better.
- Not sure that further explains why my the TV looks more grainy when using the HDMI cable vs. the HD Cables.rodzilla
- I thought the HDMI cables were supposed to give a better overall picture/sound?rodzilla
- i think i misread something. HD cable usually shows more flaw when the signal is not high. maybe that's why.tkmeister
- sung_konajalinejox0
digital cables like hdmi and dvi can't really work bad unless it's a really long cable. either they will work or it won't. so it's not your hdmi cable. maybe it's the hdmi port on the cable box that's bad.
- joyride0
hdmi is a digital signal, so if the cable was missing info, you would see black boxes on the screen. HD cables, or component cables, are analog, they could degrade the signal. Is your tv trying to upconvert the signal? is it really grainy or just not crisp like HD
- I know it won't be as crisp, but its fuzzy/grainy. It's not upconverting, I have an HD Box. The cord is only 3ft. I am going to plug the HD cables back in and compare the two, it didn't seem to be as grainy with the HD cables as it does with the HDMI.rodzilla
- cheekyloulou0
Oh, it's the cable company.
I have the HDMI cable and the HD source/cable box but I'm only getting fair to good signal. SO Comcast is sending someone out on Sunday - SUNDAY? - to check it out. You know... sometime between 2 and 5 PM....
My husband is sticking with the logic that the new TV is just so awesome that we can see just how crappy cable looks now... I'm not sure this is a clear advantage over the old, less awesome tv.
- seed0
I recently got an LCD tv and it really made it more clear how poor my cable signal is. It is very grainy and has heavy ghosting. The ghosting is even more apparent on text. That makes sense about the compression.
- In my experience, ghosting is usually a byproduct of poor shielding on the connector cables. (not the coaxial)monNom