|
Post by OldMatador on Jan 25, 2005 11:05:23 GMT -5
Alot of hdtv displays will not allow you to stretch a 1080i signal . My television will not allow you to stretch a hdtv signal . Some tvs will however. Unfortunately you are going to have to use your cable box's stretch when using a 1080i signal . There is nothing wrong with your set. As far as the poster with the problems with his box. I think you need to have your box swapped out . I have had no problems with any of my recordings I still have the red sox winning the world series archived on mine and I record about 10 shows a week to watch on the weekends. I have never had a problem with my box recording something . I do however have a problem with little glitches here and there on some of my recordings . Like all of a sudden the picture blocks up a bit and the sound will cut out . This software on this box is very buggy . You can crash the box just by searching through the guide for upcoming events . As far as the time warner guys not knowing anything, that is an understatement ..A friend of mine was wondering what the big fuss is about hdtv (he just got one) he told me that his hdtv picture is awful . I went to his home and found that the time warner guy had hooked his HDTV box up to his tv with just a composite video cable instaed of component. The poor guy was watching a hdtv without it being hooked up properly for almost 6 months. After I hooked it up right he was more than a little upset with time warner. I swear the techs at time warner are just about as bad as the "help" in Best Buy . Wow... The tech might have been a moron, but the dude was watching what obviously wasn't HDTV for 6 months? C'mon now. You'd think he'd call Time Warner to complain about the picture, especially if he went to a Best Buy or Circuit City to see the picture they're showing in there...
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Oct 28, 2004 8:32:25 GMT -5
I'm using the normal mode, and that's the cutoff I'm referring too. It does only cut off a little, but I'm paying good money for my cable and I expect it to work properly. My DVD's don't cut off so I know it's the cable service that's causing the problem, not the TV. I found out that this is not the cable boxes fault, this is the overscan on your TV. You'll probably have to go into your service mode to fix it, but I wouldn't recommend it with either professional care or getting the Avia or Digital Video Essentials DVDs. They can help calibrate your TV. I'm going to guess the reason why your DVD isn't cropping is because the overscan on that input is set less than your TV input, or perhaps you just don't notice it. I went into the service mode in my TV, and was able to adjust the overscan, and I now get more of a picture. I just picked up the DVE DVD, so I'm planning on doing some hardcode fine-tuning to the sucker.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Oct 24, 2004 10:03:06 GMT -5
well they did, i went after it and after a little greif from hte rep there i now have one in my rack Was it an older woman? She was the rudest person I've ever had to deal with from Time Warner. Just not a people person.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 23, 2004 8:48:16 GMT -5
On ESPN the side boxes that say HD are still cut off. I don't know what causes this. My display has its overscan set to 3% on all sides. I think the cropping is ESPN. I have no other cropping problems when I'm viewing HD. It's most definitely not ESPN, and it's not my TV. I was at Best Buy in Albany the other day, and they had PTI on. The HD bars were clearly visible and had the HD in full view on each side. The box is cropping pictures on HD and non-HD channels, and it's a problem that needs to be addressed by the firmware in the box. It's gotta be a problem with 1080i, because when I change the box to output 480i, the 4:3 aspect ratio is correct.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 22, 2004 14:00:47 GMT -5
I'm still concerned with picture cropping. Is picture cropping still occuring in HD?
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 11:47:45 GMT -5
Yes. I called this morning and spoke to a rep. She asked what office I'd be going to. I told her Highbridge Rd, she than checked with someone and said they'll have it put aside for me. I simply exchanged it at the counter for the new one. The guy at thecounter said as of now the 8300HD is the same as the 8000HD. Seems like the only advantage is the HDMI hookup. If the picture wasn't cropped, I could see it as a real improvement. Is there a different remote, or is it the same as the 8000HD?
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 11:09:20 GMT -5
Also, what does "multi-room" mean? My guess with Multi-Room capability: If you have two boxes, and you want to watch something you recorded in one room in another room, you can access the box from the first room and view it in the second room. Just a guess.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 11:07:09 GMT -5
I'm checking ESPN now but the the side bars are black. I'll check to see when they put up the ESPNHD bars. Speaking of the ESPNHD Bars, I find these bars to be ingenius. Much better than just black pillar boxes. When do you think boradcast networks might wise up and put news or weather information in where the pillar boxes should be?
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 10:48:17 GMT -5
I just picked my 8300HD up at the Highbridge Rd. office. The cosmetics are different, the 8300HD is smaller. Along with the time and channel info we have an HDTV indicator which lights up when tuned to an HD channel, the scan rate of the channel, 1080i, 720p, 480i, 480p. It seems that it changes channels quicker, maybe it's me. I don't remember the 8000HD having a pass-through feature. I have my non-HD channels set to 480p and my HD channels set to 1080i, my Mitsubishi doesn't do 720p. With this setting I watch my 480p channels in the stretch mode, when I go to my HD channels the box switches to 1080i and the right picture mode which is normal, when you switch back to non HD it goes back to 480p stretch, you can have it set to 2 other zoom modes. The back is the same as the 8000HD except there is no DVI, it has HDMI instead. I'll play more with it through out the day. I myself was wondering if the hard drive is the same. Does it show the whole picture on ESPNHD, or is cropping still apparent. If cropping is still apparent, I'll keep the 8000HD. Otherwise, time for a trade in!
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 10:44:42 GMT -5
I called TWC and asked what the difference was between the 8000HD and the 8300HD.The customer rep told me there was none. I don't believe her. Can anyone tell me what the differences are? The one MAJOR difference that I noticed is that the DVI Connection has been replaced with a HDMI connection. Don't know if the Hard Drive's bigger, though.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 10:20:49 GMT -5
If anyone gets the 8300hd box, let me know if it still cuts off the picure on HD channels, if it doesn't i'll get one. Also, let it be known that's it's cutting off the picture on ALL channels, not just HD channels. The pillar boxes should be larger than what we really get. A good test is hooking your cable directly to the TV and seeing the width the pillar boxes should be.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 9:22:33 GMT -5
Last year, with my 3250 (pre-8000 DVR), I bought a Monster DVI cable at Best Buy for $100. I returned it when I got my 8000HD DVR with no DVI activated. I have read in other forums that cheaper ($25-$30) DVI cables work just as well. Sometimes there are links to online DVI cable suppliers in the ads above. Ebay also has many of these cables. I'm talking about HDMI to DVI cables. I have a DVI cable that I bought for 10 bucks that works great, but if the 8300 is worth getting, I guess eBay is the way to go with HDMI to DVI cables. Don't have an HDMI connection on my TV.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 21, 2004 8:23:28 GMT -5
If anyone gets the 8300hd box, let me know if it still cuts off the picure on HD channels, if it doesn't i'll get one. A good test is on the ESPNHD Channel. If you can't see the full HD on either side of the screen, then it's still cutting off the picture. I agree with you, Sregnar35, this is rather annoying. PS Where can I find a HDMI/DVI cable?
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 3, 2004 8:56:07 GMT -5
I like the fact that I can use my DVI port because I have three component connections (TV, DVD, and XBox). Using the DVI Port means that all three are connected at once.
The HCDP issue is annoying, espeically when my TV IS HCDP compatible (unless the Sony documentation is lying to me...). Skaggs, you're saying it's a bug within the box itself? How often does it happen? I've noticed it's happened about once a day.
|
|
|
Post by OldMatador on Sept 2, 2004 10:35:40 GMT -5
last I heard, the DVI being activated was not part of the new firmware? I know whenever my 3250HD went t static, I would just either power the converter off and back on, or the shortcut is to hit the # on the remote (zoom button, put it back to full, static goes away) I actually got a funny message yesterday, saying my DVI connection wasn't HCDP compatible, and the message suggested I go to component video. I was still able to watch via DVI after turning the box off and on, however. The other funny thing is that my DVI port on my Sony *is* HCDP compatible. Very odd. But I'm digging my DVI connectivity on my 8000HD now. Also, the Pound Key is the Zoom key on the remote? If that's the case, couldn't they have made that clearer???
|
|