First HDTV purchased...questions

[corysmith01]

Hey folks. So, I finally took the plunge, caught up with the times, and purchase my first LCD HDTV. I picked up Sony KDL-26S2000. I didn't have a lot of money to spend and with the 2010's just coming out, J&R had a really good price on them, selling them for $669. I figured this was a great way to get me into HD/HDMI/Progressive Scan, all of which my prior tv could not do, without spending a ton of money. And now, I have a few questions.

I realized I needed to swap out my cable box to pick up a HD box for HD programming. Pre-HD cable box, my tv could switch between modes: Normal, Zoom, Wide and wide zoom (I think those are all it). Ever since picking up my cable box, two things have happened. One, those modes are no longer available. It always says "this mode not supported by current input" or something like that. Not that I would use those modes anymore, but why would that happen? Does it have something to do with going from the old, traditional analog cable in, to a digital/component in now? Right now, the cable box is sending a 1080i signal, and it's over component now, whereas before it was 480i over that traditional (coaxial?) cable line. I was just wondering if this would be why it no longer supports those modes.

Second question is, now that it's on the HD, the bars on the side for SD television are gray. This seems be from the signal feed, not from my tv. Is that correct? Prior to the HD cable box, the bars were black. If it is from the feed, is there a reason they'd chose gray over black? I've looked and it doesn't seem to be a preference selection...meaning, I can't seem to change it to black. Can the pixels get more wear? Is that why they made it gray and not black, so that they get even distribution?

Sorry if this seems rudimentary, but this is my first HD/progressive scan set. It's a whole new world to me. My tv has finally caught up with my audio equipment.

Oh, and by the way...playing Xbox 360 in 720p looks incredible on this thing.

 

[corysmith01]

Anyone?

 

[MDS]

I would assume that 'normal' means display a 4:3 image as 4:3 and in that case the TV will add the black bars to the sides so that the image is still in it's original aspect ratio of 4:3.

Zoom, Wide, etc modes are for stretching a 4:3 image to fill a 16:9 screen. It sounds like you now always send a 16:9 image and thus those modes cannot be selected. I believe it is a 16:9 already due to the fact that it has gray bars. The cable company has letter boxed the 4:3 image into 16:9 already and the TV sees it as 16:9 and won't let you use the modes that apply to 4:3. Either that or you have a setting on the HD cable box that automatically converts the 4:3 image to 16:9. Either way the TV sees it as 16:9 and the Zoom et al modes are not applicable.

 

[corey]

What cable box do you have? With my SA8300HD, I tell it to use both 1080i and 480p. That way I get my HD content in 1080i, and my LowDef content in 480p.

If you told your cable box (during it's initial setup) to output everything in 1080i, then your TV might not be able to change modes.

My TV can't re-size 1080i, but that's OK, because that's already in 16:9. On the other hand, my TV can re-size 480p, and the TV's wide zoom mode is much better than what the cable box can do.

 

[billy p]

I set the signal on my hd box to 480p & 480p WS as well because if the program is not widescreen then it appears in a letter box format. The SA box should have a tone control to adjust the grey to black and also enables you to change the background colour. On my remote I press the *guide button* twice and that menu screen comes up?

*Edit* menu button

 

[corysmith01]

Thanks, this has all been very helpful.

What cable box do you have? With my SA8300HD, I tell it to use both 1080i and 480p. That way I get my HD content in 1080i, and my LowDef content in 480p.

I think this is the cable box I have. I'm at work right now so I can't see it. However, I do know that there's a set up/preference and I didn't even think about that. I have it only outputting in 1080i. However, I can select them all if I wanted. I didn't know if that would "confuse" the box. I'll try going in tonight and, while leaving 1080i selected, I'll also select 480p.

The SA box should have a tone control to adjust the grey to black and also enables you to change the background colour. On my remote I press the guide button twice and that menu screen comes up?

I'll have to look into this. I remember thinking that this should exist somewhere and I feel like I went into set up looking for it, but didn't see it. I'll go back in and check tonight. I'd prefer it to be black as that grey is kind of intrusive, but didn't know if it was that way for a reason.

Thanks.

 

[natcarla]

Connecting my SA8300 HD to my HD TV

I know I can connect my SA8300 directly to my HDTV w/ an HDMI cable. But, since neither my DVD player nor my receiver have HDMI inputs/outputs, can I use component and digital (optical) to connect the DVD player to the receiver then connect the receiver to the HDTV using component/digital (optical)? Also, I would need to connect the SA8300 to the receiver with a digital optical cable, correct? Am I missing something to this puzzle? Or, since my DVD player and my receiver have no HDMI's do I need to connect everything w/ components, including the SA8300 box and TV?

 

[MDS]

I know I can connect my SA8300 directly to my HDTV w/ an HDMI cable. But, since neither my DVD player nor my receiver have HDMI inputs/outputs, can I use component and digital (optical) to connect the DVD player to the receiver then connect the receiver to the HDTV using component/digital (optical)?

Yes you can use component video cables and digital audio from the dvd player and the cable box to the receiver. You would then need component video cables from the receiver to the TV but you don't need to send audio to the TV - it goes straight from the receiver to the speakers. If you connect things that way the receiver can switch between dvd player and cable box and you won't have to change the input on the TV.

If you really want to use HDMI for video from the cable box you can connect the HDMI straight to the TV and use digital audio from the cable box to the receiver but then you have to switch inputs on the TV everytime you want to switch between dvd and cable.