New plasma TV vs. cable box

[crazytiger]

So I just bought a Samsung 58" plasma and was all excited about going from 60Hz and 1080i on my old LG LCD to 600Hz and 1080P on the new TV. Unfortunately, I have learned that I may be limited by my cable box. (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC) When watching TV shows on the HD channels, if you hit the "information" button on the TV, it indicates that the TV is only receiving and displaying 1080i at 60Hz. I have been through all the menus on the cable box, but I can't find any way to change the output settings. Is that just as good as it's going to get, or can the cable company come out and recalibrate the box?

Also, I am thinking about upgrading my home theater receiver. The one I have now does not do HDMI. If I go to a new receiver that does HDMI upconversion, would that help my problem?

Thanks for helping this noob!

 

[MDS]

1080p is the native resolution of the display and all images are converted to 1080p regardless of their original resolution. The 600 Hz refresh rate is the internal referesh rate of the TV; ie. it shows each frame 10 times.

There are approximately zero cable or over the air broadcasts that originate in 1080p and all are at 60 Hz (the electrical grid runs at 60 Hz). The 'info' display on a TV or receiver will show the format of the incoming signal, NOT what the TV has transformed it into. So when you see '1080i/60' you know the station is broadcasting the signal at 1080i, which is HD, so all is well.

The 600 Hz refresh rate can most likely be turned on or off. You can mess with it to see if it looks better on or off. It may have a special name for the feature in the setup menus. My LCD is 120 Hz but can be turned on or off and sadly I can't recall their proprietary name for the feature.

 

[crazytiger]

The 'info' display on a TV or receiver will show the format of the incoming signal, NOT what the TV has transformed it into.

That is interesting. Never would have guessed that. Thanks!

 

[BMXTRIX]

If I give you a one dollar bill and you rip it into 100 pieces, do you have $100?

Of course not!

What matters is the original $1.00. You can do a lot with it, but it is still $1.00.

Similarly with your TV. The TV can manipulate the incoming image. Your cable box can manipulate the incoming image. Get a HDMI A/V receiver and it ALSO can manipulate the incoming image.

But, it is that incoming image that matters the most. So, for TV, you will find that incoming HD signals are 1080i/60 or 720p/60. That's their resolution, and beyond that nothing else really matters to you.

Well, that's not true. The signal is also compressed. So, their 1080i resolution is compressed 1080i and that affects image quality as well.

To get the highest quality image possible, you need to start with the highest quality source currently available.

Right now, that's Blu-ray Disc. Fortunately, you can pick up a BD player for around $100 at a number of places and rent some movies from Netflix, Redbox, or I hear that Blockbuster still exists and has em.

Start with a quality source and feed it to your display.

Ignoring the marketing. 600hz is a huge marketing scam. 1080p is not.

 

[crazytiger]

Thanks ^^^^^^^^

We have a PS3. The comparison between it and HD cable, well, there is no comparison. That's why I was wondering if there was anything that could be done with the cable box.

 

[jostenmeat]

It will only help with a small handful of channels, and the difference may be pretty subtle if even discernible depending on display and viewing angle, but you can try to simply add an antenna with a coax from it to the tv's atsc tuner. Like $30 for a decent antenna + $10 for the RG6 cable. Otherwise, the source is everything, and yeah, BD >>>>>>>>> HDTV.

Use this tool to find the stations you'd get.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

 

[cutter]

It will only help with a small handful of channels, and the difference may be pretty subtle if even discernible depending on display and viewing angle, but you can try to simply add an antenna with a coax from it to the tv's atsc tuner. Like $30 for a decent antenna + $10 for the RG6 cable. Otherwise, the source is everything, and yeah, BD >>>>>>>>> HDTV.

Use this tool to find the stations you'd get.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

What he said! I bought a small OTA antenna, it is sitting behind the TV, out of view, and the HD signal looks better than DishNetwork or UVerse. (currently I have them both, while I decide which one I like better and want to keep...)
I was about to give up on the Uverse picture quality, it was crushing blacks and just didn't look good, until I forgot that I didn't route it through my Denon 5308- after I did this, the picture quality was vastly improved.

If I wasn't addicted to USA, Bravo, ESPN and TNT, and the nice DVR's, I'd ditch the paid services and just do OTA plus Hulu or something..