Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - My HD picture is the same as SD???

I have a 40 inch Toshiba rear projection HD-ready television, about 4-5 years old. I did not take advantage of HD for several years but recently subscribed to Comcast's HD service and now have the HD cable box installed. I am disappointed that the HD picture is not good. Watching the SD and HD versions for a given program or event,mple, for which I have both an SD and HD channel and can "toggle" back and forth, it appears to me that the HD is no better than the SD and is essentially the same, as if the HD simply is not working.

Would be interested in any thoughts or suggestions on this problem. Since my TV is 4-5 years old, is it likely that the HD capability just isn't very good, or does what I describe indicate a definite problem problem somewhere and does anyone have any trouble-shooting suggestions? (By the way, the connection between my HD cable box and the TV is made with the cable with the the red, blue, and green connectors at each end - I forget the name for this.)

I will also mention that I was unimpressed with the Comcast guy that installed the cable box. He was very rushed and said he had too many calls to make that day. While everything seems to be hooked up OK, are there any installation or set-up errors that he may have committed, that I could double check or call them back on?

Thanks

If you can't tell a difference between HD and SD, something is definitely wrong. I can clearly tell a difference, especially when watching a sporting event. I mean, its like night and day difference. The difference isn't as big for some shows. My TV is only a year old, so maybe the picture quality that the HDTV's produced 4-5 years ago wasn't as good. Can you tell any difference at all, even a little bit?

The installer only needs to hook the box up, call the new serial #'s in, and thats it.


If your wiring is correct, there is one other thing:

Remember, even though you may switch to a "HD" channel, it does NOT mean that the show is being broadcasted in HD. The show itself will tell you if it is broadcasting in HD.

Not everyday shows are boradcasted in HD. Usually the football games, the CSI's, etc are broadcasted in HD.

If the show is in HD, the picture should be 5-10x better then normal TV.

I would check your wiring and make sure the show you are watching is actually in HD.

Also, you have to turn your TV's "source" to the HD input (the input of where you component cables are hooked up)

I had the same problem. Took 3 trips and 3 set top boxes before Time Warner got it right. They were not installing the correct box. Call them and tell them reception is not correct.

Since you do have the digital/HD cable box, then this is probably your problem.

You can only get the HD quality out of DVI, HDMI, or Component cables.
Your set's age tells me it's probably DVI. You need to install the correct cables. Standard composite video - yellow, white, red are only analog.
And you only get 5.1 DD surround sound out of optical digital (toslink).

fred

"By the way, the connection between my HD cable box and the TV is made with the cable with the the red, blue, and green connectors at each end - I forget the name for this."

He's using component video cables, which should be ok.

You said your TV is "HD ready".
In the USA, "HD Ready" refers to any display that is capable of accepting and displaying a high definition signal at either 720p, 1080i or 1080p using a component video or digital input, and does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner.

joed:
"In the USA, "HD Ready" refers to any display that is capable of accepting and displaying a high definition signal at either 720p, 1080i or 1080p using a component video or digital input, and does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner."

Ken2839:
"...recently subscribed to Comcast's HD service and now have the HD cable box installed"



The Comcast cable box is the HD tuner in this case.

If the TV is only HD ready and he was trying to receive over the air HD signal, then it would not work.

You say toggle back and forth. What exactly are you toggling?

Unless you have two feeds from the cable box you need to toggle both the tv and the cable box.

For example: CSI is available in SD and HD. But, they are on DIFFERENT channels. The SD is on your local station's analog channel and the HD is on the local station's HD channel. If the cable box is set to the analog channel, you will not get the HD feed to the tv.

You also have to make sure your cable box is set to output 1080i resolution, there's usually a menu where you set this up. SD is only 480i and if your box is set to 480i then the two pictures will look the same (although the HD picture should be in 16:9 and the SD channel in 4:3, assuming the HD channel is actually transmitting HD).