Sony KDF-42WE655 Cable Box and HD DVD settings

 

New member
Username: Brewsy

Post Number: 1
Registered: Nov-04
Hello,

I was hoping someone could help me understand this. I just purchased this Sony LCD RP, and have connected a Comcast Motorola HD Box (through the component cables), and a Toshiba SD-5970 DVD player (upconverts to HD) through the HDMI.

Both of these components allow me to select whether to output 720P or 1080i to the TV. My understanding is that the TV will display the same resolution regardless of the component settings selected. Is this correct? Does this tv have a "proper" component input setting that I should set to, or is it a matter of preference, etc? It seems to me that the 1080i settings appear a little crisper on some programs.

Thanks,
Bruce
 

Peas
Unregistered guest
It is considered a native 720p device but your Sony will scale any incoming signal to it's 768 resolution.

Peas
 

Anonymous
 
Purchased a Sony KDF42WE655. Comcast techs spent more than 2-hours trying to get the cable card they installed to unscramble HBO to no avail. I spent over an hour on the phone with Comcast over three seperate calls, while the people in the "head-unit" tried sending "hits" to the card trying to fix whatever was wrong; again, to no avail. Anybody out there with the same TV who has had success getting cable card to work with scrambled programs? Tech is coming again today, but this is getting old fast! Thanks in advance for any help.
 

Unregistered guest
Hi...i just bought a sony wide screen tv model KDF42WE655 a few days ago and just got to setting it up today. I turned it on and was impressed by the image but the details were lacking. On most channels the image was blured quite a bit and on some channels you could not even make out a persons face. I curently have the view set on wide screen zoom. I saw many other settings available for the tv and was wondering if anyone with the same tv could give me some advise on improving the image, this would be greatly appreciated... ^.^. Thank you
 

Bronze Member
Username: Thomas_frieder

Staten Island, New York USA

Post Number: 15
Registered: Dec-04
well first of all, why are you using widescreen zoom? as it distorts the signal/aspect ratios and does nothing to improve the picture other than to increase it's size... like blowing up a balloon with something painted on it and expecting the expanded image to increase it's detail..you are also not able to tell if you are recieving a true widescreen HD signal in that case also... it's your choice to use that method but first see if you are actually getting a true HD signal as mine comes thru super clean in regular widescreen mode...my guess is you are looking at either a DVD or non HD signal both of which cannot look as good with a stretched out display...even those newer up conversion DVD decks will not really help either... i tried them also and there's improvement, not much so
 

Goats
Unregistered guest
I also recently got this tv, and it seems blurry at times. Is it the tv or is this because it is not HD broadcast on? Does this happen with other HDTV ready tvs? If not which works the best now and for the future. Help Thanks
 

Bronze Member
Username: Thomas_frieder

Staten Island, New York USA

Post Number: 27
Registered: Dec-04
more information is needed to determine this. how are you hooked up? meaning what connectors and video input (DVI, component, HDMI, etc.) are you watching this "hdtv" channel with? (for example only video 5,6,7 and the regular antenna "A" work with HD)...is it via the cable box?, if so, is it an HD box (not all cable boxes are, you have specifically ask for one with your cable company)?, what channel are you watching? is it an HD one? your locale? (to determine if that area even transmits HD)... all this is needed first before anything can be determined...once we find this out, there's a next level of questions to debug this...unfortunately HDTV is still not just a plug it in and it works situation yet
 

Bronze Member
Username: Thomas_frieder

Staten Island, New York USA

Post Number: 29
Registered: Dec-04
just a correction/clarification to my previous statement... The antenna "A" and "B" both would recieve HDTV but only the "A" is geared toward cable and cable card use which is what we are dealing/talking about here...just so there's no confusion. Antenna "B" recieves HDTV over the air also along with the other 4 input modes mentioned previously
 

Thunderstruck
Unregistered guest
From what I have read before, 720 progressive is better than 1080 interlaced on smaller sets. The bigger the tv, 1080 i should be ok Besides most channels except espnhd have their transmission in 1080i. Only espn hd is 720p. On my tv, sony 36onch HD, i dont see too much of diff. Stuck with 720p. I would say, Choose one that u think is better.
 

Thunderstruck
Unregistered guest
I am starting to wonder if comcast has a problem with other channels with HD cable. Here is my problem. Any inputs/ideas to fix this is highly appreciated.

I have a Sony 36 inch HD capable system. I used to have standard basic extended (not with digital converter) before. I now upgraded it to HD.

Configured the component output to 720p (my TV also has 1080i but i chose to use 720 p after reading that 720p is better, and i didnt find much diff between them when i tried them). I set 4:3 override to 480p. Mine is 4:3 system by the way. The HD channels are awesome. Amazing clarity. Used optical cable for audio and Configured audio option to advanced and now I get surround sound audio when applicable through my 6.1 receiver. Thats the good part.

Now to the problem, my regular channel programming has deteriorated drastically after getting HD. The picture clarity is bad, kinda blurry much worse than what it was before i got HD. Has anyone seen this problem. The same 4:3 programming on the HD channel is much better. As in, if its a standard 4:3 telacast on CBS for instance, the picutre in channel 5 is bad. But the picture in 705 (which is CBS HD channel) is much better, though there are dark bars all around the picutre. Has any else seen this problem. Any solution. I have tried different options for 4:3 override option in the config menu. Nothing seems to help.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Thomas_frieder

Staten Island, New York USA

Post Number: 30
Registered: Dec-04
Ok first let's tackle the 720p issue... FOX and ABC also use the 720p standard...supposedly 720p is better suited toward motion (sports, etc.) since it is non-interlaced and you are getting the full 720 all the time as where 1080i is 50% fist pass, other 50% the next, etc., however most HDTv sets display at their preferred best format most of the time anyway, from what i can make out reading a few guides before buying my sets that most EDTV's and LCD HD sets both default to 480/720p most of the time and many sets sold today cannot fully display 1080i yet anyway due to limited amount of pixels. as to suggestions on your cbs fix... 1.) do you have a cable card which would allow you to bypass the box as a possible culprit or can you recieve off the air to help cut out other possible items as the problem? 2.) you must set both the cable box and your TV set to use 16:9 display (many times the box has to be set only via buttons/menus actually on the box itself, with TWC's pace HD box, you cannot use the remote to do these basic things such as this. 3.) make sure all 3 video cables (red, blue,green) of your component cables are not defective or connected properly...i once got a wierd line when i first installed the cable box into my sony lcd and had to disconnect and reconnect the blue and red cables one time to get the picture to reset...
lastly to be honest your picture description matches what i get when i am watching an HD channel but using a 4:3 setting (directv HD (samsung) reciever boxes default to this 4:3 letterbox mode when showing via s-vhs or non HD video inputs)...another possibility: some sony HD sets have their video inputs in "skip" or "hidden" mode (so as to avoid a person going thru all the inputs unless they are actually used, maybe you have your HD inputs hidden so they do not come up? in which case you have to access the tv menu to change these to active...hopefully one of thse suggestions might get you to a point where you can get your set working again, else it might be time to try swappng the cable box to another, since these HD cable boxes are fairly new, many bugs are not discovered yet as they were rushed out to meet the high HD demands this year
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