ericMurray

new to HT, a couple of questions

Been lurking for a couple of weeks, and reading a lot. I just purchased my first HT set-up and still have a couple of questions.

I recently purchased a modest home theatre set-up for our small rental house: 30" Philips CRT 16x9 HDTV and the Onkyo HTS-780 HTIB. I put LOTR ROTK in first and was promptly grinning from ear to ear.

I've been really impressed with the quality of the Onkyo, all of the great things I have read here helped me in that decision. The television, on the other hand is giving me some headaches.

I have Digital Cable through Brighthouse networks and am experiencing some audible humming or buzzing from the television speakers which I think I have narrowed down to a ground loop. I don't hear this when I send sound to my onkyo though, which is hooked to the cable box via digital coax. does this raise any flags to any of you? I am going to be upgrading a HD reciever through my cable provider this weekend, so I will see if that solves anything. If not, I plan on getting a filter like the Jensen Isomax. In addition, I've got some minor video problems when watching cable tv, such as pin cushioning, snowy picture, and occasional bright vertical lines on the edges of the picture (along the black bars when the t.v. is in 4:3 mode). Some channels are worse than others. Of course, this being a philips tv, there is no adjustment for pin-cushioning. To add one more possible variable to the list, the house we rent is probably 50-60 years old and has very sketchy electricity. For example, if I run the toaster and the microwave at the same time, I throw a breaker. I suppose this could be adding to the problem. I've currently got it all plugged into a cheap 5 dollar surge protector, so I may try getting a nicer one soon. I don't experience any video problem when watching DVD's at 16x9.

I currently am using an old panasonic DVD player with no progressive scan. I am torn between getting the 200 dollar oppo upconverting player or just getting a cheap 50 dollar progressive scan player... Given my display, what do you guys think? Quite honestly, I am quite impressed with my old panasonic on this display, it's just that if I've got an HD capable display, I might as well try to take advantage of it.

If you've made it this far through the post, thanks for reading. And thanks to the community for all the info thus far.

Charlie Campisi

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds like the problem with your audio might be the connection between the cable box and tv. You should wait and see if the new box corrects it. If not, it will at least eliminate the box as the potential cause. Report back after it is installed.

You should get at least a progressive scan player to enjoy 480p from your dvds. The Panny S29 or one of the Sony <$100 players to at least tide you over if you aren't ready to spring for a more expensive one at the moment.

John S

To take more advantage would be to get a player that allows upconversion through the component video. There are a few out there that do this.


I still am just pleased as punch with my Zenith DVB-318 at 1080i out the component video output.

ericMurray

Charlie, thanks for the info. I'll report back to the forum if there is any change with the new HD cable box.

John, I would love to have a player upscale through component, so I can take advantage of the component switching of the onkyo. Also as a newbie, it is almost laughable how much HDMI cables are. When I saw a 90 dollar price tag for a 2' foot cable I nearly lost it. Are there any other advantages to using the component over HDMI or DVI? I thought that the general consensus was that DVI/HDMI is better than component. I'll look into that Zenith player.

Thanks for the comments thus far.

ericMurray

Got the new HD cable box and I really love it. Unfortunately, the hum is still there.

Maybe I'll try a nicer power strip with coaxial protection and see if that solves anything.

Charlie Campisi

How was your old cable box connected to the tv for audio? RG6 or RG59 coaxial cable? I assume the hd box is connected with component for video and red/white for audio. If it is connected differently, and you have a different box, and you still have the hum ... I think the problem is with your tv's speakers or audio.

Although, you didn't say whether you have the dvd player running directly to the tv in addition to running it through the receiver. Try hooking the dvd player to the tv with the same connections that are currently giving you the hum on the cable box. Just unhook the cable box and swap it in. If you get the same hum, it's gotta be the tv as you've eliminated the connections and the box.