Samsung 67 - can't get full screen - Page 2

Re: Samsung 67 - can't get full screen

1) Monster cable is a brand name, not a type of cable, so saying "I have a Monster cable" doesn't tell us much. It is a little like answering a question about your kitchen appliances by saying, "I have a Whirlpool", which could be a refrigerator, range, microwave or dishwasher.

2) You are making this much harder than it has to be. And you still have not answered several extremely basic questions that we've asked you like 'what color are the wires" and "do you have a DVD player". It is very hard to help someone when it takes two or three posts to get a question answered. Trust me, there is a reason we're asking this stuff.

OK try this:

Pretend all your equpment just arrived today and you've just taken it out of the box. Remove every single interconnect between the TV, the receiver and the DVR. Pile all the wires up in the middle of your living room. We're going to start from scratch.

Now: Forget the physical location of the different jacks on all of the devices. That isn't important, and will vary from device to device. If you want to correctly connect A/V equipment (or computer equipment, for that matter) you need to understand three things - inputs and outputs, the direction in which signals flow, and what the source and the destination of the signal is.

For right now I'm assuming you have only the cable DVR. If you do own a DVD player, we'll deal with that later.

Your TV signal comes in from the wall to your DVR. All of your audio and video information is there for "in" the DVR. You want to get the video information from the DVR to the TV at the best possible quality. You also want to get the audio information from the DVR to the receiver for the best possible playback.

For picture you want to run the component video cables (the ones with the red, green and blue RCA connectors at the end of them) from the component video outputs on the DVR to the component 1 input on the TV. Your DVR has two video outputs, each with one or more associated audio outputs. Like all such outputs it has color-coded RCA jacks, plus a couple of other outputs that are differentiated by the type of cable they take. Output 1 has your component video outputs with three color-coded RCA jacks (red, blue and green, corresponding to the three cables) plus an analog audio output represented by the universally used Red (Right) and White (Left) RCA jacks for stereo analog audio. Next to that is Video Output 2, the one you have been (mistakenly) using up until now. Ignore this and the S-video output, you won't be using them. Take the component video cables from the pile of wires in the middle of the living room and plug them into the corresponding video 1 output jacks.

Think of the signal as water, the jacks as one-way valves, and the wires as pipes. You want the water to flow from the source to the destination. That means you always want to start a connection at the appropriate output on the source device and run the cable to the matching input on the destination device.

Now that the video is properly connected, you'll want to connect the audio. Your DVR has two digital audio outputs, the one marked "Digital Audio Out" under the L/R audio jack for Output 1, and the Optical Audio out to the left of the composite (yellow) video jack. I assume your Monster cable is a digital audio coax cable. Connect this to the Digial Audio out jack on the DVR and run it to one of the Digital Audio inputs on the receiver. Use the same one you've been using if there is more than one.

That's it. Now run the HDTV setup wizard from the DVR again and get your picture set properly. Save the leftover wires. You might want to use them later for additional options, but for right now let's just get your TV working correctly with the sound coming out of the receiver.

Post again after you've followed the steps above.

Joe

Re: Samsung 67 - can't get full screen

It sounds like you have a plan.

I have 2 different diagrams for the SA 8300HD DVR back panel -- does yours have an HDMI out like this panel #9 on page 3 of the manual? If not totally ignore anything else.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/pro...fs/4003986.pdfconnector?


Not to confuse things more but a more simple route would be to use the HDMI directly from the DVR to the DLP HDMI In and then use one of the digital audio outputs (either from the DVR or from the DLP) to your receiver for the audio part.

Re: Samsung 67 - can't get full screen

I think his SA 8300HD is the same vintage as mine - pre-Adelphia/Comcast merger, and therefore likely to have only an DVI output rather than HDMI. That's one reason why I stayed away from anything to do with digital video in this case. (That and the fact that his Yamaha also lacks HDMI. He actually has a set up very similar to mine - same HD DVR, similar display, although my RP is an LCoS and only 720p, and my stuff is all connected via component routed through an Onkyo receiver.)

Regards,

Joe

Re: Samsung 67 - can't get full screen

The HDMI certainly simplifies the connectors. So now the picture on the DLP and Plasma are similar shape and quality -- no more letterbox HD and the unwatchable video you describe in the first post.


A delay in changing channels is common with HD (or digital in general) sources since the set has to gather and process enough data to send a picture. It is certainly more intensive processing that changing analog channels. I would think a 1 or 2 or even 3 second delay isn't unusual for cable boxes depending on the processing capability of the box. If it is longer, then I would wonder about the box and TV synching appropriately. My DirecTV takes 1 or 2 most of the time (longer if I use Native Mode which I think is similar to Pass Through on your SA box).

Re: Samsung 67 - can't get full screen

Great. That's always what we like to hear.


Yeah. I'll pass that along to my boss.

Joe