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Making a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR stay at 1080i mode

post #1 of 5
1/2/09 at 9:05pm
Thread Starter 
I did recently get an HDTV. Until I get a blu-ray player my HD content comes from the Scientific Atlanta cable box/DVR.

It's hooked up to the TV by way of HDMI and the box also has a couple of secondary SD composite connections.

I used to "setup wizard" to set it for 16:9 1080i. Also, the "auto hdmi/dvi" option is selected for picture format.

Problem is, after the unit is off, it oftentimes snaps back to 480i mode. It's not too much of a big problem in that it takes about a minute to go through "setup wizard" to reset it for HD.

Discussion with someone at the cable company was not too productive.

I thought that changing the picture mode from "auto hdmi/dvi" to "fixed" while the unit was in 1080i mode would help. But next time I turned it on, it was in 480i and when I tried to reset for 1080i, it showed a screen saying my HDMI connection does not work for this TV and I should use component.

I induced a reboot (unplugging and replugging) and was able to set it so everything worked again, as it did before (including the HDMI).

I still have to periodically use the setup wizard to reset it to 1080i and I guess I can live with that if there is no solution.

But I am wondering if some here have had this problem and know what to do about it.
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post #2 of 5
1/3/09 at 7:33am

Re: Making a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR stay at 1080i mode

You'd have to list the make and model of the receiver as well as the exact model number of the cable box for anyone to be sure, but it sounds like an HDMI handshake problem, a known issue with some equipment combinations. Depending on what kind of TV you have, you might not lose much (or anything) in the way of picture quality by going with the component outputs. On my 720p setup I've never seen any difference between a digital connection from my cable DVR (using a DVI-to-HDMI cable) or my Sony DVD player (using HDMI) and the same units using component. (And since my Onkyo receiver is component-only, that's how I now have everything connected.)

Regards,

Joe
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post #3 of 5
1/17/09 at 9:52pm

Re: Making a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR stay at 1080i mode

Had the same problem a few weeks back with a SA 8300HDC box. Found this solution by Googling a bit. It worked for me. Box is still locked into 1080i.:

1) Turn both STB and TV off
2) Disconnect HDMI from STB (left it connected to TV)
3) Connect Component cables to TV and STB
4) Turn TV on and select Component input
5) Press and hold info-guide on STB and run Set-up wizard
6) Power on STB. Confirm Picture Format in settings is Pass-thru.
7) Check channels, HD, etc. Turn TV off. then back on. and try switching to any other HDMI inputs (this step is to just confirm that the STB doesn't reset which it shouldn't since it's connected via component)
9) Turn off STB and TV
10) Connect HDMI to STB and TV while leaving Component connected
11) Turn on TV then STB and select the HDMI input on the TV.
12) Again repeat step 7 and confirm box does not reset itself.
13) Turn off TV/STB and disconnect component cables.
14) Turn on TV, then turn on STB. Double check everything should be working and reset problem should be resolved.
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post #4 of 5
1/17/09 at 9:59pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Making a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR stay at 1080i mode

Thank you for your reply Reed. As it turns out, somewhere along the line, the 1080i mode finally decided to stick on my (well, actually the cable company's) Scientific Atlanta. I no longer have a problem with it snapping back to 480i. I don't know exactly what I did differently but now, no problems.

What I always make sure to do is make sure the TV is on and the HDMI port is selected before I turn on the DVR. This is because whenever the cable box is on and I select another port on my TV, the DVR senses it and puts out a message to the picture on my SD connected stuff that HDMI is blocked for copy protection sake (the message is easily terminated with the exit button).

But the unit can sense when the TV is set to the HDMI port being used for the cable box and so I make sure all that is set before I turn the box on.
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post #5 of 5
9/10/09 at 5:54pm
I can't thank you enough!!  I spent HOURS training and retraining my box to only use 1080.  It wouldn't remember!  Until you taught me to train it in component mode then give it hdmi.  Their manuals are the worst!  Thanks again, JJ    (And finally solved remotes volume/mute button issue by "locking")
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