HD Cable box question? (1 Viewer)

[LDfan]

Hi,

I just got my HD cable box. It's a scientific atlanta 3250HD unit. The rep from Cox cable said I have to hook up both the component video cables plus also hook up the regular composite cables in order for it to work. That seems kinda odd. Does anyone know why they would say that I would need to do that? So far I've only hooked up the box via the component cables and it works fine so far.
Does using the regular composite cables give a better picture for non-hd channels?

thanks,
Jeff

 

[anthony_b]

He probably meant that you need them for audio...

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi,
The reason he said that is that the component outs of that box will either allow you to get a hd picture but if the picture is not hd the screen will be restricted to 4/3, (you wont be able to stretch it to fill the screen) which the composite input will allow you todo on non hd channels.

Personally I never use composite anymore because most of the stations are repeated in the HD section and I get a much better picture from the component output even if it is in 4/3. I'm not worried about burnin because I had the set ISF'd and the contrast and brightness are at levels that would preclude that.

Sound should go from the coax out of the box to a coax in on your reciever for digital stations and you can use the r/l outs to another input (lets say vid 1) for analog stations.

Peter m.

 

[jeff peterson]

Peter, I ONLY have the components hooked up from my 3250 box. What I do is go to the settings via the 3250's remote and change the resolution from 480i to 1080i and vice versa. While it's 480i, stretching is allowed

 

[LDfan]

I was setting up my 3250 last night and now have it set to 1080i and the TV is set to FULL. The Discovery HD channel looks incredible but surprisingly with HBO HD I really haven't been able to see much of an improvement over the standard non-HD hbo other than the HD channel filling the entire screen.
Also is there any reason to ever set the cable box to a setting other than 1080i?

thanks,
Jeff

 

[JohnSap]

I think all the bases have been covered. I have the component and s-video connections hooked to my Denon 3803 along w/ the digital coax and L/R audio. The channels above 101 (non-digital) uses the digital coax cable and below 101 (analog) the L/R audio. And you thought Cox had all digital cable.

I am forced to switch to s-video to allow my plasma to stretch the picture otherwise you get 4:3 on the non-HD channels.

SA plans to release a box that will stretch the 4:3 picture and avoid all this Bull???? but until Cox gets the new boxes. We will have to wait and keep bugging them.

I will have to check the cable box setup but the Denon allows for a easy flip.