Help!! I got my new plasma and am confused. (1 Viewer)

[RyanJE]

So heres the deal, i got a new panasonic TH42px600u tv yesterday and set it up immediately ( naturally ), now im confused.

i set the cable up two ways, directly to the tv, then to the cable STB and then the TV. Both connections used coaxil cable.

When i hook the cable directly to the tv i get HD channels, i can hit the info button on my remote and it tells me the format of the broadcast (i.e., 1080i, 720p, etc).

Now, when i go to the box first then the tv with coaxil cable i cant seem to get any HD channels. I have a scientific atlanta HD8300. I did the initial set up to set it in HD mode. I selected all different formats. For some reason the channels are only coming through in 480i. I even went through the cable box menu and set the video output to pass-thru (automatically sends signal as highest possible resolution).

The only reason im concerned is because i pay a little extra for ESPN HD and some other HD channels but they dont seem to come through when hooking the cable straight to the tv.

Any help out there????

 

[Charlie Campisi]

You need to use either the component cable connection or the HDMI connection to get HD video from the cable box to the tv. The coaxial connection is there to connect to vcr or analog tv.

 

[RyanJE]

I tried the component cable as well and it didnt send anything higher than 480i, I was under the impression that component could send 480p. Is this not the case?

And how come if i hook a coaxil cable straight to the tv it can produce a high def signal but not when i go from the box to the set.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

You have to be tuned to an HD channel to get HD from the HD box. Plus, the box needs to be set up to output HD. It may be set to 480i from the factory, call the cable company to find this out. By the way, 480p is not HD, it is SD. Component will send HD if you set the box up for that.

The reason you can tune a HD signal from the cable is because you have a QAM HD tuner built into your set. This will tune the basic HD stations, but it will not allow you access to the scrambled cable HD or the cable guide, on demand, etc.

 

[RyanJE]

actually i had it set up fine when i had the component cables hooked up. i didnt know that cables HD channels started at 700. when i plugged directly to the TV the HD channels were mixed in.

Whoops!