Newbie with HDTV Monitor (1 Viewer)

[MarkMF]

OK, need some help here. I just bought a KP46WT500. Right now I have regular analog coaxial basic cable going into the set. And the picture sucks, very grainy.

My questions are:
1. What can I do to make the picture better with my current set up, if anything? What kind of improvement will I see?

2. If I go the digital cable route, is the picture still going to suck? I live in downtown Chicago and have comcast cable. What kind of improvement will I see if I use an S-video cable from my digital cable box into my TV versus just using coaxial.

3. Comcast told me they are rolling HDTV out in June. When cable companies say that, what do they mean? Is it 2 channels, 10 channels, 50, or all of them?

4. Should I return my set and get something with a tube. They seem to have a better picture out of the box right?

 

[Jack Briggs]

1. You can converge the CRTs, calibrate the set through the user controls with a test disc, and feed it a high-quality signal (such as a progressive-scan DVD image). You also need to ween yourself off direct-view TVs and their often too-bright images.

2. Possibly, but it all depends on the quality of signals put out by Comcast in your area. Some "digital" cable looks pretty awful, worse than standard cable.

3) Only a very few; not all cable networks are offering HD or SD/digital signals presently. HBO has an HD channel, as does Showtime. There's also HDnet, which, so far, is available only through DBS. There's also Discovery's HD Theater. And there are the commercial broadcast networks, which can be received over the air.

4. Direct-view sets, for the most part, look awful to a videophile's eyes out of the box. They, too, require careful calibration. You're simply being swayed by their high light output and contrast ratio which result in an apparent (but not genuine) increase in sharpness. Keep the set and converge and calibrate it first.

 

[MarkMF]

As far as convergance and calibration, the set does it automatically. Should I still do it manually?

Thanks again,
Mark

 

[Jack Briggs]

Yes, a multipoint convergence is always better.

 

[JeffPh]

In regards to the cable company...are you sure they aren't referring to HD tuners? The reason I ask is because the cable company here says they are about a month away from offering HD tuners with their digital cable (for a price of course)...maybe that's what your cable company was referring to also.

Your bad picture could also be caused by bad coax parts. There are some really cheap coax cables and splitters that will decrease the quality of your picture. You can't really control the coax coming into the house from the cable company, but you may be able to upgrade the wiring inside.

 

[Paul_III]

I have a Pioneer Elite 710HD and when I first moved into my current house the analog cable was completely 100% UNWATCHABLE. I have long since switched to digital cable which is nice, but they screwed up by not replacing the splitters in my basement. Digital cable requires 1000 MHz splitters, so if your house was originally wired for analog, and you have several rooms wired thereby requiring additional splitters, they are most likely only 500 MHz. This again, made a HUGE difference in the quality of my picture and was worth the hours spent troubleshooting. My cable company here, Cox, also has the HD boxes available which I also have. Like Jack said earlier, you only get the option of five channels (HBO, Showtime, NBC, ABC, Discovery) or so right now, and half the time the broadcast is NOT in native HD format so you end up with black bars. Still, I love watching HBO in HD, and my cable company only charges a few bucks more if you are already a digital subscriber.

 

[Clark F]

The first time I viewed Comcast digital cable on my KP-46WT500, it looked terrible and very grainy. I bought 3 RCA 6' coax cables with gold plated connecters from Circuit City ($5 each). I connected the cable box as described in the manual to take advantage of the PIP features. The picture looks great. Some content on some channels still looks kinda grainy.
As I understand it, setting SVM off in the service menu may help also.
Good luck!

 

[Brian^BUr]

This may have nothing to do with HD. Did your old TV have a clear picture otherwise?

For $10 you can get an analog RF coax amplifier. It's a very small powered box. It will boost your analog cable signal.

I complained to Comcast for years trying to get them to fix my grainy, fuzzy picture. My upper-most channels were almost unwatchable and my TiVo could barely record them.

The amp did the trick. The picture is clear as a bell now.

 

[KevinJ]

btw the last i heard regarding comcast hd in the chicago area is may 15th

 

[Anthony_Fros]

When I upgraded my TV to a 47" Panasonic, the picture past channel 50 was horrible. My cousin came over, ran a new run of cable and swapped splitters for me, and that helped a lot. If your coaxial cable is somewhat old it might be time for a rewire. Still waiting to upgrade to digital, but I'm in no hurry.