SA 4200HD Digital Cable Box Question (1 Viewer)

[JohnDPug]

I have a Cablevision supplied Scientific Atlanta 4200HD Explorer converter box connected to my Sony KV40XBR700's 1080i inputs. The SA4200 has a settings menu which allows you to select 480i output or 1080i output manually. I generally have it set up with standard 480i output because all but 2 channels are broadcast in 480i. The Sony recongizes the lower resolution and shows the input in the traditional 4:3 ration. However, when I tune to the 2 channels which do broadcast in 1080i (some sports events), it appears as if the box is recognizing the 1080i feed and automatically passing it to the Sony without manipulating the menu (16:9 aspect is preserved). When I manually select 1080i on the box, the only noticeable difference is the grey bars on the top of the Sony turn black.

There's no mention of this "feature" on the SA web site. Is this too good to be true?

 

[Doug_B]

When I manually select 1080i on the box, the only noticeable difference is the grey bars on the top of the Sony turn black.

Can you be more specific on what material was providing grey bars before and black bars after. For HD material, Ihaven't been watching much more than hockey games, which fill my screen (16x9), and my perusal of HBO HD has always resulted in filling the screen (with what appeared to be the correct aspect ratio / zoom setting on my proj).

Doug

 

[JohnDPug]

Can you be more specific on what material was providing grey bars before and black bars after.

Hockey games in HD using an HD camera.

Thanks.

 

[Doug_B]

No. there is a settings button on the remote. You scroll down to picture and can select 1080i or 480i in the menu.

Believe it or not, I had forgotton where this setting was. I was always going to the advanced / full settings menu list and thus not looking in the quick settings menu (why the full menu list is not a superset of the quick settings is beyond me). In any case, I was referring to the mechanism by which you add values to and remove values from the picture setting. If you turn off the power to the box, then press the Guide and Info buttons on the box at the same time (or whatever to 2 topmost buttons are labeled), you'll be able to add 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i for either standard or wide aspect ratios.

As to the issue you raise about bars with the HD hockey games, I've been watching in 1080i, and with the proper aspect ratio do not have any bars on my 16x9 screen. Maybe I'll try 480i and play with aspect ratio to see what the bars look like. However, to this point, whenever bars show for 4:3 material, I have seen their color match the color that is selected in the settings menu (and since I have a DLP, I keep it at Dark).

Doug

 

[JohnnyG]

I haven't even seen a 4200HD yet, let alone used one, but HD channels are always 16:9, regardless of whether it's showing a true HD broadcast at the time or not. I believe the 4200HD has a 'Zoom' function that you can use to fill the screen in this case.

When you switch to 1080i output, your TV is indeed showing a 1080i image, but - and I mean you no offence - the TV is probably incapable of showing much resolution beyond 480i. If you look closely at some scenes, I'm sure you'll see the difference, but it won't be night and day.

 

[JohnDPug]

OK...my Sony KV40XBR is a 4:3 screen with 1080i input. Hence the top and bottom bars for 1080i.

The HD channels on Cablevision do not show HD content all the time. I guess they are not truly HD channels but channels reserved for when MSG or Fox Sports NY is providing HD content.

The Quick Settings on the 4200HD box were programmed by the installer to output 480i and 1080i.

I'm still trying to figure out if the 4200HD box senses the 1080i feed and passes it despite having the output from the box manually set to 480i.

 

[JohnnyG]

If you see grey bars top and bottom, then it's not 1080i.