Simple HDTV question....Please Help (1 Viewer)

[Sean S]

My parents recently bought a Sony KP-43HT20 HDTV. They currently have digital cable but would like to get Comcast's HDTV service which is available in their area. Do I need anything other then Comcast's HDTV box? The HDTV's manual simply says to "Connect a DTV receiver to VIDEO 5 or 6 IN on the projection TV." I sent Sony an email and they responded with:

"The SONY KP-43HT20 Projection Television can receive High Definition television (HDTV) broadcast signals through an HDTV converter commonly referred to as such as digital set-top boxes.
The KP-43HT20 Projection Television is Hi Scan 1080 capable hence it enables you to receive the 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i digital TV formats. By using the VIDEO 5/6 IN jacks, you can connect a DTV (Digital Television) receiver to view DTV programs."

If they do need something in addition to Comcast's HDTV box, then what exactly do they need? I am sure they don't want to spend a lot of money and at the same time they don't want a POS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jerry Dreiss]

Are the video 5/6 ports component, DVI, or VGA?
It looks like you set is an HDTV set, and can accept the signal as fed to it by Comcast's newer HDTV cable boxes.
If Comcast gives you the Motorola 5100 box you will need an available set of component inputs. It appears that the Moto boxes that Comcast is using also have DVI out, so if you set supports THAT then you can use that input. Think of the Moto box as the digital set-top box that they refer to in their email.
In other words there is no additional hardware that you need to get except for the new Comcast box ($2 more a month here in Boston) provided your set has inputs available. It should.
My set does not. It only has ONE component input, and no DVI. I have to get a component switch box so I can have my DVD player and Comcast box attached at the same time. (And an XBOX when I get one.) I'm getting set to buy an Audio Authority 1154 for just that purpose right now.

 

[Jeremy Little]

Video 5 and 6 are component video inputs. You'll need the HDTV box, a set of component video cables, and some audio cables.

 

[Sean S]

Well that's exactly what I was hoping. The set has two sets of component video inputs so my parents will use one set for my brothers xbox and the other with comcasts HDTV box. The only thing that I don't completely understand is that I bought the HDTV xbox cables for my brother and the games look almost like they did when hooked up with composite video cables. Is this because some xbox games are not high definaition? I went through the xbox setup and enables 480p and 1080i so everything is set up.