Help with new TV setup

[amheck]

Hey gang,

New Pioneer 940HD Elite 42" showed up today. I got my HDMI cable and after a little fiddling, got it all working.

But....I'm having some troubles with the aspect ratios. I have a Pace box and went thru the directions in the Sticky thread and set my box to 720p, which I believe is the native resolution of my set. I seem to keep having to switch stretch modes, depending on what I'm watching.

If I go to SD channels, I have to manually set the picture to WIDE to fill the screen. Then, when I switch to HD channels, I have to switch it back to FULL. Is there any way to avoid this constant switching? I'm sure its just something I'm missing.

I also tried setting the Pace to 480i, but IIRC, it does the same thing.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Aaron

[Palmateer]

Why not just leave it set for the HD channels?

Why do you have to stretch the SD channels to fill the screen? All that does is distort the images so people look 25 pounds heavier.

[LeapFroggie]

That is a nice TV. I assume you are using 4:3 Wide mode because you are worried about plasma burn-in? If this is the case then consider using the TV's Zoom mode for 4:3 material instead; you may lose a bit of the material on the top and bottom edges but it won't be anywhere as weird looking as all those fat people.

Or for now just watch 16:9 HD material on your new TV and 4:3 SD on a good quality CRT. That is what I do most of the time.

You also might want to use the STB's 'pass through' mode (or whatever Pace calls it) and let the TV's excellent internal scaler do any required video processing to 720p.

[amheck]

Why not just leave it set for the HD channels?

Why do you have to stretch the SD channels to fill the screen? All that does is distort the images so people look 25 pounds heavier.

That's just how I prefer to watch SD, which we still watch a lot of.


That is a nice TV. I assume you are using 4:3 Wide mode because you are worried about plasma burn-in? If this is the case then consider using the TV's Zoom mode for 4:3 material instead; you may lose a bit of the material on the top and bottom edges but it won't be anywhere as weird looking as all those fat people.

Or for now just watch 16:9 HD material on your new TV and 4:3 SD on a good quality CRT. That is what I do most of the time.

You also might want to use the STB's 'pass through' mode (or whatever Pace calls it) and let the TV's excellent internal scaler do any required video processing to 720p.

Thanks! Vanns.com was having too good of a sale to pass up. We love the TV. It's been great so far, minus this minor annoyance. Do you know how to set the Pace to give pass-thru? Unfortunately, we only have room for 1 TV, so this will have to get us all of our viewing. I've been watching in wide mode for years on my Pio RPTV and have gotten very used to it.

[LeapFroggie]

Do you know how to set the Pace to give pass-thru?

Bright House Tampa Bay hands out the PACE STB but doesn't bother to put a user manual on their website? How frustrating for the customer that must be. Hey Greg, what is the deal?

And the tampahdtv.com link to the the DC-550 manual at

http://www.tampahdtv.com/tpahd-vb/local_links.php?catid=3

is broken.

Try this one; see p.16
http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibraryRoot/FAQ/documents/pace_DC-550_Operators_Manual.pdf

[amheck]

Thanks Leapfroggie. You know, I never thought to check the manual.

Alass.......my DISPLAY button (which the manual tells you to use) does not seem to do anything.

I think I read in the sticky here about PACE box that some seem to have the option in the settngs for SET:Picture Format to Bypass, but I don't have that option to choose. Just Fixed, AUto-DVI, Upconvert1 and Upconvert2. Does the box need to be switched out, do you think?

Aaron

[Bschneider]

And the tampahdtv.com link to the the DC-550 manual at

http://www.tampahdtv.com/tpahd-vb/local_links.php?catid=3

is broken.



Thanks for pointing that out.. I've fixed the link with the one you provided.

[amheck]

Is anyone else with the Pace box able to folow the directions on page 16 and set it to bypass?

[LeapFroggie]

AUto-DVI, Upconvert1 and Upconvert2. I don't have a Pace box, but I think I read somewhere that auto-DVI was the same as pass through. Give it a try. Your TV should display the format of the incoming signal (1080i, 720p, 480i, etc.).

Edit: Confirmed that this is correct. If your HDTV is connected through the DVI port, you will see this option and not the Pass-Through option. Incoming programming is automatically formatted to the scan rate supported by your HDTV.

Also make sure that the Pioneer options are set to accept 480i 480p 720p and 1080i.