Toshiba LCD

[toneystone]

I was wondering why does some of the analog channels appear like they're a little blur. I have the Toshiba LCD 47HL167 with Comcast high definition/digital cable. I'm using hdmi cables for my connection. Of course I know not to expect analog channels to look clear like high definition and most digital channels, but some of the analog channels are a little blur. I used to have a Philips plasma remembering most of the analog channels looked better than the Toshiba I have now. The good thing about the Toshiba is when I'm displaying a high definition signal, man it's amazing. My inquiry is how can I have some the analog channels display better?

[edDV]

The Toshiba probably isn't the issue since with HDMI connection all processing is done in the cable box. What cable box do you have and what output settings are you using on the HDMI output?

[toneystone]

I have the motorola DCT-3400.

[edDV]

The Motorola DCT-3xxx series doesn't decode analog. Comcast makes a parallel MPeg2 version of all analog channels that the DCT-3xxx sees as MPeg2. The quality depends on how much bitrate they give to the MPeg2 version of the analog channels. This is a local issue. If you are on an inferior 550 MHz Comcast neighborhood system, they give little bitrate to analog channels. Call Comcast and complain. You might be better off with a DCT-6xxx series box that can decode analog channels. Sometimes the 3xxx is better, sometimes the 6xxx is better.

Long term, Comcast wants to eliminate all analog channels except must carry locals so they push the DCT-3xxx boxes before their version of analog cutoff.

PS: For the 47HL167 you should set the box to HDMI 1080i HD / 480p SD. If the TV sucks at deinterlace, try 720p for HD.

[Seeker47]

PS: For the 47HL167 you should set the box to HDMI 1080i HD / 480p SD. If the TV sucks at deinterlace, try 720p for HD.

For the 32HL67:
Can't seem to find that post right now, but someone here advised setting the Motorola cable box to upconvert whatever 480i sources will permit this (video recorders and most standalone dvd players don't) to 480p. Results so far have been quite mixed, and appear to be channel dependent: sometimes better, and sometimes worse. It may not be simply or solely a matter of the channel, but of how the program was shot ? Other than that, I'd have to say the jury is still out on this setting. I have the HD set for 720p, and most of those channels look very good. (But then I thought that a number of them looked quite good at 1080i.)

[edDV]

PS: For the 47HL167 you should set the box to HDMI 1080i HD / 480p SD. If the TV sucks at deinterlace, try 720p for HD.

For the 32HL67:
Can't seem to find that post right now, but someone here advised setting the Motorola cable box to upconvert whatever 480i sources will permit this (video recorders and most standalone dvd players don't) to 480p. Results so far have been quite mixed, and appear to be channel dependent: sometimes better, and sometimes worse. It may not be simply or solely a matter of the channel, but of how the program was shot ? Other than that, I'd have to say the jury is still out on this setting. I have the HD set for 720p, and most of those channels look very good. (But then I thought that a number of them looked quite good at 1080i.)

Most of the Motorola boxes allow setting HD to 1080i or 720p and have "4:3 Override" settings that take over for SD channels.

Most if not all SD is 544x480i MPeg2. On my box the the 4:3 Override selections are

Off - upscales in the cable box to your HD setting (1080i or 720p)
480i - sends 480i to the HDTV. The HDTV deinterlaces and upscales.
Stretch - stretches 480i to 16x9 for that wide look. The HDTV deinterlaces and upscales.
480p - deinterlaces 480i to 480p in the box and sends 480p to the HDTV. The HDTV upscales.