Archive through April 06, 2005

Bronze Member

Username: Nuclearfish

Nashville, TN
USA

Post Number: 41
Registered: Feb-05

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 05:52 pm:

Do you have your cable box set for 720p?

I set mine to 1080i, which the TV downconverts instead of the cable box...

This fixed that problem

The image is actually a bit cleaner in my opinion.

The JVCs D.I.S.T. is pretty damned impressive.

scott

Relevant Product Info

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 110
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 07:11 pm:

RE:Do you have your cable box set for 720p?

Yes

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 111
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 07:20 pm:

Split screen DVI to HDMI

I did not use ny Harmony remote which turns both the TV and cable box at the 'same' time.

I turned on the TV, waited 30 seconds, turned on the Cable box.

A-ok

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 112
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 07:30 pm:

Split screen DVI to HDMI

I did not use my Harmony remote which turns both the TV and cable box at the 'same' time.

I turned on the TV, waited 10 seconds, turned on the Cable box.

No good, split screen!

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 113
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 07:35 pm:

Split screen DVI to HDMI
waiting 15 seconds before turing on the cable box works. But this is too long even to program into the remote.
I'd have to make sure the remote is pointing at the cable box for 15 seconds.

Does anyone else have this issue?

i.e. Cable box --> DVI --> HDMI
Turn TV and cable box on together and get a split screen.

Rick Lyon

Silver Member

Username: Kid_red

Post Number: 195
Registered: Apr-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 08:24 pm:

I never turn off my cable box, I use the Harmony 676 but I don't use HDMI/DVI. I leave my cable box on Pass which 'passes' the signal that is broadcasted straight to the JVC. So if it's 720p, that what the JVC gets, if it's 1080i or 480p, that's exactly what is sent to the JVC. The least amount of converting seems to be more logical to me.

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 114
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 08:36 pm:

What is this 'pass'?

re: "I leave my cable box on Pass"

When I use my harmony and press off, it turns off everything.
In my cable box user settings I use 720P.

Dave DeCoste

New member

Username: Dave_decoste

Post Number: 2
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 09:04 pm:

Here is the tilt issue I explained earlier. Does anyone else see this on their ILA? It is noticeable also with a widescreen DVD with the black lines on top and bottom or with sports tickers. etc. Is this fixable or should I return the TV?

Upload

Bronze Member

Username: Nuclearfish

Nashville, TN
USA

Post Number: 42
Registered: Feb-05

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 09:37 pm:

Dave, try setting the cable box to 1080i

As I said earlier, this fixes the problem.

scott

Bronze Member

Username: Mrtomasulo

Post Number: 30
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 09:41 pm:

Mr. Lynch-- thanks for those settings you offered to the board a while ago. I applied them to my tv today and they (surprisingly to me) made a nice difference. I had my settings all wrong :-)

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 116
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 09:42 pm:

RE: "Dave, try setting the cable box to 1080i
As I said earlier, this fixes the problem. "

Sorry I must of missed that. I went back to component for now. But I will try that out.

Thanks!

drew

New member

Username: Snapper

Phoenix, Az

Post Number: 10
Registered: Oct-04

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 10:09 pm:

This may have been asked already, has anyone noticed a difference in PQ when using a set top box (cable or sat) via HDMI vs Component?
I was trying to compare SD and HD and I only noticed that the component was a little brighter.

Bronze Member

Username: Mrtomasulo

Post Number: 31
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 10:15 pm:

Do I have to do anything to 'activate' my manufacturer's warranty? (like is their a warranty card that has to be sent in? if there is, I think I missed it). Or is just having my receipts all I need? I did go ahead and register my product with jvc.

Rick Lyon

Silver Member

Username: Kid_red

Post Number: 196
Registered: Apr-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 12:53 am:

Dave my cable box has display settings, 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and Pass which makes the cable box pass the signal without any conversion straight to the JVC so the JVC can display it at native or upconvert on it's own. You can have your Harmony leave the cable box alone/on if that's a factor in your issue. I just don't see a need to turn it off really.

Silver Member

Username: Dmako

Post Number: 117
Registered: Nov-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:21 am:

RE:"Dave my cable box has display settings, 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and Pass which makes the cable box pass the signal without any conversion straight to the JVC so the JVC can display it at native or upconvert on it's own. You can have your Harmony leave the cable box alone/on if that's a factor in your issue. I just don't see a need to turn it off really."

I looked quick and I see the 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i seetings but no Pass. I have the new Comcast PVR unit.

It's just the TV's native mode is 720p, it 'should' just detect a signal, in my casr thru HDMI and work, period.

As far as turning off the cable box, save energy. I just don't like keeping things on.

Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes.

tvshopper

Unregistered guest

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 10:54 am:

Dave DeCoste,

You have a problem that needs repair. How you want to handle it is up to you. I suggest that you send your pictures in to JVC. I had a similar problem after a tech replaced my light engine (I had the green fringing). When I notified JVC about this alignment issue, they replace the entire chassis in my TV. Now all is well.

Jason Sirignano

New member

Username: Stiege

Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 12:24 pm:

Is anyone running the SA 8300HD to their set with the HDMI cable? It looks great with the component cables, but I can't get a picture with the HDMI cable. I've tried to set the jvc to digital, but the option is not highlighted in the menu.

Is there some setting on the 8300 I need to make to activate the HDMI port?

Thanks,

Jason

tvshopper

Unregistered guest

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 01:10 pm:

Jason,

Have you selected the Digital input from the Video source menu on the JVC? Also, I don't know your specific cable box but is there an ouput selection in its menu?

Jason Sirignano

New member

Username: Stiege

Post Number: 2
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 02:07 pm:

I've tried to set the jvc to digital, but the option is not highlighted in the menu.

The manual says it needs a signal to get the menu to give me the option. When I plug the cable into the tv, the digital audio from the cable box hiccups, so I figure something is happening.

Anyone with experience with this cable box?

Jason

RaveD

Unregistered guest

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 02:50 pm:

Everything I've read indicates the 8300HD produces as good if not better PQ using the component cables. So I would save your HDMI output for something else, like an upscaling DVD player.

Nevertheless it is possible your JVC is affected by the HDMI "bug" that some people have reported, in which case it probably needs a service call.

It is also possible your cable provider disables the HDMI output; you would have to verify it with them.

R Schneck

Silver Member

Username: Rlschneck

Post Number: 123
Registered: Apr-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 03:10 pm:

Hey,

Does anyone know a good and cheap smaller HDTV? By smaller I mean in the area of 20"

I welcome any recommendations!

Thanks,
Ryan

Just Me

Bronze Member

Username: Justme123

Post Number: 14
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 03:11 pm:

If you have been sitting on the fence, BUYDIG just had a price drop since the new units are starting to ship. HD52Z575 $2100 delivered!

Silver Member

Username: Mr_lynch

Seattle, WA

Post Number: 650
Registered: Sep-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 03:51 pm:

Dave Decoste-

Your tilted screen is an easy fix. A service tech will have to do it, but it only involves loosening a couple screws and re-centering the projector. How do you have your PC hooked up to the set? It Doesn't look like you have much over scan either.

Jason-
My first Motorola HD box had a DVI output, but it was inactive. I got nothing from it. I had to call the cable company to get one with an active DVI out. It could be the same thing with your HD box.

Silver Member

Username: Mr_lynch

Seattle, WA

Post Number: 651
Registered: Sep-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 04:00 pm:

Ryan-

Are you looking for a 16:9 or 4:3 screen? With a 20 inch screen, it is very hard to tell the difference between HD (720p,1080i) and ED (480p). I personally have a 20" 4:3 LCD TV in my bedroom that displays at 640x480. It accepts an HD signal and downcoverts it to 480p. Sitting 4-5 feet away, HD channels look nearly as good as they do on our JVC. We paid just under $400 for it at Fry's.

Bronze Member

Username: Mrtomasulo

Post Number: 34
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 04:15 pm:

This was probably a stupid newbie question to begin with, but fwiw-- I went ahead and called JVC and you don't have to send in any sort of warranty card to 'activate' your warranty. Just possession of receipts is all you need. :-)

New member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:08 pm:

Has anyone ever owned a big-screen NON-HDTV and then bought a big-screen HDTV? I had a 52" Proscan non-hdtv that displayed dish network pictures in crystal clear quality (like watching a dvd). After that tv finally died, bought a JVC D-ILA tv and hooked up to the same dish network signal, the picture was worse than watching VHS (sort of like VHS in EP mode). Of course I returned it. Now the dilemma is that no matter what HDTV I try, a satellite picture looks like crap. Now if only I still had my old bigscreen tv - i'd pay a fortune to have it fixed. Now I know a lot of you just don't even watch anything but HD anymore due to how bad SD looks on a hdtv. Well that's quite pathetic I think considering how few channels are HD. So let's say everything was broadcast in HD? What do we do with all of our mini-dv tapes? Or our laser discs or VHS tapes? Or what about the older dvd's? Unless it was a recent dvd, even dvd's looked like crap on a hdtv. I never had that problem with the non-hdtv's.
Too bad no one sells non-hdtv's bigger than a 40 inch now.

Just Me

Bronze Member

Username: Justme123

Post Number: 15
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:09 pm:

Mister Tomasulo:

What was the build date on your unit from BUYDIG? Sorry if you already posted and I missed it. Thanks!

Bronze Member

Username: Nuclearfish

Nashville, TN
USA

Post Number: 43
Registered: Feb-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:28 pm:

Cali, look for a big EDTV.

I saw one ad Sam's Warehouse the other day.

A LOT of EDTV plasmas are still out there 50" at least

scott

Bronze Member

Username: Mrtomasulo

Post Number: 36
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:38 pm:

Just Me-- It was December '04 build date. 179xxxxx serial number.

Be forewarned some of their customer service is a bit "jerky". Don't trust those guys a bit, but so far the tv has been great.

hstraub

Bronze Member

Username: Hstraub

Post Number: 16
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:52 pm:

Ryan,
I don't know about 'cheap', but I have a new Zenith 23" LCD TV(16:9) that I love. It was $800. With my LG tuner, the picture is excellent. I originally had a Sharp Aquos 20"(4:3) that I returned. The picture was superior, but I couldn't live with a small 4:3 picture in HD. I am MUCH happier with the 16:9 TV.

Harry

Silver Member

Username: Mr_lynch

Seattle, WA

Post Number: 652
Registered: Sep-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:56 pm:

Cali-

You can go with any HD CRT set. They still use the same technology that your old proscan did, they are just capable of displaying HD content. They will display 480i (SD) content, but can also do 1080i (HD).

Since new Digital sets are a fixed pixel display(usually 720p or 1280x720) they must rescale everything to fit that format. SD looks bad because the set must create information to fill the gaps. There is a lot to add when you go from 640x480 to 1280x720. Kind of like blowing up a photo. I might look great as a 4x6, but increase it to a 8x10 and you will beable to pick out the flaws much easier.

As for your expirience with the JVC, the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out". Analog CRT sets hide the flaws of SD signals much better than the never digital sets. I'm sure you would be very happy if you upgraded to the HD dish box. Dish also offers local digital channels, which are still SD, but without the fuzz. It looks very good for SD.

I personally find my Mini-DV tapes look just fine on the JVC. I don't own a VCR anymore, and I was too young and poor to get into Laserdiscs so I can't give you a good take on those dead formats.

We have Comcast digital cable here in Seattle and I find SD more than acceptable with it. It is quite good in fact. After watching many hours of HD, it makes it very easy to pickout the flaws of SD, but I still have no problems watching it.

New member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 7
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:14 pm:

Mr. Lynch, thanks! I was told by some salesmen that the HD CRTs would be better. The non-hd satellite broadcasts on these HD CRT big-screen tv's weren't very good either in the store though (I looked at Toshiba's, Panasonics, and Sony's). I don't know if I got two bad JVC's (wouldn't doubt it since I received 3 bad DVR's from dishnetwork before getting one where its harddisk didn't sound like a jet engine). But the 61" JVC at the store did look pretty bad but they told me it was because of its location in the store (at the end of the line of the satellite feeds and due to the splitting).

Scott, I looked at EDTV's - I thought this was going to be my solution thinking that its 480p resolution would allow the 480i broadcasts to look good - I have yet to see any EDTV that is bigger than a 42". I compared a Panasonic 42" plasma EDTV next to some noname 42" HDTV plasma - and surprisingly the HDTV showed a SD signal from DirectTV better than the EDTV did.

cali hatin'

Unregistered guest

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:16 pm:

I got me an old 8 track player, and when I hooked my surround speakers up to it I was not impressed. Why does it sound so grainy and crappy? It played fine when I had it hooked up to a my old Sears 10" powermatic speakers. The speaker cones tore so I had to replace them. The new surround package says "dolby digital" but I don't hear it.

Silver Member

Username: Mr_lynch

Seattle, WA

Post Number: 653
Registered: Sep-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:23 pm:

Cali-

My parents where having the same problem as you. My Dad swore his 15 year old RCA 47" big screen looks way better than anything in the store. He didn't like DLP, LCD, LCoS or Plasma. They finally settled on a 52" CRT set from Costco. I've watched it many times and I feel it does an excellent job with SD, and has the ability to play HD if they ever upgrade their cable. Right now is a tough time to buy a TV. We are in the middle of a transition from Analog to digital and their are still may problems to be worked out. Good luck with your search!!

Bronze Member

Username: Mrtomasulo

Post Number: 37
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:31 pm:

Cali-- My local cable carrier will be all digital by this summer. Digital non-hd broadcasts on the JVC look far better than any CRT in my book. See if your local carrier may be offering the same any time soon and then switch when they do.

New member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 8
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:32 pm:

cali hatin', haha - very funny :-) Some older technology is still better than newer ones.
I do prefer the sound of vinyl over CD's (assuming it doesn't crackle and pop . :-) And my vinyl collection sounds awesome cranked up through my 6.1 Denon AVR. The speaker's aren't the absolute top of the line but they're each rated at 250 watts and cost around around $400 each. Playing CDs very loud really hurts the ears - the sound is overly compressed and the highs are excruciating.
Anyway, I hope you're happy with your 10 channels of HD. The fact is that many older DVDs that we have will not look as good on hdtv's. Try burning your mini-dv's to DVD and playing it on a HDTV.
The fact is that there is no alternative to HDTV sets if you want anything larger than 42".

New member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 9
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:42 pm:

Mr. Lynch, do your parents still think their old 47" was better than their new 52" CRT from Costco? I was going to buy the Panny 42" EDTV that Costco had until I saw a satellite picture on it at circuit city. Also considering getting a 32" tube tv for now to get by until I can find a big-screen that can show a SD picture without blurriness - but my living area is huge and the couch is 13 feet away from the TV, so I'd much rather have a 52" or larger.

Mr. Tomasulu, satellite is all digital anyway (well except when it goes through the D/A converter in the receiver). And I was using satellite on the JVC. It's a shame since I loved the look of the black JVC not to mention the weight issue compared to a CRT. Also liked the lack of glare and probably no radiation like from the CRT. I think maybe what it boils down to is that maybe the ones that are satisifed with the quality of SD on a HDTV never owned a big-screen non-HD TV before with a digital satellite feed. I had to get local channels from satellite (even though I have analog cable also as a backup) since the Time Warner cable quality in the neighborhood is awful.

Bronze Member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 11
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:17 pm:

Mr. Lynch, going back to your comment on HD CRT's ... well all the tv's crt, dlp, lcd, etc. accept 480i - but they all have to scale it to their native resolution. The HD CRT's have to scale the 480i to its 1080i resolution also, right? So it's still going to have the same problems. On an non-hdtv bigscreen, the internal line doubler gives you a really perfect looking picture from a 480i signal.

Bronze Member

Username: Nuclearfish

Nashville, TN
USA

Post Number: 44
Registered: Feb-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:42 pm:

Cali, what inputs did you hook up to your JVC?

If you're using s-video, or the "yellow" analog video input, you can't expect the quality of what you're playing to look very good.

You really need to use component (rgb) or HDMI with this set.

Otherwise, the signal you put in will not be progressively scanned and upscaled to 480p+.

Without rgb/hdmi input, the quality of your signal will undoubtedly be bad.

Scott

Matt

New member

Username: Hypokondriak

Post Number: 3
Registered: Dec-04

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 09:13 pm:

can someone post a link to Mr. Lynch's tweaks / settings? I can't seem to find it...

Thanks!

Bronze Member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 12
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 09:18 pm:

Scott, the satellite receiver (dish dvr-501) didn't have component output. So I first tried s-video which was horrible. I then tried the composite cable since the s-video does bypass the tv's comb filter, and it was marginally better. I used component input from my dvd player and had the dvd player in progressive mode.
JVC seems to be proud of its DIST scaler that will take that 480i signal from the composite or svideo connection and scale it to 720p - but obviously it wasn't good enough. I thought about getting an iScan HD+ if it would give me a clear picture, but I've heard it's only so-so with satellite input.
So even if I go with a non-fixed pixel display, the quality still seems bad (well at least at the store). I'm debating having one delivered and trying it out. Already am out $90 for two d-ila models so what's another $45. On the other hand, if I'm willing to go for another heavy tv (my previous 52" was around 300 pounds with its two 9" CRT's in it), then another option is to search the classifieds for an old used big-screen TV that's not HD.

Bronze Member

Username: Nuclearfish

Nashville, TN
USA

Post Number: 45
Registered: Feb-05

Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 10:17 pm:

Cali, do not buy the JVC.

I't is definitely not what you are looking for.

I'd go the classified/Ebay route.

I'll bet you can find the exact TV that died on you.

scott

Bronze Member

Username: Cali_dreaming

Post Number: 15
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 01:48 am:

Scott, I don't plan on buying it. I thought buying the smaller version of the D-ILA would make it better, but it didn't. There has to be some HDTV out there that will show a satellite SD channel well on it (doesn't have to be HD quality where you can see the pores in people's faces but at least the picture shouldn't be fuzzy). No, I'm not going to buy a 300 pound tv through Ebay. Maybe people never had a high quality bigscreen tv before that wasn't a HD so they don't know what they're missing.

Just Me

Bronze Member

Username: Justme123

Post Number: 16
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 11:11 am:

Mr. T;

Thanks for the feedback! Glad your happy with your new toy. And no I wouldn't trust anyone's C.S.! In my world Murphy was an Optimist! LOL

Silver Member

Username: Mr_lynch

Seattle, WA

Post Number: 655
Registered: Sep-04

Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 12:22 pm:

Here's my settings.

Upload
jvc.doc (94.2 k)

R Schneck

Silver Member

Username: Rlschneck

Post Number: 124
Registered: Apr-04

Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 04:17 pm:

Mr. Lynch (RE: 20" LCD)

thanks for your reply. can you tell me the model number of the 20" that you have. that sounds like a pretty good price. I'm not sure whether I prefer a 4:3 or a 16:9, but i think the price of the tv's will help me with that decision.

Thanks,
Ryan