Official SA 8000HD DVR Users Thread

[summerfun]

You will always have a 4:3 sidebar on HD channels that are showing a 4:3 program. You cannot change that in your STB.

The sidebar is part of the program signal. It is not being generated by the STB or your TV. The sidebars on NON HD channels are being generated by the STB and/or the TV so they can be stretched out of the way.

[gb4fan92]

Originally posted by summerfun
You will always have a 4:3 sidebar on HD channels that are showing a 4:3 program. You cannot change that in your STB.

The sidebar is part of the program signal. It is not being generated by the STB or your TV. The sidebars on NON HD channels are being generated by the STB and/or the TV so they can be stretched out of the way.

Before Sunday I was able to stretch HD channels showing a 4:3 program. I could even do this with the Pioneer box. As it stands now I can stretch all the SD channels and all the non-HD digital channels but as soon as I turn on a HD channel it doesn't allow me to change the setting whether it is HD or not. So this is normal? :confused:

[Bigdog]

Thanks Drummerboy for the info on the firewire port. Too bad as was hoping that might improve the picture.  What about that RCC rule regarding that it has to have a working firewire port that was posted on here?

We already have an amp on ours and the analog channels still are terrible. Tomorrow another tech is comming out so hopefully they will have a solution as this reception sucks...

[gparris]

Originally posted by gb4fan92
Before Sunday I was able to stretch HD channels showing a 4:3 program. I could even do this with the Pioneer box. As it stands now I can stretch all the SD channels and all the non-HD digital channels but as soon as I turn on a HD channel it doesn't allow me to change the setting whether it is HD or not. So this is normal? :confused:

I thought that is what you were thinking, then again, that has never worked for me and I think I read you or someone else's post regarding that stretching for the 4:3 HD showings, mostly local HD channels and some HBO/Sho that sometimes that are also.
Recently, as last week, if I remember correctly, we had a so-called upgrade overnite and the first thing I remember about it was that I had to reset my format settings as these defaulted to the 4:3 for SD sidebars and I know on both HD DVRs I had changed it to stretch using the settings button on the remote.
The SA8000HD DVR's setup guide they give you when you pick it up did not address any of the SD to HD boots or the format control...totally useless. The control panel on the box and turning it off and all for setups...never worked for me so that is why I used the remote as a last ditch effort and it worked.
I am still glad I have a one-box answer instead of a 2-box one with an HD box and a SD DVR as before...

Now, all the they have to do is figure out why the HD recordings and live shows, not recorded, which have digital blocking and pixelating in them,  as I never had that with my HD box.
:confused:

[summerfun]

Originally posted by gb4fan92
Before Sunday I was able to stretch HD channels showing a 4:3 program. I could even do this with the Pioneer box. As it stands now I can stretch all the SD channels and all the non-HD digital channels but as soon as I turn on a HD channel it doesn't allow me to change the setting whether it is HD or not. So this is normal? :confused:

Not sure how you were able to do it before. I have never been able to stretch 4:3 probrams on an HD channel.

[gb4fan92]

Originally posted by summerfun
Not sure how you were able to do it before. I have never been able to stretch 4:3 probrams on an HD channel.

   As I mentioned on an earlier post even though I have a 16x9 television I would set the screentype to 4:3 stretch 16x9. This is how I set up my Pioneer box. It enables all the HD channels to be zoomed, stretched or letterboxed - regardless of  whether the station was broadcasting HD or not. I thought at the time this was wierd but it was the only way I could get it to work. (I had no idea that you were not suppose to be able to stretch HD channels).
   When I set up the HD-DVR I set it up the same way but noticed that HD looked more normal in the letterbox format. It was still full screen, stretch took away some of the screen, zoom took away a lot more. Again I was able to control all HD channels regardless of it was broadcasting HD or not.
Sunday I first noticed that I no longer was able to do this. It appears to me now that stretching a HD channel was not suppose to be possible but I managed to do it anyways? Let me tell you it was nice to stretch a nonHD program (Survivor comes to mind) Picture quality and sound was better on the digital channels so I never had to watch the analog channel. I would think that this is how most viewers would prefer to watch.
   The change probably came when they did the last upgrade. I'm hoping the next upgrade will bring it back unless someone else has a different way to stretch the HD channels. I can't use my TV to do the stretching because that feature is disabled using component cables.

[summerfun]

I think it was a fluke that you got it to work with the old box. I can't see how telling your STB you have a 4:3 TV when you really have a 16:9 TV and then telling the STB to zoom 16:9 would stretch 4:3 on a 16:9 TV. Obviously it does not work today.

You're not meant to stretch 4:3 HD material. The black bars are part of the 16:9 picture being sent by the station. Not created by the STB or TV set.

They use the black bars to fill in 4:3 material so that they are broadcasting a 16:9 signal 24/7. Sometimes they change the colors of the bars during special events like football games.

[gparris]

Would be nice if there was a HD set that did do the stretch for 4:3 HD in component mode for the HD programmes in 4:3, though.

Folks with CRT based sets and Plasmas have the worst problem with burn in, though the fixed pixel displays like you have, summerfun, shouldn't be so much of a concern, or no?:confused:

Does any HD set have the ability to stretch that 4:3 HD material to prevent burn-in?  You'd think manufacturers of the burn in sets would offer that feature if it is possible.:rolleyes:

[summerfun]

There may be some sets that allow stretching of 4:3 HD material. I don't know.

I think the short term answer is adding the moving color bars like so many of the sports are doing now. The other is to stretching the 4:3 before they send it like they do on TNT. Also, don't watch too much 4:3 material.

The long term fix is to only have full 16:9 programs.

I'm not sure how much of a problem black bars are for burn in. I think most burn it comes from fixed colors and images. I think continued use of black bars will create uneven wear rather than burn in.

[gb4fan92]

I called TWC yesterday about this and he decided to send a technician over today. Well he just came over and said I wasn't the only one he'd seen that had been able to stretch HD channels (I wasn't losing my mind).  But he said like a few of you said it is normally not possible to stretch the HD channels. He said the hopefully they will activate more features from the box (DVI, SD output). In the meantime I will have to watch SD channels or watch them letterboxed on digital. Hopefull more of what I watch is just HD! (Actually that is more or less the case)

[summerfun]

I would take letterbox 4:3 HD digital channel over stretch SD analog channel any day of the week for best PQ.

[dicktwi]

When watching SD channels, whether analog or digital, change the output format to 480i (or 480p if you prefer) and you'll see a noticeably higher resolution picture much like the SD DVR.  It's a nuisance switching back and forth from 480i to 1080i, but to me it's worth the much better picture.  Try it.

Originally posted by J2K
I got my HD DVR about 10 days ago.  The analog channels, specifically 4,6,12,18 were noticeably worse than with the Pioneer HD box.  I had a tech come out, he ended up rewiring the house and putting in a signal amp.  This has helped somewhat, but the analog channels still leave room for improvement.  The tech said that the channels aren't as clear due to interference with the OTA frequencies... or some BS like that, and the SA 8000HD suffered more than the Pioneer box.

[Engineer]

dicktwi makes a good point about the SD channels, I have the SA box set to deliver the signal to my TV in whatever resolution the Time Warner gives it to me.  All of the SD channels come it to the TV as 480i, Fox and ABC are 720p and the other HD are 1080i.  I think it looks the best this way.  I believe this is because my TV is "scaling" the signal better for my screen than the SA cable box can.

I also noted that the analog channels look worse on the SA box compared to the old Pioneer HD box.  They seem much better when I bypass the SA cable box entirely and us the cable feed directly into the TV.

[Bigdog]

Does the cable out F connector out of the box work? I may try that to clear up these analog channels.  

Today we had network performance come out and say they need to replace a section of the hardline (which will take like a month) but even then it will still be pretty grainy. They have tried amp in the house (now one outside in the pedestal as a temp fix to the hardline). tilt attenuators, etc and still the picture looks like crap.

[summerfun]

You don't need the RF output on the box to work, just put a splitter in your cable before it goes to the box. Run one line to your TV cable input for all the analog channels (2-99) and use your cable box for the rest.

Not the way I would do it, but if you want RF for your analog, that is how it can be done.