What am I doing wrong?!

[BrettD]

It has been a couple of weks now since I hooked up my new STB to my Hitachi HDTV RPTV via component video cables and although it locks on to 12-1, 1-1,1-2,1-3, etc., the picture quality is mediocre at best! It looks nothing like what I saw in Circuit City or American TV, which is "in-house" HD signals. The STB is set at 1080i resolution on the rear switch and confirms a HD signal source, yet crap for picture quality! Any ideas or suggestions is REALLY appreciated. The STB is Samsung's SIR-T165 (latest model available)

[ReesR]

I personally have a TS-160 but if I had your problem here is where I would start looking:

1. Did you try other resolutions other than 1080i?
2. Do you have RGB as an option?
3. How does S-video look? If better then component cable might be bad.
4. Does it look bad only when watching digital stations?  How about analog?
5. Are you sure your component cable is actually made for component use?
6. Have you verified the color coding of the component cable matches both the STB and TV?
7. Are you judging how it looks when only standard definition programming is on?
8. Have you adjusted brightness and contrast on the HD component input of your tv?

Those are but a few things to try to work on.  Feedback on these would help me or others help you further.

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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2 16X9
Bi-directional AntennaCraft VHF Yagi Model #2260P
+
2 Winegard PR9022 UHF yagi's pointing N & S
Antennas at about 30 feet
Samsung SIR-TS160 HD Directv receiver

[BrettD]

Thanks, Rees! Your advice gives me a place to start and a direction to go in. When you're lost in the woods a "compass" sure does help! I'll get back to you when I've tried these things. As of today, all I did was connect the STB once with those component video cables and then expected miracles, I guess. A little troubl-shooting is in order here. I specifically waited it out to get the 165, too, so that I'd have the "latest technology" with no problemos, but nothing's perfect, right!?

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[BrettD]

Rees, What did you mean (and how do I do it) abnout the contrast and brightness of the "component (HD) input" tha t my set top box is connected to? Does each video connection have the option of adjusting those and other aspects of the picture output? Does the RPTV maintain those settings?
Please let me know.