DVI cables?

RadioRon said:

We watch mostly analog tv off the cable, and also some digital tv through the set-top box. When shopping for a new TV we went ahead and got a big one with new technology. I was prepared for disappointment when we fired it up because I had read and seen examples of very poor off-air analog performance in new digital sets. But to my big surprise our new TV shows analog cable signals much better than our old Sony 32 inch CRT set. Clarity, colour depth, focus, accuracy, sound, pretty much everything is improved except maybe brightness which is slightly less. The new set is a Samsung DLP unit, 56 inchs. We watch it from about 9 feet away. It is terrific with analog signals. It appears to be doubling the lines automatically which fills in very nicely and smooths out the picture. Also, the DLP function doesn't have any screen-door effect (you can't discern individual pixels) and I really like that. The only annoying thing is that we watch everything with black bars on the sides because the images are not 16:9, wastes some of the screen for sure. And to make things more annoying, more and more tv stations intentionally letterbox their shows even further knowing that many watchers are using "zoom" on their new sets to fill the screen. So they put black bars on top and bottom too! In those cases, our picture is the equivalent of a about a 46 inch conventional screen!

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You're not adjusting your set correctly - alter the screen size to fit the programme you're watching. There are three basic transmission types:

1) 4:3 - standard old square format (black bars at side).

2) 16:9 - widescreen (fills screen), mostly only digital transmissions, very rare to get an analogue 16:9.

3) 14:9 - a compromise - to fit between the first two, most analogue widescreen transmissions use 14:9. As you say, black bars top/bottom and sides. You simply need to set your TV to 14:9, this gets rid of the top and bottom bars, and makes the side ones much thinner.

Isn't your cable all digital?, most programmes should be 16:9 if it is - I don't think the UK uses analogue cable any more? (not that cable has much coverage anyway!).

Nigel Goodwin said:

You're not adjusting your set correctly - alter the screen size to fit the programme you're watching. There are three basic transmission types:

1) 4:3 - standard old square format (black bars at side).

2) 16:9 - widescreen (fills screen), mostly only digital transmissions, very rare to get an analogue 16:9.

3) 14:9 - a compromise - to fit between the first two, most analogue widescreen transmissions use 14:9. As you say, black bars top/bottom and sides. You simply need to set your TV to 14:9, this gets rid of the top and bottom bars, and makes the side ones much thinner.

Isn't your cable all digital?, most programmes should be 16:9 if it is - I don't think the UK uses analogue cable any more? (not that cable has much coverage anyway!).

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Thanks for the advice Nigel. With our TV, I can only achieve a 14:9 setting by selecting "zoom" while watching 4:3, as far as I know. However the TV won't let me do that with the setup that I have. You see, the only tuner I am presently using is the one in the external set-top box, and I use the component interface (also have HDMI but issue is the same) to feed signal from it to the TV. When the TV is using the component input, it will not allow me to use the "zoom" function. The only two picture sizes I can select are 16:9 or 4:3 and no other options are allowed. The other options are only offered if I am taking signal from the internal tuner, or via the conventional baseband video inputs (the ones that are not Component or HDMI) or via the S-video port. Now, of course, I could choose to take my TV programming via the RF input, or use the conventional analog video inputs from the set-top box, and then I can set for 14:9. But, reconfiguring inputs and picture sizes program by program is just far too much work and complexity for me and my wife. And since we also use the DVR function in the settop box a great deal, I prefer not to bypass it.

After this terribly confusing explanation if there remains anyone who is familiar with this model and can guide me to a more optimum setup I am "all ears".

To answer your question, we have about 60 channels of conventional analog, and then another couple of hundred channels that are digital (including the PPV movies). All of these are 4:3. Then we have about 13 channels of HD (16:9) which we seldom watch as few of the actual programs are filmed in HD anyways.

Well, using HDMI or Component it's probably expecting HD signals - and in the UK HDMI tends to be fixed at 16:9, and all HD transmissions are displayed in this format. It's quite possible that your Component input is limited as well, what I 'would' suggest is using RGB SCART - except you don't have that over there

I thought well over 50% of new programmes over there were filmed in HD now?.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Only problem is you can't buy any decent quality CRT sets now - all the decent manufacturers have stopped making them. All that's left is mostly cheap Turkish junk!.

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If that was the case then we would be going TFT but there's a fairly decient Bush TV in Sainsbury's for £200.

**broken link removed**

It's probably true, they aren't made any more but there's loads of old stock that needs to be got rid of.

Hero999 said:

If that was the case then we would be going TFT but there's a fairly decient Bush TV in Sainsbury's for £200.

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Bush went bust back in the 1970's - this is a cheap junk Turkish set (probably a Vestel?) with the Bush name stuck on it. Like I said, there's no decent CRT sets available now!.

Incidently, I was in Asda last night, and they had a range of different TV's on display - all the CRT ones looked crap compared with a Sharp and a Sony LCD they also had on display. Which shows how bad the cheap crappy TV's are!.