blackbeagle

My buddy finally joined the 21st century and bought a 40 in Regza flat screen a few months ago. I go over to his house to watch Sunday football and we've been watching his 27" RCA tube for over 10 years now.

NOw he has the Toshiba and it's still not in HD. He has the basic Comcast package, but from what I've been told, all locals should be in HD. that way we can at least see the CBS or Fox games on HD.

How do I get this? I tried tuning in and cannot pick up any HD signals. Does anyone else have Comcast? I have D* so I'm not sure what channels are the HD local channels for Comcast.

TxTazDad

You can bypass the cable box & reprogram the TV tuner, but it's a REAL pain to find all the stations that way (they'll have decimal type program #'s) or upgrade to HD & you'll get an HD cable box (which is what I did)

Deja-vue

I wonder if he's using the same Cables.
The TV needs to be connected via HDMI Cable or at least Component Cables.
Nothing else will give you HD.

I have seen this at Customers Homes, were the "Cable-guy" switched the Cablebox but left the old cabling (up to 480i) in place.

Once corrected, the cablebox needs to be configured to output in HD, there must be settings which will let you output 480i>480p>720p>1080i>1080p.

TxTazDad

All I know is that before I got the HD box, I ran the cable straight to my HDTV & our "normal" HD CBS channel was supposed to be 311, but my TV picked it up as 92.1 & I had to find it manually that way, when they hooked it up with the box they used the same cable, so I disagree with the cabling thing. The only time that will come into play is between video components i.e. a DVD player. Think about it, the signal is coming into the house on coax., not HDMI or component cables

bkdude

The problem isn't the coax going to the box, the problem is the wiring going from the box to the TV.

1: Take your box
2: See what cable it is using (NOT the coax. That does not lead to the TV)
3: If the cables are yellow, red, and white, you are using normal definition.
4: If the cables are red, green, and blue, with red and white sound cables, You are running component = 1080i max. If your TV supports 1080p, You might want to use HDMI
5: If there is ONE cable coming out of the box leading to your TV that has a flat end and most likely says "HDMI" then it is HDMI and there is no problem with the box-tv connection.
6: Once you have the cabling resolved, Make sure your box is set to output to your TV in HD


If you are still confused, let me explain it in laments terms.

There is a freeway. (your coax cable) This freeway connects to a very large intersection. (your box) Now, standard compoSITE cabling (yellow, red, white) is like an alley street. Now if theres only a few cars going by, its alright (480i) but if theres a ton of cars (480p+) Then you have congestion, and rather than having cars going by slowly (visual lag) Only the important ones go through. (downscaled to 480i)

Component is like a highway, and HDMI is like another freeway. Either way, its going to be a lot better than compoSITE, (notice the difference between compoNENT and compoSITE) but if your TV supports 1080p, an HDMI cable would be in order.

I hope this helps.

blackbeagle

I think this is what he has. He has coax running from the wall to his VCR (I told you this guy is an old timer). From his VCR, he's running another Coax to back of the TV. What I did was run the coax directly from the wall to his TV and tried to tune in but all I got was SD signal.

Can anyone tell me if I'm doing this right or is there another way of doing it? I'm going back there tomorrow to watch the game.

thx

Deja-vue

Tell the old Man to call his Cable-Company first and order the HD-Package.
Mostlikely he will also need a new Cablebox.
You can try to connect the cable directly to the TV (as mentioned by others) and re-scan the Tuner.
But the TV won't get any Premium channels (most HD Channels are Premium).

Good Luck!

wrench97

With Comcast you need the HD box to get HD here in PA. the signal is filtered or scrambled and the box has to decode it. Straight coax from the wall will only give you SD.

yustr

I have Comcast and get HD channels directly to my HDTV. But as TxTazDad said, they appear on stations with weird numbers 8.1 & 61.1 (CBS and Fox). I programmed those as my favorites so I can skip right through them. But it is a pain-in-the-behind.

Try hooking the cable up directly and stepping through the TV's auto channel search feature. Let it work - mine takes many minutes - then use the channel button and step through all of them. If it saw any HD channels they should appear in the sequence.

blackbeagle

My buddy and I aren't worried about premium channels in HD> All we want is to watch our beloved Vikings in HD. He got this TV a few months ago and we've still not seen what HD looks like on it.

What I've been told by local big box stores is I shouldn't need an HD box. Just run the Coax right into the HDTV and do a scan, which I tried. By law, cable/satellite companies must offer local channels in HD w/o subscribing. You shouldn't need rabbit ears either.

Again, this was what i was told. Comcast CS told me I need a new HD box and need to subscribe to HD service. I just want locals. I shouldn't need to subscribe to that.

wrench97

Are you sure the local channel has started broadcasting in HD?

blackbeagle

A long time ago. Remember.....all we want is to watch football on CBS or Fox. Both have the games in HD.

yustr

I can find no rule or regulation that says a cable company HAs to carry local channels in HD. You may have heard that they (the local channels) broadcast in HD for free - and that's true - but these are "over-the-air" and you need an antenna to get them. If you have an antenna - try hooking that up to the HDTV and scanning for stations. Depending on where you live relative to the broadcast towers, you may be able to get them. Go HERE to see which stations you might get for free.

blackbeagle

I talked to a local big box store and that's what they told me.

Update: Gave my buddy directions on plugging in the Coax from the wall and do a scan a few times. Bingo, he got the HD local channels locked and loaded. He couldn't be more thrilled. To finally see something in HD at his house is something he's been waiting on forever.

TxTazDad

glad to hear you got it working