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HDMI problem with cable box...any suggestions?

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HDMI problem with cable box...any suggestions?

Old 09-28-05, 06:52 PM
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HDMI problem with cable box...any suggestions?

I was just using the regular component cables that came with my Cox Cable HD-DVR box, because we only get 10 channels in HD now, I thought the pic looked pretty good, and to save the $50-$100 until we had more HD channels to get the benefit from them then.

Well, the regular cables started causing "ghosting" on most of my channels. A white line, fairly wide, would move from the left to the right across my screen over and over again on most channels. Very annoying.

Cox came out and switched the cables and there was no more ghosting.

Two weeks later and the ghosting was back and worse than before.

So, I order the HDMI cables. First thing I notice is the picture is much brighter, but on some HD channels it actually seemed to show more "artifacts" in the picture than did my components.

But when I used the menu buttom on my cable remote to bring up the tv listings and episode description it's almost blurry. It's definately not clear or sharp the way it is with the components. Why would this be?

And when I use the cable remote to do anything, there is a fairly long pause. If I'm watching ESPN HD and it's in 4 x 3 and I go to hit stretch, there's a delay where the pic freezes for second and then goes back to normal.

Sometimes even when I change channels there's a slight delay or freeze and then the show kicks in-that never happened with the components.

Why would HDMI cables affect the menu guide from my cable box and make the listing look a little blurry? Why the pauses, where the picture and sound stops for a second, almost like it needs to catch up, when I use the stretch button or change the channels, and why would some of the HD channels seem to have more artifacts (more like what an average video dvd looks like) with HDMI?

Anyone know?

Thanks.
Old 09-28-05, 07:18 PM
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Why would HDMI cables affect the menu guide from my cable box and make the listing look a little blurry? Why the pauses, where the picture and sound stops for a second, almost like it needs to catch up, when I use the stretch button or change the channels, and why would some of the HD channels seem to have more artifacts (more like what an average video dvd looks like) with HDMI?
Since HDMI is digital all the way I suspect that it may have something to do with the fact that the menu guide is analog and the feed may or may not be true hd.

Then again it could be the box. I do not have these issues with my Direct TV via DVI.
Old 09-29-05, 10:26 AM
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What kind of artifacts? There have been issues with poor HDMI cables causing problems, described as "sparklies". Or it could just be coincidence and there is questionable signal getting to you. But the blurriness is over the top. Brian may be right about that problem, if your cable box is trying to add something to the digital signal and is not up to the task.

The ghosting you describe is most likely one of two things. (1) It's in the source. (2) Bad grounding. The cable coming in should be grounded outside. Most the time they skip this. If that's the problem, make Cox do it right.

A better component cable can help, but it can't stop either of those if they are bad. That may be what happened to you. You should not need to spend that much for cables, either.

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