How important are cables?
 

Ok, so I got a Sony HDTV a couple of weeks ago. The HD picture is stunning (Comcast straight into the tuner, no box or cable card). My problem is when I'm watching SDTV thru my Directivo. I have like a light discoloration running from the bottom to the top of the screen. I don't know how to fix it so I'm hoping it might just be that I have to upgrade my S-Video cable from the TiVo to the TV.


*I also had the same light discoloration when I had my media PC hooked up thru S-Video but it went away when I switched it to HDMI.

It could be the cable. Could you describe the problem a little more? It could also just be the TV's Svideo input or the fact that NTSC (and analog cable) sucks.

I'm not sure how else to describe it.

If I have a completely black screen there will be a lighter (whiteish) bar the rolls from the bottom to the top of the screen. It's very noticable on black or dark sceens. It's not a channel specific thing as it happens on every channel. It's bad enough that my wife actually noticed it.


I didn't say in the previous post but the component imputs for the dvd players look fine.

That sounds like a grounding issue. Perhaps the sat or cable line is not grounded properly. Or something (not necessarily the Tivo) is plugged into a different circuit from the TV. You can test this stuff by unplugging connections one by one.

Sometimes a better video cable can help this, but if it is a grounding problem, fixing the grounds is the real solution.

Yeah I just got a new S-Video cable and the problem is still there. What I have noticed is that the interference is happening on the actual video itself and on the Tivo graphics.

Oh and if it was a grounding issue wouldn't that affect every input, ie the component and the HDMI inputs as well as the satilite input?

How do you have HD without a box or card? Does the TV have an OTA tuner?

As for your question - they are important, but not as much as companies like Monster make you think. Just get decent cables from monoprice.com.

Yeah it has a OTA tuner so even though I only have limited Comcast service I still somehow get HD locals from them.

Not necessarily. They can be tricky. It's cheap to test, though, if perhaps not easy. Start by unplugging the cable and sat lines. If that doesn't work, start unplugging power cords to test what it might be.

I have seen where an input on the TV itself was the spot where the grounding issue came up. Which could be an explanation for it only happening on Svideo. But cross that bridge if you come to it.

Does your TIVO support component output?