sorcyone

Obviously it's not the best possible audio. Check the grammar. Adverbs cancel out adjectives from nouns before a conjunction.

I use a DVD recorder onto RW discs, then edit away with Nero on the PC and make new DVDs.

For heaven's sake people. Enough of the bad advice please. Captain, What you need is what I use -> SCART to component + audio. You get the best possible picture and also audio. It's also called "SCART to 5 RCA" and if you want to google that's the best search criteria. It's about $30 at Jaycar and this cable is in such high demand it's hard to find a shop with one in stock. Do not get the SCART to COMPONENT RGB + 3 RCA - thats just 2 way AV - yuch!

I got the TEAC 80cm late 1999 (for the Olympics). It was good value then. It is now used as Xbox display. Only problem is isn't scanning properly and the image is warped like an hourglass and cropped on the sides. On the sides I lose about 1cm around the middle and about 4cm around the top. Can this be fixed ?

I have had Foxtel for about 7 years and I found if you want better PQ then check your wall connection. This needs to be tight. Unfortunately it's the antique ring with the wire in the middle and it's hard to get the middle wire well connected. Trust me just a small adjustment of this cable can improve or reduce your picture. Try to position the cable in a spot it will never be moved. Your best benchmark is channel 9 for Showtime a they have a large bandwidth.

Don't be surprised if teac returns it to you not fixed. They might even sting you with a bill for working on it. The problem may be an incompatibility between STB and TV with DVI which is quite a common problem. Do try the STB on another TV first. If that works then you are out of luck. You really should try out all interfaces when you buy it so you can still return it. You could then try it on with TEAC repair but they may just claim it is your TV at fault (is it still under warranty ?)

The Hotchip is a really good unit. It just has major compatibilty problems. Get it but be prepared to return it.

Assuming the 2 devices use compatible protocols. There are many STB out there with problems at different resolutions between DVI and HDMI. HDMI to HDMI you have fewer problems.

I have had some bad experiences with HDMI (from DVI). IMHO not everything is compatible. Although the data gets there, it's the interpretation by the software that makes a difference. It may be the LG is not generating a picture entirely compatible with your TV. What TV are you using ? Component being a more mature standard will alway be more compatible. I would assume the LG is at fault. Does your HD STB have the same problem ?

Classic retail trick these days: sell you something cheap that doesn't work and con you into buying something more expensive to replace it. This places you in a bad bargaining position. You should get your money back then negotiate for the LG. Also $420 is too much for the LG. You should pay $400 at the very most. Even at $400 I consider the LG poor value.

It can't be proven either way. The hotchip has caused a lot of compatibility problems for ppl but I haven't seen any reports of problems with the Hitachi so I put my money on the STB being the problem.

Warning : Do not buy the Hotchip ODT-4000HD. With the DVI to HDMI on the Hitachi the picture is not compatible at 1080i, and buggy at 720p (requires resolution cycling). I have confirmed this on 2 separate STBs and Hitachis. At 1080i the picture gets a purple wash and shakes. At 720p on some channels (esp ABC and SBS) the picture can shake, or miss every other frame. Cycling the resolution resolves this. Unfortunately it happens on every channel change. Component and VGA is OK.

Your best bet is to return it and get a different brand or model. 1080i DVI to the Hitachi 8800 has problems. I went back to the store different STB and TV and same problem. DVI to HDMI could be part of the problem. 720p was also a problem but the workaround was to cycle the resolution and the picture went good. This was all under DVI. Component was fine.

When they first installed Foxtel for me they put in SCART to 6 RCA for both in and out A/V so the VCR could use the AV bypass on FOXTEL unit (Press AV on the Foxtel remote and the VCR sends the picture instead of Foxtel). This is handy with older TVs with limited inputs. In practice though it is a pain and a little confusing for people other than me so I don't use it anymore and the VCR output goes straight to the TV. Another idea I just thought of - you could put the component to the DVD recorder and output from that to the TV. That way you get to record component. This could reduce the TV picture though with component not being direct. I might give that a try tonight. My DVD recorder was quite cheap ($123) and it has trouble with bright colours so this might help.

I finally got my Foxtel digital set up right. You can use all 3 outputs. This is what you want : 1. Foxtel SCART to component + audio on TV. This cable is called SCART to 5 RCA and is quite hard to get hold of. I got one from Jaycar. 2. Foxtel SCART to composite + Audio on DVD recorder. The second SCART only outputs composite . They do this to encourage you to get Foxtel IQ. 3. Foxtel A/V to VCR. My TV has as input (and the cables are a bloody mess). AV1 Foxtel AV2 DVD player (for divx). AV3 DVD recorder AV4 VCR HDMI1 HD STB Depending on your signal strength you might be better off not using the TV's HD receiver so you can record direct from the HD STB.

I spoke to JB and they said bring it in to the store and they will test it. I will do this on Thursday night. I suppose I could leave it on VGA since I don't have a spare component input. I will have to find a cable. A digital connection would have been nicer.

When I tried the Toshiba J35 I could not get HD reception on at all on 9, or 10, and 7 was bad. And that was with only one of the twin tuners connected. (The Toshiba was refunded) With the Hotchip I get perfect picture on all channels, except for the 2 problems I have listed above. My problems seem to be software, especially since the second I can solve by cycling the resolution. We also get very poor analogue reception on 9 and 10 (Lane Cove). Analogue and HD use different frequencies so that might not be it. One thing I found - you need a good RF cable with tight connections. I had a problem for a while with a dodgy one that I would never have noticed the problem on analogue. You should try switching each cable and also compare component connection to narrow down the problem.

I just noticed a new problem under 720p using DVI to HDMI. On SBS the subtitles are shaking. Without subtitles the image looks like it is missing every second frame, looks like the bionic man effect, and it gives me a headache to watch it. Cycling the resolution actually fixes it ! The problem was occurring last night on SBS and no other channel.

I can't really see the difference either between component, RGB or DVI input. Still DVI should be better as it's digital. I would be happy to just use the component on my 8800 but I am already using the 2 component inputs (I could actuallly use 4, my DVD recorder has to use S video) so I would really like to use the HDMI input. Now I have to decide whether to live with 720p, or refund or try another STB. It could be an inherent incompatibility between the DVI being output and the HDMI implementation on the 8800.

Update : I replaced the cable with a 3m from Jaycar and same problem. It looks like the STB. Anybody else with Hotchip ODT-4000HD have problems with 1080i on the DVI out ?

The Hitachi is 1024x1024.

Thanks. I'll try another cable first as you suggest, then take the STB back. The 1m is too short anyway I need at least 1.5m. Now that I think about it I did have the TV on 1080i briefly with a J35 before I returned it for a refund (really bad STB that one - couldn't get a good reception, 5 to 20 seconds to change the channel, hard to use remote etc.). So it's pretty unlikely to be the TV. The reason I went cheap ? We already have Foxtel digital so we watch very little FTA. We don't watch much sport. I only got the STB for 7 and 10 which are analog on Foxtel. BTW the Hotchip is cheap, but IMHO it's a damn good STB.

I just bought a Hotchip ODT-4000HD ($250 from JB hifi). It is working fantastically except in 1080i the picture flashes and the colours are washed to purple. 720p is fine. The TV is Hitachi 42DP8800TA using the HDMI input. The cable is a cheap HDC301 HDMI to DVI 1 metre cable (HDMI 19pin to 27 ping DVI). I connected use component and RGB and they work fine at 1080i, it's just the DVI to HDMI. Possible causes in order of likelyhood IMO: 1. Bad cable. 2. Interference (I have a lot of stuff connected to the TV - VCR, DVD player, DVD recorder, Foxtel). 3. Problem with DVI on the Hotchip. 4. Problem with HDMI on the Hitachi. Can anybody help ? At this point I an intending to return the cable and use RGB or component (prefer component but not enough component inputs on the Hitachi). I really like the Hotchip. BTW I just noticed channel 10 has no logo on HD - nice.

I switch mine back to 4:3 when viewing divx files. My LG truncates the top and bottom slightly with them in 16:9 which is quite annoying since my PC doesn't.

--> QUOTE(Mike B @ Jan 18 2006, 12:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just a word of warning, I have one of the Foxtel boxes that supports YUV (UEC 1000) and I have to say the YUV/component quality was really not worth the cost. Furthermore I would get a purple ghosting effect to the left and right of any light blue object on the screen (Discovery Science watermark is a good example). Tried it on both my Hitachi PDP and my old TV with 2 different brands of Scart to Component cables with identical results. Strangely scart to svideo worked fine... M. I have component to the 42PD8800TA. Using the second SCART output (which is composite) to compare the picture and the difference is noticeable. The picture with component is much better especially on showtime and channel 9. I have not seen any ghosting effects.