New HDTV - Fuzzy Picture?

Question

I just got my new HDTV the other day and I have everything hooked up, but the HD channels look fuzzy to me.

I bought a Toshiba 42RV530U 1080p LCD

I have DirecTV and made sure I got the HD programming. I also purchased the DirecTV HD DVR, a Belkin Pure AV surge protector/filter, and I have a Monster Cable 800 series HGMI cable.

I have a 50" Sony Grand Vega 720p that is a few years old and it has HD as well so the Sat Dish should all be fine since direcTV installed it when we moved in 2 years ago. I have tried just about everything I can think of and no luck.

I am really frustrated and upset about this

Answer 1

It's probably DirectTV's fault. Talk to them, they should fix it.

Answer 2

Double check your Direct TV box connected to your Toshiba...I will bet the box is set for 480 and not 1080....since you're using HDMI cable between the two units, and the Box is HD there is no other possibility causing your HD TV stations to look like Low Def TV shows....

Of course a 100% HD TV signal is what you need for testing...

I recommend you find the DISCOVERY HD THEATER station and use that for testing...It's 100% HD all the time...

The logo is HDTH or HDT depending on your provider....

USE IT...set your Direct TV Video output resolution to 1080 and your Wide to 16:9  and look at it again...

It should be razor sharp, and if it's not, pull the HDMI plug until the picture blanks...then plug it back in again so it re-establishes handshaking.

If it doesn't look good after doing that, then you have a real problem, and you have to make a choice of exchanging the entire contents of the TV box at the store, or getting a TV Tech out to your home and fix it.

Of course "fuzzy" is subjective....

Answer 3

First of all, there are two different standards going on here.  One is HD or High Definition.  For this standard, only the few channels that you have that are HD (if you subscribe to HD via your dish provider) will be in HD, the rest of the channels will be in standard format.  Many of these packages may only have a few to a dozen channels only that are in HD.

The other standard is Digital.  For example, if you have a local tv antenna and they broadcast in digital format, and your tv is capable of digital reception, you can see a much better picture.  But, you have to retune your channels to elliminate the analog channels and add the digital channels.

You can have neither digital nor HD, HD but not digital, digital but not HD, or both digital and HD.  Check the capabilities of your system.

Finally, check your cables.  If you are still using an old RG-6 coax cable, consider changing them.  Use the best set of cables your system is capable of.  "Component" cables (4 separate wires" are one of the best, Composite" cables (3 wires, and separate for audio", is the next best, and S-VGA is the lower of the 3.  Coax is the very lowest of the 4.