622 SD looking bad..

[rlu929s]

Not that it ever looked good but my stadard channels seem to look worse on my Panny EDTV Plasma now that I switched to HD.

Before I was using a Dish 500 sat with the 511(I think) DVR unit.

I thought the stadard channels look good enough.


Now though I watch them and the skins tones are pink and it just looks horrible.

I have to use the stretch on my unit instead of the great stretch mode on my TV which doesn't seem to work now when it did with the 511.

I love the HD content (when there's something good on) but I still watch a lot of SD shows etc. How does everyone else put up with it or am I doing something wrong?

[Mark Lamutt]

Try setting your 622 to output 480i and see if that helps when you're watching SD. Then you'll be able to use your television's stretch modes.

[rlu929s]

Does that mean I'll have to go in and change that every time or is there same way to set it to always do 480I on SD and 480P on HD.

I say 480P on HD because again my TV is only EDTV and that's the best it can do.

[tnsprin]

Does that mean I'll have to go in and change that every time or is there same way to set it to always do 480I on SD and 480P on HD.

I say 480P on HD because again my TV is only EDTV and that's the best it can do.

Probably you will see no difference on your TV between 480I and 480P. But you can give it a try. Its more often a question on HD tv's where setting to 480p may well give you a better picture on SD programming.

Hopefully a previously announced enhancement planned to come to the 622 will make this automatic.

[Rovingbar]

I'm surprised you can't use your stretch modes with 480p with with 'normal' stretch mode. That should allow you to use your TVs stretch modes.

For the tint/color issue, every receiver is a little different. You can adjust your set to get the best color representation. Try using the HDNet Test patterns (Every Tuesday morning) and look at the color bars. You might also try to find a movie scene that has some natural lighting (outdoor scene) and adjust contrast, hue, and tint to get natural skin tones. You may need different settings for component, composite, and HDMI.

Good luck,
Jeff

[Mark Lamutt]

Does that mean I'll have to go in and change that every time or is there same way to set it to always do 480I on SD and 480P on HD.

I say 480P on HD because again my TV is only EDTV and that's the best it can do.

Yes, you'd have to do that each time you want to change back and forth. Dish has talked about adding native resolution output to the 622, but it's a ways off yet.

[lujan]

Try setting your 622 to output 480i and see if that helps when you're watching SD. Then you'll be able to use your television's stretch modes.

Has anyone figured out a way to automatically change the resolution (via a macro) on the Harmony 880?

[dirtydan]

Has anyone figured out a way to automatically change the resolution (via a macro) on the Harmony 880?
This sounds like a fair idea, I suppose we could make a new activty. But I don't think we would be able to get it to go straight to 480i, would prob. have to use Menu just like with the 622, I could be wrong. What do you think is possible?

[Mark Lamutt]

I have a macro set up on my pronto - you have to set it up to go through the menu with automated remote presses.

[dirtydan]

I don't think I can do that with the Harmony.

[M5Guy]

Try using s-video inputs for SD instead of component or HDMI. I do this on both my Panny HD plasmas & switch inputs from HDMI for HD to S-video for SD. SD looks MUCH sharper on S-video than HDMI/component on these displays. However, on my Sammy DLP, component inputs look best for everything, SD & HD. Go figure!

[Rob Glasser]

Has anyone figured out a way to automatically change the resolution (via a macro) on the Harmony 880?

I tried to do this based on a post I read on AVS Forums a while back. Basically the suggestion there was to program a macro on a universal remote that supports standard macros, then have your Harmony learn that macro from the universal remote. I have a MX-500 that has the macro function so I made one to change the output resolution on my 622. I then tried to get my Harmony 880 to learn it as a new function but the Harmony would always think the learning was done before the macro was finished. I didn't really spend too much time on this so maybe with a little more working and getting the timing right it could be done. It's not elegant but possible.

[dirtydan]

Has anyone figured out a way to automatically change the resolution (via a macro) on the Harmony 880?
I set up a new activity in my Harmony 880 for S-Video and 480p, it did the S-Video, but not the 480P

[lujan]

I set up a new activity in my Harmony 880 for S-Video and 480p, it did the S-Video, but not the 480P

Yes, it's pretty easy to set up an activity to use a specific input for the TV or 622 but I don't know how to teach it to do a set of specific functions such as changing the resolution on the 622.