[hwoarang]

Hi,

I saw this thread and signed up on this forum just to ask you guys the following. I have the 34Xbr960, the picture is amazing, i have adelphia/ TW cable with locals in HD and honestly I haven't seen another display that can touch it for PQ.

I bought the 34xbr970 for my girlfriend and we subscribed to Dish Network for the HD lineup as there is no ota signal without an external antenna in her area. The HD picture is not very good at all. They gave us the VIP211 receiver and im connected through a monster 400 HDMI cable. No calibration etc on the tv as yet but i've played with the settings by eye. Sony are very adament that the 970 has the superfine pitch that my 960 has, but the stubborn lot on avsforum insist it doesnt. Perhaps they're right? Or is Dish just not as good as the cable i recieve in my area.

What is your experience? Any advice you can offer would be great as I still have 2 weeks to cancel Dish.

Cheers!

 

[William]

Welcome to the forum and my condolences for being raped by the Monster Cable add on. Did you switch the video output of the 622 from 480 to 1080 in the Setup menu? It sounds like yours is still in the default 480 mode.

 

[hwoarang]

Thanks for the reply. LOL. I'm taking the cable back until Dish send me the component cable. I just wanted to eliminate another point of failure with so many unknowns. I actually have the VIP211 not the 622 I see everyone talking about. I think I already set this to 1080i when I was at my gf's place, but I'll run through that with her tonight and see if it helps.

Welcome to the forum and my condolences for being raped by the Monster Cable add on. Did you switch the video output of the 622 from 480 to 1080 in the Setup menu? It sounds like yours is still in the default 480 mode.

 

[William]

...I'm taking the cable back until Dish send me the component cable...

HDMI cable is a far better choice that component. You can order HDMI cables for less than $4 from monoPrice.

 

[LtMunst]

HDMI cable is a far better choice that component.

Far better is a bit of an overstatement. For most viewers, the difference is not that significant between Component and HDMI. Slightly better...yes, far better...don't think so.

 

[hwoarang]

LTMunst, thanks for the reply, I dont have the component cable yet so I can't verify. But William was right about the settings. Bam! The picture quality jumped up. I havent seen it yet, but my gf confirms that it looks more like what she is used to on my tv although she still feels that the cable/960 combo still has the edge for quality.

Williams welcome was a bit condesceding, but I agree, Monster cables are overpriced but excellent quality nevertheless.

Thanks all for your help, this is my first time with satellite and i'm not physically at the location to troubleshoot. Much appreciated!

 

[smashr]

First, I have owned both the 960 and 970, and I can tell you 100% without a doubt in my mind that the 960 has the SuperFinePitch tube and the 970 does not. No question whatsoever. Just look 6" from the TV and you can easily see the vertical lines. The 970 has about 900-1000 vertical lines of resolution and the 960 has 1400ish.

Second, on my 960, the component looks slightly better.

Third, people have already said www.monoprice.com for all your cable needs.

As for the actual PQ question, assuming the box is set to 1080i, then the only thing left to tell you is that Dish on a 970 is going to produce significantly worse PQ than OTA on a 960.

 

[William]

Actually componint may be better choice since your TV is a CRT and not digital display. Also the thing with HDMI is the quality of the cable in general doesn't matter because it is a digital singnal. As long as the 0's and 1's get from point A (STB) to pont B (TV) a $4 cable will proform the same as a $100 cable.

 

[hwoarang]

yeah thanks both of you. I'm going over there tomorrow so I'll try it for myself and determine which one looks better. My gf is a film editor so shes big on pic quality. Also my comparison was between the 960/cable HD vs 970/Dish HD. havent seen it myself yet so i can't comment. I'll be playing around with it tomorrow and make the determination.


Smashr how did you arrive at that vertical resolution count, you sound like you're from Avsforum. Sony are adament that the 970 DOES have the SFP. They say that it is not listed as a feature but it's there because it is their only CRT and thus have no reason to justify it anymore. SFP is a given on an XBR model. Save the response though, i've read the avsforums thoroughly and they are way to stubborn to even contemplate that the 970 does have the SFP.

 

[RobR7]

First, I have owned both the 960 and 970, and I can tell you 100% without a doubt in my mind that the 960 has the SuperFinePitch tube and the 970 does not. No question whatsoever. Just look 6" from the TV and you can easily see the vertical lines. The 970 has about 900-1000 vertical lines of resolution and the 960 has 1400ish.

Second, on my 960, the component looks slightly better.

Third, people have already said www.monoprice.com for all your cable needs.

As for the actual PQ question, assuming the box is set to 1080i, then the only thing left to tell you is that Dish on a 970 is going to produce significantly worse PQ than OTA on a 960.

I have a 960 and I agree the component cables are better, the hdmi tends to be darker regardless of mode, etc. I never realized the 970 wasn't a superfinepitch, guess I'm not going to be jealous of the newer/cheaper model anymore.

3 things to consider...

Make sure you're set to 1080i or 720p... since the set can't do true 1080i (not enough lines) I often wonder if its best to let the tv downrez 1080i or uprez the 720p to fit. I do know my old H10 did a better 480 to 720 than to 1080.

Not sure if TW downrezes the sig... its unavoidable with Sats.

The ultimate test is get some rabbit ears and do OTA HD... just can't beat it.