Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Picture is Is not Clear on Toshiba 52HM84

Feb 11, 2005 1:25AM PST

I owned Toshiba 52HM84, I have Charter Cable and the guy came to my place and install the HD Reciever box. However, the quality is not as good as when I saw it at Best Buy. Is that because at Best Buy they used Sateline and I'm have cable. Because it so much different in the Quality of picture.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Could be
Feb 12, 2005 8:05AM PST

So many things factor in when it comes to settings, video source, signal strength, tv, etc. But, yes, it's likely your cable. I used to have comcast. I switched to comcast 'digital', and was VERY unimpressed with it. I then went to DirecTV, and the sound and video quality were both very impressive. Reason being, with 'digital' cable, it's still not a pure digital source.. it fed to your carrier, and they feed it to you. And, in addition, they don't tell you that many of your stations, especially your local stations, are STILL analog (same as regular cable). With satellite, each person is getting a pure digital feed from the sky, right to their dish.. no routing/re-routing through various sources before getting to you TV. And, it's cheaper than my cable was.. Try it, you won't be disappointed! You may/may not continue to have trouble with standard (non-HD, non-DVD) channels.. some people do, and some say they don't. Again, many factors.. the connections they choose to use, settings, etc. But satellite should show you and improvement. And look at it as a long-term investment. In a few years, everyone is going to be broadcasting their signals in the format that these TVs were designed for (more HD channels).

- Collapse -
hdtv cable
Feb 12, 2005 9:28AM PST

Kromance.... I to have recently purchased a HDTV (SONY) and upgraded my cable to hd digital.. on a tv of this quality you will notice a remarkable picture on HD channels,stunning in it's reality.On all other channels however you are feeding an ANALOG picture into a digital reciever.You will notice some effects such as "screen door effect" as the signal doesn't match the t.v. This is the simple explation. I'm sure at Best Buy you were only shown the highest quality HD channels and never the standard analog broadcast. Still, I would never go back to plain old vanilla t.v. HDTV is that great.We only have about 20 HD channels so far around here (comcast),but I can almost allways find something to watch.All the major networks co-broadcast in HD in primetime,just switch to their HD co-channel. For instance Fox is channel 13 here and their hd channel is 813.You can play with the settings on your tv to adjust all other channels to your liking.Just experiment a little and you will find a good picture.Sometimes I have to take my sony out of widescreen mode to get a great picture on a regular broadcast. Good Luck

- Collapse -
Unclear picture
Feb 15, 2005 5:07AM PST

I have the exact same unit. I dont have your problem. I would suspect it is your cable connection. Make sure all is tight. If you have any splitters in the cable to your TV it will degrade picture quality with each splitter. You may also get "Noise" from attached power cords and stray radio signals. Try to tighten connections first. Make sure you have digital cable. and then try the power stuff. Good luck to you. Remember your anolog signals will look bad any ways just larger.
Bgold