Distortion at very top of screen

Hi all,

I recently bought a new Sony 32" lcd tv. When I connected it to my
cable box (Scientific Atlanta 4250HD)using an HDMI cable, there is
distortion at the very top of the screen. The line of distortion is
white and maybe 1/16" wide. It's sort of a broken line that jiggles
across the top of the image (and only where the image is - not on the
grey side pillars). This line only shows up when watching a
standard def 4:3 image when there are grey pillars on each side. When
there are black pillars (hi def) or when the screen is widened (zoomed)
to 16:9, there is no distortion. The plot thickens: I tried using my
component cable to hook up the tv, and there is no distortion
whatsoever! I don't as of yet have another hdmi cable to try. I'm
wondering if this is an issue with the hdmi cable or possibly the cable
box. By the way, the hdmi cable is a Link Depot 6 foot model: HDMI-6-1.3R.

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated.

Dave

I see that sometimes when watching in "native" mode. My TV has 6
modes, which are not described usefully. But my manual says "native"
is supported for HDMI, so when my wife watched regular TV, she
complained about seeing this line.

I wish the settings were in two menus - one for people such as myself
who do not ever want distorted pictures, and one for the restaurants
and such who like the screen filled up.

My menu would only have the option to put subtitles off the picture.
Both settings would automatically adjust the picture according to the
input.

"Howard Brazee" wrote in message
...
I see that sometimes when watching in "native" mode. My TV has 6
modes, which are not described usefully. But my manual says "native"
is supported for HDMI, so when my wife watched regular TV, she
complained about seeing this line.

I wish the settings were in two menus - one for people such as myself
who do not ever want distorted pictures, and one for the restaurants
and such who like the screen filled up.

My menu would only have the option to put subtitles off the picture.
Both settings would automatically adjust the picture according to the
input.

Question? Is the distortion only visible on certain local stations that are
being converted to digital. One to three horizontal lines with flashing
bits of information seemingly scrolling through them, normally black & white
but also may be coloured?
VITS information at the top of the broadcast raster, not being blanked out
either at the originating broadcaster or not being removed when the signals
are bring converted.
Very common but irritating problem. Resolution would be for the broadcasters
to eliminate the signal being broadcast, which probably will not happen
until all the new broadcast equipment is finally installed and made fully
operational.
On your older 4x3 sets the only time these were visible was if the vertical
size of the raster was reduced during service procedures or due to a circuit
fault.

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:17:40 -0400, DIH wrote:

I recently bought a new Sony 32" lcd tv. When I connected it to my
cable box (Scientific Atlanta 4250HD)using an HDMI cable, there is
distortion at the very top of the screen.

Common; but you typically only see this on 4:3 standard definition
content, not HD programs.

On Sony TV's there's an adjustment under the Screen Settings for the
'Display Area'. Make sure it's set to 'Normal', not 'Full Pixel'. (The
names might vary slightly on your set)

If the problem is really bad, there's also adjustments under that menu
for horizontal and vertical centering.

A_C

Art wrote:


"Howard Brazee" wrote in message
...
I see that sometimes when watching in "native" mode. My TV has 6
modes, which are not described usefully. But my manual says "native"
is supported for HDMI, so when my wife watched regular TV, she
complained about seeing this line.

I wish the settings were in two menus - one for people such as myself
who do not ever want distorted pictures, and one for the restaurants
and such who like the screen filled up.

My menu would only have the option to put subtitles off the picture.
Both settings would automatically adjust the picture according to the
input.

Question? Is the distortion only visible on certain local stations that
are being converted to digital. One to three horizontal lines with
flashing bits of information seemingly scrolling through them, normally
black & white but also may be coloured?
VITS information at the top of the broadcast raster, not being blanked
out either at the originating broadcaster or not being removed when the
signals are bring converted.
Very common but irritating problem. Resolution would be for the
broadcasters to eliminate the signal being broadcast, which probably
will not happen until all the new broadcast equipment is finally
installed and made fully operational.
On your older 4x3 sets the only time these were visible was if the
vertical size of the raster was reduced during service procedures or due
to a circuit fault.


You hit it on the head Art. Yes, the distortion is only visible on a
number of "local" channels and is exactly as you described: "One to
three horizontal lines with flashing bits of information seemingly
scrolling through them". Again, I only get this with the hdmi cable, not
the component interconnects.

Dave

Agent_C wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:17:40 -0400, DIH wrote:

I recently bought a new Sony 32" lcd tv. When I connected it to my
cable box (Scientific Atlanta 4250HD)using an HDMI cable, there is
distortion at the very top of the screen.

Common; but you typically only see this on 4:3 standard definition
content, not HD programs.

On Sony TV's there's an adjustment under the Screen Settings for the
'Display Area'. Make sure it's set to 'Normal', not 'Full Pixel'. (The
names might vary slightly on your set)

Yup, I do have it set to "Normal".

If the problem is really bad, there's also adjustments under that menu
for horizontal and vertical centering.

A_C

Unfortunately, Sony did not (at least on my model)include these adjustments.

Thanks for the input.

Dave

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:09:05 -0400, "Art"
wrote:

Question? Is the distortion only visible on certain local stations that are
being converted to digital. One to three horizontal lines with flashing
bits of information seemingly scrolling through them, normally black & white
but also may be coloured?

Yeah, that's what I sometimes see, watching regular TV with "Native"
mode.

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:50:14 -0400, DIH wrote:

Unfortunately, Sony did not (at least on my model)include these adjustments.

What's the specific model number for this TV?

A_C

Agent_C wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:50:14 -0400, DIH wrote:

Unfortunately, Sony did not (at least on my model)include these adjustments.

What's the specific model number for this TV?

A_C

My bad. The set does have controls for vertical settings ( I missed them
initially because they were greyed out). Model is: KDL-32M4000

Thanks,

Dave

I suspect that it has to do with your digital image having no overscan
at all. Supposedly every picture is like this, and becomes more
noticeable with brownout situations. As a result TV manufacturers
would crop the picture to ensure a better image, although if you've
ever seen the bottom cut off from a low news scrawl you know that
they've gone too far.

How's the electricity in your area? I'm noticing more flashouts over
here. Better not leave my computer and TV on.