Cable, HDTV, coxial, hdmi: newbie needs help

February 29, 2008 6:28 AM

I just bought a Panasonic TH-50PX77U. Great tv so far. I have digital cable service and wanted to hook up my cable/dvr box (supplied by cable company) to the tv via HDMI. No signal, which I assume means the port is blocked. I heard that cable companies disable a lot of features on their dvrs. So, I had to connect using the standard coaxial cable I used with my old tube tv. Since the digital cable service is coming into the dvr via coaxial, is it still digital going to the tv via coaxial? Do I need a digital coaxial cable? Should I start griping with the cable company to open up HDMI? All help is appreciated.
posted by medarby to technology (7 comments total)

No. Coaxial from the cable box to the tv is going to be analog and standard definition. The digital coaxial cable you linked to would be for digital audio from your cable box (or a DVD player) to an audio receiver that accepts digital audio.

You should talk to the cable company- it might be just a configuration issue. My limited experience is that HDMI should be activated on newer cable boxes. Second best solution would be to use the component video cables for high definition video, and whatever audio connection is available for sound.
posted by gjc at 6:45 AM on February 29, 2008

Yea, it's quite strange that a new PVR would have it's HDMI output disabled. Call the cable company and get them to help you with the setup.

Either way, unless you want your HD channels to look awful, you need to connect the set-top box via component or HDMI.
posted by Nelsormensch at 7:00 AM on February 29, 2008

When the tech set up my cable box (Scientific Atlanta) he had to enable the HDMI Audio output via the Settings->Devices menu so there may be something similar for you.
posted by mcarthey at 7:56 AM on February 29, 2008

I would suggest looking up your DVR online. I have found lots of hidden features related to mine, including menus for some of the ports, just by hitting the right sequence of buttons on the remote (up,down,up,down,B,A,B,A,Start).
posted by Big_B at 10:00 AM on February 29, 2008

I find HDMI connections can be touchy. I have a Panasonic TV connected to a cable box/dvr as well, and every once in a while, when I turn my TV on, I won't get a picture. Usually, power-cycling either the TV or the DVR does the trick, so perhaps if you've only tried the HDMI port once, try it again?

BTW, the answers regarding the quality of the signal via coax are not quite right. If you use the tuner in your cable box/DVR (i.e., you switch channels via your cable box), it is true that you won't get anything better than a standard definition signal. However, your TV has what is known as a QAM tuner, which allows you to view high definition cable channels that are not encrypted. Most cable companies do not encrypt those channels unless they are subscription (e.g., HBO). So it is possible to watch high definition TV even if you are connected via coax.

Having said that, the HDMI port on your cable box should work. Was your previous TV a standard definition set? If so, it's possible your cable box never had a working HDMI port and you may need to swap it out for one that works. Another possibility is that you need to pay extra to get high definition channels, although that really shouldn't affect the ability to receive a signal for the standard definition channels through the HDMI port.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 10:30 AM on February 29, 2008

I called the cable company and they said the port was not disabled. I power cycled the cable/dvr box and it worked. Thanks for all the help!
posted by medarby at 2:35 PM on February 29, 2008

One more thing to try for future reference: on occasion, I don't get a picture on my TV when I turn it on until I play back a prerecorded show from the dvr. Once I do that, the picture comes back and I can watch TV like normal.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 3:05 PM on February 29, 2008