I hooked the SA3250HD to my HDTV with component cable, got all HD channels everything works great but just couldn't see the pass through option from picture setting. I followed the same instruction as specified in user guide but only see 480i std, 480p std, 480i wide, 480p wide, 720p and 1080i formats; no pass through, upconvert etc.. Any idea?:confused:

lostmytoy:

As per the FAQ: Tips for SA STBs:

press the settings button twice and go to "set picture formats". Pick "passthrough" as this will allow 480i and 1080i signals to go to the TV through the component video connection. If you pick "fixed" then you'll only get 1080i out of the STB and that will not allow you to stretch the signal on your TV (if you've got a widescreen TV.)

FAQ is here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719

I believe lostmytoy is confusing the advanced setup wizard with the "set picture format". Please read the FAQ above, it should be clear then.

I still don't get it I'll try again when I got home. So I've to press setting button twice to access the pass through option, right? How is it different from the channel setting. I can see all 480i to 1080i options in that menu and can change the channel to display any of these resolution. Aren't these resolutions processed by the STB?

lostmytoy:

As 57 has noted, you are confusing the advnaced setup wizard with setting the STB to passthrough.

Read the FAQ I linked to in my previous post, but in short, after you have chosen WHICH resolutions the STB can pass to your TV (480i, 720p, 1080i, etc...) in the Advanced Setup Wizard then you can go into the Setup menu (pressing settings twice and going to the Set Picture Format option) and choose HOW you want the STB to pass the broadcast signals to your HDTV, i.e.: Passthrough, Upconvert 1, etc...

And yes, try it when you get home.

Thanks for your help, I finally got pass through last night. I was confused by the quick setting menu initially as it shows all resolutions for my TV. After running the advance setup wizard, the STB by default is in 'fix'. But through the quick setting menu I was able to switch any resolutions that my TV supports. Interesting though in pass though mode I saw 720p in addition to 480i and 1080i as mentioned in FAQ. Does it mean that some HD channels actually broadcast in 720p?

Seems like fix mode is more flexible for me as I can switch among the formats with different channels. Somehow it is faster too. Switching channels with different resolutions took longer in pass through.

Just want to clarify one thing, the STB will convert signals in all modes (i.e. fix and upconvert1, etc..) except pass through mode, right?

Yes, some HD channels broadcast in 720p (WUTV-HD Fox, WKBW-HD ABC, and WNED-HD PBS) while the majority broadcast in 1080i.

Setting the STB to fix will not give you the best possible picture as everything will be upconverted to 1080i. That may sound like a good thing but it actually is not. That is why it is recommended to set your STB to passthrough so that the STB passes the signal to the TV for the TV to process the signal and converts it to its native resolution..

The reason that it Fix is faster is because the STB upconverts all signals to 1080i, thus the TV doesn't have to do the work, even though it should because a TVs scaler usually does a better job than the STB.

To clarify your last point (and to sound like a broken record), if you set the STB to Fix, then it converts all the signals it receives to 1080i and passes that to the TV. If you set it to Passthrough, then the STB pass the signal to your TV, and the TV does the scaling to your TVs native resolution. That is why it is best to set the STB to Passthrough.

All this is explained in the FAQ I linked to in my Post #2 above, if you had actually taken the time to read it.

Also read the Digital Home FAQ (under help) "HDTV Formats".

We don't mind explaining things that are not in the FAQs, however, it gets pretty tiresome explaining items that ARE in the FAQs many times. That's why we have the FAQs. Please take the time to read them.