# HDMI and Cable Box problem



## Guest (Dec 17, 2008)

Greetings,
I have recently purchased a Pioneer Elite 1150 50" Plasma and I am having great difficulty in getting the HDMI to work. I currently have a Cox Communications(Scientific Atlanta)8240 DVR. I have the HDMI cable going from the cable box to the T.V. and have no video what so ever. The audio is run thru RCA cables into a tuner that does not have HDMI, that works fine. 
The cable box has been swapped out twice with no luck in fixing the problem. I've tried an HDMI DVD player and tested all the HDMI ports on the TV and they all worked fine. I've also tried different HDMI cables to no avail. :hissyfit:
The cable company doesn't know what to think as do I. 
Any help would be appreciated in solving this.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

Well I am no expert on this but there has been handshake issues reported with some components via hdmi. I would try another tv, if you have one, and see if it works, if it does then the problem is that the two components can not communicate properly and that would cause your problem. If someone else here has more info on this I am sure they will chime in. In any case welcome to the forum.....:wave:


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

First of all ...Welcome to the forum :wave:



Thunderbird Fan said:


> I have recently purchased a Pioneer Elite 1150 50" Plasma and I am having great difficulty in getting the HDMI to work. I currently have a Cox Communications(Scientific Atlanta)8240 DVR. I have the HDMI cable going from the cable box to the T.V. and have no video what so ever. The audio is run thru RCA cables into a tuner that does not have HDMI, that works fine.


Is there any setting that you need to change to pass the audio/video from cable box to TV through HDMI??? or a setting on the TV to get audio/video from cable box through HDMI??? ...try the component connection (red, blue and green) it is similar to HDMI in quality, but you'll need a cable for the audio to go to the TV ...you can use the RCA going to tuner, and if cable box has optical/coax and your tuner too, I use that instead of RCA's :yes:



> I've tried an HDMI DVD player and tested all the HDMI ports on the TV and they all worked fine. I've also tried different HDMI cables to no avail. :hissyfit:...


Like I said before, I think your problem is a setting because you already know that HDMI works with DVD player ...:yes:


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## Guest (Dec 17, 2008)

Wow quick replies, thank you very much.


> Is there any setting that you need to change to pass the audio/video from cable box to TV through HDMI??? or a setting on the TV to get audio/video from cable box through HDMI??? ...try the component connection (red, blue and green) it is similar to HDMI in quality, but you'll need a cable for the audio to go to the TV ...you can use the RCA going to tuner, and if cable box has optical/coax and your tuner too, I use that instead of RCA's


I am running the component cables and they work fine, great picture. If there is a setting on the T.V, I haven't figured it out. I've gone thru the manual a dozen times and end up like this:rant: I'm hoping Santa will mistakenly drop off a new A/V receiver and I can try to run it that way.
I've also been told Cox runs HDMI 1.0 and the T.V. is 1.3 which might cause a problem, but I'm not entirely sold on that.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

Thunderbird Fan said:


> I am running the component cables and they work fine, great picture.


In this case, forget about HDMI just enjoy your TV (picture is similar in both cases):bigsmile:



> I'm hoping Santa will mistakenly drop off a new A/V receiver and I can try to run it that way.


Just be aware that in this case you need to always turn on you AVR to watch anything ...after Santa drops the new AVR, just post the Brand and model and somebody will guide you trough to make the connection (in case that you need help) :whistling:



> I've also been told Cox runs HDMI 1.0 and the T.V. is 1.3 which might cause a problem, but I'm not entirely sold on that.


Yeah, probably the handshake tcarcio mentioned :yes:


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

i am having a similar problem......

I have a 47 inch philips LCD 1080P tv.
My cable box is a scientific atlanta box. I have timewarner cable.
When they hooked everything up they used the Component RGB cable from the cable box to the tv and the red/white rca calbe to the tv for sound.

I decided to go out friday and get an HDMI cable for the cable box so i don't have that rats nest of cables.

The weird thing is this. I can only watch the HD channels.
I just get no signal when I switch to one of the lower channels on the cable box that aren't HD.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

panaman said:


> The weird thing is this. I can only watch the HD channels.
> I just get no signal when I switch to one of the lower channels on the cable box that aren't HD.


Check the settings, maybe there's something that you need to setup...but is strange, most of the time any setting affects all channels not just some. Have you called the SAT/cable company???


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

I haven't called the cable company yet.... i am going to mess with it tonight.
After searching around google I found a few things about it. I might have run a setup wizard on the cable box. It sounds like its only outputting 1080i through hdmi and not the 480 stuff


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

panaman said:


> . I might have run a setup wizard on the cable box. It sounds like its only outputting 1080i through hdmi and not the 480 stuff


I think you're right, I found the same information on the manual http://www.scientificatlanta.com/products/consumers/userguidepdfs/4003114.pdf (page 8), you need to setup each each format (not like other where you set the maximum output to 1080i).

Good Luck

P.S.: Look at the information on pag 15, I think you need to use fixed and 1080i.


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

I messed with it last night.
My only options are Automatic, 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i
If i put it on automatic and I move to a non HD channel, my cable box keeps switching the signal from 480 to 1080 back an forth.
If i manually set it to 480 I can then view the station.

I hooked unhooked the HDMI cable and put the RGB cable in place that the cable company originally installed and everything works fine.

I know the HDMI cable works fine. I put it on my DVD player in my bedroom and it works.
I just think the cable box is buggy.
I am just leaving the RGB on it. It does 1080i through that cable just fine.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

panaman said:


> I messed with it last night.
> My only options are Automatic, 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i
> If i put it on automatic and I move to a non HD channel, my cable box keeps switching the signal from 480 to 1080 back an forth.
> If i manually set it to 480 I can then view the station.


That's strange, like the receiver doesn't know which format has to use ...



> I hooked unhooked the HDMI cable and put the RGB cable in place that the cable company originally installed and everything works fine.
> 
> I just think the cable box is buggy.
> 
> I am just leaving the RGB on it. It does 1080i through that cable just fine.


Call the company ans ask them to replace the receiver to be sure, in the mean time use the RGB cable to TV, and if you have/get a BluRay use HDMI to get the best audio/video from it.

I think the RGB will pass the signal that will get from SAT up to 1080i, but this doesn't mean that everything will be 1080 ...I could be wrong.:bigsmile:


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## panaman (Dec 16, 2008)

yeah.... i have a bluray and a media PC and both use hdmi to my tv so I can get the 1080P I am pretty sure that RGB does 1080i which is all timewarner can push anyway....

To be honest.... in the year I have been in my house i have gone through about 4 cable boxes.... and every technician that comes to my house says that the timewarner software code they are using sucks and never works... so I think i will just keep the box i got since it seems to work the best so far... minus the HDMI issue


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