Switching between HD and SD channels Cable Box

[xedlos]

So i have a Samsung 61" DLP. I just went and changed my SD cable box to an hd box (I have Time Warner Cable SoCal). I am using component to get video from the box to my TV. I have it plugged into "Component 2" which does 480p/720p/1080i and im able to get the HD channels from my cable box. The thing is that when i switch to SD channels the picture gets distorted and i cant see anything. So in order to see the SD channels i plug the component cable to "Component 1" which only does 480i/480p but once i do this i cant get the HD channels. Anyone know what i can do to fix this?

[mic]

Sounds like the cable box is the problem. Have you looked through the cable box options to see if there is a perferred output setting?

[freakazoid12]

Component? doe the TV not have HDMI input or something? that's really the prefered method.

also: see if the cable box has a fixed output resolution setting. the morotola I have from the cable company will upscale everything (even the SD channels) to 1080i before it shovels it out via component. (firewire is something else entirely but yeah...)

[xedlos]

The TV doesnt have HDMI it has only one DVI port.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5/img0015pey.th.jpg (http://img20.imageshack.us/i/img0015pey.jpg/)

Will a DVI to HDMI cable or converter work? I think what the problem is, is that the component input only does 1080i and 480p and not 480i which is what i believe Time Warner broadcasts the SD channels Ive attached a pic of the component inputs on the tv

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/301/img0016m.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/i/img0016m.jpg/)

So when i have it plugged into component 2 which does 1080i i get the HD channels but as soon as i switch to an SD channel this is what i get

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4818/img0017ppz.th.jpg (http://img140.imageshack.us/i/img0017ppz.jpg/)

Then it goes to "Not Supported Mode"

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4407/img0020f.th.jpg (http://img249.imageshack.us/i/img0020f.jpg/)

[bjkrautk]

"Component 2" which does 480p/720p/1080i and im able to get the HD "Component 1" which only does 480i/480p

Component 2 cannot display 480i (Standard Definition) content, whereas
Component 1 cannot display 720p/1080i (the HD broadcast formats).

I agree with the people who recommend trying to find a way to fix/upscale your SD channels. (I know my TiVo can be configured to do this.) Otherwise, you might have to use a different input for the HD and SD channels; how bad do the SD channels look via the Coaxial hookup? (I don't see composite or S-Video connections on your photo, and I'm guessing your cable box doesn't have two Component outputs.)

[xedlos]

I went out and bought a DVI to HDMI cable and that fixed the problem.
Thanks

I have another question about hooling up my ps3. (i know this isnt the best place to post this) So my tv only has a DVI, I can hookup my ps3 through the hdmi to dvi cable but how would i get sound? Since DVI doesnt cary audio

[sembazuru]

I went out and bought a DVI to HDMI cable and that fixed the problem.
Thanks

I have another question about hooling up my ps3. (i know this isnt the best place to post this) So my tv only has a DVI, I can hookup my ps3 through the hdmi to dvi cable but how would i get sound? Since DVI doesnt cary audio

I haven't done the HDMI/DVI adapter thing (but I've seen others claim this works). But, as you said, DVI doesn't do audio (and thus your TV shouldn't expect audio on the DVI). You would need to either use optical out (for digital audio) from the PS3 or the AV cable that comes with the PS3 and only connect the RCA Left/Right audio connectors (analog audio). The PS3 then can be configured where to pump the audio in the Sound Settings of the XMB. I used the optical out with great success when I was using component video before I upgraded my AVR to a HDMI capable one.

[masherscf]

The cable-box should do the upscaling of the SD channels. Look at the cable box set-up menus.