So, I thought I'd switch out my SD box for an HD box now that I got a new 47" HDTV in early June. So far its been a terrible experience. I've been lied to by every tech support agent I've talked to. Half the HD stations don't have sound. Verizon lies when they say they offer 1080p; its actually 1080i which has been outdated for about 5 years. There's even an annoying line at the top of the screen that flickers when watching an HD channel. They assured me they would send out a new HD box to correct the problem. As I waited for 2 weeks I finally found they had ordered it to where i'd have to pick it up myself. When I got to the store they had no record of my order. The agent on the phone told me I would receive the most up to date set-top box to correct any problems I was experiencing; apparently model 7700 would be that fix according to him. Guess what, there is no sure thing as that model number. So, now I'm stuff with a new HD box that still has all the same problems. {please keep your posts courteous}
1) No networks currently broadcast in 1080p. It is a format only currently used by Blu-ray, etc.
2) The flicker and sound problems are not usual. It sounds like an HDMI problem.
3) The customer service experience is typical.
Explain to me why Verizon advertises 1080p then. Look for yourself.
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/FiOSTV/Equipment/Equipment.htm
Go figure. I believe if they say they offer it, then customers should not be given old outdated set-top boxes that don't offer what is promised.
Brighthouse networks does offer it by the way. I've never had any problems with HDMI cables before. Not on TVs, computers, or entertainment systems. Sorry but Verizon needs to get with it. Especially when you can't even hear sound while watching TV. That's ridiculous.
Actually, when I read that page, I see a description of what an HDTV is (720p, 1080i, 1080p) and what an SDTV is (480i) for purposes of determining what kind of TV you have. Don't see anywhere it say 1080p signals delivered by their STB's. Sure, you might read it that way, but it doesn't appear to me to say that anywhere.
Broadcast networks are delivered in 1080i. Period. The fact that an STB may upconvert the signal to 1080p doesn't change the quality of the source. Some providers are now offering video on demand content in 1080p -- which will present a problem for the current generation of STB's that verizon is putting out -- but on a 46" TV, you're not going to be able to tell the difference even if Verizon offers it unless you're sitting really close to the screen. Here's a nice discussion on that ...
http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter
For the audio ... read the other post on this forum that went up recently. This is a common problem with HDMI. Sometimes it the quality of the cable (you'd be surprise how many people get an older spec HDMI cable or cheap junk cables that are uncertified knockoffs -- you need a minimum 1.2 for 720p/1080i and 1.3 for 1080p) , more often then not it's an incompatibility in the signaling or the inability of your TV to recognize the audio encoding technique being passed thru the system. There's a configuration setting on the box you can configure to sometimes fix the encoding issue for TV's that are having trouble negotiating wit the STB -- or you can seperate the audio from the video and get something just as good,
On the lines along the top ... this is an overscan issue.. Your TV is displaying some of the compression artifacts. Most TV's have a picture geometry or position setting that you can use to adjust the picture slight to move the "noise" out of the field of view. Others report that a different way to solve this problem is to sometimes move from HDMI to component connections. Component still delivers 1080i but obviously on a bulkier analog cable.
In short, this is as much a problem with the TV (what model did you say it was?) as it is with the STB. It takes two to tango and in the HDMI world it's not uncommon for the partners to trip over each other's feet.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
