[mrtew]

There are three feet of black tape on my HD-TV screen!!! The tape is almost 10mm wide. It goes all the way across the top of the screen. I put it there after I finally gave up on fixing or learning to ignore the band of analogue 'static' that was visible across the top of the screen on most non-HD channels. Has anyone else ever noticed that? Almost like the picture is riding a little low on the screen and revealing the black and white scrambled speckled garbage behind it. Is there any other solution. It seems freaking ridiculous to pay over a thousand dollars for a huge HiDef LCD TV and a HD-DRV box and HD cable and have to resort to something as stupid as black tape to cover such a glaring flaw but my electronics-genius friend said that was the only solution he could come up with for his so I tried it and almost never looked back. Plus knowing I'm missing the top of HD TV show and Xbox360 games bugs me. Any clues?

[turtle777]

-t

[RAILhead]

That are totally weird.

[Uncle Skeleton]

That's timing information that's supposed to be "off the screen" of normal TVs. Look for a setting called "overscan" in either your TV or your DVR, and turn it on.

[awaspaas]

Overscan. What he said. You may need to talk to a professional calibrator if the overscan settings are not clearly evident.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by awaspaas 

... You may need to talk to a professional calibrator if the overscan settings are not clearly evident.

I think he means for you to consult a neighborhood kid.

[brassplayersrock²]

i had the same issue. on your tv via remote, or if you like playing with buttons use the ones on your tv. go into your televisions menu and there should be a setting to shift the image up, down, left and right. try fiddling with that. I'm really picky when it comes to my tv and i shifted my image for around 30 minutes until i got it to how i liked it with no image loss and no timing information. hope that helps

Alex

ps.
"my electronics-genius friend said that was the only solution he could come up."

if I might add, not really a genius in this situation. Black tape?

edit:
to answer a question that i think might pop up. the process i told ya about above does not stretch the image in any way. it simple moves it around the screen. you can even have it where only half the image shows up and the rest of the screen is black.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

There are three feet of black tape on my HD-TV screen!!! The tape is almost 10mm wide. It goes all the way across the top of the screen. I put it there after I finally gave up on fixing or learning to ignore the band of analogue 'static' that was visible across the top of the screen on most non-HD channels. Has anyone else ever noticed that? Almost like the picture is riding a little low on the screen and revealing the black and white scrambled speckled garbage behind it. Is there any other solution. It seems freaking ridiculous to pay over a thousand dollars for a huge HiDef LCD TV and a HD-DRV box and HD cable and have to resort to something as stupid as black tape to cover such a glaring flaw but my electronics-genius friend said that was the only solution he could come up with for his so I tried it and almost never looked back. Plus knowing I'm missing the top of HD TV show and Xbox360 games bugs me. Any clues?

This is the closed captioning data that is being transmitted with non-digital channels. They literally just transmit closed captioning data as part of the image on your screen. Most TV's and cable boxes have a feature called overscan that actually crops out that part of the image for you. See if your TV or cable box has an overscan feature that you can turn on.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by awaspaas 

You may need to talk to a professional calibrator if the overscan settings are not clearly evident.

Originally Posted by reader50 

I think he means for you to consult a neighborhood kid.

-t

[brassplayersrock²]

please provide useful content to this thread turtle. JUST KIDDING!

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

please provide useful content to this thread turtle.

Haha, you sound like the latest infraction that I received



-t

[brassplayersrock²]

I know

[mrtew]

Thanks but there is no such adjustment anywhere to be found in the menus of my TV or Cable HDDVR box. Am I out of luck or should I really start asking neighborhood kids to come in and start the calibration process? Seriously though... how would I calibrate it?

[brassplayersrock²]

there are calibration dvd kits thats one can buy. a couple even come with filters that one holds up to their eye while looking at the tv to make sure all is okay. I'll try and dig up the kits website that I used

What kind of tv do you have? That might help

Don't give up quite yet. we'll figure this out

Alex

Ovation Multimedia Avia - In Stock at OneCall.com


ps.. I won't be in the rest of the day, so good luck with everything.

[RAILhead]

No one saw my joke?

[Nodnarb]

Dude, no way should you have done this. Seriously, if you can't figure this out yourself, call the store where you bought it, the manufacturer of the TV, a professional calibrator, SOMEBODY. Don't put tape on a TV! I remember this issue on my TV when I got it over a year ago, and I think I just fixed it through menu's. No tape necessary.

I couldn't imagine dropping a couple thousand on a nice TV just to cover it up with tape (and still miss that part of the image on the HDTV shows and xBox games like you said!!!) crazy, man.

[turtle777]

This thread has potential

-t

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb 

Dude, no way should you have done this. Seriously, if you can't figure this out yourself, call the store where you bought it, the manufacturer of the TV, a professional calibrator, SOMEBODY. Don't put tape on a TV! I remember this issue on my TV when I got it over a year ago, and I think I just fixed it through menu's. No tape necessary.

A professional calibrator? You really don't need a professional calibrator to fix an overscan issue...

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by goMac 

A professional calibrator? You really don't need a professional calibrator to fix an overscan issue...

Well, OP obviously does

-t

[awaspaas]

If there's not an overscan or zoom setting in the menus, then you DO need a professional calibrator, unless you feel like mucking around in the TV's service menu with the possibility of ruining it and voiding the warranty if you adjust something incorrectly.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by awaspaas 

If there's not an overscan or zoom setting in the menus, then you DO need a professional calibrator, unless you feel like mucking around in the TV's service menu with the possibility of ruining it and voiding the warranty if you adjust something incorrectly.

I've never heard of a TV that comes without overscan. The only thing I've heard of is TV's where you can't turn off overscan.

[alligator]

I get that if I Tivo late night TV. For some reason, it doesn't happen during the day.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I've never heard of a TV that comes without overscan. The only thing I've heard of is TV's where you can't turn off overscan.

Weird... I've never heard of overscan or a TV that did have it! This is my TV 42" HD Monitor Let me know if you can give me any solution besides the tape!

[brassplayersrock²]

that helps. hold on

go to the menu on your tv and in the second box down of 5 there is a setting called Posistion. it is number four. you can use that to adjust the horizontal and vertical posistion of the screens image.


Your tvs user manual in PDF

http://westinghousedigital.com/pdf/72_User_Manual.pdf

the information above is on page 14.




when you are posistioning the image, be sure to go between standard and hi def channels to make sure all is to your liking.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

Weird... I've never heard of overscan or a TV that did have it! This is my TV 42" HD Monitor Let me know if you can give me any solution besides the tape!

Ohhhh. You've got one of the Westinghouses. It should have an option to turn on overscan. Look in the menus. It's off by default in since it's a monitor.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

that helps. go to the menu on your tv and in the second box down of 5 there is a setting called Posistion. it is number four. you can use that to adjust the horizontal and vertical posistion of the screens image. Your tvs user manual in PDF http://westinghousedigital.com/pdf/72_User_Manual.pdf the information above is on page 14. when you are posistioning the image, be sure to go between standard and hi def channels to make sure all is to your liking.

Wow, you got my hopes up for a second! Looks like that's for VGA input only which I think is for plugging in computers. That menu seems to be totally inaccessible to me since I don't have that input.

Originally Posted by goMac 

Ohhhh. You've got one of the Westinghouses. It should have an option to turn on overscan. Look in the menus. It's off by default in since it's a monitor.

Yeah I keep looking and looking for anything like that... I haven't found it yet!

[brassplayersrock²]

*slinks away*

[Uncle Skeleton]

So what input are you using? And what DVR?

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

So what input are you using? And what DVR?

I am using the normal RGB input cables from my Motorolla DTC6416 III DVR that rent from the cable company.

[reader50]

He means, which input port on the TV does the signal come in on. Your choices are:

Ports listed in the vertical order they appear in page 7 (10 of the PDF)

HDMI port
DVI port
S-video jack
line-level video port (RCA jack)
VGA port (not this one evidently)
Component ports x2 (lots of RCA jacks)

Based on page 16 (19 of the PDF) it looks like some different ports share internal circuitry. You can see this from the PIP combinations that don't work. It looks like the VGA port shares some circuitry with the component video jacks - the VGA picture-adjustment menu might appear for those.

The HDMI and DVI ports share circuitry. And the video / S-video ports share circuitry.

Unfortunately, I don't see a direct solution here. He's probably using HDMI with separate audio cables, or component (and the VGA menu doesn't appear). The real problem is the TV's sync system isn't starting the picture display at the right point.

You can use a different input method, or you could place another box in between the DVR and the TV. Something that might echo the signal with stronger sync portions, so the TV might latch it better.

You may end up having to write Westinghouse support, asking for a firmware update to address this. Actually, complain about the effect, with some pictures thrown in. Maybe they'll offer an experimental firmware. And maybe they'll say it's a defective unit and you need to exchange it.

[brassplayersrock²]

just to chime in. what the op is seeing is being broadcasted by the cable company. it's shouldnt' be westinghouse's problem. technically it could be since they don't have a shifting picture option besides when connected to a computer. (which is clearly a stupid thing)

good post though reader50

[goMac]

I'd check the cable box too for an overscan option. This might have to be addressed on the tuner side.

[phantomdragonz]

my motorola DVR has a overscan (positioning) settings. check it out!

Zach

[reader50]

This question is a bit late, but have you tried skipping the DVR box? That is, connect the TV directly to the cable box. See if the static band is present still, or if the DVR box is introducing it. If the DVR box were where it gets into the signal path, they we've been barking up the wrong component.

It would also be useful to try a different TV if possible, so as to determine if the cable box is at fault.

[mrtew]

Originally Posted by reader50 

He means, which input port on the TV does the signal come in on.
Unfortunately, I don't see a direct solution here. He's probably using HDMI with separate audio cables, or component (and the VGA menu doesn't appear). The real problem is the TV's sync system isn't starting the picture display at the right point.
You may end up having to write Westinghouse support, asking for a firmware update to address this. Actually, complain about the effect, with some pictures thrown in. Maybe they'll offer an experimental firmware. And maybe they'll say it's a defective unit and you need to exchange it.

Maybe I'll try that soon if I don't figure it out!!! And yeah I'm using Component ports x2 (lots of RCA (RGB) jacks.

Originally Posted by phantomdragonz 

my motorola DVR has a overscan (positioning) settings. check it out!

Yeah mine has a control for positioning but it only controls the position of the menus on the screen... try it and tell me if yours does more!

Originally Posted by goMac 

I'd check the cable box too for an overscan option. This might have to be addressed on the tuner side.

Originally Posted by reader50 

This question is a bit late, but have you tried skipping the DVR box? That is, connect the TV directly to the cable box. See if the static band is present still, or if the DVR box is introducing it. If the DVR box were where it gets into the signal path, they we've been barking up the wrong component.

It would also be useful to try a different TV if possible, so as to determine if the cable box is at fault.

My DVR box actually IS the cable box! It all works very well together except for this one little problem!

[brassplayersrock²]

how are you going to get any of the stickyness left over from the tape off the tv if any?

[mrtew]

I took the tape off today and it came off clean. But now I see the line of static again that I had covered up for the last few months.

[Nodnarb]

Nice to hear that if came off with no residue, I was wondering if it you harm your TV...glad to hear it didn't

[phantomdragonz]

you are right, it's only the menus... sorry...

Zach

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by mrtew 

I took the tape off today and it came off clean. But now I see the line of static again that I had covered up for the last few months.

WTF did you expect ?

That the tape acted like a band-aid, curing your TV ?

-t

[brassplayersrock²]

good one tutle