SD channels look horrible on HDTV after switching to HD cable

[samsayit]

Cox cable customer, South Orange County, CA.

Last week I purchased a Sony 40 inch LCD 1080p HDTV. Up until then I was an HD virgin.
After overcoming the first traumas about how SD can look on HD (had to buy a new, upconverting DVD player for example), I finally got the TV adjusted so that my Cox digital cable (non HD) looked almost bearable.

Then I received my Cox HD receiver and hooked that up instead. And the image looks so crappy I am having a hard time believing it when viewing the SD channels (HD looks fine). The news ticker on CNN is nowhere near sharp or crisp (looking at it makes me feel like my vision is going bad). Even the receivers programming guide/menus look extremely pixelated.
I have adjusted settings over and over again, and do not get a result that is even near the fairly OK result I had with the SD receiver.

How can this be?
The old, SD, receiver was connected with the regular antenna/UHF cable. Digital to analog to digital.
This new, HD, receiver is connected with the HDMI cable. Digital to digital.
Any sense in this would be that the new should look much better, but the contrary is the case here.

Pulling my hair out soon. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[soonerman]

Maybe this will help

I just switched to Cox yesterday. I noticed problems on my HDTV as well. Cox has a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR here in Oklahoma City. Buried in the guide, there is a section on how to switch the box to accomodate your TV. I went through the advanced setting. You follow the screen prompts and it walks you through 480p widescreen, 480p standard, 720p, 1080i etc. If it works on your TV, you push a button. If the screen is goofy you skip that setting. When it finishes you have told the box which feeds your TV will accept.

Then, I went into the settings and changed the settings to upconvert 1 instead of pass through. This apparantly overrides the settings for the way the channels are fed and converts the channel accordingly. For example, when I am on SD channels, the box shows 480p standard (My HDTV isn't widescreen). When I switch to an HD channel, the box switches and the TV adjusts to make it 1080i.

You can always hit the setting button and manually switch the feed you want to any of these when you are on the channel.

I hope this helps you out.