Forum Discussion
Becky. I am so sorry for this long response. I understand your reply. Not all shows are equal. But I don't understand why changing to a new DVR/cable box distorts my TV viewing. I've been with Cox for decades, so I've had cable boxes changed out or upgraded when one wore out, or if I moved to a new home and the replacement was an upgrade. But they've lasted a long time. What I lack in technical expertise I make up for in familiarity of my televisions and how they work with equipment. I know what I see on the TV screen every day. I am also good at learning all aspects of cable box and television settings. I try to do self-help before asking for help--and I'm the first person to admit to an "operator error." However, I have watched Turner Classics and a myriad of older shows that span the years, and they were never so cropped, or framed in thick in black bands, or this distorted. Before Contour, I could even put those kind of shows on zoom (not stretch) from the remote and it gave me a full balanced picture--whether it was TMC, or The Twilight Zone, or Alfred Hitchcock, or old game shows. I'm not saying they were HD quality, but really, really clear. But when my Scientific Atlantas were "upgraded" to Contour2, in one fell swoop I got distorted picture quality. In other words, the picture display looked one way the day before Contour, and a distorted way after Contour. Also, the majority of my "square screen" shows are blurry--like on old game shows. They are crazy-blurry--not typical. Having said that, I think the tech did his installation job okay. I might add one thing to my bad cowboy song: on my "better" HD channels, where the picture has good color and is landscaped, the picture displays as "zoomed in," so I can be watching a true HD new show and the view is somewhat larger than it was before Contour. I had taped the Billboard Music Awards, and I saw the zoomed-in effect when I played it back. So I get it both ways. If there is a close-up of two people, the top of their hair is cropped off. Their heads look zoomed in. Whether it is the older shows or the new ones, they are defaulting to a distorted view that I never had before. I have tried every way possible to adjust the Contour settings and the LG settings on my TV, to no avail. This may be the new-normal, but something has been changed or skewed. I have an appointment tomorrow with a Cox tech and I requested an in-house tech. I want the tech to see what I'm talking about and determine if it's fixable or if I'm stuck with the views. If that's the reality, okay. Honestly, I love Cox, but I'm frustrated and sad about the changes, so I will exhaust every form of troubleshooting before I would leave Cox. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
- KevinM25 years agoFormer ModeratorHi TVAddict, we value your feedback, and I'm a huge fan of the old Twilight Zone episodes. Does this occur on all televisions in your home or only one television? Also, when you tune in to a Standard Definition (SD) channel, you will receive High Definition (HD) programming. This is because our video format has been dual-mapped so that the HD channels are also set to the SD channel location. It is possible that TV shows made for SD programming look better on SD channels because the video itself has been formatted to fit the screen for Standard Definition. However, with the conversion, all SD channels are now set to HD. -Kevin M. Cox Support Forum Moderator