Component video connection problem solved (hitachi plasma & DGTEC2000a)

[BenOne©]

Hi all,

I have a 3 year old Hitachi 37inch plasma and DGTEC 2000a HD digital set-top-box.

I have always wanted to use component video cables to connect the STB via my AV
receiver but the picture would not synch horizontally so I was forced to connect
the STB directly to the plasma with a VGA cable.

The reason it did not synch was that the plasma does not support the very low
(28.3 kHz) horizontal scan frequency when the STB is outputting 1080i - which is
when the switch on the back of the STB is set to HD1, via the component cables
but not via the VGA cable.

If the switch on the back of the STB is set to HD2, then it outputs 576p with a
horizontal scan frequency of 31.25 kHz via the component cables. My plasma was
perfectly happy with this setting, so now I can switch from DVD to STB on the AV
receiver and not have to change the TV channel.

I watch very little HD TV - actually I watch very little TV, mostly DVDs and the
news - but when I do decide to watch an HD episode of CSI (one of the few shows
I like on FTA) then I'll go to the trouble of flicking the switch on the back of
the STB to HD1 and change the TV channel to enjoy the rather stunning 1080i picture.

--
Ben Thomas
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