811 Questions before I take the plunge

[octpro]

I've searched a few post and found some answers but they were from early 04, so this question may be relevant.

OK... Since the Comcast/Time Warner acquisition of Adelphia I've decided to jump onto the Dish Bandwagon. Mainly because of the HD content & Monsters HD. So, I'm getting the 811 and have a few questions about it's capabilities. The 811 manual I found online seems dated!

I currently have a Panny 47x53 and I'm using a 3250 HD from Adelphia. I have my monitor set to "FULL" and the 3250 set to "UPCONVERT 2" which works like a charm. I've become very used to flipping from 1080i content to SD content without having to toggle through "stretch" modes.

Now... the question is obvious. Does the 811 have an "UPCONVERT" mode or JUST a fixed 1080i setting? I understand that the 811 has a few stretch modes much like the 3250 put here's were Adelphia sucks! The stretch modes are great as far as looks go but if you set the 3250 to "FIXED 1080I" and "STRETCH" SD content it also stretches HD content nixing the corners of the picture. Thus making the user manually switch the stretch mode to "NORMAL" and then back to "STRETCH" after switching back to a SD channel.

Kind of sucks huh? Yes i'm sure many of you have to do it, and I'm sure I can eventually get used to it, but this is why I was so happy when Adelphia upgraded the firmware to accept "UPCONVERT"

I guess I fear change, so help reassure in one way or another friends. LOL!

 

[DWS44]

I think I understand what you are asking...

The stretch modes on the 811 are somewhat independant for the SD and HD channels. If you "stretch" the SD channels, it will stay in that mode as you switch between different SD channels, but when you flip to the HD channels, it will revert back to "normal". As soon as you go back to an SD channel, it will go back to "stretch", or whatever mode you last viewed with SD.

 

[octpro]

I think I understand what you are asking...

The stretch modes on the 811 are somewhat independant for the SD and HD channels. If you "stretch" the SD channels, it will stay in that mode as you switch between different SD channels, but when you flip to the HD channels, it will revert back to "normal". As soon as you go back to an SD channel, it will go back to "stretch", or whatever mode you last viewed with SD.

Thank you. My install is set for Sunday!

 

[DarrellP]

The transparent menu bar on the 811 shows the mode that the 811 is in for both HD and SD. You can toggle the HD mode by pressing the Page Up button and toggle the SD modes by pressing the Page Down button. There is only a Full setting for SD but HD has Normal, Stretch, Partial Zoom, Full Zoom and Gray Bar for filling in the black 4:3 space to help avoid burnin.