Technology Rant

[DanKellar]

I'm a new Flagstaff 832FLBS with a large Toshiba TV that disappears behind the front living room "fireplace." I've been full-timing now for about 4 weeks, and I still cannot get the TV to display anything other than 480p. I've checked every display setting I can find to no avail. In addition the iRV Technologies entertainment system controller is an unsolved mystery. I can get some FM stations, I can play a DVD (at 480p), but beyond that, the system is a mystery. The omnidirectional TV antenna on the roof needs to be turned on in order to work, however, the green "on light's" location was discovered this morning, because I was wondering if maybe I needed to buy some co-ax cable to connect the TV to one of the two wall outlets located nearby.

To you Forest River Dealers out there, what a cherry job for some high-schooler whose sole job would be to walk buyers through the electronics of their new rig!

Can anybody help me with the Toshiba Chrome-Cast TV and 1080p viewing, or should I dump the TV and buy a new one??

Sorry for the rant!

[donniedu]

Can you actually get 1080 thru your first device? What are you using for signal? Park cable if thats it could be your problem. Your TV as long as its set to get everything will only display what it gets.
I assume you have selected 1080 on your tv setup screen?

[Flybob]

You are likely limited by the source.

[Jmkjr72]

If the dvd/blue ray isn’t running through an hdmi cable you won’t get 1080

Most will detect the signal coming in and optimize for that signal

[DanKellar]

Thanks for your response. There is nowhere on the TV where one can select a display setting (other than the usual "movie" "dynamic" etc). However, it plays 480p regardless of the DVD's HD recording. I have never used a park's cable, nor have I been able to discover how to use the antenna on the roof. It may be a function of the iRV entertainment controller...I'm stumped.

[dustman_stx]

Best I can tell it sounds like you are only using the DVD player as a source. If you look on the back of your TV, you'll almost certainly find that your connection is with a standard RCA- yellow plug utilizing the composite input. Max of 480 resolution using that. It's possible your DVD player doesn't have an HDMI output. If it does, you can buy an HDMI cable and use that in lieu of the composite cable and you will get either 720p or 1080i/p, depending on max resolution output of the DVD player.

[B and B]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

Best I can tell it sounds like you are only using the DVD player as a source. If you look on the back of your TV, you'll almost certainly find that your connection is with a standard RCA- yellow plug utilizing the composite input. Max of 480 resolution using that. It's possible your DVD player doesn't have an HDMI output. If it does, you can buy an HDMI cable and use that in lieu of the composite cable and you will get either 720p or 1080i/p, depending on max resolution output of the DVD player.

What he said, my Rockwood's where both wired for composite. Grab a HDMI cable.

[RSchleder]

The only time you will receive 1080p is from your "off-air" antenna locking onto a station broadcasting in 1080p. Cable found in campgrounds may, or may not, even be digital so there's NO hope for HD there. As far as your entertainment system goes, if it is not a "blue ray" DVD player( and it probably is NOT) connected to your TV with a HDMI cable, you will not receive HD. As stated above, your television will only show the level of picture it receives from the 'feed". IMHO, you do not have a defective tv, you have a non-HD feed going to it. Also be aware, HD signals from broadcasting stations are very directional. You will need your antenna booster turned on and the antenna pointed at the station for you to receive that stations HD signal.

[B and B]

OP,

When you are looking at the HD issues make sure you check cable dress on the movable TV. My Rockwood went down and shorted out the AC pinched by the tracks, blew the fuse on Winegard amp. This was the first time putting it up and down at home 3 hours after pickup from the dealer.

[AustinChad]

The resolution for DVDs is 480p. Many existing DVD players will upconvert that to 720p or 1080p -- however the source is still a 480p source. To put it mildly, iRV units are a little less than state of the art, so I would imagine that it is not upconverting.

And are you sure that the antenna needs to be turned on to work? In my 233s, there is a small button that turns on the signal booster. The antenna works regardless.

If you could take a picture of the back of your TV where all of the cables connect to the TV, it would be easier to help troubleshoot.

As far as the Chromecast functionality, check out this link. You'll need a wireless network to get it working.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by RSchleder

As far as your entertainment system goes, if it is not a "blue ray" DVD player( and it probably is NOT) connected to your TV with a HDMI cable, you will not receive HD.

Any DVD running at 720p or 1080i is actually considered "high definition". Bluray is even better at 1080p. But the OP will notice a MAJOR difference in picture quality going from 480 to 720.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by AustinChad

And are you sure that the antenna needs to be turned on to work? In my 233s, there is a small button that turns on the signal booster. The antenna works regardless.

Without the signal booster turned on, chances are the rooftop TV antenna wouldn't pick up the signal even if the broadcast tower was 100 feet from the RV.

That booster has to be turned on if you want to watch OTA stations!

[uhduh camping]

You can increase your FM signal by tying radio to tv antenna via a f plug to coax adapter. Works well. My Rockwood has the iRV66 unit with Toshiba tv. You can switch to 1080p but it's challenging and I don't currently have power but when I do I'll get the steps required. My was wired with HDMI though (factory).

[RSchleder]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

Any DVD running at 720p or 1080i is actually considered "high definition". Bluray is even better at 1080p. But the OP will notice a MAJOR difference in picture quality going from 480 to 720.

Standard DVD's are 720x480 and are considered STANDARD definition, not HD. As I stated earlier, an HD picture will only be available on a Bluray DVD! You are correct on the Bluray depending on the format used, it may be 720, 1080, or 2160p.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by RSchleder

Standard DVD's are 720x480 and are considered STANDARD definition, not HD. As I stated earlier, an HD picture will only be available on a Bluray DVD! You are correct on the Bluray depending on the format used, it may be 720, 1080, or 2160p.

Technically you're correct about the disc itself, but here's a pretty basic explanation of how you can have very different picture qualities from a DVD depending on what player and cable type you use(credit to Gary McCoy at the avsforums, btw):

"The standard DVD resolution is 480i. What that means is there are two "fields" of 240 lines by 720 pixels stored on the disk in digital format. A standard DVD player will output these frames unchanged in a 480i format, via "composite video", S-Video, or "component video". A 480p DVD player will first "de-interlace" or recombine the two "odd" and "even" fields into a single 480p frame, and output this as a "480p frame" (resolution 480 lines X 720 pixels), via "component video". This output requires a high definition display - either an HDTV or a computer type display, or there will be no video quality difference from the standard 480i TV. The 480p display requires THREE seperate video cables, a "component video" display.

The ultimate way to display a standard DVD on an HD display is via an "upscaling DVD player", which reads the 480i signal, converts to 480p, then "scales" the 480p output to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. However, due to the copy protection rules, the upscaling DVD player must use an HDMI interface."

Are DVDs really 480p? 480p vs. 720p question. - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

[RSchleder]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

Technically you're correct about the disc itself, but here's a pretty basic explanation of how you can have very different picture qualities from a DVD depending on what player and cable type you use(credit to Gary McCoy at the avsforums, btw):

"The standard DVD resolution is 480i. What that means is there are two "fields" of 240 lines by 720 pixels stored on the disk in digital format. A standard DVD player will output these frames unchanged in a 480i format, via "composite video", S-Video, or "component video". A 480p DVD player will first "de-interlace" or recombine the two "odd" and "even" fields into a single 480p frame, and output this as a "480p frame" (resolution 480 lines X 720 pixels), via "component video". This output requires a high definition display - either an HDTV or a computer type display, or there will be no video quality difference from the standard 480i TV. The 480p display requires THREE seperate video cables, a "component video" display.

The ultimate way to display a standard DVD on an HD display is via an "upscaling DVD player", which reads the 480i signal, converts to 480p, then "scales" the 480p output to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. However, due to the copy protection rules, the upscaling DVD player must use an HDMI interface."

Are DVDs really 480p? 480p vs. 720p question. - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

You know, I'm not trying to get into a technical p--- contest here. I'm trying to help a fellow forum member understand why he is not getting HD on his tv. Do you really think your several paragraph "technical explanation? is helping him with his issue? Enough is enough, I hope I've been of some help to the "thread owner" and he is able to get his system working to the best of it's ability. All the best!

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by RSchleder

You know, I'm not trying to get into a technical p--- contest here. I'm trying to help a fellow forum member understand why he is not getting HD on his tv. Do you really think your several paragraph "technical explanation? is helping him with his issue? Enough is enough, I hope I've been of some help to the "thread owner" and he is able to get his system working to the best of it's ability. All the best!

Actually, I do think my statement could greatly help the OP and clear up some confusion. Simply stating DVD is standard definition at 480i isn't the whole story and leads people to believe that to have good picture quality they must go to Bluray. Standard DVD can be upconverted to have a really great picture, (high definition, AFAIC) if you have the right player and use HDMI. I have a Bluray player but still rent the DVD versions of movies most of the time(they're cheaper at my local rental store) because the picture quality is extremely good.

IOW, the OP doesn't have a crap picture while playing a DVD BECAUSE it's a DVD; he most likely has a crap picture because he's running through a crap cable.

Once again to the OP: See if you're connected via HDMI. If not and your player has an HDMI connection, get an HDMI cable and then see how the picture looks and report back. I've been through this on several RVs and think this will solve your issue, too.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by uhduh camping

You can increase your FM signal by tying radio to tv antenna via a f plug to coax adapter. Works well. My Rockwood has the iRV66 unit with Toshiba tv. You can switch to 1080p but it's challenging and I don't currently have power but when I do I'll get the steps required. My was wired with HDMI though (factory).

I wouldn't recommend this.

My current 5'ver came with this type of arrangement and I couldn't get any TV antenna or RV park cable channels to my living room TV.

After several months of swearing and searching for a problem, I pulled the AM/FM/CD/DVD player out of the cabinet to see what was back there.

And, low and behold I saw the radio antenna running from the back of the radio to the splitter that also went up to the TV coax wall plate.

Well, in order for me to really get in there I had to unplug the radio antenna from the coax splitter...

Here is the kicker...

The instant I unplugged the radio antenna coax from that slitter...I suddenly had the clearest picture I think I've ever seen on a flat screen TV!

Plugged it back in...picture was gone...unplugged it and picture returned!

You get the idea...apparently this was shorting out the whole coax run inside of the trailer up to the living room TV.

I've since replaced that stereo and the antenna coax jumper and it does the very same thing.

I now have a marine antenna in there for now...only FM and no AM stations, but am going to get an external antenna soon and mount it on the outside of the RV.

Oh, let me also add that my dealership had no clue how to fix this and when I gave them the chance to do it under warranty, they screwed it up even worse than it already was!

[uhduh camping]

Many of us have done this with great success. I have personally performed this mod on 3 different units with success. I will say the splitters used by the factory are junk and possibly the adapter used by factory could be garbage as well.