hayesdt

I have a problem with a new Samsung LNT3232H TV and my Time Warner Scientific Atlantic HD cable box, namely, that when I link the two via an HDMI cable and set the TV's source to HDMI, I get no piciture nor sound but just a "Not Supported Mode" message. This is in spite of the fact that the cable box supports HDMI and has an output jack and the TV has two HDMI input jacks and is supposed to receive HD signals via the HDMI cable.

I should also explain that this particular HD cable box was working fine with a previous Polaroid HD television (I bought two weeks ago, but returned on Tuesday) and the HDMI cable linked up to the previous set. Because of other problems with the Polaroid TV (all of a sudden, a green blurry snowy picture and audio noise, then no picture or audio at all), I had to return it and decided to get the Samsung instead. Therefore, unless the former tv when it went "on the fritz" somehow damaged the cable box (or the Polaroid's problem was caused by a failure of the cable box), I would conclude that the cable box is certainly capable of and should be delivering a signal via the HDMI cable.

When I hook up the cable box and Samsung TV with component video-audio cable, I do get picture and audio and HD on the HD channels. It's just that I'm supposed to be able to use HDMI with this cable box and TV and would prefer that because of the superiority of HDMI cable to component video-audio cables.

I've been on the phone over the past two days four different times with the Samsung folks (who are claiming that the fault is with the cable box) and four times with the Time Warner folks (who claim that the fault is with the TV). To be fair, I should add that the customer service folks from both Samsung and Time Warner have been very good, helpful, and patient; it's just that neither can solve the problem.

Here are some things I have done: 1. Early on I was able to program the cable remote with the TV's code in order to use my cable remote with the set. 2. Because I was advised by Samsung that the TV does not support 480i, at Samsung's and TW's suggestion, when I went through the cable box's picture format "wizard," (simultaneously engaging the "guide" and "info" buttons on the cable box) I disabled both 480i widescreen and 480i standard format and enabled 1080i, 720p, and 480p widescreen and 480p standard. No luck there -- still the same "Not Supported Mode" when the box and TV are linked with the HDMI cable and my source is set to HDMI. Actually, I tried to enable the 480i also just to see if that would work, but it didn't. 3. I've tried "pass through, fixed, upconvert 1, and upconvert 2" on the cable box -- still, no luck, still get the "Not Supported Mode" message.

I've tried every setting I can think of with both the cable box and the TV, to no avail. As I say, my component video-audio cables do provide me even with HD on the HD channels, but I can't help but believing that I should be able to use the HDMI cable instead and not be having this problem. The customer service technicians at TW and Samsung, although very helpful and patient, are stumped.

Any ideas for a solution? Or is it just possible either that: a. the cable box was damaged by the previous TV when it suddenly got a green, snowfilled screen and then no picture nor sound at all and therefore the box should be swapped out; or b. the Samsung TV has a "quirk" and should be exchanged????

Thanks in advance for your ideas.