follow up - Newbie question: Why do regular cable channels look really bad on my HDTV?!

Followup - Newbie question: Why do regular cable channels look really bad on
my HDTV?!

I have a Sony Bravia KDL- 40v2500 1080i LCD connected to my Comcast/Motorola
digital HD DVR via HDMI.

Well - Comcast has been out twice and they say the signal is exactly where
it needs to be. The Comcast tech claims the issue is that the TV tries to
digitize an analog signal and as a result the picture gets messed up.

I showed the Comcast guy that 480p from the DVD player is perfect via
component. The digital channels via HDMI (above 100) that are 480i are ok
but still not 100% clear.

I tried hooking up the cable directly to the TV and using it in Analog
mode - the pictures were still unacceptable.

We looked at the same channels on a 4:3 analog TV (how I have been watching
TV for the last 10 years in this house) - and the pictures were of course
not perfect - but the distortion was not visible, and the channels were
certainly watchable.

I tried hooking up an antenna (with a built in amp) ... in Digital mode I
could get about 10 HD digital pictures crystal clear, and in Analog mode I
got about 10 channels - but none of them clear enough to compare Analog mode
antenna versus the Analog mode cable signals coming in thru the DVR and then
hitting the TV via HDMI.

Question #1: Is there anything in the DVR should set? The only option I
see / I messed with is to change is the 4:3 override ... 480i, 480p, Stretch
and Off. I did not see a diff between 480i (default) and 480p, Stretch
tries to take the signal to 16:9 which is horrible, and OFF makes it 1080i -
which is horrible.

Question #2: Is there anything I should be doing in the TV? Currently I
have it set to Normal mode - so 480 pictures are displayed squared and not
stretched, and Auto Fit on - so if a picture is bigger - it will show it in
it's broadcasted size (some things are coming letter box) - but not stretch,
or zoom, etc. 480p DVD is perfect as are the HD channels. The only real
issue I have are 480i analog and to a lesser extent ... 480i digital.

Question #3: Is this normal and I will live with this until 2009?

Thanks




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