921vs811

[PNTR10]

I Currently Have A 508..an 811..and Now A 921..i Have Been Thrilled With The Hd Picture On The 811 And Pleased With The Sd Picture..with The 921 I Am Still Thrilled With The Hd Picture Quality And Very Dissapointed With The Sd Picture Through The Hd Output...i Swapped The 811 With The 921 Using The Same Monster Component Cables Feeding A Samsung 61"dlp....the Sd Picture Quality Is Abysmal. The Edges Are Tearing And The Picture Appears Very Digitized..(this Was Not The Case With The 811..just Your Standard Compressed Signal) Dish Swapped Out My 921 For A New One With The Same Results..the Tech Says It Must Be A 921 Problem...i"m Feeling That There Must Be An Upscaling Problem Of The Sd Picture Through The Hd Output..my 508 Feeding The Same Tv With A Monster S-video Cable Has A Better Picture(not Really..but Close)..has Anyone Else Seen This Anomaly...dish Said It Would Have A 921 Tech Called..but It's Been A Week So I Give Up...probably Forced To Only Use The 921 To Record Hd...

[Rovingbar]

How is the 480p output for SD? I'm not familiar with your set, but it will probably upconvert the 480p better than the 921. Just consider that its internal scaler is optimized for your set, while the 921 is somewhat generic. I've been quite pleased with the 480p output on my Pioneer. It is a pain to switch between 1080i and 480p, but I've found that it is worth the effort.

Enjoy,
Jeff

[TVBob]

i Have Been Thrilled With The Hd Picture On The 811 And Pleased With The Sd Picture..with The 921 I Am Still Thrilled With The Hd Picture Quality And Very Dissapointed With The Sd Picture Through The Hd OutputI guess it's possible that the video scaler in the 811 is better than the one in the 921. Assuming your DVR-921 is set to 1080i mode, and you're using component video output exclusively, try changing your output mode to 480p whenever you tune to an SD channel. Just go into Menu-6-9 and change your output mode to 480p. That will disable any upscaling. You'll also have to press the FMT button (* key) to go into "Stretch" mode to get the proper aspect ratio. Now, does this make SD stations look any better?

480p is "DVD Quality," but keep in mind that stations like the SCIFI channel or your local digitals are compressed far more than Premium SD channels like HBO. Make sure you are comparing identical channel numbers between the 811 and 921.

Unfortunately, when you tune back to an HD channel, you'll have to remember to switch back to 1080i mode to see Widescreen HD. That's why there's a feature request for a "native pass through mode" here: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=37183
This sure is getting a lot of votes. I hope Eldon is paying attention.

[PNTR10]

480p Actually Looks Worse Than Leaving It At 1080 Interlaced....i Definitely Was Comparing Apples To Apples When Going Between The 811 And The 921...there Was One Difference..the 811 Was Using Dvi And The 921 Was Using Component Cables...so I Swapped The Cables And Put The Dvi On The 921 And The Component Cables On The 811.. Absolutely No Change...the 921 Still Looked Like Crap..i Tried Hooking The 921 Up Using A Monster S-video Cable And Tried Watching Sd Tv ..it Actually Looked A Little Better But Far Inferior To The 811 With Component Cables...but This Is All Pretty Silly To Be Forced To Change The Output On The 921 From Hd To Sd Then Change The Input On The Tv Everytime You Want To Switch From Hd To Sd..it Makes Channel Surfing Quite A Complicated Task..why Not Just Sell A Machine That Works The Way It Should..too Bad It Would Be Dangerous Or I Could Use It For Kindling In My Fireplace..i've Been A Loyal Dish Customer For 7 Years And Still Plan On Being One......thanks For Your Replys...kevin