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Relationship of Genie to Genie Client

3K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  jimmie57 
#1 ·
Some of you might have already read about me helping my friend with her new system.
She has a 53" SD TV hooked up to a Genie HR44 and the guide looks awful.
I have had her set the Genie to a 480i resolution and no others are checked.
Her husband is also complaining about his Guide on his HD 40" Sony LED TV.
I have not been to their house yet to see it for myself.

Here is what is bugging me. If you choose only the 480i resolution on the Genie, can the Client set his / her own to say 720p and 1080i ?
Or does the Client have to use the 480i from the setting available on the Genie ?

Thanks in Advance.
 
#3 ·
texasbrit said:
The settings on the Genie and client are independent of each other. So you can have the Genie at 480i and the clients at 1080i.

I am not surprised SD looks terrible on an old 53in TV.
I find it hard to believe that they would hook up new service on that old TV with a Genie. I would have thought they would have set her up with the Genie on the HD TV and put an R-16 or a D-12 on the old TV.

Thanks man.
 
#4 ·
What is the make/model of this 53" TV? If you can give us that we can tell you the best way to have it set up.

I'm with Jimmie57 though, you may be better off hooking the Genie up to the Sony and the client up to the 53"TV.
 
#5 ·
Beerstalker said:
What is the make/model of this 53" TV? If you can give us that we can tell you the best way to have it set up.

I'm with Jimmie57 though, you may be better off hooking the Genie up to the Sony and the client up to the 53"TV.
Thanks but I have already checked out the manual. It has the composite, component and S video connections. The component only accepts 480i. She is hooked up with the composite right now. When I can get over there I will try the S video and the component connections. I think several things needs to be adjusted. I am certain they have not adjusted anything since the day it was bought.

It is the Sony KP53S75 if you wish to double check.
 
#6 ·
Gah, just notice you were the TS and the one who posted about hooking the Genie up to the Sony HDTV.

Anyway, from the manual on that TV I can't tell for sure if that TV accepts 480p over component or not. I would think that it would, but it may not.

Either way I can pretty much gaurantee that component hookup is going to give you the best picture (composite will give you the worst).

Turn native to off and uncheck all resolutions except 480p (or 480i if you find out it really can't do 480p over component).

Set the TV type to 4:3.

Hide SD duplicates (even though this is only an SDTV, the HD channels will look much better on it than the SD versions).

I personally would set it to letterbox the HD channels. Some people really hate any black bars on their TVs though, so if they don't like it then set it to crop the HD channels.

These settings should get you the best possible picture coming out of the DirecTV receiver.

Next you want to make sure the TV is set up right. This TV is pretty old and has probably never been cleaned. You may want to think about opening it up and cleaning off the CRT guns and the mirror. Be very careful though as you can scratch them and cause issues. This would probably make a pretty big improvement though. I personally try to open my CRTs up every year or two and clean them up and I can see a pretty big difference when I do. Next you would run Flash Focus to make sure the convergence is updated (there also may be a manual way to converge the set if you look into it further). Then you would finally adjust the picture settings like brightness, contrast, etc.

If you take your time and do this well I think you will be pretty suprised at how good of a picture you can get from these old CRT projectors, even the SD ones.
 
#7 ·
In the connection section it mentions a DTV ( Digital TV receiver ) connecting with the 480i. I searched for 480 and that is the only reference made to it.

I had spied that Flash Convergence and will definitely do that. Definitely not going to tackle opening that monster up and cleaning it.

I have experimented with my 20" Digital CRT TV with the component and composite connections. The component is way better at displaying the guide ( she says it is unreadable until you get to within 3 or 4 feet of it , this is their biggest complaint ).
Unfortunately my TV does not have the S video connection for me to try.
 
#8 ·
It's usually not all that bad to open them up and clean them. You can usually remove the back portion that holds the mirror pretty easily. You can use a camera brush from a camera store to clean the major dust off the three lenses and then use a microfiber rag sprayed with distilled water to wipe them clean. You can use a microfiber rag and distilled water to clean the mirror on the back of the TV too. Just be to spray the water on the rag, not into the TV. Don't use any kind of cleaning solvents, especially nothing with ammonia as it can actually cause the stuff to fog up and it will be even worse then the dust.

Yeah I noticed that but wasn't sure if that necessarily meant that it doesn't support 480p. I would try it first and if it works use it, otherwise use 480i. Like I said though, I can pretty much guarantee that component is going to give you a better picture than S-video, I wouldn't even bother messing with S-video.
 
#9 ·
Beerstalker said:
It's usually not all that bad to open them up and clean them. You can usually remove the back portion that holds the mirror pretty easily. You can use a camera brush from a camera store to clean the major dust off the three lenses and then use a microfiber rag sprayed with distilled water to wipe them clean. You can use a microfiber rag and distilled water to clean the mirror on the back of the TV too. Just be to spray the water on the rag, not into the TV. Don't use any kind of cleaning solvents, especially nothing with ammonia as it can actually cause the stuff to fog up and it will be even worse then the dust.

Yeah I noticed that but wasn't sure if that necessarily meant that it doesn't support 480p. I would try it first and if it works use it, otherwise use 480i. Like I said though, I can pretty much guarantee that component is going to give you a better picture than S-video, I wouldn't even bother messing with S-video.
The CRT TVs in general did not support 480p - I had a Toshiba HD CRT projection system which supported 480i and 1080i only, not 480p or 720p.
I used to clean the inside of my system every year, and did a convergence every year or so also. It took about 2 hours to do full convergence but the results were excellent, until the convergence drifted off again.
 
#10 ·
480p came when progressive DVDs came about. then it became a Microsoft "feature" when the first Xbox was released. it was call "Xbox ready TV" But then short after HD became the next "big thing" and that was the end of of 480p.
 
#11 ·
I believe that might have just been a thing with the Toshiba and another brand or two HD CRTs, I'm pretty sure all Sony and I know all Hitachis (I've had 3, still have 2) support 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i.

I also had a 32" JVC direct view CRT tube that had component inputs that accepted 480p (and I bought a progressive scan DVD player to match it). It was from around the same time frame as this CRT projection TV, so I'm thinking it might accept 480p.

I'm just saying he should try it. The worst that would happen is the screen will go blank for a few seconds until the switches back to 480i, and then he knows 480p isn't supported.
 
#13 ·
Beerstalker said:
I believe that might have just been a thing with the Toshiba and another brand or two HD CRTs, I'm pretty sure all Sony and I know all Hitachis (I've had 3, still have 2) support 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i.

I also had a 32" JVC direct view CRT tube that had component inputs that accepted 480p (and I bought a progressive scan DVD player to match it). It was from around the same time frame as this CRT projection TV, so I'm thinking it might accept 480p.

I'm just saying he should try it. The worst that would happen is the screen will go blank for a few seconds until the switches back to 480i, and then he knows 480p isn't supported.
I searched the manual for 720 and for 1080 and had zero hits.
She originally told me it was a 57" Sony. I looked them up and it appeared that all or at least almost all of them did do the 1080i. Searched for HD and got no hits.
Then she rolled it out away from the wall and got me the actual model number off the back.

She needs a new 55" TV to fit where this old one is. I told her it is going to die any day now.
 
#14 ·
Ha ha ha, doubt that. Those good old CRTs are built like tanks. My old Hitachi 61SDX01B from 2000 is still going strong as the primary TV at my sister in law's house after I gave it to her about 4 years ago. Before that it was my primary TV for about 7 years, and then moved into my bedroom for about 2 years where it still saw a lot of use (I slept with the TV on). Not to mention it was moved between 4 different residences over those years. The only reason I got rid of it was because I upgraded to newer widescreen HD CRTs first a 57F59 (which was when the 61" moved to my bedroom), then a 65F710 (which was when the 57F59 moved to my bedroom and the 61 got moved to my sister in laws).

I'm pretty sure this TV wasn't HD ready from what I have read, but it very well could support 480p since that was kind of the stop gap at that time to get people to buy new TVs that couldn't afford HDTVs.
 
#15 ·
Beerstalker said:
I'm pretty sure this TV wasn't HD ready from what I have read, but it very well could support 480p since that was kind of the stop gap at that time to get people to buy new TVs that couldn't afford HDTVs.
Anyone remember those "extended definition" TV's that came out - EDTV - but weren't with us for long? Also those first Pioneer widescreens that were 16:10 rather than 16:9.
 
#16 ·
A crt tv that old likely also is out of convergence if they haven't converged it in a while. Sometimes they have a quick button on the front to do this if not look in the menus or manual online. Crts must be properly converged. Also check all the contrast settings and such as they could need adjustment too. An older CRT does lose some of its luster and get darker over time and needs to be adjusted.

But get it hooked up via component ASAP. That will make a huge difference too.

And as someone else said it could also need a good cleaning.

And I see no reason not to put the genie on it if its their main tv. I would. A client or main unit won't make a hill of beans difference on either tv in and of itself. I put the main genies on the main tv.


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#17 ·
Gary16 said:
Anyone remember those "extended definition" TV's that came out - EDTV - but weren't with us for long? Also those first Pioneer widescreens that were 16:10 rather than 16:9.
Yep, most EDTVs were either plasmas or LCDs, so they actually showed a progressive picture, but cost a fraction of the amount of the plasma and LCD HDTVs of that time.
 
#18 ·
Gary16 said:
Anyone remember those "extended definition" TV's that came out - EDTV - but weren't with us for long? Also those first Pioneer widescreens that were 16:10 rather than 16:9.
Actually EDTV stands for Enhanced Definition TV
 
#20 ·
Yep, most EDTVs were either plasmas or LCDs, so they actually showed a progressive picture, but cost a fraction of the amount of the plasma and LCD HDTVs of that time.


Um, the $10k 480p Philips plasma i hung in my store many many years ago would disagree with ya a bit. :). They actually all started out at that res, then when they finally could do Hi Definition ones the Ed ones dropped big time in price.


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#21 ·
inkahauts said:
Um, the $10k 480p Philips plasma i hung in my store many many years ago would disagree with ya a bit. :). They actually all started out at that res, then when they finally could do Hi Definition ones the Ed ones dropped big time in price.

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That was probably when an HD plasma TV ran $15-20k. I remember when they first came out, our Circuit City and Best Buy stores refused to carry them in the store or display them because they were so expensive and they were afraid they would get broken. They were special order only. There was one local furniture/electronics store that had one on display and I was not impressed with it at all, my HD ready CRT looked much better.
 
#22 ·
I remember when I installed the first HD TV in the NY Best Buy stores. It was a 50" Phillips/Magnavoz plasma with a price tag of $14,999. insane!!!
 
#24 ·
Nope, now the TVs with that price tag or higher are the 4K TVs, which in 3 years will be making fun because they will be around the same prices as an "smart" LED today
 
#25 ·
That was probably when an HD plasma TV ran $15-20k. I remember when they first came out, our Circuit City and Best Buy stores refused to carry them in the store or display them because they were so expensive and they were afraid they would get broken. They were special order only. There was one local furniture/electronics store that had one on display and I was not impressed with it at all, my HD ready CRT looked much better.
worked for good guys if you know who that was and this was before you really had HDTV flat panels. ;)

Only some of our stores displayed the expensive ones but we did in the ones it made sense too. Even the 20k ones when they came out.

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#26 ·
OK, since this thread is still going on.
My friend just left my house and she swears that the text in the Guide on her husbands 40" Sony LED TV is smaller than on my 37" Vizio LCD.
They are running a Genie HR44 and I am running an HR24.

Can anyone tell me if their is a difference in the size of the Font from one machine / software to the other ?

Thanks in advance.

PS: For now she is going to Turn on the old TV and let it warm up for 30 minutes and then press the Flash Focus and let it do it's thing and see if that fixes her blurry text.
If that does not fix it we will try the component cables on it to see what it does on her old TV.
 
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