[edmartin]

I just "upgraded" from the standard H20 receiver I got at install to the HR20 DVR. The picture on SD channels and even all the menus is/are fuzzy. Not anywhere close to what the H20 looked like. HD channels seem to look fine - although the Info and menus on HD channels still looks fuzzy. Also, the guide seems to get cut off slightly at the bottom of the screen. maybe only a few pixels but noticable vs. the H20.

I did the install myself. All I did was swap in the HR20 for the H20. Same component cables, same cable from the dish, etc. Guided setup was a breeze and Directv activated right away.

I've tried everything I can think of. I called Directv and they worked with me through level 1 & 2 support. They had no ideas. We tried native on & off (it was and is off by default). We tried turning all of the supported resolutions on & off (on the H20, the Directv installer had 1080i as the only resolution left on). My TV (Sony KF-42WE610) settings were unchanged - although since then, I have tried to increase & decrease the sharpness setting with no noticeable difference in quality. I tried another component cable. Nothing. My TV doesn't have an HDMI input so I can't try that. Level 2 did have me try an S-video cable and I still had the same fuzzy result.

I'm stumped. Directv will send me a new refurbished unit (ship Tuesday, arrive Wednesday) or I can take it back to Circuit City (I got sick of waiting on the Directv waiting list) and hope that they have another (they received 4 yesterday and I got 1 of them). But somehow, it just seems like a settings issue instead of a bad unit. Anything's possible but how can it work but just be fuzzy?

So, before I make the trek back to Circuit City this morning, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[hdtvfan0001]

I did the install myself. All I did was swap in the HR20 for the H20. Same component cables, same cable from the dish, etc. Guided setup was a breeze and Directv activated right away.

I did the exact same swapout of my previous H20 for one of my new HR20's. The only difference was my use of HDMI cables, instead of component, but in theory, that should not result in what you are experiencing.

In viewing my non-HD channels (which I avoid as much as possible anyway) actually are even better than the H20 was. Before giving up...if you have DVI on your set, you could try an HDMI to DVI cable to see if that improves anything. Also, try to change your settings to support all the other resolutions in addition to just 1080i. My other HR20 is connected to a Sony 50E2000, and again, the HR20 images in HD are stunning and SD are improved over the H20. On that unit, I am connected fully with HDMI. After watching mostly HD, I'm to the point where I can hardly look at SD anyway...but...

Since I'm not familiar with your set's capabilities, I'm not sure what else to suggest.....good luck.

 

[tony7521]

I did the same thing as you a couple months ago, swap an H20 for and HR20. Indeed, the guide on the HR20 is not as crisp as the H20. The new guide is also formatted different than the HR20 (not as finished), so maybe future upgrades will make the guide "crisper." It's not your setup, it's the box. It might not be noticeable for some people on here, but for me it was like night and day.

 

[edmartin]

Thanks for the advice. I've gotten better but it's still weird.

I ended up swapping out the HR20 for a new one. I also got the HDMI to DVI adapter. I activated the new box and used the new cable. At first, I didn't see a difference - still blurry menus and SD channels. But it gets better...

I've spent the last couple of hours playing with various settings. And I've gotten better by trial & error. The best I've gotten so far is to turn on native mode and set the supported resolutions to 480p and 1080i only. Leaving 480i on has no noticeable difference. But 720p looks bad on my TV (Sony KF-42WE610) if I turn off both 480's. I'm guessing the difference there is that there aren't any "native" 720 broadcasts so up-converting the SD broadcasts to 720p causes the blurriness? Clearly (pun intended) up-converting SD broadcasts to 1080i on my setup looks blurry.

As above, on my old H20 receiver, I had only 1080i turned on - and all channels & menus looked just fine; up-converting SD to 1080i on the old H20 worked fine. But the HR20 just can't seem to handle that. I guess it's just the combination of my TV and the HR20?

One last thing. Even though HD broadcasts look very good, the menus/guide still look blurry on HD channels. But if I go to an SD channel (which causes the native mode to kick me down to 480p), the menus/guide are much clearer.

I guess I just have to wait and hope for another update to the HR20 in the future to clear things up for me?

[FYI, the HR20 did automatically download & install the 0x10b upgrade as soon as I activated.]

 

[bonscott87]

Don't know what to tell you but I'd say your guess is that it's your combination of settings and your TV.

I have native off and resolutions set to 480i and 1080i only. I have a 1080i set. All menus are crisp and of course HD looks just fine. SD looks better then my old receiver. My TV upconverts a little better then the HR20 so that's why I have 480i enabled. That way it just sends 480i to the TV and my TV can work it's magic.

 

[videojanitor]

I have no issues with the HR20's video, but must agree that the menus, etc. are all quite soft. I've got two HR20s feeding two different TVs -- one CRT, one LCD -- menus look just as soft on either one, whether outputting 720p or 1080i.

 

[romanomagic]

I am using hdmi connection on a sony XBR3 and a pioneer eilite plasma. In both case the program guide looks "soft" when using 1080I. In 480 the guide looks very sharp. Any ideas??

 

[videojanitor]

My assessment is that the menus are actually generated as 480 -- when watching in 720p or 1080i, the graphics must be upconverted and stretched for 16:9. In that process, the sharpness is lost. That's what it looks like anyway -- I have no knowledge of what is actually taking place.

 

[jasonblair]

Then why did they look sharp on my H10? I would assume it did the exact same thing.