SD picture quality

774 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by wingznut, Nov 30, 2006

Johnboat

Discussion Starter · Nov 30, 2006

For a couple years I had a Phillips Directivo and I had it hooked up via S-Video cable to my Hitachi 51" tv. I always thought the picture looked pretty good for standard definition programming. The picture always seemed clear and sharp.

Now I have a HR20-700s connected via HDMI cable and I also have HDTV programming now. I think the HD looks great but the SD looks not as sharp as my old Directivo unit. Is this normal or are there things I can mess with to get SD looking better?

Save

Status: Not open for further replies.

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

hasan

· #2 · Nov 30, 2006

Johnboat said:
For a couple years I had a Phillips Directivo and I had it hooked up via S-Video cable to my Hitachi 51" tv. I always thought the picture looked pretty good for standard definition programming. The picture always seemed clear and sharp.

Now I have a HR20-700s connected via HDMI cable and I also have HDTV programming now. I think the HD looks great but the SD looks not as sharp as my old Directivo unit. Is this normal or are there things I can mess with to get SD looking better?

I don't think this has anything to do with the HR20. D*'s SD picture quality has been going downhill for quite some time due to limited bandwidth available and the increased bandwidth required by HD. Until the new birds go up next year, the problem is likely to persist or get worse.

You can't take a poor quality source, blow it up onto a 51" TV and not have it be ....well...uglified. HDMI is pretty "crisp"...you may just be seeing the flaws more clearly. Try viewing your SD via S-Video on the TV...I've done that and at times it looks better than HDMI for SD material.

Save

Mike770

· #3 · Nov 30, 2006

I think that the PQ on the SD channels are actually a lot better with the HR20 that with the HD Directivo that I previously had. I have the HR20 connected HDMI.

I did use Avia's Guide to Home Theater dvd to properly calibrate my TV. That did help.

Save

bwaldron

· #4 · Nov 30, 2006

hasan said:
I don't think this has anything to do with the HR20. D*'s SD picture quality has been going downhill for quite some time due to limited bandwidth available and the increased bandwidth required by HD. Until the new birds go up next year, the problem is likely to persist or get worse.

You can't take a poor quality source, blow it up onto a 51" TV and not have it be ....well...uglified. HDMI is pretty "crisp"...you may just be seeing the flaws more clearly. Try viewing your SD via S-Video on the TV...I've done that and at times it looks better than HDMI for SD material.

I agree with Hasan on both counts. Most of the SD issues are with the source, and there's only so much tweaking you can do to clean it up. I have also seen switching to S-Video for SD material providing a better picture on some plasmas, though there's no guarantee.

Save

kirk78h

· #5 · Nov 30, 2006

hasan said:
I don't think this has anything to do with the HR20. D*'s SD picture quality has been going downhill for quite some time due to limited bandwidth available and the increased bandwidth required by HD. Until the new birds go up next year, the problem is likely to persist or get worse.

You can't take a poor quality source, blow it up onto a 51" TV and not have it be ....well...uglified. HDMI is pretty "crisp"...you may just be seeing the flaws more clearly. Try viewing your SD via S-Video on the TV...I've done that and at times it looks better than HDMI for SD material.

When my HR20 was installed, I noticed a definite loss in picture quality that day; it was not a slow process.

Kirk

Save

wingznut

· #6 · Nov 30, 2006

hasan said:
I don't think this has anything to do with the HR20. D*'s SD picture quality has been going downhill for quite some time due to limited bandwidth available and the increased bandwidth required by HD. Until the new birds go up next year, the problem is likely to persist or get worse.

You can't take a poor quality source, blow it up onto a 51" TV and not have it be ....well...uglified. HDMI is pretty "crisp"...you may just be seeing the flaws more clearly. Try viewing your SD via S-Video on the TV...I've done that and at times it looks better than HDMI for SD material.

Mike770 said:
I think that the PQ on the SD channels are actually a lot better with the HR20 that with the HD Directivo that I previously had. I have the HR20 connected HDMI.

I agree on both counts... SD on the HR20 looks better than my previous TiVo unit, that for sure... But yeah, PQ does seem to have suffered over the years.

Btw, I too have a 51" TV and am a Lions fan. (Yeah, that's right... I openly admit it!)

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

Status: Not open for further replies.

Top Contributors this Month