QUOTE=dduitsman;1726586]dudeman,
For eSata wisdom - check out the sticky threads in
this forum - just be careful that you only consider drives that are proven to work with an HR21. Ignore success stories relating to the HR20 as the two units have different eSata drive preferences.
I take it that you're not happy with how the HR21 displays 480i (SD) content on your HD TV? Perhaps you could supply a bit more info like what channels are you dissatisfied with. In general, since I got my big HDTV - I am not pleased with how ANY SD content looks; however some SD feeds are worse than others.
Every few weeks someone asks "will I get the best picture if I let the HR2X scale the content or if I let my TV scale it?" - and the consensus answer is usually "do what looks and performs best to you". If you're interested in these tradeoffs from a technical standpoint - try searching for one of these threads.
Regards,
dd[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the reply. I had actually hoped lots of people would have advice, and maybe some experience with the problems I'm have and with scalers.
I am so disheartened and bummed out about this whole situation that I almost want to bring out my old 27" crt tv and watch sd on that. Either that or move to a place where I can get full directv hd service or cable. I'm really, really bummed.
To answer your question, let me put it this way, the only sd channels that look ok, and I mean they are watchable but still look like crap compared to hd, are Sci, Nat Geo, DSC, Hist, Hist Itnl and a couple others that I can remember now.
So what that means is nearly all of the channels look like crap.
I have tried what you suggest, letting the tv scale, letting the hr21 scale and so on. Nothing works. As I mentioned its the source. With the exception of the few channels I mention it is terrible. But those few channels are putting out an sd signal that is far better than all the others, but is still crummy compared to hd. And in the case of those channels, it doesn't matter whether the tv scales or hr21 scales, it looks the same. So again, it's the source.
The hr21 isn't scaling resolution at all. Its only scaling size. If I put the tv to just scan and switch the hr21 to native and then change resolutions from 480 on up to 1080, there is almost no perceptible change. There is a slightly, slightly better image on 480p and 720p, but its so small its not worth mentioning really.
As I said, my Yamaha avr will scale from s-video to component, and that's how I had my r15 hooked up. It did at least as good a job as the hr21....and its an avr!!!! Its strength is audio and one would think that a device meant for video like the hr21 would have a much better chip to scale than my 2 yr old avr....right??
So again, D* has put out a substandard peice of junk like the r15. But its even a bigger peice of junk, because its slower than molasses and doesent even do the job it is supposed to do, or touted to be able to do and that is scale from 480 to 1080.
If I leave the hr21 on native or switch off all resolutions except 1080 it makes no difference except in size. On 1080 its just big 480 sd.
I know we don't curse on this site, but if we did, this post would be filled with explicatives that I am holding back to describe how crummy, how utterly misleading and and how alomost criminal it is for D* to be able to pawn off this junk on us year after year. Even this thread, of guys talking about this peice of junk is rediculous in the fact that we are all just trying to help each other and make the best out of the crap D* is feeding us. I guess we don't know any better, but its not right!! We should all be outraged that we have to pay hard earned dollars for junk and have to watch crappy signals. But instead we kid ourselves and paste on little smiles and go on with our lives watching complete garbage signals that totally could be better.
This new display technology is great but the broadcasters are not embracing it, with the exeption of the ones that choose to output an hd channel. But like I said in an earlier post, all content SHOULD be hd. We get all teary eyed when we see an hd channel and go oh that's so great. Its great but it SHOULD be. When we were all on sd and crts a few years ago, if we had a crummy looking channel, we would be outraged, we would be on the phone right away calling the cable or sattelite company complaining, because most all of the content looked good or at least the same. Now we put up with utter putrid crap of sd just because we get some hd thrown in that just barely keeps us from a total revolt against these providers. Every channel, EVERY channel SHOULD be HD now, RIGHT NOW!! Europe and Asia have had HD for YEARS! People in those countries sitting in some 3rd world type dwelling with barely enough food and getting paid yearly what some of us make in a month, if they can afford an lcd or plasma tv, have HD on EVERY, EVERY LAST CHANNEL!!!
D* should be ashamed at this crap they sell. You know we're leasing this stuff and if were were to buy it it would cost about $400 more. Are you kidding?? When I first heard that I thought wow, this is going to be a high end component that is going scale and do all the neat things that dvrs do only in hd. My sd channels are going to be scaled up and the resolutions are all going to be 1080i through a single hmdi, no more s-video scaled to component through my avr....its going to be great!!
I can't tell you how utterly dissapointed I am. I can't tell you much disdain and heartbreak it is to have to put up with this.
But I'm not going to put up with it much longer. I am saving up and am going to search out and buy the best scaler I can afford and hopefully i'll be able to get one that will at least make the crap I am forced to watch.....watchable. But I am seriously thinking of moving from this apartment where they are too cheap to put up a 5lnb dish, yet they raise my rent twice over the three years I've lived here. At least some other apartment will have cable most likely and around this area mostly its Time Warner and my buddy has it and he says he gets about 40 hd channels with more all the time. D* still has the most hd, but at least I won't have to put up with this crummy electronic peice of garbage that is the hr21. My buddy has a dvr from Time Warner and its hd, works perfect, switches channels instantly, records hd and sd, scales up better than the hr21 and costs him like a few dollars a month and he initally only paid like $99...or something...can't remember.
I tell you we are all living with, and putting up with garbage. We are eating garbage and are happy about it. And we are force fed this garbage and are happy and thankful the gods at D* are kind enough to cram this garbage down our throats and beg for more in fear that they night take away our precious few hd channels. And we are just so exstatic when a new hd channel comes online that we nearly soil ourselves and call up thanking the garbage cooking lord for brewing up another little morsel to be swallod along with the rst of the mouthful of putrid swill. You even said all sd looks crummy. it is crummy and we shouldn't have to put up with it from any provider. But what's worse is we shouldn't have to put up with the buying the substandard crap to watch it on.
Look, if you bought a toaster was advertised to be able to toast bread. and it didn't work. I'll bet you my whole years salary, you would either return it, or throw it away and buy another.
But instead you and me and everyone else sits and writes in this thread about how to work with, and work around the poor performance and shoddy design of our crappy little toasters. Some you are considered gurus because you've lived with these crummy toatsers for a long time and have put loads of time and effort into figuring out just how to tweak it to get a decent slice of toast most of the time. But just smile and say oh darn, my sd toast is really crummy, but boy when I get a good hd slice its soooo worth it and so good, yumm, yum yummy. And if I'm a good little boy mommy D* will let my little crummy toaster make more hd toast. And one day, all my toast will be hd toast if I figure out how to tweak my little toaster a little more, if, if mommy D* lets me tweak it and if some of the others with crummy little toaters like mine figure out better tweaks, boy oh boy, we'll all live in a happy, happy world where all the toast is HD!
I know I'm not the only one thinking this. All of you out there are seething with anger as I am about this but we are helpless. We keep swilling this puke like its manna from heaven and we wont do, and can't do, anything about it. We should all put down the keyboards, pick up the phones and scream at who ever will listen about this crap called the hr21. DUDE, c'mon this thing is junk, and YOU ALL KNOW IT!
Face it, this thread wouldn't even exist if the hr21 worked perfectly. Oh sure there would be a couple of pages of how-to for people who couldn't figure out some feature they wanted to use. And there would be the enthusiasts who found some little tweak that made something a little better, but that's it. There wouldn't be pages and pages of guys struggling to help all the the other hapless souls who bought into this hype and are having to put up with utter garbage from D*.
Some you even have things in your sig like D* customer since xxxx year, like your proud of it. I'm not proud, I'm a VICTIM!! We are all victims of this horrible rape that has been purportrated on all of us!
Sorry man, but I'm bummed.
dudeman
