# TiVo picture quality not good



## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

I really am disappointed with the picture quality on my new TiVo. I had a Samsung V+ box before and SD channels looked really good - sometimes I had to check what channel I was watching to see if it was HD.

SD channels on the TiVo look like they used to on my SkyHD box. Just plain poor. Poor definition, lack of detail and pixellation with fast moving areas of the picture.

HD channels look OK, but still not quite up to my old Samsung V+ box.

I have only 1080i selected in 'video output' - have tried 576p and this doesn't make much difference to SD channels.

As much as I am a fan of TiVo I am considering going back to V+.

Does anyone think the new software will/could make any improvements?


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## Northwest4u (Feb 2, 2011)

If you reboot the box or restart it, this seems to break the output resolution.
Did you try changing the resolution again?

The picture quality seems as good as the V+ to me...

The best way to tell what resolution the box is outputting is the press the up key on the remote whilst watching a recording.

Hope this helps


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

Northwest4u said:


> The best way to tell what resolution the box is outputting is the press the up key on the remote whilst watching a recording.
> 
> Hope this helps


Thanks. I have it set to 1080i - confirmed when I press the up key.


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## nbaker (Sep 28, 2002)

I only had a Samsung SD box before but I find the Tivo box picture quality very good on most channels.


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## Northwest4u (Feb 2, 2011)

Try selecting all the supported formats for your tv, in the resolution settings.

You can the change the resolution by pressing the up button whilst watching a t
recording, this way you will be able to tell which resolution looks best on your TV.


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

Northwest4u said:


> Try selecting all the supported formats for your tv, in the resolution settings.
> 
> You can the change the resolution by pressing the up button whilst watching a t
> recording, this way you will be able to tell which resolution looks best on your TV.


I have enabled 576p and 1080i as these two work fine with my TV. Does this mean that SD channels will be output at 576p and HD channels at 1080i?

SD channels do look a little better now - maybe it is the upscaling of the TiVo box which is not too good.

Thanks.


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## Andy C (Jun 7, 2002)

High def material looks great, but the SD picture is A LOT softer than on my V+.

I'm a fussy git when it comes to PQ, sitting spending hours tweaking my TV to get everything spot on (I have Panasonics current flagship model, the 42" TX-42V20B).

The first thing I noticed was the SD upscaling was poor and this is my only disappointment with the TiVo right now. The SD upscaling on the SA V+ was excellent, high quality broadcasts on the BBC almost looked like they were in HD. Sadly though SD on the TiVo is very soft and not sharp at all. I have tried forcing the TiVo to output at 720p which does make things a little better, but there's not much in it. I would even say the GUI is pin sharp at 720p, but a tiny bit less so on 1080i.

Unfortunately I doubt anything can be done as the upscaling is usually a hardware thing. My PS3 and old SA V+ do put it to shame though

What are Cisco V-HD boxes like?


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

There's no way to get it to output 576i and do the upscaling separately?


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