# Video Quality and Settings



## 809NOLA (Jan 18, 2013)

My first post here though I've been lurking for months. I recently jumped back into the TiVo world after many years of satellite and cable DVR hell. I bought a Premiere XL4 and really love it hooked up to my Pioneer Kuro.

So we recently broke down and bought a 720P 32" Sony Bravia for the bedroom (I've also been opposed to owning more than one TV in a house but lost my resolve) and it's a great little TV. Perfect size for the space. Well, the purchase coincided with the intro of the TiVo Mini so I added that to the mix alongside an AppleTV. I purchased and installed the Moca adapter from TiVo, installed the mini and went through setup. The TiVo prompted me to select 1080i as the video setting and I went along with the suggestion. Bottom line, the picture quality looked pretty bad. Pixilated, dropped frames, just aweful. At first I chalked it up to the Moca speed but when I looked up the speed in the TiVo the measurements looked good. Then I thought maybe it's the fact that my Kuro is so far superior to my Sony that I'm just spoiled. That's partly true but not enough to account for the bad quality. After lots of setting mods, I changed the video setting on the TiVo to 720P. BAM, instantly the image quality improved. It's still not as good as the Kuro and I do need to calibrate the Sonybut I'll take it.

So, I have to ask, what is everyone choosing for video quality setting? Should you simply match your TV's native resolution? It gives options to choose more than one but why would I do that? I went and changed my Premiere XL4 to reflect all setting 720P and higher and I don't really notice a difference. Anyway... just curious what selection everyone else is making.

BTW, love the Mini and hope that TiVo keeps improving it with software updates.

Craig
New Orleans, LA


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

That question really depends on which device has the better deinterlacer/scaler/processor chip built into it, the mini or the TV? My guess off the top of my head would be the TV in your case but it sounds like the other way around was your experience. What channel were you watching and what is its native resolution? If it was 720p then you were double processing by going from 720 native, to 1080i and then your tv took it back to 720p which could account for what you saw. 

I'm not sure why you bought the MoCA adapter either, the mini and XL4 have it built in so no need to add an external one too. My guess is it was a bandwidth/speed issue really

Try selecting native out of the mini and see how it looks on a channel that's natively each resolution (480, 720, 1080)


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

The video output formats let you choose to have the box pass through native video resolutions (to let your TV do the video processing), or to let the Mini do it.

To have the Mini pass-through all video at their native resolutions, select everything.

To have the Mini upscale/downscale video, select 720p only.

To pass through just the native HD resolutions (and have the Mini upscale the SD stuff), select 720p and 1080i.

Selecting only something higher than what your TV natively supports (1080i in your case) might give you wonky double processing. Some TVs handle it better than others.

Personally I have both 720p and 1080i selected on all Tivo boxes (mix of 720p and 1080p TVs). Tivo boxes do a good job processing the HD video, but I generally prefer to let my TVs do it.



HarperVision said:


> I'm not sure why you bought the MoCA adapter either, the mini and XL4 have it built in so no need to add an external one too. My guess is it was a bandwidth/speed issue really


The XL4 might not be connected via ethernet, hence the need for an adapter. MoCA is plenty fast though and unrelated to this issue.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

From how I read his post, he already had the XL4 in his house and later decided to buy the 720p TV for his bedroom along with the mini and MoCA adapter, so I see no reason why he wouldn't have had ethernet already connected to his XL4. Perhaps he can comment to clarify? If that is the case, then there was no need to get a MoCA adapter _UNLESS_ he didn't have it connected to his XL4 and when he added the mini he had an ethernet drop close by and used that spot as the insertion point, since the mini won't act as a MoCA bridge, he needed the adapter.

I probably wasn't clear, but what I meant by saying I thought it was a "bandwidth/speed issue", I should have added the word "error" in there. I know MoCA is more than capable of handling it, when it's working properly. I was thinking it sounded like it may not have been (bad splitters, amps, barrels, taps, drops, etc somewhere in the line) working properly. As an afterthought I also think it could be that he may need a MoCA filter, which without one can cause macroblocking, pixelation, etc.

I'm with you on the scaling issues! :up:

Sorry I wasn't more clear and thorough. I hope I made more sense this time?


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