# Need Explanation 1080p (Pass-thru only)



## Rebobbecker (May 27, 2016)

I just installed my first Tivo. Generally, I've been able to figure things out. However, I do have some video resolution questions.

1. The following are checked: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (60 fps), 1080p (pass-thru only). Should I leave them all checked? (I understand why 2160p (60fps) and 2160p are not supported).
2. What does "Press UP while watching video to switch output formats." achieve? While it demonstrate the best Tivo/TV compatibility? 

Any settings suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Rebobbecker said:


> I just installed my first Tivo. Generally, I've been able to figure things out. However, I do have some video resolution questions.
> 
> 1. The following are checked: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (60 fps), 1080p (pass-thru only). Should I leave them all checked? (I understand why 2160p (60fps) and 2160p are not supported).
> 2. What does "Press UP while watching video to switch output formats." achieve? While it demonstrate the best Tivo/TV compatibility?
> ...


Opinions will vary of course. I set 1080p (pass-thru only) to allow Amazon 24fps. I don't like the lag with HDMI handshaking, so I also check 1080i. That's it. But like I said, opinions vary.

Up arrow shows/cycles through 480i to 1080p(60) if those boxes are checked. All I ever see is 1080i.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

The pass-through is 1080p/24fps. If you have material in this format, the TiVo can pass it through, but it won't convert other material to that resolution, as it can do with the others.

Whether you should leave them all checked is up to you. It's a trade off between (potentially) optimum picture quality, and the annoyance of waiting for the TV to adjust every time the resolution changes. In practice, the TiVo does about as good a job of scaling as the TV does, so I only use a fixed resolution (unchecking everything else), to avoid the delay. But, YMMV.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

With all those resolutions checked, the TV will blank and adjust to the new resolution every time you change channels/shows that has a different resolution.

To avoid that, just check the 1 resolution that is the highest the TV will support. ie: 1080p and anything lower will be upscaled to that.

Don't worry about 4K yet as no one is supporting that at this time.


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## Rebobbecker (May 27, 2016)

Tried a single setting. I see no speed increase. Went back to checking all available. Thanks for all the replies.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Rebobbecker said:


> Tried a single setting. I see no speed increase. Went back to checking all available. Thanks for all the replies.


That implies all your channels are the same resolution. Does your cable have an information channel? That's usually 480i. There will also be a delay when going in and out of the old SD menus.


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## Rebobbecker (May 27, 2016)

Using OTA, not cable. Basically have 3 different qualities, 480i, 720i, and 1080i. I used the 1080i setting.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Rebobbecker said:


> Using OTA, not cable. Basically have 3 different qualities, 480i, 720i, and 1080i. I used the 1080i setting.


That's a good setting. Some OTA subchannels are 480i, especially those with old westerns and some movies. Comet TV is one example.


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## Rebobbecker (May 27, 2016)

So...are you suggesting that I set only those 3? Only the highest? All compatible settings? Thanks in advance.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Rebobbecker said:


> So...are you suggesting that I set only those 3? Only the highest? All compatible settings? Thanks in advance.


It doesn't really matter. If there is a delay (black screen) and it bothers you, then I would just use 1080i and 1080p (pass through). As was posted, the pass through is for streaming content.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ThAbtO said:


> With all those resolutions checked, the TV will blank and adjust to the new resolution every time you change channels/shows that has a different resolution.
> 
> To avoid that, just check the 1 resolution that is the highest the TV will support. ie: 1080p and anything lower will be upscaled to that.
> 
> Don't worry about 4K yet as no one is supporting that at this time.


Sure they are. Netflix streams in UHD/4K from the Bolt. And so does Youtube.

The only resolutions i don't use from my Bolts is 480i/p. Because it looks like ass for some reason. While the Roamio looks fine with 480i/p in my setup. Although that is a resolution that is rarely used from content I watch anyway.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Rebobbecker said:


> Using OTA, not cable. Basically have 3 different qualities, 480i, 720i, and 1080i. I used the 1080i setting.


There is no such thing as 720i, just 720p.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Rebobbecker said:


> So...are you suggesting that I set only those 3? Only the highest? All compatible settings? Thanks in advance.


The Tivo will not be delayed in any way, only the TV as it needs to adjust itself every time resolution changes.

You can see what resolution you are on by pressing up on a clear screen of either Live TV or recording. Pressing up again will cycle through your checked resolutions.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> Sure they are. Netflix streams in UHD/4K from the Bolt. And so does Youtube.
> 
> The only resolutions i don't use from my Bolts is 480i/p. Because it looks like ass for some reason. While the Roamio looks fine with 480i/p in my setup. Although that is a resolution that is rarely used from content I watch anyway.


I meant that OTA or CableCo does not yet support 4K, not streaming services.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

The question is do you want your TV to scale the content or do you want the Bolt to scale the content? In my experience, the Bolt has a good scalar so there is really no reason to select every output format (which causes the delay on the tv for it to switch resolutions).


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

My TV is 4K (2014 Vizio P602ui-B3). I set resolutions of [email protected] and [email protected] (passthrough) only because enabling any of the other resolutions makes Netflix work worse; it's already pretty wonky.


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## napa7m (Jul 8, 2016)

I set my resolution to 1080p only, and sometimes it will be set back to 720p only. It seems to do this when I turn my TV and/or AVR OFF. 
Anyone else have an issue with the BOLT resetting the resolution sometimes? 

I would guess it's some kind of handshake issue due to the AVR being between my TV and BOLT.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

napa7m said:


> I set my resolution to 1080p only, and sometimes it will be set back to 720p only. It seems to do this when I turn my TV and/or AVR OFF.
> Anyone else have an issue with the BOLT resetting the resolution sometimes?
> 
> I would guess it's some kind of handshake issue due to the AVR being between my TV and BOLT.


If you set the TiVo to 1080p only, and you find 720p somewhere, something is very wrong.

My AVR has a bypass mode. When it's off, the video goes to the TV. No change in resolution. But it is quiet.


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## napa7m (Jul 8, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> If you set the TiVo to 1080p only, and you find 720p somewhere, something is very wrong.
> 
> My AVR has a bypass mode. When it's off, the video goes to the TV. No change in resolution. But it is quiet.


That's not what im saying. When I set the BOLT to 1080p, I always see 1080p signal to my TV. There is no concern there. The issue is that the BOLT resolution setting reverts back to 720p after I turn the TV and AVR OFF and then back ON again sometimes.

It seems to happen randomly a couple times/week.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

napa7m said:


> *I set my resolution to 1080p only, and sometimes it will be set back to 720p only.* It seems to do this when I turn my TV and/or AVR OFF. *Anyone else have an issue with the BOLT resetting the resolution sometimes?* I would guess it's some kind of handshake issue due to the AVR being between my TV and BOLT.





napa7m said:


> That's not what im saying. When I set the BOLT to 1080p, I always see 1080p signal to my TV. There is no concern there. *The issue is that the BOLT resolution setting reverts back to 720p* after I turn the TV and AVR OFF and then back ON again sometimes. It seems to happen randomly a couple times/week.


Oh, I know the problem. You must have Comcast, right? That's their M.O. after all. 

Just kidding. It sounds like you have HDMI-CEC control on in your TV or something. Turn that off and see what happens.


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## napa7m (Jul 8, 2016)

HarperVision said:


> Oh, I know the problem. You must have Comcast, right? That's their M.O. after all.
> 
> Just kidding. It sounds like you have HDMI-CEC control on in your TV or something. Turn that off and see what happens.


Haha no, Charter, just as bad?

TV is a Samsung UN75HU8550, Samsung calls it Anynet+(HDMI-CEC) in the menu. Its OFF.

Thanks for the suggestion.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

napa7m said:


> That's not what im saying. When I set the BOLT to 1080p, I always see 1080p signal to my TV. There is no concern there. The issue is that the BOLT resolution setting reverts back to 720p after I turn the TV and AVR OFF and then back ON again sometimes.
> 
> It seems to happen randomly a couple times/week.


If 720p is not checked in Video, and your TiVo sends out 720p, something is very wrong.

In two years on my Roamio I have had a DD 5.1 channel come out of the TiVo as DD 2.0. So I guess anything is possible. BTW, simply hitting Pause to kill the audio and un-Pause fixed it.


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## OmeneX (Jul 2, 2016)

napa7m said:


> The issue is that the BOLT resolution setting reverts back to 720p after I turn the TV and AVR OFF and then back ON again sometimes.
> 
> It seems to happen randomly a couple times/week.


All I can contribute here on this is that I've seen this behavior maybe 2 or 3 times at my home. In my case it's defaulting to 1080p instead of 2160p. But the issue was always caused when I was doing HDMI cable maintenance. Unplugging and re plugging to different ports with new/old cables to new/old devices.

Basically the few times I've either upgraded something or added something while the TiVo was on. I'm sorry I can't say the exact order of things since it's been awhile and I didn't take special note on it - since I knew the cause. (I suspect the Xbox One passthru new and old had a hand in it as well at least once.) 

It's the behavior your asking about - and things are being turned off and on. I hope this can help you come to some conclusion.

Maybe try reproducing the problem by different power off/on routines + any other devices?


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

JoeKustra said:


> If 720p is not checked in Video, and your TiVo sends out 720p, something is very wrong.


It isn't that unusual. Sometimes when a tv or avr boots up, the hardware can appear to not support the current output mode. In that case TiVo will switch to a lower quality output mode the device says it supports. These types of HDMI issues are very hard to fix. Sometimes TiVo can fix it but many times there is little they can do.


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## OmeneX (Jul 2, 2016)

rainwater said:


> It isn't that unusual. Sometimes when a tv or avr boots up, the hardware can appear to not support the current output mode. In that case TiVo will switch to a lower quality output mode the device says it supports. These types of HDMI issues are very hard to fix. Sometimes TiVo can fix it but many times there is little they can do.


To piggy back on this - doing power up and down routines to isolate which device is most likely the cause (I suspect AVR) then you could gather information online on how that device handles its' HDMI when in power down mode. Unless you hard power down your units? IE: Unplugging them from the power source or wall socket or off/on surge protector/UPS switch?

That would do it.


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## napa7m (Jul 8, 2016)

OmeneX said:


> To piggy back on this - doing power up and down routines to isolate which device is most likely the cause (I suspect AVR) then you could gather information online on how that device handles its' HDMI when in power down mode. Unless you hard power down your units? IE: Unplugging them from the power source or wall socket or off/on surge protector/UPS switch?
> 
> That would do it.


My thoughts exactly.

I did try different ON/OFF combinations with the TV and AVR to try to isolate who is misbehaving and couldn't reproduce it at will.

I do not hard power down the AVR, it's a Yamaha RX-V1800, which goes into Standby.

The TV does have some sort of quick turn ON mode that samsung calls 'Instant ON'. I vaguely remember some people on AVS Forum saying this has caused some issues with their devices. I believe I have this feature turned ON as well. I'll try to turn that OFF and see if it makes a difference.


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## blobly (Aug 5, 2009)

Is assume (am I correct?) that 1080p pass through will pass through a 1080p signal with no conversion - just a 1 to 1 image.
So, if I am correct, this can't be the only box that is checked as you need to at least also check just the plain 1080p option so it can convert resolutions less than 1080p?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

blobly said:


> Is assume (am I correct?) that 1080p pass through will pass through a 1080p signal with no conversion - just a 1 to 1 image.
> So, if I am correct, this can't be the only box that is checked as you need to at least also check just the plain 1080p option so it can convert resolutions less than 1080p?


You can no longer check only 1080p (pass through). That was fixed a while ago. I check 1080i also. Pass Through is applied to streaming content, and will not change the content. If you don't check pass through, you can still get streaming content, but not 24fps.


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## blobly (Aug 5, 2009)

OK - that's what I was thinking


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

[email protected] Pass-Thru can be the only 1080 res output option selected, as long as [email protected] is also selected. In reality I find that if 1080 pass-thru is selected and 4K pass-thru is selected it will give me [email protected] for 24p content even if it's only 1080 res.


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