UPC HD Box Config - Poor SD output

DominoDub

I have just updated to the UPC HD DVR Box.

I am looking to find out what is the best setup under "Menu - TV Settings" for the box when using a full HD TV ( Samsung D7000 40" Smart TV).

I have set it to : Full Screen - HIGH (RGB) - 1080i

But I am finding the Picture Quality very poor on SD channels:( ( HD Channels are great )

I got much better SD results on the old NTL PACE box using scart RGB !

who_me

Is it bad for all SD channels?

In my case, I found the Irish-sourced SD channels (RTE/TG4 etc) are fine, but UK-sourced SD channels (e.g. Sky One) can be very poor. In that case, it seems to be due to very high compression rates being applied to the UK-sourced channels.

DominoDub

who_me wrote: »

Is it bad for all SD channels?

In my case, I found the Irish-sourced SD channels (RTE/TG4 etc) are fine, but UK-sourced SD channels (e.g. Sky One) can be very poor. In that case, it seems to be due to very high compression rates being applied to the UK-sourced channels.

Yes it was like that on my old NTL PACE Scart Based unit ( I did a alot of work finding the best Calibration for the TV online ) ..but I wanted to make the move to HD having got my nice Smart TV. The Quality has dropped now on all SD Channels

zilog_jones

I found the picture quality better when the HDMI output was set to "auto" - so it will output 576p when viewing SD channels. I guess results can vary greatly depending on your TV's scaling/processing abilities (and how it's configured). Only downside to this is there is a delay of a few seconds when switching between SD and HD channels - again it may be dependant on the TV set.

belmulletman

DominoDub wrote: »

I have just updated to the UPC HD DVR Box.

I am looking to find out what is the best setup under "Menu - TV Settings" for the box when using a full HD TV ( Samsung D7000 40" Smart TV).

I have set it to : Full Screen - HIGH (RGB) - 1080i

But I am finding the Picture Quality very poor on SD channels:( ( HD Channels are great )

I got much better SD results on the old NTL PACE box using scart RGB !

First off, you need to set you box to 720p, its the higher quality output. 1080i is in fact lower quality.
More explained here - http://www.petapixel.com/2012/05/09/hd-video-explained-why-720p-is-better-than-1080i/
No broadcasters broadcast anything over 720p, so it's worth setting at this.

Might be worth calibrating your TV as well (this will improve the quality). If you have Monsters Inc on DVD, or Terminator 2, they both have THX calibrators and will set the best brightness, contrast, sharpness and more. (google THX Calibration disks to see what others have this feature)

Try these and see if they help.

jackindub

Irish and English hd channels broadcast in 1080I mate not 720p. Video in that link is pure and utter rubbish. Just read the comments beneath it. Thx calibration is a good idea though. If your tv Is 1080I or 1080p use 1080I setting on box if it's a 720p tv use 720p then. Simples! And don't believe everything ya hear an idiot say in a video just cause he has a headset on. Best setting for sd is completely dependant on the tv itself though.
Tv's are collaborated to look good under shop lighting so to get a good picture requires fine tuning the picture settings to suit lighting in the room you watch tv.

belmulletman

jackindub wrote: »

Irish and English hd channels broadcast in 1080I mate not 720p. Video in that link is pure and utter rubbish. Just read the comments beneath it. Thx calibration is a good idea though. If your tv Is 1080I or 1080p use 1080I setting on box if it's a 720p tv use 720p then. Simples! And don't believe everything ya hear an idiot say in a video just cause he has a headset on.

Do yo not think that unless your TV has a really good Scaling chip that going from SD to 1080 (i or p) could be causing a problem with picture quality?

I think the OP should at least consider it and give it a go to see if the SD picture quality improves (after all, there are so few HD channels, most of use watch SD more often than we do HD)

jackindub

belmulletman wrote: »

Do yo not think that unless your TV has a really good Scaling chip that going from SD to 1080 (i or p) could be causing a problem with picture quality?

I think the OP should at least consider it and give it a go to see if the SD picture quality improves (after all, there are so few HD channels, most of use watch SD more often than we do HD)

Always worth giving it a shot as sounds like anything that might improves the ops picture quality is worth a shot. Note to people buying tv's check what a sd channel looks like on it before buying. In general I've noticed the dearer the tv or higher speced the model the better it is at cleaning up and displaying a good sd picture. That being said there some good cheaper ones but you've got to look at the internals and chips used in them in particular the scaling chip as ya said. Also op try turning off all mpeg and noise filters. It shouldn't but for some reason gives me the best picture I can get on my Panasonic regards the sd channels anyway

belmulletman

usually when I get a new TV, I'll jump on some of the AV Forums (avforums.com being one) and see what the recommended settings for the TV are. All the Settings.
Alot of the time, people have the 'Sharpness' set way to high on their TV's and it makes the poorer quality SD pictures look terrible as it makes the MPEG Compression stand out really bad.

Like jackindublin said, the more expensive TV's usually have better scaling chips in them / better processing tech on board. Personally, I usually try spend as much as I can afford on a new TV, as most of the time, you get what you pay for (there are exceptions to this, but they are few and far between)

OP, what make / model TV do you have?

(also, when calibrating it, do it at the time of day, and with the lights on that you would usually watch TV. Doing it in the Mid-day sun, will give you a very different picture than if you were to do it at 9pm at night. Just worth bearing in mind).

zilog_jones

jackindub wrote: »

If your tv Is 1080I or 1080p use 1080I setting on box if it's a 720p tv use 720p then.

In reality, the majority of "720p" TVs are really 768p. Try dividing 720 into 768. I have a TV with a 1366x768 native resolution and 1080i/p always looks better than the 720p output from any device I've tried, including a Cisco UPC HD box.

DominoDub

Setting to UPC Box to "Auto" has helped the SD quality ..yes you do get that slow pause effect when switching to HD channels.

I have a Samsung UE40D7000 Smart TV 3D LED. and have used avsforums for settings etc.