Question About Recording Qualities

[jugbugs]

Has anyone done some research on the 4 recording qualities? I am trying to find the best quality vs storage space ratio.

I am using a Series 2

Any links?

[megazone]

It is really a matter of personal preference. 'Best' uses about 4x the space as 'Basic'.

[jugbugs]

^^ Yeah okay not much help there. I am sure somone has an opinion atleast.

I am also sure that someone has done some campairing of the four types to accually see what noticable difference there is and compaired that with with their sizes?

[LifeIsABeach]

Everyone's opinion and experiences will be different. For me Basic looks pixilated, but Medium, High, and Best all look exactly the same (icluded for fast-action sports like hockey). For others they need everything recorded at High. Whether it be the tv, cables, eyesight of the watcher, or whatever you need to test and see what works best for you.

[davezatz]

It will vary depending on your preferences and power of observation coupled with the source material and your TV.

EDIT: Yeah, what LIAB said.

[jlb]

Medium for me for everything.

[gzamira]

I'm curious what size TV the people that are using "medium" mode have. I have a 36" TV and I can't use anything less than the "high" mode. Basic and medium are unwatchable. The only reason I even use "high" is for the space and so I can get 2 hrs on a DVD.

40 hr. Humax w/DVD burner

[cynthetiq]

I use Basic for things that I don't care about.... high for things that I care more, and Best for things that need to be the best they can such as action and water shots.

[rkester]

Also depends on the unit you are using. My Humax in High looks lke my old S1 Sony on Medium. And on my HDTV, even Best looks like it is Medium.

anothe bit of input. on my old 32" JVC using s-video input, eveyrthing looked great, including medium on the Humax DVD unit. used medium for alot and didnt notice too much problems with it except in heavy action... used high mostly.

when i got the HDTV, it brings out every single little artifact like a magnifying glass. and only after tweaking the tv's settings has even Best become tolerable to watch. But even with it, I see noise and artifacting that I never saw before.

[ZeoTiVo]

on my 32 inch SD TV

high and best look the same to me and since Best uses considerably more I record things that matter to me at HIGH

for things I am not so concerned about, like Game shows I use medium.

now that is part becasue I have a 140 hour TiVo.

when I only had a 40 hour TiVo, everything was medium simply for space considerations and that was alright by me.

[dgh]

The screen size issue is really a screen size to viewing distance ratio issue. For any size, you can be too close, or far enough not to see artifacts. Also, a properly calibrated screen is far more tolerant of mpeg artifacts that one with factory "buy me!" calibration.

[dt_dc]

Ditto what everyone else said :)

Somewhere, once upon a time I think I saw an actual comparison of the settings and what they actually translated to in resolution / bit rate.

But ... it really 'depends'. Equipment used, features (like TivoToGo) used, the content in question, content source, personal preferences, etc, etc, etc ...

[DancnDude]

I have 140hr TiVos so I don't care much about space. I keep mine set to high. When I had a 30 hour, I set it to Basic and things looked better than a VCR but you could tell.

Depending on how much space you have, I would start out on Basic. If it doesn't bother you then keep it there, otherwise set it up a step and try that. Repeat until you find the setting you like.

[mportuesi]

When I had an 80 hour TiVo, I had it set to High and everything looked great on my 24" SD set. Then I upgraded to a 32" HDTV, and the picture quality was unacceptable. So I upgraded my Series 2 with a 250 MB drive and I now use Best for everything. That simplifies things a bit since I never worry about recording quality any more.

I also agree with others that a properly calibrated TV shows way fewer MPEG artifacts than some random setting. Especially check the "sharpness" control, and turn that down.

[rkester]

The problem is however when you use a DVD tivo, if you use Best, you get 1 single hour on a DVD which is not good. And High, while giving you 2 hours, doesnt look so hot when played back on an HDTV.

If mine were just a tivo not dvd recorder, Id upgrade and do Best all the time too.

[LifeIsABeach]

46" Samsung DLP. Previously had a 27" tube. Have always recorded everything at medium with no problem. I should mention that I have a Series 1 which supposedly has a better picture quality than the Series 2 (have never seen one at work to say for sure).

[rkester]

LIAB - series 1 is definately visably different here. I compared my S1 Sony to my new humax when I got it and Medium on the S1 was better than High on the Humax.

I should plug it into the new tv in Svideo and see how it fares. I may start using it again there for general throw away recordings!

[mgar]

I have a 27" standard TV. I record most programs at medium, and there are some visible MPEG artifacts. I can't tell the difference on my TV between high and best quality, and there are no visible MPEG artifacts.

[rkester]

I have a 27" standard TV. I record most programs at medium, and there are some visible MPEG artifacts. I can't tell the difference on my TV between high and best quality, and there are no visible MPEG artifacts.

I think that is what got me when I went to an HDTV. I had been using lower quality on DVDs I recorded as well as just watching tv in general and never noticed anything. Then suddenly everything looks horrible and I am reminded of how much covreup the old tv's do when displaying tv programs.

[mgar]

I would really like to make the jump to HDTV, but I won't do it until TiVo supports it. I am still have high hopes that there will be a cable card Series 3 out in time for Christmas. I was almost ready to make the jump to D, when the TiVo/D divorce happened.

[DickK]

Previously (32" tube) I recorded a few things at medium and most everything except auto racing at high. Now with at larger widescreen higher-res plasma TV even high looks pixelated. But "best" eats up the hard drive to fast to use for everything. "High" isn't bad enough I can't live with it but its very noticable now compared to the old TV.

[jugbugs]

Thanks for all the replies...

Ditto what everyone else said :)

Somewhere, once upon a time I think I saw an actual comparison of the settings and what they actually translated to in resolution / bit rate.

But ... it really 'depends'. Equipment used, features (like TivoToGo) used, the content in question, content source, personal preferences, etc, etc, etc ...

It sure would be nice to a hold of that comparison ^^ :cool:

[Bondelev]

Maybe it's because I work in the industry, but anything less than best looks significantly worse to me. The only time I don't use BEST is if I think I may want to put it on DVD later and know I need to fit more on the disk.

[MMG]

42" Plasma HDTV. S2 Pioner DVR-52H. Everything on Medium is crystal clear.... no pixels or artifacts.

[sushikitten]

I'd say 75% of our stuff is in Basic, but programs recorded in HD are done at Best, along with a few select programs that we've come to learn don't record well in Basic.

That said, we're putting a 300GB in our new Series 2, so I don't think we'll have to worry about space.

ETA: 47" (or is it 49") rear projection HDTV.