Video Quality

[ddix]

Does anyone else think that the video quality has gone down since the 6.3 update or is it just my imagination. Especially the non high def channels.

[rminsk]

The video quality is not effected by the software. The DirecTiVo plays back the exact signal it gets from the satellite/ATSC. DirecTV could have adjusted the compression on some of the channels you watch.

[JJ]

The video quality is not effected by the software. The DirecTiVo plays back the exact signal it gets from the satellite/ATSC. DirecTV could have adjusted the compression on some of the channels you watch.

INCORRECT
the HR10-250 does indeed have ability to reduce (ATSC) quality displayed based on output method. I don't use the unit for NTSC since I have two DSR708s for that purpose, so I can't comment on that.

Compression of channels in the effort to get 'more' on the air is completely out of hand. DirecTV seems only interested in establishing HDTV locals and is willing to sacrafice current customers for the expected new accounts. Those new accounts will have loads of leased equipment and none of our pesky legacy hardware that is not getting big dollars up front. The plan to lease hardware to customers after they pay up front for the privelidge is obviously an accounting decision...

[tucsonbill]

INCORRECT
the HR10-250 does indeed have ability to reduce (ATSC) quality displayed based on output method. In software? And be the benefit for D*? Anyway, my answer is I see no difference -- OTOH I'm not one of those blessed with calibrated eyes and golden ears.

[rminsk]

INCORRECT
the HR10-250 does indeed have ability to reduce (ATSC) quality displayed based on output method. I don't use the unit for NTSC since I have two DSR708s for that purpose, so I can't comment on that. INCORRECT
The data stream sent to the mpeg decoder chip is the exact same data regardless of output resoultion.

[JJ]

TRUE
but I really don't care too much about the signals bouncing around in the internal data pathways. The output of my OTA signal can and has been compromised at playback. Video quality was noticeably reduced on the HR10-250 and it sems to be the only ATSC device I have here that is reacting to a broadcast flag...

LINK TO THREAD (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=320913)

[TyroneShoes]

INCORRECT
the HR10-250 does indeed have ability to reduce (ATSC) quality displayed based on output method...
The supporting statement, while true, does not in any way support your argument or in any way invalidate rminsk's point. rminsk's argument that a software up rev is incapable of affecting video quality is correct, as his statements usually are.

Your supporting statement apparently refers to the ability of the HR10 to downrez component outputs should the copyright holder invoke that privilege. In the first place, that capability was in the HR10 long before 6.3, and in the second place, there have not been reports of this to my knowledge in more than a handful of locations. The fact that it began about the time 6.3 was ported is merely coincidental.

[rx3]

Does anyone else think that the video quality has gone down since the 6.3 update or is it just my imagination. Especially the non high def channels.

YES! Mine definitely degraded and I posted about it in the 6.3 problem thread but nobody responded. I have alot of pixelation during dark scenes with action in them.

I dont know about all this technical mumbo jumbo you guys are talking about but my eyes don't lie and I definitely noticed worse video quality. This has really pissed me off and I'm currently trying to find a 3.15 image to put back on my machine.

[TyroneShoes]

YES! Mine definitely degraded and I posted about it in the 6.3 problem thread but nobody responded. I have alot of pixelation during dark scenes with action in them.

I dont know about all this technical mumbo jumbo you guys are talking about but my eyes don't lie and I definitely noticed worse video quality. This has really pissed me off and I'm currently trying to find a 3.15 image to put back on my machine.
Forget mumbo-jumbo, you don't need to understand the nuts and bolts. What you do need is enough brain cells to rub together to understand that pixellation is a decoder issue, and not a PQ issue. Compression artifacts affecting PQ and decoder pixellation artifacts due to buffer underflow are two mildly similar yet completely different and most often unrelated things.

[rx3]

Forget mumbo-jumbo, you don't need to understand the nuts and bolts. What you do need is enough brain cells to rub together to understand that pixellation is a decoder issue, and not a PQ issue. Compression artifacts affecting PQ and decoder pixellation artifacts due to buffer underflow are two mildly similar yet completely different and most often unrelated things.

Sorry for the lack of brain cells here but can you clarify please? Are you saying the 6.3 update could not be responsible for the increased pixelation?