fuzzy picture with new TV

[andrewat]

OK, I bought a new Sony Bravia HDTV about 6 months ago. I've been using 3 Tivo Series2 boxes for as long as I can remember.

Now here's the problem. I get some HD channels straight through the coax for free and they are spectacular. I also get a bunch of digital stuff that I'm apparently not paying for either because I'm NOT running a digital cable box. The coax is running straight into the TV. My problem is that when I hooked my tivo box up to the new tv and ran the cable through it and into the tv via an input, all of a sudden ALL of the channels are coming through fuzzy...with interference.

The problem goes away when I run the cable coax straight into the TV, so the issue is running it through the Tivo box. Why would that be happening? Most of my channels are not digital as far as I know.

Also, another question I have is this. One of my favorite channels is 82.11 on my cable. My Sony remote has the little ".", but would I even be able to input that channel with a Tivo remote?

[NA9D]

Your Sony is picking up the digital simulcast of the channels and they look good. The TiVo, OTOH, is by default picking up the analog channels and depending on what box you have, it is unable to pick up any digital ones (Only Series 3 and HD boxes can pick up the digital channels). Analog channels look like crap on new HD sets.

[lastdeadcat]

Analog doesn't always look bad on HDTVs. With the right scaling, it can look really good. I have an TiVoHD playing on an HDTV, but I don't have CableCARDs yet as my cable hasn't quite gone all digital, if fact right no locals are digital on the basic tier. I get the best analog recording I have ever gotten by having my TiVoHD convert the 480i recordings to 480p.

I also have a Series 2 playing on the HDTV. I record in best quality and I get still get a good picture. It's only 480I, but still good for SD. The TiVoHD, though has a really good analog tuner.

When I have my TiVoHD go to 720p for these analog recordings, I do get a very poor picture. I just use 480p and accept the bars on the sides. If I get a letterbox program from my TiVoHD in SD, I use the HDTV controls to zoom the picture to the full 52" LCD screen. There is a bit of degrading, but the full screen for this is nice.

My advice is until you get a new TiVoHD, don't try to use higher resolutions than you are getting from the Series 2. Upconverting will just degrade the picture.

Upgrades sometimes have to be phased in. Get the new TV and see the picture direct from the cable and record on the Series 2 accepting the picture you get for a while. Then, when you can, upgrade the TiVo. You've got things in the right order. The new TV comes first then the new TiVo.

[greg_burns]

My Sony remote has the little ".", but would I even be able to input that channel with a Tivo remote?

The "." button (or "-") is directly above the number 3. It has ->| printed on it, the skip to tick button.

Oops. I thought I read you had a Series 3. But you said 3 Tivo Series 2. :)