Tivo-LCD TV problem

[meptmoore]

I have had a Tivo HD for about 9 months now. I do not have HD service, so I have been using it in “normal” mode. During that time it was connected to a Toshiba 42HP95 42” plasma TV. Everything worked fine on both “best quality” resolution as well as whatever they call the next lower resolution.

So then I bought a Samsung 60MHz 52” LCD. I use HDMI to connect it. Now when I record even at best quality, I often see small portions of the screen (typically on people’s faces) “squirm” a bit. It is a little bit like a portion of the screen is wiggling. It may be doing this on other portions of the screen as well, but I am typically looking at faces so that is where I observe it. This is not a case of fast motion that can’t keep up, since the faces are usually fairly stationary.

So I took my TIVO and reconnected it to my plasma using HDMI and, playing the same show, at the same point where I observed the instability, it appears fine on the plasma.

So I thought, OK, my new LCD is no good. But I also have a Panasonic DVD recorder (uses DVD RAM disks and HDMI), as well as an Onkyo DVD player (component cables) and a Playstation 3/Blue Ray player (HDMI). So far I have been unable to observe any problems with any of these three sources.

So if the TIVO has a problem, why would it play fine of the plasma? And if it is the TV that has a problem, why don’t the three other input devices exhibit the same problem?

BTW, I will be picking up a cable box today, so I will start using the Tivo for HD any day now.

Does anyone have any ideas on this strange problem?

Thank you.

[Ben_Jamin75]

BTW, I will be picking up a cable box today, so I will start using the Tivo for HD any day now.
Thank you.

You can't use a cable box with a TiVoHD, you need a cable card(s).

[lastdeadcat]

You have just discovered one of the differences between LCD and Plasma screens. It has to do with motion and the way the two deal with it. LCDs are less adept in dealing with it than Plasmas.

LCDs are getting better at it, especially with the 120 MHz models and the upcoming 240 MHz models.

It has little to do with you TiVo. Since you are recording SD from an analog souce (you wouldn't get the recording quality choices with a SD digital signal) it will be more evident. I get it some on my 52" LCD screen. It's much less severe with a digital signal and much less in HiDef.

In fact the TiVo can help a bit even with the analog SD picture. Change the resolution to hybrid or fixed 480p, 720p and 1080i on the TiVo. It will deinterlace the 480i picture from analog and digital SD sources to 480p. This is a smoother picture and may be more pleasing. At least I think so.

[ciper]

It may also be the image processing on your set. My Sony LCD defaulted to "Vivid" mode when I switched from component to HDMI which had many image "enhancement" settings enabled. These caused the TiVo menus to look like low quality jpegs with all sorts of noise around the edge of graphics. Once I properly calibrated the set (including disabling or turning down many of the extra features) the picture was once again perfect.

Congrats on the LCD. Your power bill will probably be cheaper next month.

[meptmoore]

Many thanks for your suggestions. The Comcast guy is coming tomorrow with a couple of cable cards so I should be OK on HD. If the image "squirm" is still evident, I'll try the other suggestions. Thanks again.

[Bob723]

Two suggestions for you meptmoore:
I recently got a Samsung LN52A650 LCD 52". The picture quality initially was not great. I downloaded and installed a software update from Samsung and it made a huge difference. I have a TiVo HD on the new LCD and also have one on the old plasma. I would say the plasma picture was the better of the two until I installed the update on the LCD. Now the LCD picture rocks and is far superior to the plasma.

Suggestion 2: Go to avsforum.com. You will likely be able to find a thread for your Samsung model with lots of suggestions for tweaking the picture, etc.

Good luck. Please post an update to tell us how things turn out.