Series 3 Analog to HDMI?

trainwrecka · 02-19-2007, 12:01 AM

I recently purchased a Series 2 DT after retiring my 140 Hr Series 2. The day the Tivo came in the mail my wife and I got a new 50" HDTV. We currently do not pay for cable. We have the basic local channels coming in via Time Warner's coaxial cable. It was 40 something for the install and free from there on out.

Now that we have the HDTV big screen we notice just how crappy the picture on 480 really is. We switched to S-Video and that helped a little.

My question is - if I get a series 3 and run basic cable will it output it via HDMI into my HDTV and clear the picture up some? Or will that not matter?

ALSO - can I have that basic cable hooked into a Series 3 at the same time as an HDTV antenna?

BigJimOutlaw · 02-19-2007, 12:37 AM

The Series 3 lets you have 2 video inputs. Your cable input should happily co-exist with an antenna input.

Regarding HDMI, you shouldn't expect any dramatic improvement to 480 content. It's a "garbage in, garbage out" situation. Any improvement using HDMI is slight at best. Heck knows I can't tell a difference.

randywalters · 02-19-2007, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trainwrecka

My question is - if I get a series 3 and run basic cable will it output it via HDMI into my HDTV and clear the picture up some? Or will that not matter?

I found that SD programs looked a little better via HDMI than it did with S-Video when i was experimenting with my two TVs, but it wasn't a huge improvement. It is the best connection though regardless of your content.

Quote:

ALSO - can I have that basic cable hooked into a Series 3 at the same time as an HDTV antenna?

Yes it will work great like this - i did this for about 4 days before TWC installed my Cablecards. The S3 has one RF input for an antenna and a separate RF input for cable so you could easily record an OTA local HD program on one tuner while recording a basic cable program on the other tuner, or any combination of both sources.

pl1 · 02-19-2007, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trainwrecka

My question is - if I get a series 3 and run basic cable will it output it via HDMI into my HDTV and clear the picture up some? Or will that not matter?

You can run basic cable and Over The Air (OTA) with or without cableCARDS. I believe the analog looks somewhat better without the cableCARD, but, I don't believe you get the digital equivalent. If your cableco has a digital equivalent, and you use cableCARDS, the quality improves alot.

Quote:

ALSO - can I have that basic cable hooked into a Series 3 at the same time as an HDTV antenna?

Absolutely. AAMOF, I am using one of my S3's almost exclusively with OTA and it has cable connected as well. The tiVo gives you the guide data on both versions of the channel (ie. cab 7 and ant 7-1). You can deselect one if you prefer the other.

jwbacher · 02-19-2007, 08:57 AM

I do the OTA Antenna to get my local HD channels and just the basic stuff that comes in via TheWorstCableco. The thing to keep in mind is without the HDMI cord, the HD OTA you are getting will not be as good from the S3 to the TV without the HDMI. You will probably get differing opinions on this here, but this is my opinion.

TydalForce · 02-19-2007, 08:59 AM

There's an ongoing debate over HDMI vs. Component, but either one is a better connector than S-Video...

your analog SD stuff might look about the same, but at least everything else will look better

vstone · 02-19-2007, 09:42 AM

Left out of this discussion is the quality of the analog tuner built into the S3. My experience is that if your cable system provides a good signal then it will record a relatively good looking picture (even if you watch live TV, you are watching a recorded digital stream).

One local channel was apprently cobled togther from older equipment that other TV stations had sold off. Their picture can be pretty dreary. Others look great.

The S3, with its THX pedigree, may uprez analog signals better than your TV does.

V7Goose · 02-19-2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJimOutlaw

The Series 3 lets you have 2 video inputs. Your cable input should happily co-exist with an antenna input.

Regarding HDMI, you shouldn't expect any dramatic improvement to 480 content. It's a "garbage in, garbage out" situation. Any improvement using HDMI is slight at best. Heck knows I can't tell a difference.

The issue here is not comparing HDMI to component or S-Video, it is comparing picture quality from a Series 2 to a Series 3. Although GIGO is always a true statement, the fact is that S2 TiVos have HORRIBLE picture quality! Even if you have an excellent signal going into the S2, the compression in best quality just destroys the picture. I didn't have any problem with my S2 picture quality, even on a big screen TV, UNTIL I got an HD TV, then the poor quality just jumped out and slapped me in the face. This PQ degradation was so foul that I basically quit using my S2 TiVo because I couldn't stand how bad the picture was on my 42" plasma, and a larger screen magnifies the poor quality even more.

The S3 does not trash the PQ like the S2 does. If you have good quality in the picture when taken straight off the cable into the HDTV, then you will have at least that good when taken from an S3 unit fed from the same source.

SNJpage1 · 02-19-2007, 08:57 PM

There is a difference between HDMI and componet. HDMI is a digital output from the S3 to the TV. Componet is analog. When using componet cables the S3 takes the digital signal from the cable co and converts it to analog, sends it to the TV which converts it back to digital. There are two conversions taking place. If you are going to pay over $600 for an S3 spend the extra dollars for the HDMI cable. Look on line and you can get it for half the price that Best Buy and places like that want for the cable. I bought my ay cables4less.com.

randywalters · 02-20-2007, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNJpage1

There is a difference between HDMI and componet. HDMI is a digital output from the S3 to the TV. Componet is analog. When using componet cables the S3 takes the digital signal from the cable co and converts it to analog, sends it to the TV which converts it back to digital. There are two conversions taking place. If you are going to pay over $600 for an S3 spend the extra dollars for the HDMI cable. Look on line and you can get it for half the price that Best Buy and places like that want for the cable. I bought my ay cables4less.com.

Great point.

One of the best sources for good inexpensive cables is Monoprice dot com - check item number 2412 (6 foot male/male HDMI cable for less than ten bucks shipped). I'm using four of these with my setup and they work perfectly.

hookbill · 02-20-2007, 08:45 AM

I don't see any difference in component vs HDMI, though I agree in theory HDMI should work better. I use the HDMI on one of my sets and the other component.

Maeglin · 02-20-2007, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNJpage1

There is a difference between HDMI and componet. HDMI is a digital output from the S3 to the TV. Componet is analog. When using componet cables the S3 takes the digital signal from the cable co and converts it to analog, sends it to the TV which converts it back to digital. There are two conversions taking place.

It depends on whether the actual display is digital or analog, actually. There was a link posted in some thread in here about that, which said that there were only two currently available technologies where the display itself was digital... DLP and something else (LCD, maybe?). Plasma is analog when it comes down to it, so it wouldn't make a difference there.

AbMagFab · 02-20-2007, 09:21 AM

Why get an HDTV if you aren't going to get any HD content? Seems like a waste of money.

srea · 02-20-2007, 10:24 AM

Even though I'm currently viewing my S3 on an old 32" CRT non-HD TV I can still see a big difference from my S2. Not just the better compression. I've also noticed that an OTA HD picture downscaled to my 480i TV looks better than Cable or OTA analog or even OTA digital 480i. I don't really understand why.
Steve

jbowden · 02-20-2007, 11:04 AM

Component and HDMI both work fine on the S3. I have tried both and cannot tell any difference in PQ. As for Video, it is a matter of chioce and whatever makes your boat float. I suspect HMDI may the the way into the future when 1080p shows are available but that will be sometime out there unless you have a Blueray or HD DVD player.

randywalters · 02-20-2007, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbMagFab

Why get an HDTV if you aren't going to get any HD content? Seems like a waste of money.

But he IS viewing HD content, only it's downrezzed to 480i on his non-HD tube TV. My elderly mom used to watch awesome programming on HDNet and INHD etc as well as local primetime programming on her little 27" regular Tube TV and it looked way better than any of her digital SD channels.

Other reasons people get an HDTV/widescreen/bigscreen even though they're not watching HD programming:

1. When someone wants a TV bigger than the largest tube TV available

2. For watching DVDs

3. Wants to hang their TV on the wall and get that giant tube TV out of the room

randywalters · 02-20-2007, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srea

Even though I'm currently viewing my S3 on an old 32" CRT non-HD TV I can still see a big difference from my S2. Not just the better compression. I've also noticed that an OTA HD picture downscaled to my 480i TV looks better than Cable or OTA analog or even OTA digital 480i. I don't really understand why.

It looks better because the actual program was filmed/videotaped in HD so there's a lot more information in the broadcast. HD looks great on a non-HD set !

SNJpage1 · 02-20-2007, 10:01 PM

<<<Plasma is analog when it comes down to it, so it wouldn't make a difference there. >>>

My 42 inch plasma is digital