4 sec delay between live TV and "Now Playing"

[bengaldave]

I do not think that the delay I am asking about is the tuner.

Delay I am NOT asking about:
When I am just changing channels there is a couple second delay and during the delay there is a grey screen.

The delay I am asking about:
I am watching live tv and I hit the Tivo button. The screen goes blank for about 4 seconds.

I am a new Tivo HD XL owner.

Several years ago I had a Tivo series 2 and I do not remember any delay going to the "Now playing screen"

There is also this delay when going between some other Tivo functions.

Anyone else have this delay?

[windracer]

What output setting are you using on your TiVo HD? If you're using Native, it's possible your TiVo is changing resolutions when going from Live TV into TiVo Central, which can cause that kind of delay. If you switch to a Fixed format, it should eliminate that pause while your TV switches resolutions.

[bengaldave]

thanks, I think that's it.

So I set it to 1080i fixed.

The channels look fine (I think), even if I go to channel 2 which is 480.

Is there a reason I would NOT want this? What are the drawbacks?

[windracer]

Some people prefer to have their TVs do the scaling instead of the TiVo so they leave the TiVo at Native. Personally, I prefer to not have the delay when switching channels from 720p to 1080i and into the TiVo menus so I used 1080i Fixed as well.

[JWThiers]

Originally Posted by bengaldave

Is there a reason I would NOT want this? What are the drawbacks?

The drawback is as noted the scaling. If you have a $2000 TV it MAY have better scaling than a $300 or $600 tivo. Generally speaking your TV should have better scaling (YMMV), if you can see a difference set it to the setting that looks best to you. Some people can't see a difference, in which case set it to one of the fixed settings that will minimize the lag in changing sources. I'd do some checking to see if 720p or 1080i is best for you.

[AbMagFab]

Originally Posted by bengaldave

Is there a reason I would NOT want this? What are the drawbacks?

As people have said, if you have something else in your video chain that will scale better than the Tivo. That means almost everything.

Most TV's (except budget-brands) will scale better.

Certainly if you have a video processor in the middle, it will definitely scale better.

If it's just a TV, you might not care. Personally, I have:
- My HT set to Native (because I have an expensive video processor that is way better at scaling)
- My old 50" 1080i TV Tivo set to 1080i (because that TV is about as good as the Tivo)
- My small 40" bedroom TV set to 1080i (because it's too small to see any difference)

Hope this helps.

[aforkosh]

To me, it's a matter of scaling being done only once. Every time you scale, you lose a bit of information as there will be some rounding error in determining the output values (since the output sizes are not even multiples of the input). Therefore, I prefer a minimal number of such operations occur.

By forcing the TiVo to output at fixed size, any material broadcast at the other size will end up being scaled twice. Thus, I prefer to not have the TiVo scale at all and take the delay.

Note since TiVo always presents menus at 720p, this means there is always a delay in going from a menu to 1080i material. I would love if TiVo had an option to display menus at the last value used for program material. Then, if you bounce to a menu and return to a program, there would be no scaling delay.