New TiVO DirecTV THR22-100 Has Severe Lag Time When Changing Channels

[frankc23B]

Just got my THR22-100 DirecTV TiVO unit installed a few hours ago...

All is great, except when I change channels, it shows a gray screen for a second or two before showing the next channel. Some of the time (70% of the time), it also goes to a black screen after the gray screen, before showing the newly-chosen channel.

This black screen is actually, in that moment, not putting out a signal to the TV. I know this because my Samsung displays a graphic flagging the particular input chosen when no signal is present OR in the split second after each time a new input (DVD, PSP, DIRECTV) is selected. That particular input graphic now displays each time my unit goes to black with a channel change. Very annoying and cumbersome, especially if you like flipping channels a lot.

This same behavior also happens when I shift from live TV to the Menu settings or the Now Playing List.

Please, fellow THR22-10 owners: tell me your unit does not do this, so I can know I have a defective unit, bad cable or some other easy answer!

Thanks,

Frank

[TonyTheTiger]

Give it 24-48 hours. There is a lot going on in the background when you install a new box (programming downloads, etc.), so it will be slower while that is going on.

[jaredmwright]

Sounds like two things are going on.

First, there is a setting to change the background color from grey to black under settings -> video or display. Changing that to black will take care of the grey problem showing up.

Second, the no signal to your HDTV is caused by a resolution change. I would bet that you have all resolutions selected or many of them and when changing channels or going to the TiVo menu it causes a resolution change which takes time to sync back up momentarily. I recommend only selecting the native resolution or the highest resolution you HDTV supports, such as either 720P or 1080i but not both. You can also select 1080P if your TV supports it for OnDemand content in 1080P. This will have the effect of up scaling your lower resolution but shouldn't be an issue and will smooth out and remove the delays caused by the resolution sync.

Let us know how it goes and welcome to the DirectTiVo club!

Jared

[frankc23B]

Thank you! Once I changed the resolution setting, things got better. Just a quick gray screen before the channel locks it.

[Jerry_K]

Originally Posted by frankc23B

Thank you! Once I changed the resolution setting, things got better. Just a quick gray screen before the channel locks it.

The series 3 TiVo has the same behavior if you want native resolution from the DVR. I put up with the blanking to get native resolution to the best converter in the stream. It is probably not the DVR. I had expensive converters in line when I used the Series 3. At least the Series 3 was a THX certified unit and did have quite good conversion. I don't think that is going to be true for he HR22 base platform in the THR22.

You have to decide using some sort of test to determine which unit in your chain has the best conversion from one resolution to another. You have to decide what is more important to you. Best picture all the time with switching time? Or best picture some of the time with less switching time?