[thechiz]

From info on TiVo.com I could see that the Series 3 has a version
Photos 2.0, running under Desktop 2.4.

Looking at the documentation for the TiVo HD it was not clear
if the TiVo HD will also have "HD" photos. The TiVo HD link to
multimedia features only seemed to mention the Series 3. Perhaps
the documentation wasn't updated yet ?

Will the TiVo HD have "HD" photos from day one ?

 

[drew00001]

From info on TiVo.com I could see that the Series 3 has a version
Photos 2.0, running under Desktop 2.4.

Looking at the documentation for the TiVo HD it was not clear
if the TiVo HD will also have "HD" photos. The TiVo HD link to
multimedia features only seemed to mention the Series 3. Perhaps
the documentation wasn't updated yet ?

Will the TiVo HD have "HD" photos from day one ?

I don't think the S3 got HD photos until version 8.3 was released. TivoHD is currently running on 8.1, so not likely now. I see no reason why Tivo would not allow the feature after HD gets an upgrade.

 

[megazone]

I'll try to remember to check when I get home, but I believe HD Photos works on the TiVo HD.

 

[hutchca]

The Photos 2.0 app works even on Series 2 (downrezed of course) so there's no reason to think it wouldn't work on an HD.

It's not a software feature built into the TiVo unit, it's an MHE app that downloads from your PC. Seems to be Java based since it requires the Sun Java JRE to be installed on your PC.

 

[thechiz]

I wondered if anyone who actually has a new TiVo HD could verify this for me ?

 

[AbMagFab]

I am looking at my TivoHD now, and browsing my photos using the Photos HD HME application. So yes, it supports it right now, the same as the S3 (which is at 720p native, for what it's worth).

 

[thechiz]

Thanks very much for the good news.

I have a digital photographer relative who was thinking of getting a TiVo HD.

I have a Series 2 and all my digital photos look terrible on my 61" DLP HDTV.

I didn't want to get in an update situation where he might have to wait 6 months before he could show off his handiwork to the family.

 

[AbMagFab]

Thanks very much for the good news.

I have a digital photographer relative who was thinking of getting a TiVo HD.

I have a Series 2 and all my digital photos look terrible on my 61" DLP HDTV.

I didn't want to get in an update situation where he might have to wait 6 months before he could show off his handiwork to the family.

For what it's worth, the HD picture functionality, while much better than the regular pictures, is still not great. It's only 720p, and they seem to be doing some sort of dithering or something to the pictures.

In any case, it's identical to the S3. If it's that important to him, and he's a professional photographer, I'd suggest he check it out before potentially being disappointed. He can check it out on a S3 or TivoHD (since they behave the same).

 

[ugadog]

I had hoped that feature would provide much nicer quality through the Tivo HD into a HD TV. But unfortunately, the pictures look no better through Tivo HD than they did through the old S2 into an analog TV. Even though the Tivo box shows it is sending a 720p signal, I think it is probably still providing the picture at 480.

I have used a laptop plugged into the HD TV and connected via wireless to my remote desktop to do the same thing. In that case, the same photos look great. Until Tivo updates this feature to provide true 720p output, it is rather disappointing.

 

[megazone]

It *is* 720p - are you sure you're using the HD Photos app and not the standard TiVo Desktop photos? *Both* will show up on the TiVo and you need to use the right one, the HD Photos app has the PC icon.

 

[AbMagFab]

I had hoped that feature would provide much nicer quality through the Tivo HD into a HD TV. But unfortunately, the pictures look no better through Tivo HD than they did through the old S2 into an analog TV. Even though the Tivo box shows it is sending a 720p signal, I think it is probably still providing the picture at 480.

I have used a laptop plugged into the HD TV and connected via wireless to my remote desktop to do the same thing. In that case, the same photos look great. Until Tivo updates this feature to provide true 720p output, it is rather disappointing.

The pictures do look better than the S2, a fair amount better, just not as good as some other HD photos apps (like XBMC).

Make sure you're using the HD photos app. It looks totally different on the Tivo - blue background, and lots more squares for all the pictures.

 

[vman41]

It *is* 720p

Sigh, you can't make a blanket statement like that. It is 720p under certain conditions and 480p under other conditions. If you are using a hybrid mode and a screen aspect video setting of smart screen, the menus and HME apps render in 480p.

If I reconfigure my system to get the HD photos app in HD, the pictures still don't look quite as nice as viewing them via my XBOX 360's media connect to my PC.

 

[s2kdave]

It is 720p under certain conditions and 480p under other conditions.

vman is right. If you set Smart Screen on the TV Aspect Ratio AND use a hybrid mode, it will make HME apps 640x480. Also if you force it to 480i/p Fixed it will make HME apps 640x480. It basically tells the HME app that it only supports 480 resolution when doing the resolution handshake under those conditions.

David

 

[ugadog]

The pictures do look better than the S2, a fair amount better, just not as good as some other HD photos apps (like XBMC).

Make sure you're using the HD photos app. It looks totally different on the Tivo - blue background, and lots more squares for all the pictures.

As it was pointed out, I was not using the HD Photos option, because it was not displayed on the Tivo HD. Here is what I had to do to solve that problem:

1) The Tivo Desktop version was 2.2 and the update function did not work to upgrade to the required 2.4 for HD Photos. I had run update previously and it stated “Tivo Desktop is already running the latest version” or something like that. Therefore, I had to download and install Version 2.4a of Tivo Desktop Manually.
2) Check the HD Photos option in the new Version of Tivo Desktop.
3) HD Photos still did not work, so I searched the Tivo support website to find that HD Photos requires JRE 1.5 and my computer was using 1.4.
4) Upgrade to Sun JRE 1.6 and restart Tivo Desktop.
5) Viola, I now have the HD Photos option in the Tivo HD.

As for the quality, it is now vastly improved over the S2 photos. However, it still doesn’t come close to the quality of a laptop plugged into the HD TV. Bottom line, it is a great option to casually display a few photos to friends. But anyone who is very particular about their photos will probably still be somewhat disappointed.

 

[gschoen]

My pictures don't look very good, I'm not sure why. I am using the Photos 2.0 (I didn't understand why there were two photo choices on the menu until I read this.) I'm surprised because I had a Roku PhotoBridge that displayed the pictures in HD nicely. Only main difference I can think is it didn't use a server and pulled the images directly off the drive. Of course it's main function was to display HD images.

 

[s2kdave]

I think all images that are loaded in HME apps seem to go though some processing when being displayed on screen. At least that's what I've noticed when developing my HME app. And the processing ends up creating some compression artifacts or other dithering effects.

David