I'm not sure what I'm saying is being understood lol.
I'm comparing apples to apples - same exact TV running through same cable company, but one is through a roamio and one through standard cable box. If I put both on a regular TV channel, my sister's looks significantly better than mine. Even watching a brand new HD movie on HBO on my TV looks kind of like crap. Hers looks excellent.
Same content, same provider. Just the box is different so that's why I'm wondering if that impacts anything. I'm not expecting my TV to magically convert regular TV into stunning 4k quality, but I'm not understanding why it looks a lot crappier than a similar set up somewhere else. I don't even think my old TV looked that bad.
But yeah, when I watch netflix or prime it looks great (even not in 4k). I can't figure out what the deal is. Wish I could show what I see lol
We get what you are saying, but the problem is that's the one thing that doesn't matter.
Your sister is not getting 4k through her cable box.
The only way to get 4k content is through:
The three channels directv offers
the two channels fios has (If you have the same cable and its not a specific channel its not this).
blu ray discs - I'll give you enough credit that you know you're not watching a blu ray disc
or streaming apps that offer 4k. - You can get any apps on a smart tv that you can get on TiVo (and TiVo only has a very limited amount of apps).
If nots one of these, its not about getting 4k. So now we need to figure out what resolution you are getting and what should you be.
You might want to make sure you are running at least a cat5e internet cable, and have an internet bandwidth to support 4k. Are you hard wired, or wireless? You could upgrade your coax cable to rg6 just to know you are good.
If this is through another component such as a game system or splitter to where you are using HDMI cables, you will need to get HDMI 2.0 cables to get 4k60.
You might want to go through your tv settings, make sure you have your updates. Not just that the tv says you are current, but go to the website's support page, and owners manual, and check that you have the current update listed.
You could call your sister, and have her go through all of her settings as you go through yours. I would first take note of what is different, then try changing them if you find anything different.
You didn't say, so what is your entertainment setup, (in in-depth detail).
Does your tv have 4k, or does it have 4k60 /4k uhd /4k ultra (60fps, not all do).
Even if we help with everything we can come up with, you may still be in a older place with older coax cable that needs upgrading. You may have a weaker signal because you are farther from the box, and hurting it even more with a splitter.