TiVO tip - anamorphic widescreen, and "soft" SD

[JEFFinINDY]

For those of you with stand-alone TiVOs, you'll find that the picture quality is much sharper on the SD channels (i.e. less "soft" and less macroblocking) if the Voom reciever is set to 480i output (or native, on the non-HD channels). For some reason, changing to 480i affects the quality of the image that is sent out of the component and S-Video outputs.

Another side-effect of setting the receiver to output 480i is that all HD channels will be displayed in an anamorphic format (i.e. "squeezed") as with an enhanced DVD. This gives you the full 480 lines of vertical resolution, and when your set displays the image in its standard mode you'll get a very crisp, clear widescreen image. As another user pointed out in a good tip, you'll get this kind of display on the S-Video and component outputs if you set the "wide to narrow" setting in the receiver to "squeeze" (although the image will appear soft at resolutions other than 480i).

Enjoy,

Jeff

 

[barth2k]

I've often heard this, not just about Voom box but other stbs too. Alas, not a viable option for many whose Tv set can't handle 720p (or 1080i) directly. My Mits for ex will show garbage if fed a 720p signal. I could constantly play around with the red button, but it's easier to just leave it at 1080i. Plus there are people in the house who can't be expected to bother

 

[JEFFinINDY]

It would be cool if there was a "Native except 702p" mode, since a lot of sets can display all the resolutions except 720p. For me, I keep it at 480i during the week when I'm mostly watching recorded shows through the TiVO, and 1080i on the weekend when I'm just flipping channels and watching random shows in HD.

 

[DarrellP]

I concur, that's why I have my stb set to Native so it will send out the actual resolution of whatever it locks onto and sends it to my pj, which will scale it appropriately. I find the picture quality to be far superior in this mode.