Picture quality not as good as Freeview

[jdoocey]

Whenever I visit my uncle or my sister, who only have Freeview, I instantly notice how much better the quality of picture is on their TV's. I mean, it REALLY stands out. I have 2 Tivo boxes and the same quality on both TV's.  I mean the picture isn't terrible, but compared to Freeview, it is pretty basic. Is there any reason for this? I have all Samsung TV, purchased in 2023, but the picture quality was the same on my previous TV also, so don't think it has anything to do with my Tv's.

[Roger_Gooner]

The only way to check this is to use one of their TVs with your TiVo's resolution set to 1080i.

[japitts]

In addition, make sure that you are comparing like with like - with channels. You may be comparing an SD channel with an HD one - but Roger's suggestion of a side-by-side test is the only foolproof method.

[ozsat]

What does your Freeview look like?    I would say your tv setup is the issue if you are looking at HD channels.

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@jdoocey wrote:

Whenever I visit my uncle or my sister, who only have Freeview, I instantly notice how much better the quality of picture is on their TV's. I mean, it REALLY stands out. I have 2 Tivo boxes and the same quality on both TV's.  I mean the picture isn't terrible, but compared to Freeview, it is pretty basic. Is there any reason for this? I have all Samsung TV, purchased in 2023, but the picture quality was the same on my previous TV also, so don't think it has anything to do with my Tv's.

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[jdoocey]

I don't have Freeview. I watch everything via the Tivo box. I checked with my neighbour to see what her picture is like and again, its much clearer, as in the people "stand out" alot more (I hope that makes sense). She kindly allowed me to borrow her bedroom TV (which has a great Freeview picture) to test it out , but as I don't have an external aerial to check what my Freeview is like, I connected my Tivo box to her tv, and the picture was the same (not quite as sharp as Freeview). 

[jdoocey]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have Freeview. I watch everything via the Tivo box. I checked with my neighbour to see what her picture is like and again, its much clearer, as in the people "stand out" alot more (I hope that makes sense). She kindly allowed me to borrow her bedroom TV (which has a great Freeview picture) to test it out , but as I don't have an external aerial to check what my Freeview is like, I connected my Tivo box to her tv, and the picture was the same (not quite as sharp as Freeview). 

I have checked my settings and mine is set to Automatic...should I set this to 1080i? Is 1080p not better, or 4k? 

[jdoocey]

Thanks for your reply. No, I'm comparing the same channels. 

[japitts]

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@jdoocey wrote:

I have checked my settings and mine is set to Automatic...should I set this to 1080i? Is 1080p not better, or 4k? 

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SD is upto 576i, HD is upto 1080p/i, UHD/4K is 2160. The TiVo only supports upto HD, you'd need a V6 or TV360 to use 4K/UHD/2160

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution - scroll to "current standards"

[Roger_Gooner]

1080i and 1080p are the same resolution but HD broadcasts are interlaced (meaning 1080i), and this is what the TiVo should be set to. Your TV will then convert to the correct resolution, i.e. 1080p50 if it's HD or 2160p50 if it's UHD.

Edited to add that if you have an older "HD ready" TV its resolution is probably 720p and you might well get a better result by setting the TiVo to 720p.

[jdoocey]

Apologies, I have 2  V6 box's...not a Tivo's. 

Still not sure why Freeview has a better picture though. I have a Samsung Qled tv (not "HD Ready"). My sister has the same tv, and my Uncle has a Samsung which is about 8 years old and I think is HD Ready....yet his Freeview picture is better than mine. Its not that my picture isn't clear...it is, its more that Freeview looks so much better on my sister and uncles, as in, the people stand out much more, kind of like a 3d image. Sorry that's the only way I can describe the difference.