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Video Output Settings

anap
Up to speed

Please could someone tell me if the Video Output Settings have been corrected in the V6. i.e. Do they now work like they are described in the info screen or are they like the TiVo but with extra 2160 settings?

659 REPLIES 659

It depends on the source material being broadcast. 

HD does not necessarily equate to "sharp".  Other factors make up HD (colour gamut etc.) and some programmes are deliberately shot to be "less sharp"  From this BBC blog for example "As in standard definition, it is also important that HD delivers a range of "looks" for producers, appropriate to the nature of the subject matter"  and "While very clear, sharp images have become closely associated with HD, it is important not to confuse "sharpness" with resolution."

The picture is being upscaled OK but if the source isn't "sharp" then neither will be the upscaled image.


@stuie_mwrote:

Hi All,

I got into the debate late but have read everything because, like everyone else, I've upgraded my Tivo to V6, simply because I got a new 4k TV and thought for some reason things would have moved on; in that this would give me the utopia of beautiful video I get from the apps on my TV, such as 'The Grand Tour' I can watch in 4k HDR directly from the amazon video app. However, sadly this is certainly not the case. Bottom line is that the picture from the Tivo is different to the V6, at 1080i, I don't know why that could be? The only thing I can suggest is this is down to compression OR V6 doing some sort of processing or up-scaling before it hits the TV. I'm going to investigate this when I have some time and maybe take some screenshots as my TV lets you do this, I plan on connecting the old box and new box and comparing the settings and results.

In the meantime it's disgraceful that Virgin have not fixed the obvious issue that affects so many people, shame on you, can I ask an invigilator to update us all as to where we are on this issue?

Stu.


Having tried in vain to come up with a viable solution to the quality since I installed the V6 on Friday I would think the bolded is certainly the case. I have been through every possible setting and combination of them and the result is the same: The V6 clearly does not output/render the same level of detail and grain (if applicable from the source) as the older TIVO does. The  HD picture is crisp enough on the V6 (menus are perfectly clear as is any on screen text)  but its very evident something is smoothing out a considerable amount of finer textures and details.

To confirm I took my TIVO the V6 was replacing as my main box back downstairs and swapped them over to confirm using the recordings of the same sources made on both. The TIVO HD picture is clearly superior. Tested with a known grainy source in The Walking dead and a few HD shows and movies I recorded on both, and from simply watching live TV on both.. Skin textures especially are far superior and make faces far more real looking with the TIVO. With the V6 quite frankly it looks like someone has photoshopped the hell out of them. Fine wrinkles, skin pores etc, all visible on the TIVO are smoothed out very noticeably by the V6. The TIVO works perfectly in this regard on 1080i, but the V6 on the same (and any other setting) is terrible by comparison. Images that popped on the TIVO look flat, lifeless and processed all to hell on the V6.

I can only conclude the V6 does not output native 'untouched' 1080i passthrough as it should when that option is selected (and evidently the older TIVO does) and is outputting a compressed and/or filtered stream on all settings instead. The V6 does not do a good job at this, that much is clear. I cant see how there is any advantage in designing the box to mess with native 1080i signals (surely simpler to pass those signals straight to the TV?) but that is clearly what is happening.

To say this is disappointing is an understatement..I can only assume it will take a firmware update to correct this V6 problem but looking over the forums this has been known about for quite some time and from the lack of progress it seems Virgin either do not care or for whatever reason the V6 cannot be corrected by any software update.

Whatever the case this is one 'upgrade' I wish I had not bothered with.

 

 

 

Due to inactivity from Virgin on this matter looking into more direct action.  Baby steps first...  

https://t.co/Wg4LuE71Xl https://twitter.com/virginmedia/status/953941335102410752?s=17

Does anyone have more direct access to the powers that be?

 

Chris

----------------------------------------------------------


2020 Tivo-scaling bug (nearly resolved)

Virgin-TV-V6 Video-Output-Settings


@crypticcwrote:

Due to inactivity from Virgin on this matter looking into more direct action.  Baby steps first...  


Sadly they know that this issue has been present for years, but they very obviously don't consider it a priority - if indeed they even consider it worth the cost and effort of getting the US programmers to fix at all. As far as they are concerned, the picture works acceptably on everyone's HD TV sets so there's nothing to make a fuss about.

I suspect the fast-forward speed bug is much more likely to get a quicker fix as it annoys a lot of users, rather than just us perfectionists. 😞

Andre

Didn't get chance to look at this as promised. But I agree, it's all in the processing.


@crypticcwrote:

Due to inactivity from Virgin on this matter looking into more direct action.  Baby steps first...  

https://t.co/Wg4LuE71Xl https://twitter.com/virginmedia/status/953941335102410752?s=17

Does anyone have more direct access to the powers that be?

 

Chris


I'd suggest firing an email to the CEO's office (I received an official response from them when I had 4 days TV/Internet downtime recently), however, as we aren't allowed to post contact details on here, I can't give you the address(a quick search on Google will find the address though - it's the first hit!)!

__________________________________________________________
Husband, Dad, Gamer, Gadget Lover......
Twitter: @deans6571

NewVision
Joining in

Is this problem going to be fixed in the near future or has an updated status from VM staff? 

hallra
Tuning in

I can confirm I have the 720p problem when the video output format set to 'ALL'.

- That's how I found this forum post and others.

Has anyone thought about maybe the reason why the V6 is sending out natively at 720p is because the source is 720p??

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that virgin transmit all video in 720p and then let the V6 to the upscaling... Perhaps that's why they can't fix it, because there is nothing to fix, by design all video is 720p...

This is much like the VPN issue on the internet side, where Virgin are deliberately throttling VPN packets and then lying through their teeth and telling customers that they are not doing so...

- I can tell you that they are doing so, it has been proven... Technically there are methods where you can hide VPN packets, do so, avoids Virgins ability to detect and the VPN packets aren't throttled...

 

Anyone else get a feeling the Virgin like others in this industry in the UK, aren't totally straight with their customers....

 

Hi. What do you mean that all video is 720p? The uk uses 1080i of course. But I'm still not sure what you meant. Thanks 

How can it be proven what resolution Virgin distributes with across its network?

- Remembering a lower resolution uses less bandwidth, which would be cheaper to distribute...

Unless specialist equipment is used to intercept/decrypt the signal before it reaches the V6 box, it can’t be determined what resolution the video is distributed with...

So say by a bit of a screwup on Virgin’s part, that the video output resolution on the V6 Tivo box is actually working as it should... So that when video output format is set to ‘all’ the V6 box it is sending to the TV the video in the format it receives... 720p... that’s an Interesting thought... 

first thing that came to my mind... I’m a highly experienced senior global IT engineer for a large investment bank, I’m paid to get to the bottom of issues with products made by 3rd party suppliers.

Anyone who says but in the UK video is distributed by media companies in x or y format is just stating what they have been told or read somewhere,

They can’t prove it, no one can without high level inside technical knowledge or specialist equipment and the ability to hack any encryption.