V+ and HD

Cammy · 05-03-2008, 13:43

Ok so i bought a HD lead. Plugged it in but the TV kept saying no signal, so i put the scart lead back in along with the HD lead as well. I went into the options and selected HD HI-DEF 720 WIDE. This then switched to the HDMI lead and the picture come on. To make sure it was running through the HDMI lead, i removed the scart lead, rebooted the V+ and the picture remained.

Ok so i know its working with the HDMI lead on 720. The picture tho looks like a piece of crap

I thought it was supposed to upscale very good or something. It looks like a pixelated piece of crap with 0% difference than the 80p scart lead.

TV is a high spec 40" samsung btw.

**Rob** · 05-03-2008, 14:18

Depends on what you are trying to view. Unless you are watching true HD content of which unfortunatlely there is only a small bit on Virgin, everything else is upscaled. The upscaling will depend very much on the original image quality. Some programs do better than others at upscaling. Have a look too at whether 720 Wide is the best resolution for you, 1080i might be better?

Cammy · 05-03-2008, 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Depends on what you are trying to view. Unless you are watching true HD content of which unfortunatlely there is only a small bit on Virgin, everything else is upscaled. The upscaling will depend very much on the original image quality. Some programs do better than others at upscaling. Have a look too at whether 720 Wide is the best resolution for you, 1080i might be better?

I tried 1080 and 720 wide, both look the same, expect the v+ menu's are all blured when its on 1080.

**Stephen** · 05-03-2008, 14:26

Have you tried viewing HD content on BBC HD or On Demand?

I find the upscaled picture to look really good on my 32" LCD.

Rewrew · 05-03-2008, 15:12

In my experience the V+ box does a wonderful job of upscaling.

However if you then allow your TV to "expand" the picture to full screen you will get the effects that you are referring to (assuming you have a lcd or plamsa). Change your TV settings to native resolution and then try 720 or 1080 depending on the TV spec.

howesy · 05-03-2008, 15:42

I find the general bitrate of the channels on cable is too low for the V+ box to do a good job of upscaling for larger TVs. I have a 46" LCD which is watchable at 12ft in SD but not any closer.

The main channels (BBC1,BBC2,ITV,CH4) seem to be transmitted at a higher quality than, for example, ITV3 & ITV4 and so look better when upscaled.

In general Virgin's HD offering is currently useless and is likely to remain that way until they move towards MPEG4 or H264 encoding. But that's not possible on the current V+ box.

Cammy · 05-03-2008, 20:49

Will have a look at setting the TV res, or whatever your refering to tomorrow!

Sonynut · 06-03-2008, 12:33

I have my V+ box connected to my 32" sony lcd via the HDMI cable and have the 720 wide setting selected and i agree with you about first impressions, it wasn't as good as i thought either, but with some careful tweeks to the tv settings i am now happy with the picture on SD content and am very impressed by the HD content, just wish that VM could put on some more HD channels.

Cammy · 07-03-2008, 19:20

Tried the BBC HD and Lost in HD, both are amazing quality (so i know ive set it up right) You can instantly tell the difference.

Blue Planet on the other hand doesn't look very good

Plus its not widescreen either?

This is what i was looking forward to the most.

Cammy · 08-03-2008, 11:17

Just turned on Sky Sports 1 and its very pixelated and blocky.

You can notice it very bad with football, the players are surrounded by blocky pixels, its terrible. So bad my dad come sat down and said "Wow what a rubishh picture"

Could there be a fault?

My TV is set to 16:9, its not stretching the image as far as i know.

Anything i can check/try out?

higgsfield · 09-03-2008, 11:20

Maybe you have become accustomed to HD pictures and by comparison the SD channels look poor?

I must say, football looks especially bad on SD.

Cammy · 09-03-2008, 11:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by higgsfield

Maybe you have become accustomed to HD pictures and by comparison the SD channels look poor?

I must say, football looks especially bad on SD.

No, i had never seen a HD image on a TV before untill recently.

It was never this bad on Sky, its really REALLY a pile of poo

RonMac · 10-03-2008, 08:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cammy

No, i had never seen a HD image on a TV before untill recently.

It was never this bad on Sky, its really REALLY a pile of poo

I have watched all Rugby Home Internationals on my V+ through Panasonic 32".

This alone is enough to convince me of HD, what a difference. Smell the blood!(lol)

Everest stuff, nature stuff, all awesome...I understand we are getting channel 4HD, so bring it on.

On demand stuff is great, got to navigate through menu to find it. More than BBC HD on demand.

RonMac

charliestumpy · 10-03-2008, 08:53

I entirely agree that on tiny Pannie 32" that V+/HD (and Freeview from TV tuner or external) is fine - it is IMO very important to sort out your particular TV's way of interacting with external pics - not least of all the 16:9 - .

I suspect that people with bigger screens need to go to specialist fora to seek help for their particular big screen. Fortunately my wife restricted me to 32", so I did not have problem of source-quality maybe experienced by e.g. big Pioneer screen-users.

I am sure there is a solution to everything, although I have never tried Sky as United Artists-Telewest-Blueyonder-Virgin-Chelsea FC or whatever it is this week is great for us.

Good luck in sorting the pic probs - I am sure you will.

Cammy · 10-03-2008, 11:36

On football games, the players are surrounded by square pixels, its bad!

Could there be a fault with reception levels?