Anton-P. Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 My setup: Pana 50PV500A connected to a DSE-brand HD stb via component. I can see clearly the superior quality of a HD program over a SD program (ie. not much wrong with my vision). However on a same program I can't tell much pq difference between the corresponding SD and HD channels. Don't know if credit is due to the Pana or the stb. Anyway based on this knowledge I didn't mind going for a SD pvr, particularly when there was one for just $200 and supposedly with a Philips tuner inside. Eagerly took it home & plugged it in, same component as for the stb. To my horror the picture was nowhere near as good. Blacks were very very grey, other colours were kinda washed out making the whole picture very soft. I'll return this pvr for a refund. Noting as I mentioned above there isn't much pq difference between corresponding SD and HD channels on my stb, why does this SD pvr with Philips tuner give me so terrible picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BribieG Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Basically what a PVR is, is a STB with a hard drive attached, so I wonder if just a straight Philips STB would just give the same poor results. Philips are usually a high-end brand so maybe the cheap PVR was built 'down to a price', or maybe not a Philips inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_moby_ Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Well from my experience I had a $100 Digicrystal STB (with Philips tuner) for 12 months and then replaced it with a Topfield PVR. Didn’t have any problems with the STB but the improvement in picture quality with the Topfield was quite stunning to be honest, and this was on a 68cm CRT before I bought a plasma TV. Based on this I don't think I would even consider a "cheap" brand ever again. No doubt paying extra for a quality product was well worth it for me in this instance when I bought the PVR. I don’t have a problem with watching stuff from the PVR although the picture quality on SD material is not quite up to the Pioneer’s internal tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achjimmy Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Philips are usually a high-end brand so maybe the cheap PVR was built 'down to a price', or maybe not a Philips inside. I beg to differ Bribie, IMO I have found over the years that you can not trust the quality of phillips gear. Sometimes it is superb and other times there products are utter trash! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 Thanks for your replies. I might have worked out the reason. I reconnected my HD stb, but this time instead of leaving it on default 1080i or 720p I forced it to output 576i (same as the SD pvr) -- bingo the picture became wishy washy like it was with the SD pvr. So it seems SD channels do look better if fed from a HD stb. I suggest people should consider using a HD stb for better pq even if they have a SD panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50mxe20 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 So it seems SD channels do look better if fed from a HD stb. I suggest people should consider using a HD stb for better pq even if they have a SD panel. It lifted the quality of the picture on my old 80 cm SD Sony CRT. Actually extended the length of life. Of course that might have been partly switching from analogue to digital. Whatever the reason, the PQ is better than before. (Also using an HD STB). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riv39 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I think it depends on which device is scaling and the different mix of equipment. When I had the Toshi 60" DLP I let my Toshi C26 HDSTB do the scaling to 1080i and found the result to be excellent hovwever now with the SONY 70" SXRD I find the SXRD does a better job than the C26 at scaling. So I think the best strategy is to trial the different options you have and see which works best for your set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dawg Down Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 My setup: Pana 50PV500A connected to a DSE-brand HD stb via component.I can see clearly the superior quality of a HD program over a SD program (ie. not much wrong with my vision). However on a same program I can't tell much pq difference between the corresponding SD and HD channels. Don't know if credit is due to the Pana or the stb. I thought I was the only one here with the same problem! I have the PV60A and I can't tell the difference between SD and HD channels, although I can certainly tell between SD and HD programs. I also considered buying an el-cheapo SD PVR just for recording programs that I can't watch during my waking hours. Good SD PVRs are still too expensive ATM, with the most basic Toppy asking for $600. But thanks to you I will not go this path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_moby_ Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I also considered buying an el-cheapo SD PVR just for recording programs that I can't watch during my waking hours. Good SD PVRs are still too expensive ATM, with the most basic Toppy asking for $600. But thanks to you I will not go this path. Black Dawg My girlfriend’s sister just bought the Topfield 4400pvr on the weekend for $465. I’ve got this unit as well and whilst lacking some of the extras of the more expensive Toppy’s it’s been a really good purchase for me as a basic PVR and as I mentioned earlier I was shocked at how much better the picture quality was over my previous cheap STB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfatcat Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 My setup: Pana 50PV500A connected to a DSE-brand HD stb via component.I can see clearly the superior quality of a HD program over a SD program (ie. not much wrong with my vision). However on a same program I can't tell much pq difference between the corresponding SD and HD channels. Don't know if credit is due to the Pana or the stb. Anyway based on this knowledge I didn't mind going for a SD pvr, particularly when there was one for just $200 and supposedly with a Philips tuner inside. Eagerly took it home & plugged it in, same component as for the stb. To my horror the picture was nowhere near as good. Blacks were very very grey, other colours were kinda washed out making the whole picture very soft. I'll return this pvr for a refund. Noting as I mentioned above there isn't much pq difference between corresponding SD and HD channels on my stb, why does this SD pvr with Philips tuner give me so terrible picture? Was it channel seven? If so the SD and HD are very similar in quality 570i compared to 570p so you will never see much of a difference, regardless of the settop box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dawg Down Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Was it channel seven? If so the SD and HD are very similar in quality 570i compared to 570p so you will never see much of a difference, regardless of the settop box. No, I can't tell the difference between the best channels either, i.e. ch 9 and 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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