I have both a HUMAX Foxsat HDR (Freesat) and a Sky+ HD box. When I do a back to back comparison looking at BBC HD switching between both boxes I find that the SKY+ HD box has a sharper picture. Has anybody else found this? I expected them both to be exactly the same given that they both are drawing from the same source. For the record I live in Ireland and BBC HD has to be accessed from the other channels section on the SKY EPG.

Thanks,

John

Back to the very first days of Freesat the soft picture of the Humax was commented on.

I'ts a well known fact on here John. It's via the Humax's HDMI connections, the scart connection is usually sharper.

Indeed..So much so that even those with HD in their homes.. when visiting us ..
and knowing of my background.. say..
Never seen a better HD than that..
Amazing really as it's a 7year old Hitachi Plasma..
without HDMI..
Although it did cost £2500 when i bought it.
Mind you the HD Specification does stress the improvement is not only the definition...
most seem not to know that..
A bit like my Olympus 1.3Meg camera.. now 10 years old..
but compared to shots from some 6 meg cameras of today..quite outstanding.

What about if you swap the HDMI connection round at the TV end? Does the TV let you have different settings for each input?

can i ask how you are connecting the Foxsat hdr if not via HDMI?

I connect both the Sky HD and Foxsat HDR boxes with identical Van den Hull Flat 1 meter HDMI cables.

If I were to use SCART, as has been suggested, surely I would loose 1080 resolution on BBC HD?

Following on from this can SCART be used with SKY HD successfully without losing detail?

You haved to use hdmi/DVI for 1080i, the post above refers to the fact that some prefer SD pictures from the scart over those from hdmi and this applies equally to Sky boxes.

I can't compare directly like you can but can't say that BBC HD looks any better on a friends Sky HD box than it does from my hdr. I also have the Tudors Series 2 on bluray and series 3 recorded on the hdr. The recordings look remarkably similar to the blu ray.

May be it's a TV setup thing try turning off all the so called picture enhancing features such as noise reduction and 100Hz processing if you have it.

Really!!

BBC HD via scart

In your haste to criticise Humax yet again, (almost to the extent of trolling) you appear to have not read the first post correctly

There appears to be an overscan issue with the HDR that was introduced in the November update. See Posts 30 & 31 on this thread.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...verscan&page=2

Mike

I was answering the poster who remarked that when he compared the picture quality of the Humax HDR with the same picture via his Sky HD box, then it was soft.
It has been reported on here by other owners scores of times so don't pick on this Granny please I am far from being the only owner who has complained about the state of the Humax HDMI picture quality!

GG

A few reported soft SD, some changed their minds, but not BBC HD read the original post again.....dear oh dear.

Thanks to olderscot. This appears to be a reasonable theory. When I look at the Humax HDR the onscreen logo is definitely closer to the top of the picture compared to the Sky+ HD box.

If this is indeed the cause please fix it Humax. These kinds of issues undermine brand reputations.

There is a workround that was reported earlier, to deal with this meanwhile. Hit the red button then OK to select News, the green button to show full screen, then yellow and Text. (I think you may be able to skip yellow and go stright to Text, but I'm not sure.)

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

To anybody reading from Humax : please fix the overscanning problem. Surely it can't be that difficult.

Its not just the Humax, its BBC HD thats being transmitted at too low a bit rate 9.6mbs compared to around 14mbs for Sky I think.

Look here (and sign up): http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcintern...age=2#comments

Thats one of several BBC HD blogs already comprising thousands of posts on the subject.

Also, SES Astra themselves who control the satellites have stated that they get complaints with soft pictures when broadcasters use less than 12mbs for encoding:

http://www.techwatch.co.uk/2010/03/1...t-rate-is-cut/

There's also a government petition here: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BBCHDPQ/


It's far more likely that is the cause when compared to Sky than your HDR as users on all boxes across Freesat have been complaining about soft pictures since the bit rate cut.

Today in my Emails i see from QVC... 2 offers of HD Ready TVs..
Will they have 'Soft' images with the HUmax?
They both have HDMI inputs.. one has 3 no less..
However their Specifications are listed as..

This fantastic 50" plasma HDTV from Samsung features an HD resolution of 1365 x 768 with a Mega contrast ...
and

Bring the big-screen wow-factor to your home with this fantastic 42" plasma HDTV from Samsung.
The TV has a digital tuner built in allowing you to access Freeview digital programming
without the need for a separate device.
The 42" screen boasts an HD resolution of 1024 x 768 and a Mega contrast ratio,
as well as 100Hz picture performance with 600Hz subfield motion for smooth images..

Now i think Graham said my old plasma was 1024 or some such ..
so is it any wonder that views of SOFTNESS are subjective and related all too often to the TV?

Stan with the HD Plasma super picture.

I have a 42" Pioneer Kuro 428XD (google it) and BBC HD still looks pants on many programmes.

If its a transmission bit rate issue no tv or box is going to magically improve it substancially.

Hi, I tried this over the weekend and it doesn't work unfortunately for me. I still get the slight overscan which is visible at the top and bottom of the picture. Perhaps the workaround works with SCART and not HDMI. I connect with HDMI as I primarily want to view BBC HD.

If you want to eliminate overscan completely you will have to use the setting which gives a one for one mapping of image to screen pixels (if this exists on your display).
On my Sony Bravia this is called Full Pixel but I believe this is also termed dot for dot. The disadvantage of this setting is that sometimes you will see the dashed line at the top of the picture that is normally hidden by overscan.