Freeview vs Freesat PQ

[admin_exported]

Pioneer 4280XD
Sony STR-DA2400ESB
Sony BDP-S550
KEF-3005SE
Humax Foxsat PVR

Hi all - I've got the above system all hooked up via HDMI through the amp. Just installed the freesat today and was very impressed with the HD quality and 5.1 sound but it seems to me the SD stuff looks a little soft when compared to freeview and just not as sharp basically.

So far I've only fiddled with the output settings on the Humax which didn't make much difference so I left it on 1080i. Before I start playing with the plethora of TV and Amp settings I wonder if anyone else has found this and had it resolved or do I just have to settle for slightly worse PQ on SD?

cheers

 

[topbloke55]

I have a Pioneer and Humax with the Chord HDMI and although the SD picture is slighty softer, with the right settings on the TV the picture looks pretty good on BBC 1, 2 & CH5. ÿ4 is ok, even Film 4 looks and sounds better than on Freeview, but the rest are pretty poor, ITV being just about the worst. Personally we don't watch any ITV so not an issue.

I also have the Humax on 1080i, as it look better and stopped the TV adjusting all the time when going to HD content.

What settings are you using on the Pioneer?ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Hi - thanks for the reply! I use these settings which are recommended for skyHD/blu-ray by another forum:

AV SELECTION ***MOVIE***

CONTRAST 30
BRIGHTNESS 0
COLOUR -2
TINT +2 Towards Green
SHARPNESS -15

PRO ADJUST > PURE CINEMA
FILM MODE OFF (BLUE RAY/HD DVD Smooth or Advanced)
TEXT OPTIMISATION OFF

INTELIGENT MODE OFF

PICTURE DETAIL
DRE OFF (Low if you prefer )
BLACK LEVEL OFF
ACL OFF
ENHANCER MODE 2 (1 if you prefer)
GAMMA 2

COLOUR DETAIL MANUAL (HOLD ENTER FOR 3 SECS)
COLOUR TEMP
R High -2
G High 0
B High +2
R Low -1
G Low 0
B Low -1

CTI OFF
COLOUR MANAGEMENT
R 0
Y 0
G 0
c 0
B 0
M -7

COLOUR SPACE 1

NOISE REDUCTION
Field NR OFF
All others OFF

OTHERS
IP MODE 1

I've also tried their recommedned freeview settings:

AV SELECTION USER

CONTRAST 27
BRIGHTNESS 0
COLOUR -8
TINT 0
SHARPNESS -15

PRO ADJUST > PURE CINEMA
FILM MODE OFF
TEXT OPTIMISATION OFF

INTELIGENT MODE OFF

PICTURE DETAIL
DRE OFF (Low if you prefer)
BLACK LEVEL OFF
ACL OFF
ENHANCER MODE 2
GAMMA 1

COLOUR DETAIL MANUAL (HOLD ENTER FOR 3 SECS)
COLOUR TEMP
R High +2
G High -2
B High -14
R Low +1
G Low 0
B Low -1

CTI OFF
COLOUR MANAGEMENT
R 0
Y +1
G 0
c 0
B 0
M -2

COLOUR SPACE 1

NOISE REDUCTION
Field NR OFF
All others OFF

OTHERS
IP MODE 1

I think I'll just have to play around with it a bit - just thought the SD picture would be at least as good as freeview.

 

[Andy Clough]

One of the criticisms we made of the initial batch of Freesat set-top boxes was that SD images did tend to be a little soft. The Humax is the best of the bunch - the Bush/Grundig/Goodmans models were worse in that regard.

 

[Anonymous]

I think maybe I'm suffering from that post big spend regret and being a bit critical of it (the installation worked out more than what I thought and I'm not sure the dish is set up right as the reception doesn't seem brilliant). The HD does looks good though! Also noticed that the volume seems louder on BBC HD channel for whatever reason.

 

[topbloke55]

Now here is an interesting thing I found with those settings.

Instead of using AV Selection MOVIE as the starting preset, I used USER and with the same settings the picture looked slightly better on all inputs, the whites appeared whiter, whereas they are slightly off using the movie. ÿI can only assume the Pioneer is doing some other stuff in the background when the movie preset is used.

I have also found I can reduce the sharpness down to -6 and still get a good picture, if anything this helps on the SD channels, any nearer zero did not work for me, although -10 was also pretty good.

It is worth trying playing a little with these and certianly I would be interested to see your feedback the MOVIE vers USER setting with the same HD settings.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

well shiver me timbers - yes there is a definate difference exactly as you describe when you apply the same settings in movie and user. I think the whites look a bit too bright on user though - I'll keep playing I guess!