New Sky EPG and better picture

[Skiman]

Hi evryone

I've had SKY+HD for approx. 18 months now and it was originally outputting to a Philips HD ready 37 TV (37PF5521D) with very agreeable results. When I obtained a Sony S550 BRP I decicded to upgrade to a 1080p Sony 46V4000 TV and slotted this into the system with no cable changes or other modifications. I immeadiately noticed several vertical lighter colour stripes on the left hand side of the screen when nothing was displayed (unused input) and in very dark scenes from all sources. No amount of tweaking eliminated the stripes and after a couple of months "bedding-in" I decided to complain to John Lewis and/or Sony about "uneven backlighting" or faulty panel when I returned from leave.

After a 4 week holiday when the TV was completely off and the Sky box was on stand -by to record, I returned to find that the stripes have disappeared and the picture on HD broadcasts at least 50% better. The change was so profound that I reran the THX optimiser on the WALLLe blu ray and have substantially different settings than previously. SD broadcasts are slightly improved, DVD and BR playback are significantly better - so whats changed?

The only change has been the introduction of the new EPG on the Sky+HD box.

Has anybody else had any changes occur (either good or bad) since the new EPG? Can anyone suggest/explain why this should happen?

All in all I'm a very happy bunny because a merely good TV picture has been totally transformed to superb and

even the wife (who just watches the "goggle box") said that an image on display was so 3D in effect she wanted to reach out and touch it!!!

Any suggestions/comments appreciated.

Best Regards

 

[jase fox]

Hi Skiman,

Im glad im not the only one who noticed that the picture quality on Sky hd is better since i got the new EPG installed.

I did mention this myself on another thread, when i first put my tv on & noticed i had finally got the new EPG i noticed straight away that the PQ was better, colours seem more vivid with a little more detail to the picture, i had to check my tv settings just to see if i may (or the kids) had changed them it was that noticeable.

Im not sure why this would be exactly but im almost certain that ive got a new system version also, but cant be certain. But either way im loving it.....

 

[tvmog]

The new EPG installed on my box overnight and my first impressions are that there is an improvement in picture sharpness and brightness. although possibly a little less smooth on movement. Its more like the picture I remember when I first got the system a year ago. I've always maintained that the HD picture quality deteriorated over the year as more amd more HD channels came on line. However this latest upgrade does seem to have improved things (or is it just wishful thinking?)

 

[Sorreltiger]

It might be worth checking your settings. ÿI seem to remember reports of the new EPG download forcing a change to maximum contrast, for example.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Got the download overnight last night, and all settings seem unaffected. It does look like the picture is marginally better, but not being able to A/B it, it's hard to make any definite judgements.

Household opinions still divided about usability of the new EPG, but that may just be a question of familiarisation over time.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the old EPG was more usable myself but hey ho, not much can be done about that now, and the blue bars down the side on some channels are annoying but im kinda getting used to them slowly. grumble grumble

 

[tvmog]

garethwd:I think the old EPG was more usable myself but hey ho, not much can be done about that now, and the blue bars down the side on some channels are annoying but im kinda getting used to them slowly. grumble grumble

Is there no way off getting rid of those blue sidebars (other than switching picture overscan back on on the TV). They are very annoying

 

[D.J.KRIME]

What blue side bars?

 

[tvmog]

D.J.KRIME:What blue side bars?

I'm using a Panny 37PX80 which I have set to picture overscan off. On some Sky SD 16:9 transmissions this means that the picture doesn't quite fill the width of the screen, leaving maybe a quater to half an inch blank on either side. Since the arrival of the new EPG this formerly blank area is now filled in with the same blue colour that you get when switching channels. Unlike the grey bars that Panasonic offer as an option when viewing 4:3 pictures this blue cannot it seems be turned off.