DSTV BoxOffice Movie Quality

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BlackWasp

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Hey guys,

I was watching a movie last night from BoxOffice on my LG FHD set through PVR 2P connected via HDMI, and noticed "smudging" throughout the movie. I am not sure what the technical terms is for this, but it seems in some areas (patches) on the screen the resolution is less then the rest of the screen.

I have a few questions.

1. What resolution is BoxOffice output at? 1080i?
2. Are all the movies on BoxOffice the same res? (I am sure some previous movies like TinTin did not have these flawss).
3. Will it matter if I change the HDMI output on my PVR, to standard,original,1080i, or other.

Thanks guys.
 
Hi Blackwasp

1. 1080i Yes for BO
2. As per 1, YES.
3. I personally set to 1080i and let my Panaosnic plasma do the de-interlacing to 1080p for all content for me.
Have never had any issues, but I can see the smearing or banding on my Full HD plasma as a result of plasma dithering to try and replicate all the colours available.

What you are seeing , I believe, is 'banding' - whereby the panel is trying to overcome a loss of luma resolution in the content being shown by 'guestimating' the myriad bands of colour across a bunch of frequencies in the signal.This has to do with the processing in the panel and electronics on the TV. a 10 bit panel will show less banding.the 2012 Sony models with Reality Creation + use internal 14 bit processing, and then process onto native 10 bit panel to overcome this. LG and most others use 6 bit IPS panels with AFR to try and display the colour spectrum, which will produce banding on some content.
Secondly, you could also be seeing the LCD 'sample-and-hold' effect whereby the panel is trying to refresh the motion on-screen, but some higher frequencies are being lost in translation.
Good advice would be to:
set all your noise reduction settings to low or OFF for HD content.
Lower your contrast setting
Lower your shaprness setting to around its mid-point
turn off motion controls when watching film content
 
I have actually been very impressed with the DSTV boxoffice, no hassles of returning the dvd the next day,don't have to worry about a movie being booked, its cheaper, and you have a week to watch it i think, and 25 rand really isn't that bad, i dunno why they don't do more to market it, video stores could be in great threat from this i think, as if the internet hasn't killed them already.
 
Endzeut said:
I have actually been very impressed with the DSTV boxoffice, no hassles of returning the dvd the next day,don't have to worry about a movie being booked, its cheaper, and you have a week to watch it i think, and 25 rand really isn't that bad, i dunno why they don't do more to market it, video stores could be in great threat from this i think, as if the internet hasn't killed them already.
Click to expand...
Actually, you have 48 hours to watch it.
 
titeroper said:
Lower your shaprness setting to around its mid-point
Click to expand...
Personally I go with zero sharpness, shouldnt be a need to add artificial corruption to a 1920x1080 picture. I would add to get a little extra crispness run the TV in 1:1 pixel mapping mode instead of 16:9 if possible (LG=Just Scan).
 
Endzeut said:
I have actually been very impressed with the DSTV boxoffice, no hassles of returning the dvd the next day,don't have to worry about a movie being booked, its cheaper, and you have a week to watch it i think, and 25 rand really isn't that bad, i dunno why they don't do more to market it, video stores could be in great threat from this i think, as if the internet hasn't killed them already.
Click to expand...

I agree. I should also mention that I have installed a 2x4 multiswitch over the weekend to enable xtraview in another room. This was the first movie I watched since the install. I am seriously considering a Quad LNB and getting rid of the ms, as since the install, I am intermittently losing all channels above 260.
 
titeroper said:
Hi Blackwasp

1. 1080i Yes for BO
2. As per 1, YES.
3. I personally set to 1080i and let my Panaosnic plasma do the de-interlacing to 1080p for all content for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advise. I think I will change mine to 1080i to make sure.
 
Would be nice if they had true HD and an actual collection. Stills seems worth to jump the hoops for netflix over our local "VOD".
Endzeut said:
I have actually been very impressed with the DSTV boxoffice, no hassles of returning the dvd the next day,don't have to worry about a movie being booked, its cheaper, and you have a week to watch it i think, and 25 rand really isn't that bad, i dunno why they don't do more to market it, video stores could be in great threat from this i think, as if the internet hasn't killed them already.
Click to expand...
 
BlackWasp said:
I agree. I should also mention that I have installed a 2x4 multiswitch over the weekend to enable xtraview in another room. This was the first movie I watched since the install. I am seriously considering a Quad LNB and getting rid of the ms, as since the install, I am intermittently losing all channels above 260.
Click to expand...

You might have a faulty port on the MS
This wouldn't have affected the BO quality though, its gets downloaded as data, if data is corrupted it gets rejected & re-downloaded
 
Smurfatefrog said:
You might have a faulty port on the MS
This wouldn't have affected the BO quality though, its gets downloaded as data, if data is corrupted it gets rejected & re-downloaded
Click to expand...
Good to know. After the installation my Signal strength is 98% on both LNB's, but the signal quality goes as low as 49% on both. Is that normal?
 
Roman4604 said:
Personally I go with zero sharpness, shouldnt be a need to add artificial corruption to a 1920x1080 picture. I would add to get a little extra crispness run the TV in 1:1 pixel mapping mode instead of 16:9 if possible (LG=Just Scan).
Click to expand...

Yes, fully agree with this. Forgot about Just Scan and sharpness low for HD content :)
 
BlackWasp said:
Good to know. After the installation my Signal strength is 98% on both LNB's, but the signal quality goes as low as 49% on both. Is that normal?
Click to expand...

Signal quality should oscillate between 95-100%.
Have you tried swapping the two inputs for the MS? This would isolate a faulty port on the MS itself.
Check all wiring again and report back?
Also, try a re-scan :all networks via advanced options (9949 pin) network setup.
 
titeroper said:
Signal quality should oscillate between 95-100%.
Have you tried swapping the two inputs for the MS? This would isolate a faulty port on the MS itself.
Check all wiring again and report back?
Also, try a re-scan :all networks via advanced options (9949 pin) network setup.
Click to expand...

Ill report back, thanks. 49% seems way too low. After the MS addition, the screen intermittantly shows "blocks" on the screen, like when there's a thuderstorm and the signal goes bad. This happens around every 20-25mins whilst watching. I guess it is inevitable with a 49% quality.
 
BlackWasp said:
Ill report back, thanks. 49% seems way too low. After the MS addition, the screen intermittantly shows "blocks" on the screen, like when there's a thuderstorm and the signal goes bad. This happens around every 20-25mins whilst watching. I guess it is inevitable with a 49% quality.
Click to expand...

For a PVR 49% quality is not good enough, you run the risk of missing box office/on demand updates.

Would suggest adjsuting you LNB slight to try and get it to a higer value.

And remember to check both the VER/HOR i.e test on both mnet channel and say FTV.
 
If you have poor signal quality, you might check the cable from the LNB. They deteriorate in the sun. My first LNB was fitted in 1995 and when I got a dual LNB in 2008, quickly found that the signal quality varied on tuner 2. After replacing the f-connector without much improvement, I replaced this cable. Signal quality is now 98%.

However, it also varies according to channel, so check it on 101 first
 
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