Does a image or skin have any effect on pic. Sharpness/resolution ?

[skronk]

I have Vu Duo and Xtrend 8500.

Pic sharpness and resolution are infinitely better on Vu.

Would changing skin or image improve pic sharpness/resolution on Xtrend ? Or will I have to put up with this as its now a budget receiver ?

Thanks.

[cactikid]

in setting up my xtrend with the wizard i did notice the remote on screen was clearer with 720 rather than 1080p,using a good quality hdmi can also improve picture quality.

[DaMacFunkin]

720 will look better if your panel is only HD ready, just because a set can take a 1080p signal does not mean it can display one, I have s 32" LG in the guest room which down converts, so in this situation it is better just to feed it a 720p signal.

[cactikid]

i prefare full hd and set to 1080p:D

[twol]

I have Vu Duo and Xtrend 8500.

Pic sharpness and resolution are infinitely better on Vu.

Would changing skin or image improve pic sharpness/resolution on Xtrend ? Or will I have to put up with this as its now a budget receiver ?

Thanks.

The bottom delimiter is usually the TV and how it is setup, so what do you have?
I have seen endless threads where people swear black is white, but it normally is down to what they have become used to... but as usual lets explore the issue further:):)

[cactikid]

unsure if certified to same standard but if picture was bad with hdmi supplied i would try a better one.

[skronk]

NO....I have 2 boxes currently in use.Xtrend 8500 and Vu Duo. When setup 1 at a time using same cable and TV, resolution and sharpness are better on Vu.Maybe a linitation of the Xtrend.

[tapkor]

unsure if certified to same standard but if picture was bad with hdmi supplied i would try a better one.
Don't waste your money. If there is a problem in the HDMI cable, the picture is not of bad quality but seemingly faulty, that is, either filled with sparkles or no picture at all. If the picture in your TV is not like that, but you just are not satisfied with the quality, a "better" HDMI cable won't help.

[Sicilian]

I've tested both a VU+ Solo SE and Xtrend ET8500 as both have same CPU so would be a similar comparison.

Tested with a Samsung 32" Curved LED and a 40" LG 4K LED.

Both have excellent PQ on HD on Samsung 32", SD PQ is what you'd expect and comparable watching SD direct on TV.

Both have excellent PQ on HD on 40" LG 4K TV, but SD is poor from both receivers, quite blocky. Enabling Automatic resolution setting Show 480/576 24fps as to 480p 24hz cured the blocking and SD is loads better.

I then dug out my old Duo and connected to LG 40" 4K TV, imo same PQ as the other two receivers mentioned above.

[Rob van der Does]

Quality (and hence the price) of HDMI leads can make a difference if you use (very) large cables 9timing issues). The 'normal' shot ones, for an STB close to the TV, there should be no difference.

[twol]

I still have a Sky HD receiver, so always use it as a base reference for comparison when comparing output to Panasonic plasma TV.
Although I would equate my 1st receiver ET9200 as similar to the Sky, the picture from the later boxes on HD (ET8000/10000/8500) as better, with audio on HD channels/Dolby much better (the Sky box blips on audio every so often when on hdmi)

I also think it depends on the TV. Even on SD, have noticed that with my recently acquired ( with a very fast switching response) 4K Acer monitor, the picture is cleaner (although it is smaller than the panny,s which may help)

[tapkor]

Quality (and hence the price) of HDMI leads can make a difference if you use (very) large cables 9timing issues). The 'normal' shot ones, for an STB close to the TV, there should be no difference.

That's certainly right, but even then it has no effect on sharpness and resolution, which was the original concern. And I wouldn't call the distinction between faulty and correct image as that between an image having bad and better quality because it can give an impression that a correct image gets better, if you use higher quality HDMI cable. That's not the case.

[Rob van der Does]

..... with audio on HD channels/Dolby much better ...
Can't be when Dolby is not being downmixed: the bitsream is being passed as it is.


That's certainly right, but even then it has no effect on sharpness and resolution, which was the original concern. ....
True.

[twol]

Can't be when Dolby is not being downmixed: the bitsream is being passed as it is.


I guess what I should have said is that the e2 receiver handles the ac3 correctly, whereas the Sky HD box cannot consistently on hdmi, I get sound blips which I didn,t get on optical from the Sky box.
All my receivers go thru Onkyo amps so difference is down to the Sky box.... so that is why it is better:)

[Rob van der Does]

OK, so that's a bug in that specific box.

[twol]

OK, so that's a bug in that specific box.

True, but I am not going to ask Sky to fix it:)

[Larry-G]

True, but I am not going to ask Sky to fix it:)

lol why not ?. You would probably get better feedback than you would when submitting a bug report to Vu+.

[skronk]

I've tested both a VU+ Solo SE and Xtrend ET8500 as both have same CPU so would be a similar comparison.

Tested with a Samsung 32" Curved LED and a 40" LG 4K LED.

Both have excellent PQ on HD on Samsung 32", SD PQ is what you'd expect and comparable watching SD direct on TV.

Both have excellent PQ on HD on 40" LG 4K TV, but SD is poor from both receivers, quite blocky. Enabling Automatic resolution setting Show 480/576 24fps as to 480p 24hz cured the blocking and SD is loads better.

I then dug out my old Duo and connected to LG 40" 4K TV, imo same PQ as the other two receivers mentioned above.

My old Vu Duo has infinitely better picture sharpness and resolution than my new Xtrend 8500.

At just over 50% sharpness using video enhancement the Duo is as, if not more, sharp than the Xtrend with sharpness set to full.

[Rob van der Does]

You're not supposed to use that plugin at all (especially not for HD). The box (actually the SoC) is not supposed to do anything PQ-related at all; it just passes the signal on as it receives it.

[Bangord30]

What plugin is someone using here sorry? Missing it mentioned in the posts! ;)

[Rob van der Does]

video enhancement

[skronk]

You're not supposed to use that plugin at all (especially not for HD). The box (actually the SoC) is not supposed to do anything PQ-related at all; it just passes the signal on as it receives it.
In that case it must receive a pretty unsharp signal then.

[skronk]

You're not supposed to use that plugin at all .

So why is it in the plugins ?

[Rob van der Does]

You should only use plugins you can use.
And VideoEnhancement stems from the pre-HD era.