TiVo & Plasma = dodgy picture - please help.

R

rich-t

Guest
Hi all,

I've had my TiVo for a good few years now and had no problems at all.
However, I have now purchased a Pioneer 43" plasma and wired up my TiVo only to find the picture is terrible. It's all fuzzy and wavey, even in the TiVo menu.

My setup is as follows:

1. Digital freeview box with scart to
2. TiVo, scart output converted to S Video connected to
3. Sony AV Amplifier with S Video out to
4. Pioneer 43" Plasma

If I change item 4 to my Sony 32" TV instead the picture is as to be expected.

TiVo's settings are as follows:
PAL Mode
Basic recording quality

My TiVo has a 120 Gig Hard drive upgrade and a network card installed (although I havn't used this for a long time.)

The S-Video on the Plasma is fine as I've plugged other devices into it. The S-Video settings are also set to PAL on the Plasma.

I've done some searching around and can't find anything to help me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, rich-t.
 
need to get better quality in and out of the Tivo there are some hacks for better quality recoding and using RGB out of the Tivo and perhaps use a JS RGB>YUV Transcoder to feed the plasma...... RGB scart may be fine if the 436 handles RGB better than its predecessor
 
Thanks for the prompt reply hornydragon,

The menu is just as bad as the recordings quality wise so I'm not sure if the hacks for recording quality would help. I am using what I consider to be quality interconnects already - hmmmm.

I didn't really want to fork out any more dosh at the moment, but the TiVo picture is near on impossible to watch.

Anymore help greatly appreciated.
 
I have a tivo going to a 42 inch panny and the picture is fine. I have applied the Mode 0 mod for slightly better quality. I think you have 2 issues here, first the tivo does degrade the PQ, its not noticable on a normally telly, but at 42 inches it is. BUT it shouldn't be that bad. I get slight solorization after the mode 0 mod. I am outputting PAL RGB into a VGA converter. I record everything at high mode.

Basic quality is terrible, it is really bad on a 42 inch plasma, forget the basic mode you've got 120 gig after all go for highest quality for everything but radio and cartoons.

Secondly, if you have probems with the menu its not a quality issue its a connection issue. Is your plasma set to expect RGB ? S-video isn't a great way to connect either, I think if you change your connections you'll be able to sort this. Component would probably be the best way to connect.

Either way your tivo will work fine with your plasma if its set up right, so don't dispair!
 
Hmm, 'fraid I'd disagree in general terms about s-video, often it's surprisingly good. RGB in theory is better, and in 95% of the cases this is so, but the margin is not huge. It's more to do with the way the screen handles the various signals, hence HD's suggestion of a RGB to component converter, very likely it will be better on component. I know there are many happy Pio owners who are waiting to take issue with me on this, but I simply cannot make myself happy with any of the analogue inputs on XDE pioneers. Component is the best bet by far though.
 
Which RGB to S-Video converter are you using?

Is there any reason why you cannot connect the TiVo to the plasma using RGB?

Steve
 
Hmm, caught out here, could have sworn they did! I've looked up the spec and s-video is not mentioned.
Could it be that the connection is actually composite?? That would explain.....
 
Hi

They definitely don't do S-Video.

You can very easily modify them to output component video although you cannot then use the VCR socket or AUX passthrough.

Steve
 
So as you say, all down to the conversion. If it's one of those little connectors from Keene, it's composite upconverted to s-vid, if it's a JS RGB to s-video, it's top s-video and the plasma is not handling it well. Modding it to do component is an interesting option, I didn't know you could do that.
 
Hi

The component mod is really simple.

Get an RGB to 3 x phono cable (RGB) and open the plug body up.

Link pin 19 to pin 11 (This gives you Sync on Green)

You will now get a stable picture via component - albeit with messed up colours.

Now telnet into your TiVo and issue the following two commands:-

(You need a copy of iicset on your TiVo - most TiVo hackers already have this...)

/var/hack/iicset 0x8Ch 0x3AH 15
/var/hack/iicset 0x8Ch 0x2Dh 63

You now have component output.

Assuming it worked OK, you can add the above commands to your startup scripts.

You lose AUX bypass and cannot use the VCR socket either as the TiVo cannot upconvert the live feeds from those sockets.

Steve
 
I assume that this still accepts an RGB input though, so that I can record Freeview, I just can't do passthrough of it?
 
rowlandhills said:
I assume that this still accepts an RGB input though, so that I can record Freeview, I just can't do passthrough of it?
Yes, it accepts the RGB input fine, and you can still watch live TV through the TiVo buffer - you just can't use AUX bypass or the VCR input.

Steve
 
Back to the OPs problem, have you tried connecting the Tivo directly to the plasma, i.e. bypassing the Sony amp?

You could do this via S-Video and RBG via SCART lead? That'd eliminate one component and its connectons.
 

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