V+ SD picture

[markis1]

Hi everyone

I am new to the forum but have a couple of questions to ask :

I have just bought one of those beautiful 50" Samsung PS-50P96FD Plasmas

my question is this -

i am upgrading from the old NTL STB to a V+ STB - will the new V+ box (using an HDMI Cable) improve the SD picture - my current NTL STB gives a pretty bad picture on the regular channels

will the V+ / HDMI improve the picture at all ?

Does anybody also know if Virgin are going to introduce any new HD content soon ? It seems pretty poor in comparison to Sky HD !!

many thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[ianrauk]

Have a great picture thru V+/HDMI to my Sharp 37" LCD.
Far better then what I had thru the old Pace box.

 

[Nivek TT]

HD content via Virgin is poor, and don't expect it to change any time soon.

I think most people around here have tired of Virgin's broken promises about HD.

However, the V+ does a marvellous job of upscaling and good SD feeds look lovelly!

 

[Trent.]

the V+ does a marvellous job of upscaling and good SD feeds look lovelly!

Totally agree, some channels look slightly better than others but in general very good.

 

[ajnicho]

HD content via Virgin is poor, and don't expect it to change any time soon.

I think most people around here have tired of Virgin's broken promises about HD.

However, the V+ does a marvellous job of upscaling and good SD feeds look lovelly!

Some people love to get their rants in any way they can....

In answer to your question, I have a 42" plasma connected up to my V+ box via HDMI and can honestly say that on those channels that have a high bitrate stream the picture quality is excellent.

Channels like ITV4 that have a low bitrate stream are poor at best. The Arsenal game last night was awful with obvious ghosting around every player!

 

[rickyxx]

Since I got my V+ box in march I have noticed much better picture quality on most channels on my 37" Toshiba lcd. I say most channels cos football on ITV always looks very "fuzzy" compared to BBC and sky.

 

[Nivek TT]

Considering the original question I feel my response was accurate, fair and in no way a "rant"

"Rants" more often than not contain quotes from other members and / or websites!

Check out my posts of Virgin's lack of widescreen - those are some fine example of "rants"

 

[Buttles]

I called up the other day to upgrade the phone side of my package and without any real kind of prompt the Customer Services rep took the V+ charge off my package. This made me wonder whether they are going to introduce some more HD channels in the next few months but ask for an increase in subcriptions.

 

[nialli]

The V+'s upscaled SD picture on the majority of channels is extremely good on a quality LCD or plasma via HDMI. It's a considerable improvement over the old Pace or Samsung boxes from NTL.

The PQ on the BBC-HD channel is also excellent, as is all of the VOD content I've viewed.

As with all viewing, programmes recorded in the last century (!) are now notably ropey compared newer content - no amount of digital jiggery-pokery is going to sort out those ITV3 repeats

 

[markis1]

thanks for all the replies and help

it seems like the PQ will improve with the V+ STB then

however, i read on this forum somewhere that PQ gets worse when the screen size increases - i now have a 50" plasma

will the upscaled/improved picture be cancelled out by this increase in screen size ?

thanks in advance again

 

[dondorka]

Hi,i had the v+ box fitted last week and it looks great on my 50" samsung q97 via hdmi...go for it

 

[craigd]

thanks for all the replies and help

it seems like the PQ will improve with the V+ STB then

however, i read on this forum somewhere that PQ gets worse when the screen size increases - i now have a 50" plasma

will the upscaled/improved picture be cancelled out by this increase in screen size ?

thanks in advance again

It will only look bad if you are sitting too close.

 

[Deleted member 188495]

im on virgin media XL package, will virgin media change my pace box to a v+ box for free?

 

[wynne_g_oldman]

thanks for all the replies and help

it seems like the PQ will improve with the V+ STB then

however, i read on this forum somewhere that PQ gets worse when the screen size increases - i now have a 50" plasma

will the upscaled/improved picture be cancelled out by this increase in screen size ?

thanks in advance again

Even if it does look worse on a 50" screen, it'll still be far better than anything that comes through your SCART sockets. I've got a V+ box on a 32" Sony LCD, and there's absolutely no way that I'd go back to anything that comes through SCART. There's a great difference in picture quality, only downside is that on my, and many TV's, you can't zoom into a channel that's broadcast in 4:3 widescreen.

 

[nialli]

im on virgin media XL package, will virgin media change my pace box to a v+ box for free?

Worth a try, though you're more likely to be offered a Samsung standard V box, which would be a considerable improvement in terms of speed and reliability over the Pace. When my V+ was installed I was told they were looking to replace all the older Pace boxes this year, but that may have just been for my area.

 

[markis1]

thanks for all the replies

i am getting the new V+ box installed this afternoon - let you know how it turns out or

 

[markis1]

well the virgin engineer turned up outside my house but promptly left after failing to wait the 60 seconds before i got home !!!! Incredible !!!

somehow, after repeatedly reading about the poor service from this company, i am not in the least bit surprised

they even had the cheek to tell me that they were going to charge me £10 for the call-out

i don't know what Sky are like but i am certainly thinking of moving to them after this debacle

 

[Yemeth]

Can anyone answer me in a yes or no...

Does the V+ HD Box UPSCALE normal SD pictures to 720p/1080i?

 

[Peter Baker]

Yes, that is exactly what it does. You have the choice of the two.

 

[markis1]

finally got my V+ box installed yesterday !!

my first impressions on PQ were that nothing had changed - the picture was dreadful

i messed around a bit and finally settled on 720 wide which seemed to be a slight improvement (BBC HD was very good though)

quick question - i have a samsung 50inch 1080p plasma - would the picture, theoretically, be better on the 1080 wide setting ??? it seems to be alot better on the 720 wide setting !!

i wasn't present when the engineer installed the V+ box - he left the scart cable in the back of the TV which i subsequently took out leaving just the HDMI cable coneection in

can somebody advise what i can do to improve the SD picture - i am not sure if the engineer kept the scart in when he tried to connect the V+ to the Plasma - should i start from the beginning again - if so what do i need to do to get the HDMI connection/PQ working correctly ? Any ideas ?