Just got my first HR20 today. I have a Samsung 6178W 71" HDTV and all my sources are running through my Yamaha Z9 receiver with component cables. To my surprise, I recorded and also watched live tennis on UHD and the picture quality of the Tivo was far superior over the HR20. Even my installer from DirecTv could not beleive the difference and thought I was running my Tivo via HDMI straight into the TV. Color was deeper, and picture was much more detailed, almost like the difference between 10801 and 480p. We double- checked and made sure the HR20 was set up correctly. Volume was also way lower from the HR20.

Very surprised and definitely not getting rid of my HDTV Tivos' anytime soon.

Any opinions why the HR20 is so much inferior?

Thanks.

Just got my first HR20 today. I have a Samsung 6178W 71" HDTV and all my sources are running through my Yamaha Z9 receiver with component cables. To my surprise, I recorded and also watched live tennis on UHD and the picture quality of the Tivo was far superior over the HR20. Even my installer from DirecTv could not beleive the difference and thought I was running my Tivo via HDMI straight into the TV. Color was deeper, and picture was much more detailed, almost like the difference between 10801 and 480p. We double- checked and made sure the HR20 was set up correctly. Volume was also way lower from the HR20.

Very surprised and definitely not getting rid of my HDTV Tivos' anytime soon.

Any opinions why the HR20 is so much inferior?

Thanks.

I noticed a little more dithering when you focus on a spot like the grass on the yes channel.

I would say it's 10% worse.

What will mpeg4 look like?

We have no choice.

Good news is the esta interface works well.

Order yourself a HDMI cable for $5 from Monoprice.com.

If you use HDMI, the HR20 looks just as good, if not slightly better than, the DirecTivo HR10.

Just got my first HR20 today. I have a Samsung 6178W 71" HDTV and all my sources are running through my Yamaha Z9 receiver with component cables. To my surprise, I recorded and also watched live tennis on UHD and the picture quality of the Tivo was far superior over the HR20. Even my installer from DirecTv could not beleive the difference and thought I was running my Tivo via HDMI straight into the TV. Color was deeper, and picture was much more detailed, almost like the difference between 10801 and 480p. We double- checked and made sure the HR20 was set up correctly. Volume was also way lower from the HR20.

Very surprised and definitely not getting rid of my HDTV Tivos' anytime soon.

Any opinions why the HR20 is so much inferior?

Thanks.

You are the first one that I have seen with that view, most think the HR20 gas the better PQ.

My Tivo and the HR20 both are running component cables thru my receiver, so they should be on even terms, since my Yamaha RX-Z9 does not have HDMI inputs. Maybe I will wait and buy a new receiver.

Funny, my HR-20 does not support HDMI cables. It has a nice slot for it, but when I plug it in, it does not properly relay the signal. This apparently is a known problem with some HR-20 boxes.

The present software on the HR20 has an excellent record of HDMI compatibility. Often, a problem is the TV will not support 480i over HDMI. Try using a different resolution and unchecking 480i in the HDTV supported resolutions tab.

what greywolf said- having 480i checked can freak out a lot of tv's over HDMi.
also, the HR20 has more options for scaling than the tivo- did you try native mode?

Just got my first HR20 today. I have a Samsung 6178W 71" HDTV and all my sources are running through my Yamaha Z9 receiver with component cables. To my surprise, I recorded and also watched live tennis on UHD and the picture quality of the Tivo was far superior over the HR20. Even my installer from DirecTv could not beleive the difference and thought I was running my Tivo via HDMI straight into the TV. Color was deeper, and picture was much more detailed, almost like the difference between 10801 and 480p. We double- checked and made sure the HR20 was set up correctly. Volume was also way lower from the HR20.

Very surprised and definitely not getting rid of my HDTV Tivos' anytime soon.

Any opinions why the HR20 is so much inferior?

Thanks.


Something is wrong because there is no difference in PQ between my Tivo 10-250 and my HR20-700.

Cheers.

Same here. The HR10 and HR20 output look the same on my two TV's.

I have both connected to the same receiver via component cables and into the same TV, tuned to the same channel at the same time. Both myself and the installer could see a very noticeable difference when I switch from one to the other. Maybe this unit is defective? If I did not have an A/B comparison like I did and still do, I would not have been able to tell the difference as much.

Component output involves digital -> analog conversion. Different A/D parts produce slightly different output. If you tweaked your component settings for the HR10, you'll need to re-tweak them for the HR20. The same will probably apply if / when you replace the HR20 in the future. This is normal.

I would still recommend HDMI output.

Also check your output resolutions on each device since they may be different. I know that when I first turned on both my HR20's, I had to cycle through the resolutions on the front of the receiver to get it off 480i, even though I set the unit to pass Native with only 720p and 1080i checked.

I replaced my 250 with the HR20 as soon as they came out last year but gave it back because the firmware was not available for local HD and the picture quality was 70% of the quality of the 250 on my 60" SONY LCD through the Monster HDMI. I just installed the newest HR20-700 to try again and the picture quality sucks still. It is the same picture as last year. Which is why I am at this web site looking for reasons why. Maybe it is an issue with LCD rear projection TV's?

I replaced my 250 with the HR20 as soon as they came out last year but gave it back because the firmware was not available for local HD and the picture quality was 70% of the quality of the 250 on my 60" SONY LCD through the Monster HDMI. I just installed the newest HR20-700 to try again and the picture quality sucks still. It is the same picture as last year. Which is why I am at this web site looking for reasons why. Maybe it is an issue with LCD rear projection TV's?What resolution is the HR20 set for (look under settings/HDTV)? It should be the same as your LCD's native mode. Start with 1080i; native mode off. It may well have come out of the box as 480i, which would indeed be awful.

Try HDNet Movies (78) on both for a fair comparison. And take some time to set the box up for your preferences (like what to do with old-style 4x3 images. Stretch, pillar box (sidebars), etc.).

Just got my first HR20 today. I have a Samsung 6178W 71" HDTV and all my sources are running through my Yamaha Z9 receiver with component cables. To my surprise, I recorded and also watched live tennis on UHD and the picture quality of the Tivo was far superior over the HR20. Even my installer from DirecTv could not beleive the difference and thought I was running my Tivo via HDMI straight into the TV. Color was deeper, and picture was much more detailed, almost like the difference between 10801 and 480p. We double- checked and made sure the HR20 was set up correctly. Volume was also way lower from the HR20.

Very surprised and definitely not getting rid of my HDTV Tivos' anytime soon.

Any opinions why the HR20 is so much inferior?

Thanks.

My initial response is that the picture quality on the HR20 is less than the HR 10-250, even though I am using a Monster HDMI cable versus component cables with the HR 10-250 (I still have the component cables hooked up, and the picture is also less via component). The picture is not as detailed, and most noticeably, the blacks are not as black. For example, I used to marvel at the great shots of the city when an NFL game came back from a commerical. In tonight's game, those night shots look far less black. Anyone else concur? Thanks.