No HD - SageTV - HD300 - HDHomerun?

[davidjames]

I'm not sure which forums this should go in as it crosses a few areas...

A long time ago, I ran SageTV with Comcast SD as the TV source. I went to HD and Directv and stopped using SageTV for TV but still used it for other media. I've updated SageTV along the way and am now at the current (I believe) release - see below.

I've now installed an antenna. When the antenna was directly connected to my TV (50" plasma), I didn't see any difference between Directv and the antenna.

I purchased an HDHomerun dual tuner and connected to my 100mb network. I tested it out with my old Media MVP's and I was able to receive TV, but at standard def of course.

Today I received my HD300 and hooked it up, configured it as an extender and started watching but the quality is not so good. Direct comparisons between it and my still connected Directv suggest I'm viewing in SD.

I'm running SageTV 6.6.2.218.

Network utilization as seen on the laptop I'm running SageTV shows about 20% watching 1 show and pretty much doubles when recording and watching one.

Server CPU utilization is about 25%-35%

It almost seems SageTV is still "stuck" in SD mode.

Any thoughts?

[carlgar]

Look at the recording detail for the format, that should tell you if the recording is HD or not The format should show 720p or 1080i. Are you sure what you are recording is HD?

[davidjames]

Originally Posted by carlgar

Look at the recording detail for the format, that should tell you if the recording is HD or not The format should show 720p or 1080i. Are you sure what you are recording is HD?

Thanks for the reply - Recording detail says 720P@60fps and yes, it's broadcast in HD.

Edit - I noticed in System Information that the default recording quality for both HDHR tuners is set to fair and can't be adjusted in settings because they are digital tuners. I'm not sure if that might be related or not.

[paulbeers]

Did you actually setup the HD300 to use HD resolutions? Your tv might be able to tell you what resolution is currently being sent to it (info button maybe on your televisions remote?). If you didn't select 720P / 1080i / 1080P as a resolution to output to your television, then it would only be sending an SD signal to the tv.

[wildgoose]

How are you connecting the HD300 to the 50" Plasma? Are you using HDMI?

I have identical setup, HD300, 50" Plasma, HDHomeRun. It should be pretty obvious whether a station is HD or not. SD channels are 4:3 and looks pretty soft compare to the HD ones that are 16:9 and full screen. Most of the national HD channels have sub channels that are SD. For example, ABC locally have 7-1 as HD, but 7-2 and 7-3 are SD.

Recording quality cannot be adjusted, it just records whatever the HDHomeRun is sending.

[davidjames]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Did you actually setup the HD300 to use HD resolutions? Your tv might be able to tell you what resolution is currently being sent to it (info button maybe on your televisions remote?). If you didn't select 720P / 1080i / 1080P as a resolution to output to your television, then it would only be sending an SD signal to the tv.

The HD300 is set to display 720P. I'm not sure if the TV can display what resolution it's getting, I'll look into that.

Thanks for your ideas.

[davidjames]

Originally Posted by wildgoose

How are you connecting the HD300 to the 50" Plasma? Are you using HDMI?

I'm connected via HDMI

Originally Posted by wildgoose

I have identical setup, HD300, 50" Plasma, HDHomeRun. It should be pretty obvious whether a station is HD or not. SD channels are 4:3 and looks pretty soft compare to the HD ones that are 16:9 and full screen.

The channels are showing up 16x9 but the picture is softer and the lines on people's shirts (for example) are blurred as opposed to crisp and I see some waviness on some things - I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Originally Posted by wildgoose

Most of the national HD channels have sub channels that are SD. For example, ABC locally have 7-1 as HD, but 7-2 and 7-3 are SD.

Good thought, I'll have to check them to see what they look like.

[davidjames]

Originally Posted by davidjames

The HD300 is set to display 720P. I'm not sure if the TV can display what resolution it's getting, I'll look into that.

My TV can display the signal it's getting and it shows 480P. While the Directv input (also HDMI) shows 1080I. I need to dig into the HD300 more, maybe I should not have included 480P in the list of resolutions supported?

Edit - that was it - I deselected everything but 720P and 1080I (that's the highest resolution of the TV) and it looks like normal HD now.

Thanks everyone for your help.

I do get one other weird thing once and a while - When switching channels I went to one and got loud "white noise" instead of the sound. Not sure what that was about. If it happens more and I can't figure it out, I'll be back

Thanks again.