# HD GUI Blurry



## pittsburghrev (Oct 27, 2009)

Turned on the TV this morning to see that the HD GUI has gone from crisp, clean graphics to blurry. To best describe it, the picture on the TV from the HD channel is HD, but the GUI is in SD. It's noticeable everywhere in the GUI, even in the quick tune menu where the channel icons are blurry and the channel numbers below them are cut off. I did 2 RBR's, but nothing changed.

I have a HR 24/100 running 0x736 software.

Anyone else have the same problem?


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

I'm betting you're stuck in SD. Cycle your resolutions.

And when you reboot you really shouldn't RBR unless the unit is completely locked up. You should use the "reset" option in the menu.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

If you accidently held down the "Exit" button on the remote it can switch you to 480p resolution, SD mode.
Holding it down again will switch you back to HD mode.


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## Nighthawk68 (Oct 14, 2004)

Sometimes I have thought that the guide is in SD if I am on an SD channel and then hit guide, exiting the guide and changing to an HD channel and then re-entering the guide, has (so far) always gotten me back into an HD guide.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Nitehawk^ said:


> Sometimes I have thought that the guide is in SD if I am on an SD channel and then hit guide, exiting the guide and changing to an HD channel and then re-entering the guide, has (so far) always gotten me back into an HD guide.


It's not just your thought: It is in SD after visiting an SD channel and then going to the Guide! And, yes, that's the "fix"....


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

The HD guide looks like that when the output is 480i or 720p. I recently acquired a new Samsung 1080p 60" plasma. I decided to to let the TV handle all the converting. I knew that the guide would not look good on SD channels. I was surprised to find out it is SD when on a 720p channel. I have an HR34 genie. I tried this on my mom's H24 as well, same result. (her set is a 47" LG LED 1080p)


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

My daughter who is 1 year old likes to crawl up to the receiver and touch the lighted buttons. She often hits the RES key and as a result we can get stuck in SD mode. Try the RES key and make sure 1080i is lit up.

I have 720p and 1080i checked off and the guide stays HD all the time.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

My Sammy plasma is also doing the converting, and going from Espn to Guide still gives me an HD Guide.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

machavez00 said:


> The HD guide looks like that when the output is 480i or 720p.  I recently acquired a new Samsung 1080p 60" plasma. I decided to to let the TV handle all the converting. I knew that the guide would not look good on SD channels. I was surprised to find out it is SD when on a 720p channel. I have an HR34 genie. I tried this on my mom's H24 as well, same result. (her set is a 47" LG LED 1080p)


Well, since there is no broadcast content on 1080p, TVs always do the up converting from what ever resolution they are being broadcast on. S there is really no choice.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

peds48 said:


> Well, since there is no broadcast content on 1080p, TVs always do the up converting from what ever resolution they are being broadcast on. S there is really no choice.


I believe there is a choice: whether to have the direcTV box do the upconverting from 720 or 480 to 1080, or have the TV do it.


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## joed32 (Jul 27, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> I'm betting you're stuck in SD. Cycle your resolutions.
> 
> And when you reboot you really shouldn't RBR unless the unit is completely locked up. You should use the "reset" option in the menu.


On Directv's help website they always tell everyone to RBR. Been doing it for years with no adverse effects.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

peds48 said:


> Well, since there is no broadcast content on 1080p, TVs always do the up converting from what ever resolution they are being broadcast on. S there is really no choice.


DirecTV channel 125 (The Cinema Screening Room HD) broadcast content is 1080p.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

joed32 said:


> On Directv's help website they always tell everyone to RBR. Been doing it for years with no adverse effects.


I've heard a lot of different opinions on this. Many years ago a top DIRECTV engineer said that a "graceful reboot" as he called it, in other words using the menus, was better for the stability of the hardware and software. More recently, another top DIRECTV engineer whom I completely trust said that the Linux which underpins the boxes is quite robust, and the odds of it making a difference one way or the other was pretty slim.

I still use the menu but that's mostly out of a desire not to leave the chair


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

MysteryMan said:


> DirecTV channel 125 (The Cinema Screening Room HD) broadcast content is 1080p.


Well whad'ya know, it is. Apparently you learn something every day.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

Laxguy said:


> My Sammy plasma is also doing the converting, and going from Espn to Guide still gives me an HD Guide.


Try this and you will notice a difference. Tune to a 1080i channel, and then a 720p channel. Then pull up the guide. press the last channel button to cycle between the two channels. You will notice the guide/channel logos looks different. I did the same to compare 480i as well. 480i is the worst, 720p looks better, 1080i the best.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I've heard a lot of different opinions on this. Many years ago a top DIRECTV engineer said that a "graceful reboot" as he called it, in other words using the menus, was better for the stability of the hardware and software. More recently, another top DIRECTV engineer whom I completely trust said that the Linux which underpins the boxes is quite robust, and the odds of it making a difference one way or the other was pretty slim.

I still use the menu but that's mostly out of a desire not to leave the chair 


I can tell you without a doubt there is a difference between the two ways. Found that out when I was copying an external drive to a bigger external drive. Had major file system problems with rbr that wherent there with a menu restart. 

However since that's before reboot I have a feeling when you do a rbr during startup all those issues are fixed easily. Just my guess.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

machavez00 said:


> Try this and you will notice a difference. Tune to a 1080i channel, and then a 720p channel. Then pull up the guide. press the last channel button to cycle between the two channels. You will notice the guide/channel logos looks different. I did the same to compare 480i as well. 480i is the worst, 720p looks better, 1080i the best.


Quite so. My point was the Guide from 720 was HD (just not as HD!) . And the Guide from Ch125- (Thanks, MM) 1080p seems to look a tad sharper, but that could be mind set.....


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

joed32 said:


> On Directv's help website they always tell everyone to RBR. Been doing it for years with no adverse effects.


Yet... For all we know these "bugs" that some people are reporting may be the result of an RBR instead of a graceful reboot.


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

I think ch 125 looks no better than a 1080i or 720p channel. Most of the previews look upscaled (using line doubling) anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using DBSTalk


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

cypherx said:


> I think ch 125 looks no better than a 1080i or 720p channel. Most of the previews look upscaled (using line doubling) anyway...


Whether that is the case or not, 1080p24 is not perceptibly superior to 1080i, although the hype machine might try to convince you of such. On a static picture they are precisely identical as far as human vision is concerned, and on moving video 1080i suffers from loss of H resolution, but 1080p24 suffers from increased flicker in both H and V dimensions which all but cancels out any preservation of resolution.

The reason 1080i works so well is that real life suffers from loss of resolution when objects are in motion, so loss of H rez on 1080i when objects are in motion is normal, natural, and quite acceptable.

1080p24 is not there to give you a better video experience (it doesn't), it is there to provide DBS and the internet with a more economical (read: cheaper) way of bringing you the same video.

The only way 1080p24 can bring you "better" video is if you have a TV that can interpolate frames and create 1080p120 (or 240 or 480) from it on the fly. Lots of TVs can do that, but most people hate that effect.

And honestly, 1080i video that is originally from a 24 fps source is just as good; it is actually transmitted as 1080p24 (look up "film mode" on a MPEG website) and then at your STB or TV it is pulled down to 1080i30 and reinterlaced, and your 1080p60 TV then deinterlaces it and displays it as 1080p60, just as it displays everything else. But it does it transparently without loss (other than compression loss) and preserves the H rez that is missing in native 1080i, plus has a higher frame rate than 1080p24. That would actually make it better than 1080p24, but unless you can interpolate frames there is a little judder in 1080i30 due to the pulldown which pretty much makes that a wash.


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Interesting to know TomCat. I've seen Film Mode in both my TV's menu's. Never really noticed any visible difference if it was on or off. I believe it is off now. Out of curiosity I'll play with it on a 1080p signal and see if it does anything there.

But anyway on channel 125, when they cut over to previews, they look horizontal line doubled.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

I'm not taking issue with the above, but just a point of info: All resolutions except SD look fine on my Sammy plasma, now three years old. No motion artifacts watching sports in 1080i (nor 720p); no judder or flicker on 1080p, either. 

The source material seems more important than the HD specs. I've seen absolute crap that was nominally 1080i, and brilliance at 720p. And 1080p that was ho-hum.


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