Astrofan

I bought a new 70" LED TV at the same time I moved to a new place. I had TW before so I just had them move the service. My picture sucks, no channel looks perfect and almost all have light to major blockiness, smeary, pixalated etc. (and just on regular scenes like in a TV newsroom.) DVDs look perfect and no problem with Netflix and Amazon streaming except when the streaming slows.

I changed the DVR's output to Native, which didn't make a difference. It makes no difference if channel shows as 720p or 1080i.

I had TW send a tech, but he said it's just the way it is and blamed it on there not being 1080p transmission. I believe this has nothing to do with anything.

In my previous location I had TW and a 55" Mit rear screen and never had a problem, but I don't think that is comparable.

I'm thinking of calling them and giving them one more chance before switching to the dreaded AT&T Uverse (it's the only other option in my apartment complex.) I don't know if it will help going from the number 1 rated worse customer service company to the number 2, but I don't know what else to do.

Thoughts?

zekeburger1979

Did you make sure all the connections from the wall to the DVR to the TV are nice and tight? It could be the cable. It could also be the DVR itself. You might want to switch it out and see if the problem continues.

Astrofan

Have checked the cables, but I may switch out box to see.

kefrank

If I understood your post correctly, you went from a 55" rear-projection CRT (presumably HD) to a 70" LED? You also moved into a new place...are you sitting closer or farther away than at your old place?

My guess is that your new setup is simply exposing the flaws that were always there in the broadcast signal. Compression artifacts are a fact of life for broadcast TV and are more noticeable the bigger your screen, the closer you sit, and the better your TV is.

Have you calibrated the new TV at all? If not, some of the stock settings may be amplifying the compression artifacts.

RichC2

Broadcast signal leaves a bit to be desired, but it shouldn't be THAT bad.

You said DVDs look fine and that's 480p. How are your internet speeds?

Josh-da-man

It's most likely just an over-compressed signal from your cable company.

I have DirecTV, and the HD quality fluctuates from channel to channel.

Making some adjustments to your television might help a bit, such as pushing down the contrast and brightness (if it's in torch mode) and turning sharpness all the way down.

Dogg

How is the DVR connected? Connection type and cable can affect quality.

Arthur Dent

I've had U-verse, Comcast, and DirecTV. U-verse was by far the worst when it came to compression. So much pixelation.

hanshotfirst1138

Hmm, interesting, I just thought it was my very low-end HDTV. I've especially had trouble with red pixelating or seeming to be too solid.

JZ1276

Check the settings on the TV itself (most likely picture mode like FULL, STRETCH, 4:3 etc). I couldnt tell you how many peoples houses I have been to where they had their TV set to the incorrect picture mode and didnt even know but I noticed it right away.

If that doesnt work, then check the picture mode on the cable box. Both TV and cable box should both be set to full or 16:9.

Dogg asked how you had the TV connected to the box but you didnt reply. HDMI I'm assuming?

Alan Smithee

Most of the broadcast stations I get have an unacceptable amount of compression, and I've heard it's even worse on cable.

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Spiky

If it is just one color, can you get into some form of advanced menu in your TV? There you should be able to tweak Red settings alone. Esp if you have a decent AV setup BD. The one Oppo sells is very complete.

fumanstan

You could always get an antenna and compare it to over the air HD broadcasts. But as RichC2 was saying, as someone that's had Cox Cable and U-Verse while I could see differences in image quality, neither stood out as being overly bad in comparison to say, DVD.