Direct TV HD DVR question

[NPYYZ]

Ok, I'll try and explain this so you can understand it. I do not have a lot of Home Theater knowledge so bare with me please. I recently upgraded my Direct tv HD reciever to the HD DVR. My TV is a Mits WS-55511. This TV always shows me on the screen what the display type is that I am seeing when I change to a differnt signal type - for instance standard TV broadcast - it will show 480i , for DVD it will show 480p, for the High def channels it will show 1080i ok. With the Direct TV HD reciever when ever I went from a High def channel -1080i, to a non high def channel the set would always change back to 480i, but now with the Direct TV HD DVR when I change from a high def Channel -1080i, to a non high def channel the TV still tells me it is displaying 1080i instead of 480i. The picture quality is not as good as the high def channels , but it is better then what I was getting from the direct TV High Def reciever in 480i. Confused yet?

NOTE: Also with the Direct TV high def reciever when going from 1080i to
480i or 480i to 1080i the Tv would always do this wierd picture changing thing when it went from one to the other, now with the direct TV HD DVR it does not because it says it's always at 1080i.

Example: With the high def reciever if I went from CH. 70 HBO HD to CH 247 TBS SD the display on the TV would change from 1080i to 480i.
With the HD DVR it stays at 1080i 0n all channels. It never goes back to 480i

So my question is what the hell is going on? Even though the non high def channels do not look as good and the high def ones , are they still being displayed in 1080i? They do appear to look a bit cleaner then they did with the HD reciever that showed them displaying at 480i.

Thanks.

[Jon Liu]

chances are the DVR is decoding and upconverting the 480 signal. From what you're describing, that sounds like what's going on. Since you are saying it looks better then chances are it is being upconverted to 1080i, which is a bonus for you!

[NPYYZ]

Sweet, thanks. I

[CamDawg]

Jon is correct. I used to have a DirecTv HD Tivo -- I set it to upconvert for a while and it did the same thing.

[Quo]

i have one... how do i set it to upconvert -- or figure out if it's already set that way?

[Crankbait]

NPYYZ,

Do you have the new Direct TV HD DVR or the HD Tivo? If it is the new one, what are your impressions?

[Quo]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

NPYYZ,

Do you have the new Direct TV HD DVR or the HD Tivo? If it is the new one, what are your impressions?

If it's the DTV HD DVR, I'd like to know too... supposedly DTV is coming out with HD local channels in my area in the next month or so (supposedly already here, but no!) and getting those channels will require an "upgrade" to the DTV model... I want to know what I'm getting in to.

[CamDawg]

Originally Posted by Quo

i have one... how do i set it to upconvert -- or figure out if it's already set that way?

Quo, it's been over a year since I've had an HD DirecTivo; however, if I remember correctly there is a button on the remote that says something like resolution and there are LEDs on the front of the box that correspond to the selected resolution.

[Quo]

thanks Cam! I'll give it a look.

[AZRaiderH8r]

Quo, I'm guessing that you have the HR10-250 DVR model like I do (the one that is made by Tivo and not DTV). I have to use an outdoor antenna to get my local channels in HD. There is a new DVD that is made by DTV, the HR20-250. That will not require the outdoor antenna.

But, I really like the way that my 10-250 is set up and I'm not a big fan of the DVR that DTV has. I think I might stick with the outdoor antenna for a while, although the signal can be weak at times.

[Quo]

Correct, AZ. Mine's the Tivo unit. I, too, like this unit -- but I live in the mountains and I have no shot of getting local HD OTA. So if I want to get those channels, I have to "upgrade" to the DTV unit when the local channels are offered here. Looks like March or April now. I have the luck of currently living in the largest market to not have local HD channels over DTV...

I wonder if I can continue to use my tivo unit in my bedroom on our non-HD tv?

[NPYYZ]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

NPYYZ,

Do you have the new Direct TV HD DVR or the HD Tivo? If it is the new one, what are your impressions?

It's the new HD DVR. I like it so far. I really like the way it stays at 1080i all the time. I hated the way the regular HD reciever always went back to 480i for the non high def channels. The only thing I miss is the direct Tivo Guide. I have the standard direct tivo reciever (moved to the bedroom) and that guide is a lot better, but I'll get use to this one.

Oh and also when the guy was here installing it I asked him about the commercial direct tv has been running about adding 150 HD channels soon. I asked him when we can expect them and he said the are shooting for next month.