Foxtel AFL Picture Quality and HD+

[brucetiki]

My plasma has a built-in HD tuner so nothing special with them.

Fox I'm just using the normal AV cables that Foxtel supplied.

 

[raboyle]

My plasma has a built-in HD tuner so nothing special with them.

Fox I'm just using the normal AV cables that Foxtel supplied.

Upgrade your cable and you will notice the difference. Believe me, you will.

Using a scart to component (Red, Green & Blue + L/R audio) cable will enhance the sharpness of the picture. The normal AV cables only do 1/3 of the job that component video does.

Standard AV -- lowest picture quality
Super-AV (S-Video) -- Better picture quality
Component AV -- Best picture quality

At my work, I did a little experiment with a Foxtel set-up on a HD television, alternating between the standard AV cables and then using component video and the difference was unbelievable.

 

[AC07]

Upgrade your cable and you will notice the difference. Believe me, you will.

Using a scart to component (Red, Green & Blue + L/R audio) cable will enhance the sharpness of the picture. The normal AV cables only do 1/3 of the job that component video does.

Standard AV -- lowest picture quality
Super-AV (S-Video) -- Better picture quality
Component AV -- Best picture quality

At my work, I did a little experiment with a Foxtel set-up on a HD television, alternating between the standard AV cables and then using component video and the difference was unbelievable.

100% correct. If you have a Plasma or LCD then you must go Component otherwise it is terrible. The bigger the screen the more noticable.

 

[Lets Beyblade]

Hopefully will be getting my new cables tomorrow. One day late as I spent the entire day watching football today .....at least they were both fantastic games

You slowly get used to the poor quality just as long as you don't change it back to FTA in between quarters.

 

[Lets Beyblade]

Ok just installed the new cables and I'm not sure if I have done something wrong but the difference is minimal if anything to the old av cables.

 

[stu0411]

I too just purchased a SCART to COMPONENT cable off of ebay ($30). It will be interesting to see what, if any, difference it makes

The difference is definitely noticable. Just make sure you change the output setting within the foxtel box settings tO YUV. The colours will instantly look better

 

[stu0411]

Ok just installed the new cables and I'm not sure if I have done something wrong but the difference is minimal if anything to the old av cables.

Have you gone into the foxtel set top box settings and changed the picture output to YUV? If done correctly you will immediately notice the picture is more vibrent and sharper. You do have the new cable plugged into the component (red, blue, green) input of your plasma/lcd don't you?

I have scart/component to my plasma and scart/composite to my dvd recorder. The picture quality difference between the 2 is criminal.

 

[Lets Beyblade]

Have you gone into the foxtel set top box settings and changed the picture output to YUV? If done correctly you will immediately notice the picture is more vibrent and sharper. You do have the new cable plugged into the component (red, blue, green) input of your plasma/lcd don't you?

I have scart/component to my plasma and scart/composite to my dvd recorder. The picture quality difference between the 2 is criminal.

Yep all done correctly as far as I can tell, scart to component in the back of the television. I also set the Foxtel to YUV and still the picture doesn't seem an improvement over the old av cables. Could I possibly be expecting to much and the av cables I had before were actually pretty decent or should I be seeing a much better picture?

 

[stu0411]

Yep all done correctly as far as I can tell, scart to component in the back of the television. I also set the Foxtel to YUV and still the picture doesn't seem an improvement over the old av cables. Could I possibly be expecting to much and the av cables I had before were actually pretty decent or should I be seeing a much better picture?

It should certainly be noticable. There should be a 2nd scart output on the back of the foxtel box, use that to connect the old foxtel cables to the composite (red,white, yellow) input of your panal. From there you should be able to cycle through your AV settings to see both pictures. You should be then able to clearly see the difference.

 

[swanniez1983]

Just got my cable too. There certainly is an improvement but not as much as I expected.

Lets Beyblade: As suggested by stu, cycle through the component and composite connections. Make sure that the TV settings are the same for both inputs (see manual for settings).

 

[AndrewJo]

I just recently purchased a new Samsung 40in LCD and Foxtel as I have moved into town from the country. I notice that the picture quality for Foxtel games is quite bad compared to the very nice and glossy presentation that Ten seem to produce. I have never seemed to notice a dip in quality before, could this be because LCD televisions show the poor quality transmission moreso than the old regular screens?

1. Firstly does everyone else have this problem

2. Is there any way to improve the quality (ie changing cords)

Also has anyone had HD+ installed yet, I would love to hear if the sports channels are a big improvement over what we get now.

My picture quality is great but I have problems with many Foxtel telecasts with the sound mix set incorrectly. Too often the crowd noise drowns out the commentators and the commentary is inaudible. This was evident last Sunday when the sound mix for the Melbourne - Brisbane game was terrible. In the other game Freo - Essendon the sound mix was ok and the commentary was audible. Luckily we had the live radio as well so was able to switch the TV volume down and listen to the radio. Anyone notice the same problem.

 

[relapse]

I think they call it a 'scart' plug into the foxtel box which just connects to the television with the composite (red white and yellow) plugs.

You can get a significantly better picture if you go and buy the component foxtel cable from dick smith, harvey norman etc. They retail for $50 or you can weigh up the cost of getting HD fox as the IQ2 has hdmi outputs.

 

[Campbell's Chunky]

OK, got Foxtel HD yesterday.

I can tell you the footy quality is much better, .

 

[stu0411]

OK, got Foxtel HD yesterday.

I can tell you the footy quality is much better, .

Any games replayed on the Fox Sports HD channel will look great but are you refering to the footy shown on Fox Sports (not the new HD channel)?

HDMI shouldn't be that noticable an improvement over component for content that is not broadcast in HD, unless you were viewing via the composite cables (single yellow input for video) prior to upgrading to the IQ2? In that case you would certainly notice the improvement.

Does anyone know if all the non-HD foxtel channels are allocated more bandwidth if you are using the IQ2? I would have presumed not as its all accessable via the same feed?

 

[Lets Beyblade]

OK, got Foxtel HD yesterday.

I can tell you the footy quality is much better, .

Did you whistle at it?