Picture quality (PQ)
moviebuff2
Newbie

We just switch from Cablevision to Verizon FIOS (few days ago). We like internet (faster) and phone, however we feel that PQ is worse. We have 60" LCD Sony, 240 HZ and got used to stunning picture. Now picture is not as sharp, less facial details and I even noticed some "ghosting" during sport events. We use HDMI output from MR DVR to Yamaha 667 HTS, exactly the same cables and the same set-up as we had with Cablevision.

The second TV 40" uses set-up box and HDMI, you can't tell the difference in PQ between FIOS and CV.

I tried switching between 720p and 1080i from cable box, without any really noticeable difference. I wonder if FIOS compression does it.  If not resolved I may be going back to CV.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

FIOS does not compress the signal at all. Thats a technique used by cable companies because the lines are shared by numerous subscribers once it comes into the neighborhood. Since we have a direct dedicated fiber optic cable from the central office to your house we dont have to cut the same corners. If it was a problem with the signal coming into the house, all TV's would equally effected. This tells us the problem is localized to that TV setup. To see if theres a problem with the receiver, run the HDMI directly from the Verizon STB to the TV. Please post back with the results.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Are you watching an HD channel or are you watching an SD channel upscaled to HD by the broadcaster or which is an actual SD channel?    The latter two can look vastly different on your TV depending on how it interprets the SD signal.  You can play with this by changing the SD override settings in the STB menu.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
moviebuff2
Newbie

Together with Verizon Tech we plugged DVR directly into TV HDMI, however we did not find any differences.

Tech was able to get signal at 27dB at DVR (self diagnostics), we changed DVR, ONT however it still seems to me that picture not as good as cable, some HD channels  are not as crisp it seems like they almost have haze.

I used the same TV settings as with cable pretty much default.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
moviebuff2
Newbie

I am talking about HD channels and major ones NBC, CBS, ABC. some SD channels like Sundance for example are horrible, sometimes text is unreadable. Of coarse SD was this was not perfect on Cable, but not to the same degree.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
urlmaker
Newbie

I am having the exact same issue. Just traded in my comcast service for FiOS and there is definately a degradation of picture quality. Both our 50 in 1080p and our 46 in 1080p TVs are noticably duller/hazier with some pixelation on motion (almost like a motion blur) then the vibrant picture we had from cable. I am hoping this is some kind of configuration issue as the rest of the setup is good. I really like the high capacity multiroom DVR and 25/25 internet and hope I don't have to switch back, but the quality matters! From everything I have read FiOS is supposed to have a higher bitrate. Let me know if they find a solution for you and I will do the same.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
greg_m5
Enthusiast - Level 2

We just switched to FIOS from DirecTV last week and the picture quality seemed less sharp than I was used to and the color and contrast was a bit off on both of our sets (Sony 60" XBR2 and a 46" Panasonic Plasma). I found that I was able to tweak the settings on each set to where I am happy with the picture. After tweaking the settings I noticed that there was a sharpness setting in the FIOS DVR menu, so that might be worth trying if your picture looks soft (we have the Cisco 435HDC's).

I do have an issue with occasional pixelation on motion and will try to get a technician out this week for that. I suspect it is the cables having too many splitters and entensions - they used the old DirecTV cables for the install, instead of running new coax.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
Molly110
Enthusiast - Level 2

If posters are still active here, can you share how your PQ problems were solved? Sounds like my issues exactly. Thanks.

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Re: Picture quality (PQ)
savant1
Enthusiast - Level 3

As someone who had Cablevision and DirectTV for years and regularly watches TV on both Cablevision and FIOS households, I'm surprised that people aren't happy with the picture quality. To me, FIOS picture quality is superior, no contest!

Anyway, to answer the question above:

Press Menu->Settings>Video Settings->Video Format and select the correct format (usually 1080i for HD, which is sometimes preferable even for some 720p HDTVs).

Press Menu->Settings>Video Settings->Video Sharpness and choose 5-Sharper (effects SD channels only)

Press Menu->Settings>Video Settings->SD Override and choose what looks best for SD channels on your HDTV

There is also a hidden menu that allows you to change the default output from YCbCr to RGB. You might see some improvement using RGB (like Cablevision's DVR) depending on the performance of your HDTV's color decoder vs. the decoder in the STB. However, this change should be performed by a Verizon tech or with their assistance by phone as you could pick a setting that would require you to reset the STB to get your picture back.