Just Switched To Direct - Formatting ? and Oline Schedule ?

[puttersea]

Well, I have made the switch back to Direct after about 8 years with the competitor. I have a couple of questions I need to ask the forum that is kind of frustrating me (especially in light of the fact the Direct forgot to include a manual with my DVR).

Equipment: HR24 and H24
TV's: Newer 1080p plasma and 1080i lcd.

1. I am operting on two pretty good newer TV's. I have ascertained from reading the forums that I want myTV's to do the upscaling for me so I have set my receivers to NATIVE ON. I also have it set to Original.

I was wondering what is the difference between the "Pillar" (sorry might not have spelled this right) setting and the "Original" setting? Is one better than the other.
also
I have the boxes checked for 720p, 1080i and 1080p. However my TV's are saying that the signal is transmitting in at 720p. Is this correct? Is 720p the source that DirectTV transmits in or should it be 1080i? How do I get my receivers to transmit in 1080i or does this really matter in that my TV's are going to upscale it anyway?

Online Scheduler

2. I am really frustrated with the online scheduler when trying to send movies from my work computer to my DVR? It is obvious that the competition is much ahead of Direct TV in this department with the Sling technology.
I see the ability to search quite extensively the movies that Direct wants you to pay for, but how do you search the movies that are not pay for movies? Do I basically have to just scan through the whole darn guide until I find a movie that I want? Why don't they have a method of filtering through the guide or do they?

3. Why does direct TV put their pay channells in the 100 range. If your scanning your guide you have go through all of these channels first before you get to your channels that you actually pay for. I was wondering if there is a way to filter these out. Maybe make some dedicated groups so that I don't have to page through these all the time?

Thanks for the advise.

 

[TulsaCoker]

I'll answer the last question. Yes in edit guide you can create two custom lists. Most (if not all) make a favorite list and filter out all the PPV and channels you don't get.

 

[teachsac]

It depends on the channels whether the format is 480, 720, or 1080. Fox and ABC family of channels are 720. HBO, Starz, Bravo, etc. are 1080i. It is this way on E*, also.

You can setup a favorites list, or hit guide twice to go to categories, etc. Or you can just bypass by hitting like 202 when in the guide and it will just jump to that channel.

I love the online scheduler. Having just switched after 12 years with E*, I disagree. You can do a sort and the free titles can up up before the ones that cost or vice versa. You can sort by channels, rating, genre, firmat, etc. I never found anything on E* this advanced. You just need to get used to the different service.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

IMO

1) Just set the box to 1080i (and 1080p for the tv thatll do it), and skip the jumping around from 720 to 480i, it just slows things down. On two 1080p tv's Ive had, Ive actually seen better PQ from just sending all 1080i from the DVR. YMMV

Basically, I have 1080i, 1080p selected, and native on. That way if I watch a 1080p PPV, the box will send out 1080p/24, all other channels are just sent to the tv as 1080i.

I use original size


3) Coker hit that one right on.

 

[puttersea]

I love the online scheduler. Having just switched after 12 years with E*, I disagree. You can do a sort and the free titles can up up before the ones that cost or vice versa. You can sort by channels, rating, genre, firmat, etc. I never found anything on E* this advanced. You just need to get used to the different service.

I think I may have explained this wrong I am not talking about sorting from your receiver, I am talking about accessing my guide remotely like through my computer at work and then sending these channels to my DVR to be recorded. I see no way to sort online when I am in the guide on my computer. With E* you could sort the movies and it would even show you a picture of the movies as you scanned through the movies up to a week in advance.

If I am recording a pay per view on D* then I have it made because it sorts everything nice and neat on the left side of the page, but for my sub channels I have to page through the whole guide hour by hour until I find a movie I want. Unless I am missing something here, this is very much a downgrade from E* from a remote standpoint.

 

[puttersea]

Thanks for the advice Elwaylite. I think I will try that and see how it looks. That would definately be a way for the DVR to transmit the signal. However one thought did come to mind. Since some stations transmit on 720p, I am wondering where the upscaling to 1080i would be coming into play. Would the DVR have to upscale those 720p channels to 1080i (since I have told the DVR that my TV does not accept 720p transmissions) before it transmits it to the TV? Which in turn then puts the upscaling in the hands of the DRV?

 

[puttersea]

Oh thought I would just add something here which in my opinion is the BEST thing so far that I found about Direct and the most important thing of all. The PQ is better than E*!!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thanks for the advice Elwaylite. I think I will try that and see how it looks. That would definately be a way for the DVR to transmit the signal. However one thought did come to mind. Since some stations transmit on 720p, I am wondering where the upscaling to 1080i would be coming into play. Would the DVR have to upscale those 720p channels to 1080i (since I have told the DVR that my TV does not accept 720p transmissions) before it transmits it to the TV? Which in turn then puts the upscaling in the hands of the DRV?

You are correct. I've talked to a few calibrators, and read some articles, and many tv's don't do the 720p to 1080p as well as 1080i to 1080p, so this may be part of it. A lot of tv's overscan 720p too, so sending the tv a 720p signal in 1080i keeps the tv from doing the 2.5-5% overscan zoom. I'd try both, and if it looks the same to you, use 1080i only so you don't have to wait for the native switch when changing channels.

 

[puttersea]

Thanks for the good advise Elwaylite. I will definately give this a try. Sounds like with NATIVE on and 480 and 720 blocked on the receiver all 720p channels will be upscaled by DVR and 1080i channels upscaled by the TV. The difference of upscaling a 720p signal and 1080i signal does make some sense.
Sometimes I wish I was such a perfectionist when it comes to PQ.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Im so anal about finding the right settings, it drives my wife crazy.

 

[charper1]

Well, I have made the switch back to Direct after about 8 years with the competitor. I have a couple of questions I need to ask the forum that is kind of frustrating me (especially in light of the fact the Direct forgot to include a manual with my DVR).

Equipment: HR24 and H24
TV's: Newer 1080p plasma and 1080i lcd.

1. I am operting on two pretty good newer TV's. I have ascertained from reading the forums that I want myTV's to do the upscaling for me so I have set my receivers to NATIVE ON. I also have it set to Original.

I was wondering what is the difference between the "Pillar" (sorry might not have spelled this right) setting and the "Original" setting? Is one better than the other.
also
I have the boxes checked for 720p, 1080i and 1080p. However my TV's are saying that the signal is transmitting in at 720p. Is this correct? Is 720p the source that DirectTV transmits in or should it be 1080i? How do I get my receivers to transmit in 1080i or does this really matter in that my TV's are going to upscale it anyway?

Online Scheduler

2. I am really frustrated with the online scheduler when trying to send movies from my work computer to my DVR? It is obvious that the competition is much ahead of Direct TV in this department with the Sling technology.
I see the ability to search quite extensively the movies that Direct wants you to pay for, but how do you search the movies that are not pay for movies? Do I basically have to just scan through the whole darn guide until I find a movie that I want? Why don't they have a method of filtering through the guide or do they?

3. Why does direct TV put their pay channells in the 100 range. If your scanning your guide you have go through all of these channels first before you get to your channels that you actually pay for. I was wondering if there is a way to filter these out. Maybe make some dedicated groups so that I don't have to page through these all the time?

Thanks for the advise.

You can get hardware usage tips here as well: DIRECTV: Support : Equipment : Receivers

and user guilds can be found here: DIRECTV: Support : Equipment : Receiver Manuals

 

[joed32]

Thanks for the good advise Elwaylite. I will definately give this a try. Sounds like with NATIVE on and 480 and 720 blocked on the receiver all 720p channels will be upscaled by DVR and 1080i channels upscaled by the TV. The difference of upscaling a 720p signal and 1080i signal does make some sense.
Sometimes I wish I was such a perfectionist when it comes to PQ.

Whatever looks the best to you is the right set up. If you can't tell the difference then it just doesn't matter. I don't like Native on because it slows down changing channels and I don't see a difference in PQ, but that's just my personal taste. It's not something to really worry about, try it with different settings and make your choice.