I've been looking at Tivo for some time. Then recently, Tivo announced some great lifetime subscription deals to couple with their devices and I've jumped on the Tivo Roamio OTA, as that best first our needs as a cord cutter.
Our excitement waned somewhat when all was set up and we noticed a slight haze (don't know how to better describe it than it is a bit like looking at distant mountains on a lightly humid day) - the color is not as crisp, nor details as sharp as when the antenna cable is connected directly to the HDTV - a Panasonic plasma, which does show "darker blacks".
I found this tivo community thread that talks about what seems to be the same phenomena, but with a Tivo Premiere. There was never a conclusion as to the problem source or resolution in that thread.
Interestingly, that poster is using a MOHU antenna, while I am using the Amazon equivalent, rated for 50 miles. I live in a metro area where the sources are 30 miles away, and it does a nice job of capturing the signal for 90% of the channels available, again, when connected directly to the HDTV.
I've tested many things: New HDMI cable, changing settings from 1080i to other settings, changing HDMI ports on the HDTV, disconnect and reconnect cable and rescan multiple times. I don't have another HDTV to test against. However, I have a bluray player, and it renders an excellent image on all of the HDMI ports (and I used its HDMI cable to test cables).
Support had me check the tuner settings, and of course, they say the signal is too low - signal strength typically ranges from 50% to 60%, but I have seen it drop to as low as 32% on one tuner at one point (we had a rain storm at the time), snr around the 22db to 25db range, rs corrected zero across the board, rs uncorrected up to 4Billion during rain storm, but was from zero on two tuners to 4K and 9K and the last two tuners.
In contrast, the HDTV shows signal strength by channel and they are 80% and above. Not sure that is apples to apples measurement, though.
On the HDTV, during the storm, I noticed three channels (that I don't have on my favorites list, so don't bother with) happen to have 40% strength and were coming in clearly (contrast with Tivo OTA hazy picture on it's rated 50% to 60% signal strength, as mentioned above), but the Tivo OTA was not picking them up, when I switched cable connection and scanned.
Support seems to be blaming a lack of signal on the input, and definitely are avoiding discussion about if that is expected for the Tivo unit. Clearly, the input is fine to render a good image, if I can get that with direct connection to the HDTV. As it is digital information, it should be identical from the Tivo, unless the unit is doing some kind of conversion in the box before it hits the digital HDMI out.
What I'm trying to understand is if this is unique to the unit I received, or is it typical of Tivo Roamio units (the OTA in particular)?
Support figures I ought to get an amp for the antenna signal. I don't want to spend more money and go down that rabbit hole, unless it will resolve the problem, when maybe all it is, is a unit with faulty tuners.
If an amp is a solution, what do I get that will be not create another problem? I see there are amps and preamps. Amps with splitters. etc.
And if an amp is required, what a peeve for a premium product that cannot match capabilities an HDTV has!
Our excitement waned somewhat when all was set up and we noticed a slight haze (don't know how to better describe it than it is a bit like looking at distant mountains on a lightly humid day) - the color is not as crisp, nor details as sharp as when the antenna cable is connected directly to the HDTV - a Panasonic plasma, which does show "darker blacks".
I found this tivo community thread that talks about what seems to be the same phenomena, but with a Tivo Premiere. There was never a conclusion as to the problem source or resolution in that thread.
Interestingly, that poster is using a MOHU antenna, while I am using the Amazon equivalent, rated for 50 miles. I live in a metro area where the sources are 30 miles away, and it does a nice job of capturing the signal for 90% of the channels available, again, when connected directly to the HDTV.
I've tested many things: New HDMI cable, changing settings from 1080i to other settings, changing HDMI ports on the HDTV, disconnect and reconnect cable and rescan multiple times. I don't have another HDTV to test against. However, I have a bluray player, and it renders an excellent image on all of the HDMI ports (and I used its HDMI cable to test cables).
Support had me check the tuner settings, and of course, they say the signal is too low - signal strength typically ranges from 50% to 60%, but I have seen it drop to as low as 32% on one tuner at one point (we had a rain storm at the time), snr around the 22db to 25db range, rs corrected zero across the board, rs uncorrected up to 4Billion during rain storm, but was from zero on two tuners to 4K and 9K and the last two tuners.
In contrast, the HDTV shows signal strength by channel and they are 80% and above. Not sure that is apples to apples measurement, though.
On the HDTV, during the storm, I noticed three channels (that I don't have on my favorites list, so don't bother with) happen to have 40% strength and were coming in clearly (contrast with Tivo OTA hazy picture on it's rated 50% to 60% signal strength, as mentioned above), but the Tivo OTA was not picking them up, when I switched cable connection and scanned.
Support seems to be blaming a lack of signal on the input, and definitely are avoiding discussion about if that is expected for the Tivo unit. Clearly, the input is fine to render a good image, if I can get that with direct connection to the HDTV. As it is digital information, it should be identical from the Tivo, unless the unit is doing some kind of conversion in the box before it hits the digital HDMI out.
What I'm trying to understand is if this is unique to the unit I received, or is it typical of Tivo Roamio units (the OTA in particular)?
Support figures I ought to get an amp for the antenna signal. I don't want to spend more money and go down that rabbit hole, unless it will resolve the problem, when maybe all it is, is a unit with faulty tuners.
If an amp is a solution, what do I get that will be not create another problem? I see there are amps and preamps. Amps with splitters. etc.
And if an amp is required, what a peeve for a premium product that cannot match capabilities an HDTV has!
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