Hallmark TVE Picture Quality

Channels Fire TV
#1

I am curious if anyone has had similar experiences... The picture quality is fine for my OTA channels via the HDHR in Channels DVR. Most TVE channels are clear as well... However with the Hallmark channel (Wife's #1 priority) the quality seems very poor. The picture appears pixelated on my 65" TV using a Fire TV Stick 4k. The biggest issue is when there is motion, it appears choppy. The person will move and it seems like horizontal flashing lines follow them.

Here are some details off of a recently recorded show:

TV/Chesapeake Shores/Chesapeake Shores S04E03 2019-09-08 A Sonnet for Caroline 2019-09-08-1800.mpg

Duration
60 min

Bit Rate
2,783,086 bits/sec

File Size
1,252,294,656 bytes

File ID
97

Streaming Index Up-to-date
Yes

Track #0: H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
1280x720 16:9 yuv420p progressive 29.97fps

Track #1: AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
stereo eng 126kbps

#2

Because of the time zone difference, recordings in my household tend to use the TVE feeds for Hallmark and HMM.

After the past 2 months of recording the Sunday movie from HMM from TVE, I've noticed no problems whatsoever with the recordings. In fact, most TVE streams and recordings seem to be less prone to errors and pixelation than my cable feed from the Prime.

#3

Here is an example of a screenshot. When the video isn't moving much the picture is clear. As soon as motion is introduced it gets pixelated and you can see the people or whatever is moving kind of ghost and pixelate... Any suggestions? I noticed most feeds are MPEG2 and Hallmark is MPEG4. No other channels seem to suffer from this pixelation during motion. I have movies recorded from FX as well as live sports from the HDHomerun. It's only Hallmark (Which happens to be the wife's number 1 station) This screenshot is during a pan of a scene. The rocks in the foreground would literally hop as the camera panned and it even appeared to be flickering on my HDTV

Hallmark
Hallmark.jpg1920×1080 420 KB

#4

Does it look the same on hallmark's website?

#5

Right now Golden Girls is on so the PQ is terrible regardless. The ads seemed to maybe confirm the same graininess with motion. It's hard to confirm since I can't rewind and it's on a much smaller laptop screen than my 65" TV. Is there another source for Hallmark besides their website to record from?

#6

All our TVE feeds come from the various network websites. The ads are usually worse quality than the actual feed.

#7

Is it possible to get a higher quality feed from another source such as an ott website like frndly for Hallmark?

#8

If you click View Details on a hallmark recording on the DVR web UI, what does it show for the resolution?

#9

Screenshot_20190917-093936_Chrome
Screenshot_20190917-093936_Chrome.jpg1080×2280 350 KB

#10

Is this what you are referring to?

#11

Yes. We're getting the highest quality available on their site so there's not much else we can do.

#12

I see, that's unfortunate. Do you notice similar poor picture quality on your end? The pixelation and poor motion? Is there any way to use a Hallmark feed from Philo or Frndly?

#13

Our TVE feature only allows us to record from http://www.hallmarkchanneleverywhere.com/hclive.html

#14

Got it thanks for the help. I guess I'll just have to live with it. Hopefully the wife gets over it. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't some setting I had wrong with interlacing or hardware deciding or something of the sort.

#15

Can you try playing the mpg file on a computer directly with VLC and see if it shows the same problem?

#16

I just downloaded the original file and played it on my computer. It shows the same poor picture quality. I guess it is just a poor quality source for the channel. Even on a 15" laptop screen you can see the pixelation and the choppy motion.

#17

You could try contacting hallmark and tell them the quality of the video on their website is very poor.

#18

This is interesting. I do not watch Hallmark but it is one of my wife's favorite channels. I just ask her if she ever has a problem with poor quality and she said no. I just watched for a very limited time without any problems. One was in full screen but the other was cropped. Maybe it is a particular show? Anyway, just wanted to share our experience.

We watch a lot of TVE and some OTA and we feel the TVE quality is just as good as we get from our native apps (AT&T Now, Hulu Live etc.). Of course we feel the Channels UI in general is much nicer.

#19

Don't see bad PQ, I guess the bad acting distracts me. Is there anything you can do to about that? :grin:

#20

Here is a 10 second clip for example. The motion is what seems mostly off to me...