Is it possible to get better quality video?

Channels Apple TV
#1

I am comparing the video siginal from a ViewTV AT-163 tuner to a HRHomeRun Connect Duo via Channels out to a AppleTV 4 (Non-4K). A MacMini i7 is the server. All connections via the router are either 1000mps (eithernet) or 300mps via WiFi on the Apple TV (verified with speed tests). With my AVR I can switch back and forth between the two sources and the ViewTV AT-163 tuner looks sharper. I mainly see the difference around hard edges of text and network logos, a shimmering. It looks like too much compression is being placed on the video

•Is there any settings I could change on my Mac or AppleTV to get the sharpness equal between the two sources?

Thanks,

Larry

#2

What channel are you comparing? Try a 720p channel first like ABC or FOX

#3

I’ve compare all the major HD channels and the quality is good, however, not as good as the ViewTV. 720 or 1080 res the results are the same. I still believe it is some kind of compression on the file. The edge sharpness on text and logos is softer on the channel – DVR. There is a slight edge shimmering that looks like a compression artifact. The only output device I have is an Apple TV so it’s hard to troubleshoot and find out if it’s the Chamnel software, Apple TV or the HDHomerun Duo that is causing it. I am probably overly picky. If you were to take a look at the image by itself and nothing comes to compare it to you would think it is fine. I’m just being a little anal.

#4

There is no compression happening- the raw stream comes from the antenna and is rendered to the screen.

You can try the free apps InstaTV or VLC on your Apple TV to compare.

#5

You will have to excuse my ignorance about this issue. But the HD homerun has to process it and convert the Raw data into a format that the AppleTV will except. I believe they all use some kind of compression to do this so the data will transfer in a timely manner. I was just wondering if there might be a better codec for the video processor that might perform a better job or be lossless.I might be way off base with what I’m thinking but just trying to find out some answers to give the best quality video possible.

#6

There is no conversion or compression on the HDHomeRun unit. It’s a raw digital video signal, and our app renders it directly.

The only way the video would be compressed is if you were using the DVR’s transcoding feature.

#7

I guess that brings me back to my original question. What could be causing the slight difference? Remember, the video picture of produced by Channels-HD software is still incredibly good. Just wondering why there was a difference between the raw that the view TV produced and what the channels – HD produced.I am more than happy with the picture produced. I just get very anal about some things.

#8

The first thing to do is compare the video using the InstaTV app and the VLC app. That will tell you if it’s specific to our app or to the Apple TV.

You can also try the official HDHomeRun app on a computer or phone/tablet to see if the same artifacts are present there.

#9

Thanks, I will do that this weekend. Thank you so much for your advice and your help on this.

1 Like
#10

I find Streaming devices in general produce a slightly softer picture than through a TV or even a Blu-ray. Try playing the stream directly on your TV through Dlna

#11

This is now a moot point. The HDHomeRun crapped out on me last night. Barely a signal on limited channels but still getting great reception on the ViewTV AT-163. I’ll send it back and get a new one.