Video Quality....

G'Day,

- I am planning on using a Digital STB FTA & Foxtel Digital
- I understand that there will be some degradation as the inputs into the TiVo are analogue, but how do I keep the quality as high as possible of the recorded content when I extract what has been recorded to DVD? So specifically I would like to know:

1. What is the format of the video that is actually recorded to the TiVo
2. How do I maintain the best quality from recording to the TiVo and extracting it to an XP box for burning to DVD?
3. Any gotchas between 4:3 and 16:9?

TIA

1. AFAIK the .ty files are basic MPEG2 files with some extra header information. You can convert these back to mpeg files using Tytools (it is a very quick process)
Then you have basic MPEG2 files that you can do what you want with.
Dont forget that these files are already compressed via the Tivo, so they are certainly not uncompressed.

2. When recording to the Tivo also select "best quality" to maintain "best quality" thats about all you can do. There are a few ways to extract it but the outcome is the same, your basically copying the .ty file from the Tivo to your computer. There isnt any degredation in this process, infact you can even copy the files of the tivo using FTP via mfs_ftp (google for more info)

3. cant help you on that.. only dealt with 4:3 myself.

I think if you set the tivo to 720x576 resolution and your stb to 16:9 (pillarbox 4:3) then it should be ok. However there will be no signal to tell your widescreen tv to switch to widescreen mode.

If your stb supports 4:3 pillarbox (black bars on the left and right) then the above should work. Just leave your widescreen tv set to 16:9 all the time.

ZollyMonsta
(no widescreen telly myself..)