Poor HD picture quality on DTR-T4000

[Glasgowgman57]

I have an existing DTR-T2110 and decided to upgrade to the DTR-T4000

The 4k content looks fantastic, but the picture quality on the HD channels look much softer than on the T2110 for some reason.

I read a review on the T4000 and this issue was mentioned in it: https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-receivers/bt-ultra-hd-youview-box-13013...

Anyone got any idea why this would be the case?

Graham

[zulu17]

Hi @Glasgowgman57 

Reading that review you quote seems to imply that  once you  the watch the Bt sport channel in 4K  then 

"the picture quality is so spectacularly good it makes it nigh-on impossible to revert to inferior Full HD pics once you've had a taste of the 4K manna"

It is  clearly an old review c 2015 when the 4K service was launched  that someone has updated with a few changes last year but they don't seem to have fully rereviewd it.

I don't believe the reviewer is critising the HD content  picture quality but simply saying that in their opinion it is inferior to 4K.

If you are upscaling or downscaling content between  HD and 4K  on your settop box or TV then you can experience differences if you use different devices.Other factors are the Tv screen size any picture  display settings you have opted for on the TV and indeed the original quality the programme that is being transmitted.

[scointer]

Not easy to answer without full details of what you are looking at. Zulu has picked up most of the majors influences of why this could be. Another one that crops up quite a bit is that a 4K TV will be better at upscaling a HD picture than the T4000 box. Therefore you could try changing the T4000 output to 1080p on the HD only content and see if that makes a difference (therefore letting your 4K TV upscale the picture), of course you will need to change it back to watch 4K content.

[stereohaven]

I have both boxes and without doubt the HD picture (both streamed and terrestrial), is better on the T2110 than the T4000 which is much softer. 

I have tried every combination under the sun in terms of settings with both boxes on the same TV and there is nothing that can be done to really improve it much on the T4000

As others have mentioned, often the TV has a better upscaler than the box (in my case I have an LG OLED 4K), so I eventually left the box on 1080i output. By the way, I don't have the 4K BT Sport channel, just the box as my line isn't fast enough, so I am only comparing HD channels on both boxes.

The only reasons for me actually keeping the T4000 in situ is the greater storage capacity (we record a lot), and the quicker response times/navigation due to the faster processor. It is definitely quicker to get around!

As the box doesn't have HDR or Dolby Vision we use the TV apps or my Apple TV 4K to watch Netflix and Prime Video. 

[Glasgowgman57]

Thanks for the swift responses, much appreciated.

Just to clarify a few points, I don't have a subscription to the BT Sports channel, and don't have access to it's 4K content.

The only 4K content I access currently is through the Netflix app on the YouView box.

The HD content is terrestrial channels (i.e. BBC1 HD (channel 101) etc...

I currently have the 2 boxes sitting beside each other and can quickly change between them for a quick comparison, and there is no doubt about it that these HD channels look way crisper on the T2110 than the T4000

I'm not changing any settings on the TV itself, and both YouView boxes are connected via the same HDMI cable and port (I'm just pulling the lead from one box and plugging it into the other when changing between them)

I'll try changing the output to 1080p on the HD content, for the T4000, as suggested and see if that makes a difference....

[srpsrp]

I've often thought the HD output to my Plasma is not as sharp as my older Humax freesat on the BT DTR-T4000 or the built in freeview on my TV.

I can't decide though if either letting the box warm up a bit (?) or twiddling the sharpness on the TV's display settings fixes it. I've tried all the settings on the box which don't seem to resolve it. 

Perhaps this box was intended to be used primarily with 4K TV's so they skimped on the HD scaling chip, budget hardware to go with the budget UI would make sense 😉 

I've noticed that the streaming services look a little softer on the BT box I wander if BT re-compress them to save their bandwidth so they blurred out the freeview to match ? it's the sort of thing they would do in my opinion.

[Glasgowgman57]

Thanks for everyone's input.
I've actually thrown in the towel on this one and sold the 4K YouView box and purchased an Amazon Fire Stick 4K to use instead for viewing 4K content. I've kept the HD YouView box for watching and recording HD content.
Shame, but couldn't deal with the substandard picture quality!
Thanks again.
G

[CJB2]

The picture quality on my BT 4k player is not as good as my old sky+ box or direct freeview. HD looks like something between SD and HD.

[PaulSk]

Thanks for raising this - we're investigating now in conjunction with YouView and Humax

[stereohaven]

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@PaulSkwrote:

Thanks for raising this - we're investigating now in conjunction with YouView and Humax

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I hope they fix it before you start charging an extra £5 a month for HDR:

BT Sport will launch its new 4K HDR service – enhancing the HDR picture resolution from high-definition to ultra-high definition – ahead of the new football season at a cost of just £5 per month.

Full story including how to access both European finals for free here:

https://sport.bt.com/football/watch-champions-league-and-europa-league-finals-on-bt-sport-in-more-wa...