Picture quality

[DStruct]

Currently have my bt tv Pro box setup in Internet mode, watching ITV 1HD atm and I feel the picture quality isn't very crisp, especially when people are in the distance.

I keep thinking about going back to aerial mode but means losing my channel customisation. 

Has anyone bothered to do any thorough between the 2 modes Internet vs aerial to figure out which actually offers the best picture quality? 

[NigelB72]

IP Mode should be better quality as the HD channels are pushed out in 1080p rather than 1080i 

[stereohaven]

@DStruct Yes, I have sat through the Rylan video more times than I care to mention over the last week!

Note though that what follows is my personal experience, picture quality is subjective.

I think the IP picture is decent on many of the channels, SD is clearly superior than using an aerial, but I found 1 - 5 in HD a little ‘soft’ for my liking.

There was also a slight ‘judder’ occasionally. Watched itv1 HD via IP Saturday night and child 2 decided to play along with The 1% Club quiz, the app was 30 - 40 seconds ahead of the BT broadcast, which surprised me, I thought the delay would be shorter based on past experience.

I have tried various box settings, different HDMI ports and cables and flicked between aerial and IP mode.

Our conclusion is only being able to record 2 channels is a backwards step too far (we had Sky Q), the difference in quality (on BBC 1 and 2, itv1, Channel 4 and 5 in HD), isn’t wide enough between IP and aerial to be a game changer and whilst it is nice to have extra channels on ‘Freeview’ in HD, we don’t really watch many of them.

So as of today we have reverted to aerial and I have stripped loads of the ‘rubbish’ out of the tv guide with the yellow button.

We are only really using the BT Pro Box as a Freeview PVR and to access BT Sport on a deal. Live viewing of the usual channels is via the Freesat tuner in our LG TV, which includes all the itv channels in HD, Quest HD and a few others which would be available in IP mode.

All app viewing is via an Apple TV 4K, including NOW content and often BT Sport as I can’t be bothered to switch to the BT TV Pro box.

[DStruct]

Mines an LG too, I only wish the TV guide built into the TV itself was a smoother experience because it's so slow, I basically pay £5 a month for a faster TV guide 

[stereohaven]

What does the £5 get you? Extra channels or just the box?

It's about the cost of the box over a 2 year contract but you don't get to keep it. 

My LG is from 2016, so isn't zippy around apps or the TV Guide either, but we only use it occasionally. 

[DStruct]

Debating whether to stick my unused aerial back into my TV, it's just a struggle though with where the port is being attached to the wall