Sd Video Quality S4000hd

[satnoobie]

Just getting used to my new s4000 I am really happy full 7 day epg etc very good HD picture but I find the SD picture quality very soft, if I set the resolution to auto and use the tv to upscale it is better but still not as good as 2 older receivers that I have. I have read somewhere about a video enhancement plugin and wandered if this was available for the s4000. I have toyed with the idea of trying an enigma image but am worried about changing the bootloader part of it. If anyone can help it would be very much appreciated.

[fatboy7]

Hi satnoobie and welcome.

I've been at this box with stock firmware for over a year now, and can’t remember ever coming across a plugin for enhancing the SD or HD side of the receiver. The box's components are all of good specification, but will rely on the firmware to pull it all together, a bit like poor windows graphic’s drivers will make your fantastic graphics card look visually poor.

However all visual quality appearance has to be user based and by its nature, varied and down to personal taste, and not to mention the equipment used.

My good lady doesn’t care much for the SD picture quality on my S4000 on a Samsung 40" LED 1080p TV with a Cambridge audio 1m 1.4 HDMI cable, on 28.2 in the North East, but the HD is fantastic. However with exactly the same set up with E2, running in 1080p but on SD channels, she loves it !.

Now, I have seen massive differences in picture quality in media players for stock and E2, you have limited options with stock, and to many with E2.

Please reply with the other boxes you've compared it with, I am interested.

Enjoy...

[satnoobie]

Hi fatboy7.

Thank you you for your reply sounds like I've got similar taste to your good lady. It also sounds like you really know your onions on matters like this. I agree the HD picture is superb its just the SD I'm bothered about.

The other boxes I have are a Fortec star passion HD and a Samsung BD-C8500S my tv is a sony bravia 40" LCD. The picture on the Samsung in particular is very much better on SD channels but that box is 1080p. I really love the S4000 it does so much more than either of the others,It sounds like using E2 will do just what I want.

I am pc literate but am a bit worried about bricking my new box and I dont have a serial port on my computer. I did read that you can do it just using a memory stick? I am really going to have to do a lot more reading up on this. I am very optimistic having read your reply.

By the way the firmware I'm on is v1.10.67 dont know if that would make any difference I noticed its been removed on Icecrypts website.

Thanks again fatboy7 for your help I really appreciate it.

[ColdAsICE]

The later firmwares have been removed from the Icecrypt website because of stability issues being experienced by some users.
These issues don't seem to affect all users as the version you have was one that has been reported as unstable.
If you find your machine is not locking up and freezing or failing to delete recordings then you could move forward to the later v1.10.78,
although the improvements do not include any video enhancements except for slight GUI changes.
It is possible to dual boot the S4000 using an external USB for E2.
There is a section here explaining it, Fatboy7 has written a tut on how to do it.
Good luck.

[fatboy7]

Had a play with a few things, and found the picture quality on SD channels with low bit rates were poorer looking than channels with higher bitrates (obviously), using a HDMI lead and TV set to 1080i to match the box, but if I use a scart lead (a good one), and change the box resolution to 576p it looks alot better on SD channels than on HDMI, and comparable to my sky+ box.

Doesn’t prove anything, but up-scaling on HDMI to get HD resolutions on the Icecrypt, must be very fussy about quality of its source. And you wouldn’t have a scart and HDMI lead going to the TV, just to watch SD channels (although the resolution button on the top of the remote is handy for it).

Sorry, pointless post, but it was fun spending a hour or two dusting off my box’s of cables and annoying the family.

Do some reading about E2, once you have your head round the concept, you can do the full process in about 10 minutes, and you don’t need a serial port anymore, its all USB orientated now, and you can go back to stock firmware in a flash (no pun intended).

Hope it sort of helped.

[satnoobie]

Hi ColdAsICE.

I was having problems with lockups and freezing also could not delete recordings but did'nt want to seem to be a nuisance.

I have installed new firmware v1.10.78 as you suggested and I have been trying to make my box crash for well over an hour doing things that would definitely have caused my box to freeze or crash on v1.10.67 and have had no problems at all, I can also delete recordings without problems.

I am really pleased with this firmware all I have to do now is reinstall my plugins.

Many Thanks ColdAsIce for your help.

[satnoobie]

Hi Fatboy7.

I definitely will be trying a dual boot setup as soon as I feel confident enough, will be reading your tutorial a few times first though.

I am using 576i via hdmi for SD channels and most channels are a good picture its just channel 5 and a few others which are very poor.

I really do appreciate the trouble you have gone to (hope you didnt annoy the family too much).

I was also having other problems they seem to be sorted by the latest firmware suggested by ColdAsIce just been playing with the box cant make it freeze, crash or do anything bad.

You definitely have helped me Thank you Fatboy7.

[fatboy7]

Hey, no problem at all, we all started somewhere.

I might try .78, we all seam to go back to .32 when there are issues with later updates, and I am happy with E2, but I'll give it a whirl, thanks.

PS. I cant take the credit for the 'How to E2' guide, it was ManikM, I only added to it, with recent developments. But if you would like to give it a go, I'm sure there's nothing we cant fix, even if it all go's wrong (even recover a bricked box)., so dont worry, it's not to hard.

Have fun...

[satnoobie]

Hi All,

Dont know if anyone will see this now but thought it might help someone. I recently installed Maxi Flasher twin (Had a problem doing that but all ok now). This upgraded my bootloader from 1.21 to 1.25 the first thing I noticed was the picture quality on SD channels was noticeably better whilst HD picture was no different it was already superb.

After viewing for several days I am certain the SD picture quality is vastly improved I cannot understand how changing the bootloader could affect PQ but it certainly has done in my case.

Just wandering if I upgrade the bootloader to 1.54 wether it would make the picture quality even better.

I think I will probably not bother risking it because I am really pleased with the PQ as things stand.

I am very happy with my Icecrypt now Thanks for all your help.