Poor picture quality

I have two separate TVs that have poor (but not totally unwatchable) picture quality but are crystal clear when using a streaming services via Roku/Amazon Fire Stick. I am not sure if it is related to possibly older equipment (set top boxes or Actiontec MI424WR router) or the fact that our main box is in the basement and splits (PDI-2WMS-5 5-1000 MHz) twice before reaching the basement TV or router. Maybe it is something else entirely but it is very annoying considering how much it costs. Any help is appreciated.

Accepted answers

clem21

@JB00 wrote:
I have two separate TVs that have poor (but not totally unwatchable) picture quality but are crystal clear when using a streaming services via Roku/Amazon Fire Stick. I am not sure if it is related to possibly older equipment (set top boxes or Actiontec MI424WR router) or the fact that our main box is in the basement and splits (PDI-2WMS-5 5-1000 MHz) twice before reaching the basement TV or router. Maybe it is something else entirely but it is very annoying considering how much it costs. Any help is appreciated.

What model of set top boxes do you have, most likely the 1100 series if you still have the Actiontec router. Are they hooked up via HDMI? Are the boxes setup to maximum resolution? Are you watching channels in the 500+ range?

Unless you are using a Coax feed to your TVs, the splitter does not make a difference in picture quality. Also are you watching in 4K from the Roku stick?

All comments

clem21

@JB00 wrote:
I have two separate TVs that have poor (but not totally unwatchable) picture quality but are crystal clear when using a streaming services via Roku/Amazon Fire Stick. I am not sure if it is related to possibly older equipment (set top boxes or Actiontec MI424WR router) or the fact that our main box is in the basement and splits (PDI-2WMS-5 5-1000 MHz) twice before reaching the basement TV or router. Maybe it is something else entirely but it is very annoying considering how much it costs. Any help is appreciated.

Unless you are using a Coax feed to your TVs, the splitter does not make a difference in picture quality. Also are you watching in 4K from the Roku stick?

JB002

Thank you!!! My parents were using HD channels but they looked the same as the SD and they had coax cables connecting the set top boxes to the TVs so I switched them to HDMI cables and so so so much better. I made sure to check the inputs as well and one was set to 480 and one was set to 1080 so I fixed that as well. It. used to be hard to even read the guide, thank you!

clem21

@JB00 wrote:
Thank you!!! My parents were using HD channels but they looked the same as the SD and they had coax cables connecting the set top boxes to the TVs so I switched them to HDMI cables and so so so much better. I made sure to check the inputs as well and one was set to 480 and one was set to 1080 so I fixed that as well. It. used to be hard to even read the guide, thank you!

So basically, they were watching in the lowest quality option available! Hope the transition to HD makes the difference, just remember to have them look for channels in the 500> range, unless the show is ONLY in SD on a lower numerical channel.