Live VS Recorded Image Quality

[RinTO]

Hello, I am a new user of a Flex 4K. All is working well so far with one exception. When I watch a live TV show OTA, the image looks great. if I watch the recording of it (to finish the half of the show I coudl not watch in that moment for example)... the image is dull and lifeless in comparison to the live.

I have a 1 TB drive plugged in locally and the Flex 4k is wired into my router which also has huge overhead in bandwidth. I have tried to watch (via my same network connected) ROKU, Firestick, Laptop, Tablet and phone.. All have the same result. Simply the recordings are dull in comparison. I can only describe it as less contract, less brightness and less vividness compared to live.

Any suggestions? below is my config

HDHomeRun FLEX 4K
Model: HDFX-4K
Device ID: 10ABFF9B
Firmware: 20260326

[NedS]

What software are you using to record?

[RinTO]

Hi NedS. I am using the build in recorder of the Flex 4K. (click on show, "record this airing" and save). it looks fine when watching live, but after... therecording is simply dull in comparison. Still watchable... but NOT as nice to look at. Thank you

[RinTO]

Hello, does anyone have any suggestions? It is quite noticable when doing an A/B comparion (Live vs Just Recorded). Thanks

[NedS]

My apologies for letting this slip past me. A recording is just the live data being saved to a file, so there really shouldn't be any difference. The video player doesn't really care what is live or recorded at that point, it's just decoding the data. Sometimes certain devices can do things to picture quality that are funky, like certain TVs have "enhancements" that will actually make things worse, but then that TV should be applying that "enhancement" for both live or recorded. Some third party apps that work with our hardware might do things differently for recording or live (especially if they transcode), but our app doesn't do those things.

I gotta say, I'm stumped at what the issue might be here. It's not something I've ever seen or heard of happening with our app.

[RinTO]

Thank you. I have tried this on two Amazon Sticks (different screens - a nice projector (via Fire Stick) and and older but decent 1080p TV via Fire Stick). I will now try on a Roku I have just to be sure. Live view looks great and reliable always...odd. stay tuned

[Cabal]

I'm curious. Can you share a video, or a portion of it? How about a couple (camera) pictures of the visual difference between recorded vs live?

[nickk]

Is it possible you are watching a HD channel live but the recording is from a SD channel carrying the same content?

[dash37]

Or possibly watching an ATSC 3.0 channel (channel number greater than 100) and recording its ATSC 1.0 simulcast channel. Could be watching an HDR enhanced 3.0 sports program, for example.

Maybe watch/record and compare a channel you know to be SD 480i and without an ATSC 3.0 option - a brightly colored PBS Kids show, perhaps.

OP hasn't said explicitly, but are they watching recordings in the HDHomeRun app on the exact same devices as Live TV, and not through some other software.

[RinTO]

@Cabal Good idea. I am away for a few days, but will post them when I return. Thanks for the suggestion

[RinTO]

Or possibly watching an ATSC 3.0 channel (channel number greater than 100) and recording its ATSC 1.0 simulcast channel. Could be watching an HDR enhanced 3.0 sports program, for example.

Maybe watch/record and compare a channel you know to be SD 480i and without an ATSC 3.0 option - a brightly colored PBS Kids show, perhaps.

OP hasn't said explicitly, but are they watching recordings in the HDHomeRun app on the exact same devices as Live TV, and not through some other software.

Intersting idea. I am in Toronto Canada. Not sure if I even have ATSC 3.0 here.. but I'll poke around the see. I only have 5-7 channels on any given day in total. All of my signals/channels are supposedly 1080i from what I see, but perhaps I do not knwo how to find the actual signal resolutions.

Yes, I have two screens. (one nice Valerion Projector, that I rarely use with the ROKU/HDHM Flex 4) and. (an older Toshiba Regza TV (108op) with very little to no processing and certaily no "smart" tv functions. I have both a ROKU and and Amazon Prime plugged into it (two ports and yes I have swapped them to test). I ONLY use the HD Homerun software available trough those streaming device app pages.. so should be consistent. Most of my recordings are of news programs (like CBC, CTV and City-TV for example), occasional TV shows (survivor or AGT for example) or sports games (olympics, etc) and the occasional documentary (nature of science). I rarely watch on a tablet. so forward, I will only discuss the Firestick on the Toshiba.

Thanks! if you have any ideas on how to see true signal resolutions, please let me know

[RinTO]

Is it possible you are watching a HD channel live but the recording is from a SD channel carrying the same content?

Thank you, I am not sure how to differentiate..or even if I have two options per channel). I feel the resolution is the same... just the vibrancy is lacking on recordings.. Still very watchable, just very noticable when goign from one to the other.

[RinTO]

My apologies for letting this slip past me. A recording is just the live data being saved to a file, so there really shouldn't be any difference. The video player doesn't really care what is live or recorded at that point, it's just decoding the data. Sometimes certain devices can do things to picture quality that are funky, like certain TVs have "enhancements" that will actually make things worse, but then that TV should be applying that "enhancement" for both live or recorded. Some third party apps that work with our hardware might do things differently for recording or live (especially if they transcode), but our app doesn't do those things.

I gotta say, I'm stumped at what the issue might be here. It's not something I've ever seen or heard of happening with our app.

Thanks NedS. Interesting but makes sense. I guess ultimately the path to screen then only varies by initial source (Tuner --> Player --> TV) vs (HardDrive Recording --> Player --> TV)
I havento yet looked at the files on the hard drive to see if I can play them on my pc directly. Will try when I return home in a few days. Thanks

[dash37]

Nevermind the ATSC 3.0 theory unless you are looking at the Fox or MyNet signals from Buffalo. rabbitears.info shows all the Toronto stations are all 1080i with one 720p. Don't know ...