HDMI quality from HDR to my TV

[HHGTTG]

I have over the last five years of so, with my Sony 32" KDL 32V2500 LCD TV, declined to use HDmi connections between my Pioneer DVD/HDD recorder and Humax HDR and my TV.
I use SCART and have always found that gave me excellent picture quality on most of my recorded programmes and indeed from the tuners in both external recorders mentioned.
However on several occasions and indeed today I did connect my Humax to my TV using an HDMI connector and viewed the Humax's tuner on the TV. Frankly I found that, on the HDMI's output to my TV, the picture quality was not up to the SCART's input and my partner, sitting beside me, confirmed those findings. I obviously tweaked the TV's AV5 input settings (to which the HDMI leasd was connected) but I really couldn't see any improvement. On the Humax's remote I scrolled thrugh the V-format until 1080i showed on the screen etc.
To my mind and with my setup there doesn't seem to be any advantage in HDMI and this is rather worrying as I was thinking of upgrading the TV to something larger and thinner where SCART is featured less and less and the SonyW6 KDL42653 only having one SCART.
Is my 'old' TV the weak link here?

NB. This afternoon I have tried some more experimetation and changed the V-Format on the Humax remote through back to 576i and this gave me a much better, acceptable picture via the HDMI input to my TV

 

[Ezra Pound]

It sounds to me that your TV is set up to accept 576i and not much else, the SCART connection will only supply 576i whereas the HDMI will do 576i, 720i 1080i and 1080p but if the TV can't handle it at all or (as in your case) handles it badly then you will never see any benefit. Newer flat screen TVs have a native resolution of 1920X1080 pixels and are set up to for that resolution, also the size of the screen makes a difference, e.g. smaller 32 inch screens sometimes have a native resolution of 720 rather than 1080 as the advantage is less on a screen of the size

 

[HHGTTG]

It sounds to me that your TV is set up to accept 576i and not much else, the SCART connection will only supply 576i whereas the HDMI will do 576i, 720i 1080i and 1080p but if the TV can't handle it at all or (as in your case) handles it badly then you will never see any benefit. Newer flat screen TVs have a native resolution of 1920X1080 pixels and are set up to for that resolution, also the size of the screen makes a difference, e.g. smaller 32 inch screens sometimes have a native resolution of 720 rather than 1080 as the advantage is less on a screen of the size

Thanks for that prompt reply and somehow suspected that my TV 32" might be the limiting factor.

 

[MikeSh]

Thanks for that prompt reply and somehow suspected that my TV 32" might be the limiting factor.

It's not the 32" that is the problem per se but possibly the pixel count or the TV's electronics. However, the specs for your TV say it's 1366 x 768 pixels which is more than SD/576i.
It is not full HD, but it is the same as our 50" Panasonic Plasma set, on which (using HDMI) I can easily tell the difference between SD and HD quality - HD is noticeably sharper.
So I'd suspect your problem is either very poor handling of scaling by the TV or some poor interaction between the TV and Humax.

 

[Black Hole]

I replied to this on the other forum:

Maybe, Slartibartfast. What's the spec of the telly? Is it "HD Ready"?

Compare BBC1HD (channel 101) between SCART and HDMI, and if you still can't see a difference it's the telly. The SCART output is equivalent to 576i, which is also what you get with the StDef channels. The current resolution being received is shown in the bottom right corner when you press the "i" button, and the current output resolution is displayed at the top if you press "V-FORMAT" just once. You also need suitably detailed material to make a really noticeable difference, to be honest I generally stick to the StDef channels for my day to day viewing. Climbing Great Buildings was a good one, or the wildlife stuff.

PS: I am currently viewing BBC2HD at 1080i received and 1080p output via projector on 80" diagonal, preparing to watch the Dr Who special recorded in HiDef. I can assure you there is a difference!