We’re thinking about upgrading our 10 year old LCD TV to a larger, 4K model. I’ve seen some reports that the picture on a 4K TV can actually be worse than on an older TV since the signal is a much lower resolution than 4K and the TV’s have a hard time upgrading the signal. I hear reports of choppy edges, streaks with movement, etc. Does anyone have experience with this type of upgrade when using Tablo? We have our Tablo set on HD720-5 mbps due to frequent signal cut outs at 1080.
Not sure about “TV upgrading the signal” but tablo does not upscale the picture quality. If it’s a lower resolution than your max setting, you get what it’s broadcast -
https://www.tablotv.com/blog/tablo-dvr-live-tv-recording-quality-settings/
Higher Resolution Settings Do NOT = Upscaling
Broadcasts being sent to your antenna at lower video resolutions (for example an old episode of I Love Lucy) will not be ‘upscaled’ to a higher resolution if you set your Tablo to 720 or 1080.
Thanks for the reply. I think I used the wrong word…I meant to say upscale, not upgrade. I know that Tablo doesn’t send a full 4K signal, but I’ve read some reviews that suggest that the broadcast picture quality on an old 1080 TV like mine might actually be better than on a high resolution 4K TV. I’m just trying to see what experience people have when using Tablo.
well, it’s going to be a challenge to find a broadcast at 4K. From my understanding… for it to have any “value” you’ll need a 4K source to actually get full use of the expensive TV. Maybe it just “looks better”
No, I don’t expect to get a 4K broadcast. I’m not sure you understand my question. I’ve read that sometimes a 4K TV makes a broadcast picture look worse than a 1080 TV does. We’re just trying to decide whether to upgrade our TV.
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I have a Roku TCL 4 k TV. The picture is beautiful with fantastic blacks and colors. 1080 looks like 1080. 4 K movie rentals are awesome. It streams like nothing else can.
This is the one I have.
We have an older 4K TCL Roku TV (49S405 to be exact) which is a more mid-range model and are very happy with it. As @Ghostmaker said, 1080 is 1080 but it looks perfectly fine on our 4K model.
I will third that. Got a new TCL 43" 4K for the bedroom about 3 weeks ago and it is just a great TV. Loving it.
Hopefully stating the obvious, many, when upgrading to 4K dramatically increase their screen size. If all things are equal (viewing distances), it’s going to make (whatever) resolution more noticeable.
(I think that’s obvious, but stated in case it isn’t to some.)
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I have two Tablo 4-tuner DVRs, and stream to different TVs (several 720p, one 1080i and two that are 4k), and in my opinion, the 4K TVs have a better picture as compared to the others. They are both LG TVs using HDR to “upscale” the picture. The others just show the native resolutions.
I haven’t compared them side by side, and there isn’t a “tremendous” difference (most of what I watch are older 480p programs), but I do think they are better. All of them utilize Rokus set to the max resolution of the TV.
Thanks everyone, good to get a confirmation of what I was hoping for!
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