Apple TV - Picture Quality

Legacy_user

I used my Apple TV and played BBC iPlayer through the iPad into my big TV screen using HDMI channel option of screen display. Although the picture was ok it wasn't as good as if you're watching it on the iPad or actually on TV itself. It had a more grainy blotchy display. Is this the actual quality of Apple TV or is there something I can do to improve the picture? I must confess I didn't see it demo'd instore before I purchased it so not too sure what to expect.

vyle

A few basic things to remember:

The Ipad screen is a lot smaller, so can get away with a lower quality image which is exposed on a much larger screen... not that the Ipad isn't capable of displaying a high res video, but the iplayer's stream will be optimised for performance over the internet and then wifi.

The TV by comparison tends to default to a higher res video because of how it's going to be used.

The video MAY suffer slightly by being sent to apple TV, but I seriously doubt it, as one can happily airplay full HD video if your wifi is up to it. I expect it simply is because you're watching a lower quality stream from iplayer that's being exposed in transition to the TV.

InsideInsurance

Which TV, iPad and AppleTV do you have?

Have to say that with my 1080p TV, iPad 3 and 2nd gen AppleTV the picture quality is fine - not perfect but then the 2nd gen AppleTV was at most 720p so never will be as good

almillar

AppleTV 2 is 720p, and the current AppleTV 3, which looks the same, is 1080p.
Depending on your iPad, the TV will have higher resolution, and is also bigger, so the picture is being blown up (think of what happens to picture quality when you blow up a photo).
I think the real problem here is what's happening between the iPad and the appleTV. The iPad is having to compress the picture, send it over WiFi, then the aTV has to decompress and send to the TV. That can be tricky over WiFi, and could give a poorer picture depending on the bandwidth and signal available. The aTV 3 is a WiFi 'N' device. Is your iPad? Is your router? If the router is the weak link, I'm sure that upgrading to an 'N' one would help you greatly.

System

It's the latest Apple TV and we have a Panasonic TV if this helps?

Ron_Doran

As a matter of interest, to me, What is an Apple TV?

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Its a fruit based sitcom

Ionkontrol

Ron_Doran wrote: »

As a matter of interest, to me, What is an Apple TV?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+an+Apple+TV%3F

wba31

Ron_Doran wrote: »

As a matter of interest, to me, What is an Apple TV?

It's a little black box that connects via HDMI into my TV. It is connected to my wireless network in the house so can do a number of things.

When my Mac is on with itunes running (which is upstairs) i can use Apple TV to view photos, videos, listen to music through my TV (which has a nice speaker system on it) over the network.
If I am listening to a podcast in the car on my iphone, and get home before it has finished, I can put my TV on, and on my phone select to play the rest of the podcast through Apple TV via Airplay.
It has a youtube channel on it to look at youtube channels. It has Flickr, netflix, iplayer, 4 od etc.
You can also rent films through the Apple Store and play them in HD through it.

If you are an Apple user, it's worth looking into, it's pretty good for £99

almillar

Summer01 - that doesn't really help except that it informs us that your AppleTV can do 1080p. I've no idea what your screen is capable of, but as I said in my post, the bottleneck will be your wireless network, get yourself a strong signal, on an all 'N' network, for the best conditions.

Ron_Doran

Jeff Bridges hair - There is always one isn't there. Why you?