Dish Network

[tonemgub]

Has anyone noticed that the quality of dish network television has degraded during the past few months? It seems as if they are using lower bitrates, as I can see very noticable artifacts on T.V. Anyone else notice this?

[JimmyJoeBob]

None so at all. I have had Dish for several years and all TCM\HBO\MC\et al are fine for download and transfer. If you have a problem check for trees, bushe's or other obstructions

[Faustus]

I've always seen artifacts on my Dishnetwork. I've not noticed it getting any worse. Perhaps your just starting to notice?

[tonemgub]

That might be it, but the strange thing is, when I go to my friends house (he has cable), I don't see artifacts on the same show. I don't think it is any trees because I haven't seen this in the past, but you are probably right, maybe I am just noticing, but from what I remember, this was perfectly fine back in May 2005.

[BJ_M]

have you cleaned your lnb or checked if any connections are corroding ?

[ZAPPER]

Ehh...Maybe. I haven't been trying any caps or anything but I do sometimes notice what I preceive as washed out pictures. The trouble being I don't have anything for a good side by side comparison and I suspect that my equipment (TV and eyes) are getting old.

Maybe just time to check all of the adjustments and clean the kids fingerprints off of the screen

[lordsmurf]

have you cleaned your lnb or checked if any connections are corroding ?

The signal is digital. I don't see how that would affect the clarity. Digital is either there or not.

[garry]

I wrote here some time ago on the same issue in Australia.

Certain free to air channels & especially some programs have noticeable blockiness on moving images.

Good old "survivor" is one of them.

[BJ_M]

have you cleaned your lnb or checked if any connections are corroding ?

The signal is digital. I don't see how that would affect the clarity. Digital is either there or not.

it accually does -- just as bad dvi cables can cause dropouts also ....


basicly you are losing bits .... ask anyone what happens with sat during some weather conditions ..

[oldschool]

I have a friend that has Dish Network. I went over there just yesterday and watched tv for awhile. I didn't tell my friend but I was thinking, Man that looks like pure crap.

Good luck trying to record off of Dish Network and having not look like junk.

[oldfart13]

Compression artifacts abound with both DTV and Dishnetwork because of overcompression of the signal on some channels, as well, many transponders may be weak depending on the age of the satellite. We get more channels but the picture has degraded over the years because they keep squashing more data into the same bandwidth. Some channels are pretty good though, mostly premium and pay movie channels and the live events channels. But the regular network channels, local channels, sports channels, etc. are compressed to the max. It's going to get worse when they switch to Mpeg4 compression in the next year or two. Still, for all it's flaws, it's a sight better than my cable channels with their bad video and audio on most channels that do not require a digital cable box (an added expense I can do without). $40/month for satellite vs. $80/month for cable...you be the judge...

PS Never cleaned the lnb...I've had some go bad, ditto with switches and especially RG6-U satellite cable connections but cleaning the plastic covering on the lnb is unlikely to do anything considering these are microwave frequencies we are dealing with coming off the sats. Snow on the pan will also degrade the signal but it now takes quite the thunderstorm for me to lose the signal entirely once I tweaked the skew on my dish...

[lordsmurf]

have you cleaned your lnb or checked if any connections are corroding ?

The signal is digital. I don't see how that would affect the clarity. Digital is either there or not.

it accually does -- just as bad dvi cables can cause dropouts also ....
basicly you are losing bits .... ask anyone what happens with sat during some weather conditions ..

I missed where you mentioned the LNB. But I still have my doubt about the cables causing issues. Maybe if they're not to spec (not good RG6, for example).

[rwmol]

Watching Monday Night Football last night, I noticed small artifacts and occasional blurry fields. I wasn't sure if it was my equipment or the signal. Thought it somewhat odd. Now I found this post this morning. I'm not alone.

[EAO]

Have similar issues with Dish...and was getting ready to post my own thread.

After the first two techs could not solve the compression issues I pitched a 'royal fit'. The third tech also could not fix it but he seemed more experienced.

He said that Dish changed/increased compression around the first of the year. (When I noticed that the picture quality got a lot worse.)

He replaced all the connectors... and I know from past experience that this will clear up compression artifacts because that was a problem that was solved 2 years ago when they replaced the connectors.. This is different. Just bad compression. And I'm getting close to leaving... as soon as my NHL season package is over with... if it's not resolved.

Any suggestions are most welcome.

[INFRATOM]

Check your signal strength maybe you need to re-align with all the storms this year. My dish was moved by the wind ...

[DVWannaB]

I too have Dish and tehy are terrible overall with PQ. Only certain channels come up to snuff..........somewhat. The movie channels are decent. Although high action movies cause serious issues with macroblocks. ESPN is only good when the broadcast is in high definition. I like to watch soccer and the Fox Soccer Channel (formerly Fox Sports World) is pure crap and so is GolTV (another socce cahnnel in spanish & english). Local network channels.....................dont even think about it. TCM is also one of my favorite channels and it is a shame to see such great classic movies buthered like this.

All this was surprising for me. I first subscribed to Dish in 2003 and was shocked at the overall PQ. I even posted such a question back then and was told not to expect too much.

What I have done to combat this "war on tv reception" is to get an HDTV over-the-air antenna to pick up my local stations. It is setup on my deck in the back. WOW!!!!!!! Never knew the World Series (FOX), Monday Night Football (ABC), Notre Dame Football (NBC) and Lost (ABC) could look this great.

[EAO]

The tech was thorough. Signal strength was 119 = good.

So I have a good signal and crappy picture

[TBoneit]

FWIW I have Dushnetwork too, Picture seems fine to me, On the few analog channels that Cablevision
basic cable only lineup delivers without interference to me the picture is somewhat better. Most of their channels are poor, CBS, FOX, & WLIW are poor, NJN has a loud audio hum, NBC and ABC are Ok, WNET has a slight interference. In all the years Cablevision, Before them TKR and before them Cross country etc. Never delivered a pristine picture on more than a few channels.

OTOH 3 DVRs w/4 tuners on Dishnetwork, May or may not be the sharpest picture all the time but at least it is clear and interference free. Plus what would it cost me for 4 DVRs from cablevision, OOps they won't supply 4.

If you are like me and can not stand commercials anymore DVRs are a necessity. Before anyone asks I myself only use the dual tuner model, the others are on t he other two floors for family members. The dual tuner + Pioneer 531h did get a workout when I was sampling the networks new shows just to see if they could get it right. No they didn't get it right, most of the new shows and the returning shows stink, One mans personal opinion, Movie studios likewise I, I believe that once a year the studios release a movie I might think of going to see, then I think better of it.

Cheers

[tigerman8u]

had dshnetwork and either gone to try direct or gone back to digital cable. had nothing but problems. lnb went bad, uhf remote quit working etc

[lumis]

i too have dish network, most of the channels are pretty poor in terms of quality.. especially local channels.. i have noticed that pay-per-views and espn look pretty good..

i extracted some content of my dvr hdd, a ppv, it had a 3.5mbps bitrate (256kbps audio)..

[tonemgub]

I'm the other tonegumb, and I have dish also. I personally have had no issues with picture quality. I use the s-video and the rca plugs with a 60-inch Mitsubishi (8 years old). I have the dual-tuner 721 and a Pioneer 220s recorder. I don't think most people could tell the difference between a commercial dvd and one that I created using my setup. Then again, I don't put it under a microscope either. I have also extracted video directly from the hd, and the quality is not near as good and WAY too much trouble.

Make sure you have good signal strength (>90%); Use the RCA or s-video plug. Record on a dvd-rw; either live or from playback from the hard drive. Edit out the commercials on your computer.

[Captain315]

I switched to Dish from Direct and I don't think Dish is as good as Direct in picture quality. It may be me noticing it more but the end result is that I'm not very happy with it.

[TBoneit]

usual complaint is dish is less sharp, direcTv has more blocks showing. The receiver can affect picture quality too.

I left DirecTv for Dish after running a side by side comparison for a few months. Watching square red blocks coming out of a brakelight on a car didn't cut it for me.

The other reasons some go for one over the other traditionally are DirecTv NFL, Dish adult content can be subscribed monthly or PPV. Neither one has an effect to me.

The second reason I went to Dish besdies picture quality was they had the first integrated receiver with a DVR. That was a biggie for me, record something overnight or while at work and watch at my convenience.

Cheers

[leebo]

-- just as bad dvi cables can cause dropouts also ....


basicly you are losing bits .... ask anyone what happens with sat during some weather conditions ..

The original poster said the "quality" of the picture had gone down. He didn't say anything about dropouts. Dropouts are usually caused by a break in the signal, AFAIK, like a storm or a plane flying by.

I have had Dish for 5 or 6 years, since the days when they used to advertize "Digital quality". Anyone notice they don't mention that anymore?

The PQ has gone down a lot since I first signed up, and what I've been seeing is caused by LOW BITRATES. The problem is 500 CHANNELS sells better than DIGITAL QUALITY. The typical consumer doesn't notice the crap picture

[EAO]

joy.

Cables always sucked... and now satelitte has joined them.

Any TV alternatives?

[lumis]

i've always hated the "100% digital quality" selling point.. i could encode lord of the rings to a 200mb xvid and it could still be considered "100% digital quality"..

i think we're pretty much damned until hdtv becomes the standard.. and even then, maybe we'll have to get used to low quality HD..

[leebo]

i think we're pretty much damned until hdtv becomes the standard.. and even then, maybe we'll have to get used to low quality HD..

Well, funny you should say that.

I went to NAB 4 or 5 years ago and all the major vendors were showing off their HD stuff. Talk about wow!

I just bought a Sony HDTV (cathode ray) and, while the nighttime HD stuff looks really good, it pales compared to what I know is possible. Now I'm sorry I went to NAB because "ignorence is bliss".

My last hope is that Blu-ray/HD-DVD is not compressed to hell.

[lumis]

i'm not sure if i've ever experienced "ideal" hdtv conditions which would likely be displayed at a trade show or display... but from what i've seen on a friends directv HD channels (fox & cbs NY east coast) they look pretty damned good.. it's usually football games we're watching, but once in a while it's primetime programming.. i'm not sure how this would compare to OTA hdtv where bandwith limitations would likely be less than directv's limitations.

and i doubt we'll have to deal with quality issues with blu-ray or hd-dvd, they should provide quite enough space (25 to 50gb) and advanced compression techniques..

i've seen xvid episodes of "lost" that were 1.4gb for about 42 minutes of video (with 5.1 dolby digital sound) that looked incredible.. i can only imagine if you were to provide it 50gb's.. you could use super high quality dvd audio sound, ton's of extra's & the movie and still have awesome video quality..

[leebo]

... but from what i've seen on a friends directv HD channels (fox & cbs NY east coast) they look pretty damned good.. it's usually football games we're watching, but once in a while it's primetime programming.. i'm not sure how this would compare to OTA hdtv where bandwith limitations would likely be less than directv's limitations...

Well, let me burst your bubble! Just kidding.

All I'm getting right now is OTA HD. Yes, it looks good, but like you said, you're watching it at a friends so you're comparing it to NTSCrap.

If you want me to ruin it for you, look closer, especially in those football games your watching. I guess the stuff I saw at NAB wasn't compressed into Mpeg. And realistically how else could they deliver it to the home?

Then again, if the new HD DVD formats use mpeg2 they might be the same thing.

[only_emo_kid]

i work for dish network... it could be ur signal.. and bad connections..