Poor HD Picture

[cafleming1987]

A little frustrated here. In the 2 weeks we have had our service with Dish, we have had 3 tech visits and 4 Hoppers. The first Hopper had a broadband issue, the original's replacement was DOA, and our third was replaced "to satisfy us" according to the "field manager" that came out this morning. All of our HD channels have been extremely fuzzy, especially during fast movement scenes since our hopper was first replaced. I have tried reseting the receiver and changing the hdmi cables/ports. Phone tech support suggested having a tech come out to check the coax lines since the original installer tapped into our existing (rather old) coax lines. All three that have been here have REFUSED to check the line. They made excuses ranging from "the picture looks fine to me" to "if the coax was not up to par there would be zero picture".

We had Cox before switching to Dish, and their HD picture honestly puts this to shame. What is most frustrating the the condescending tone that the field manager had this morning. Apparently Underworld Awakening on Starz HD (if I remember correctly) is supposed to look fuzzy and pixelated. He swapped out the Hopper with no improvement. He then went on into my TV and changed the setting to "vivid" from "standard", well he decides to tell me that my problem was I had it set to vivid. Mind you I was sitting right there and witnessed him change the setting. Then it was a problem with my tv itself, even though my blu-ray player and xbox 360 look just fine.

Sorry for the rant there, but my patience has run out at this point. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix the picture quality? It was fine when first installed, but ever since we had that first hopper replaced it has been horrible. Trying to explain that to the technicians has done absolutely no good.

 

[Poke]

Man hate to hear all of that. Did they check your signal strength at all too see how they looked? Also you might check on all of your Hoppers and make sure to set the HD Settings to 1080i due to their not set they way by default. Might check your TV menu as well for the inputs you have your Hoppers plugged into make sure their inputs are set to 1080i as well. Depending on the make and model of your TV's some will let you do this as well. Just somethings to try if you haven't already.

 

[cafleming1987]

Man hate to hear all of that. Did they check your signal strength at all too see how they looked? Also you might check on all of your Hoppers and make sure to set the HD Settings to 1080i due to their not set they way by default. Might check your TV menu as well for the inputs you have your Hoppers plugged into make sure their inputs are set to 1080i as well. Depending on the make and model of your TV's some will let you do this as well. Just somethings to try if you haven't already.

Thank you for the prompt reply. Hitting info on my LG remote it shows 1080i, and I have also made sure the hopper is set to 1080i/p as well. Forgot to add that signal strength is 42. Phone support says it is too low, field manager said it was fine.

 

[lucky86]

Do the menus and guide look fuzzy or are those crisp and sharp?

 

[cafleming1987]

Do the menus and guide look fuzzy or are those crisp and sharp?

Menus look kind of dull and slightly fuzzy, but no where near as bad as the fast movements. Sports look absolutely horrible.

 

[lucky86]

If the menus look dull or fuzzy then I don't think the outside cabling has anything to do with it. To me, first instinct is that it has to do with tv, cable, tv settings, Hopper settings or bad hopper but I haven't seen many reports of hoppers being replaced for poor video output. Can you try component hd cables to see if the Hopper menus still look sub par?

 

[Yankeeman]

I'd say it's bad coax cable i'd keep calling to they fix the issue

 

[Poke]

Yeah I wonder if it could be another piece of hardware causing the problem like the Node or one of the Splitters.. Like I said before you might check your signal strength as well and see what they look like for each Sat. If you keep having issues call Dish let them know what's going on that you were not happy with the install and they HD does not look right as well. Maybe they can get a different installer company to come out. To me if you had 4 Hoppers replaced and still doing similar things then it has to be something else like the Node or Splitter or something else that might be hooked up some where. You might make sure that your main Coax Cable is not plugged into any serge protectors then back to the Hopper. That could cause some issues as well but at this point I don't think the Hopper the issue.

 

[lucky86]

How could a bad coax cable affect menus and cause them to look sub par? That would between the box and tv.

 

[cafleming1987]

I will pick up some component cables later. My TV is definitely not the issue, Blu-Rays and Xbox 360 are both perfect. After the hopper being replaced some many times I can only assume it is an issue with the coax line running from the node into my living room. Of course, even though my account has been notated for the techs to check it, none of them have bothered. Who knows, these techs seem to not want to do anything. Hell, one even lied about how long he was here. I noticed online it said he was here 2 hours, when in realty he was here for 15 minutes tops. I will call them once more for a resolution, and if they cannot fix it I will have to cancel. At this point I imagine they are getting as sick of sending techs out as I am sitting here waiting on them.

 

[Poke]

I'd say it's bad coax cable i'd keep calling to they fix the issue

Yeah it could be that as well there could be a bad patch of cable some where as well and the installer should make sure to test the cable or pull another run to make sure he did not get some bad cable.

 

[Poke]

I will pick up some component cables later. My TV is definitely not the issue, Blu-Rays and Xbox 360 are both perfect. After the hopper being replaced some many times I can only assume it is an issue with the coax line running from the node into my living room. Of course, even though my account has been notated for the techs to check it, none of them have bothered.

Well make sure to let Dish know that and to have them send a different company out to check your install like with anything else when it comes to installs some do a better job than others.

 

[SQUEEZON]

Your television is an LG. Fairly new I presume? I have an LG55LM7600 . The LG has a motion blur sensor and it is set or controlled by going to settings and finding "TruMotion" You can set it off, or medium or full on. An example would be watching a football game. The runner appears to blur has he runs. To compensate TruMotion filters this out. Some manufacturers like Sony call theirs Bravia Engine. When I installed a new 722 I noticed blurring so I adjusted my TruMotion setting. I don't know if this is your problem, but at a minimum I would have the signal strength re-checked and note the arc setting on your Dish Antenna. An installer could tap the Dish a degree, and you would be surprised at the changes.
In any case Dish does not like to have a customer problem, and it may mean your going to the top to get relief. Perhaps your Dirt Team member could help you find out who and what to pursue. Don't give up unless you reach the end of your rope.

 

[cafleming1987]

Your television is an LG. Fairly new I presume? I have an LG55LM7600 . The LG has a motion blur sensor and it is set or controlled by going to settings and finding "TruMotion" You can set it off, or medium or full on. An example would be watching a football game. The runner appears to blur has he runs. To compensate TruMotion filters this out. Some manufacturers like Sony call theirs Bravia Engine. When I installed a new 722 I noticed blurring so I adjusted my TruMotion setting. I don't know if this is your problem, but at a minimum I would have the signal strength re-checked and note the arc setting on your Dish Antenna. An installer could tap the Dish a degree, and you would be surprised at the changes.
In any case Dish does not like to have a customer problem, and it may mean your going to the top to get relief. Perhaps your Dirt Team member could help you find out who and what to pursue. Don't give up unless you reach the end of your rope.

Way ahead of you, I have had true motion turned off since the day I purchased the TV. It made everything look like a soap opera (best way I can describe it).

 

[cafleming1987]

Well another call in and no luck. The tech told me to to run a new coax line myself, there is no way I am going to do that when I have only had my service 2 weeks. Had to cancel the card we used to sign up due to some suspicious charges (non dish related), and waiting to make sure there is a resolution before I give them another card number for auto pay. If we did end up having to cancel I would gladly pay their cancelation fee, but I have read horror stories about them claiming they did not receive returned equipment.

 

[kwindrem]

... All of our HD channels have been extremely fuzzy, especially during fast movement scenes since our hopper was first replaced. ... Phone tech support suggested having a tech come out to check the coax lines since the original installer tapped into our existing (rather old) coax lines.

Problems with coax from the dish or components there would cause picture freezes or missing channels. There is no reason to believe signal-related issues would result in "fuzzy" pictures.

A signal problem could prevent reception of the HD satellite forcing you to watch SD channels but I'm betting you would have noticed that already. 40 is a low signal but shouldn't be causing problems. Again, a low signal would cause picture freezes or complete loss of signal not fuzzy picture. You should verify all satellites are being received in System Status just to make sure.

 

[cafleming1987]

Problems with coax from the dish or components there would cause picture freezes or missing channels. There is no reason to believe signal-related issues would result in "fuzzy" pictures.

A signal problem could prevent reception of the HD satellite forcing you to watch SD channels but I'm betting you would have noticed that already. 40 is a low signal but shouldn't be causing problems. Again, a low signal would cause picture freezes or complete loss of signal not fuzzy picture. You should verify all satellites are being received in System Status just to make sure.

According to the tech everything checks out. No one can seem to explain to me why the picture on my SD TV looks better than my HD TV, I know I do not have the greatest eyesight in the world but the picture and service I am getting is unacceptable. I called again and got a snotty girl that said "if you don't like it cancel, but we will charge you". She hung up on me when I informed her that the bank has issued a new card number.

EDIT: Just spoke to an account specialist. Apparently she is confident that our issue will be resolved with another technician visit. I politely asked her if she could ensure that they send someone who will actually look into the problem rather than making me feel like the bad guy for expecting acceptable service, she chuckled a bit. "So sorry" "very unfortunate", blah blah blah. Have another field manager coming tomorrow between 12-5, and I am being assured that he will not leave until the issue is completely resolved. Guess we will see what happens.

 

[sparc]

i think testing with a component cables would be a good idea. Could be some sort of HDMI issue between your specific TV and the hopper.

 

[cafleming1987]

My partner picked up a set of component cables, no change. On top of the HD issue, my blockbuster on demand has not worked since day one either. If I unplug the receiver it will download 20% of the movie I am trying to watch, and then just fail. Tried wireless and ethernet connections, same problem on every Hopper we have had.

 

[sparc]

do you know anything about the old coax that's being used from the node to the hopper?

It needs to be RG6 preferably 3Ghz rated between the node and hopper. They should maybe try running a loose piece of coax that bypasses the internal wiring temporarily and see if it runs any better.

Did they replace the barrel connectors in the wall plates for the hopper line?

you can also check whether they are following all the installation rules via the wiring diagrams... http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=279755