Received a replacement 522 from E*, and noticed that the picture quality is is much less than the one they want to replace. I'm planning on letting them know that I am sending the new one back. I think that the PQ differs from receiver to receiver. My "old" one had NO problems with picture quality, but I really relate to complainers about PQ with this one. I am posting this for the people who say the picture quality stinks. The 522 E* wanted to replace never had quality problems with the picture . . . but even the first was new enough that the software had already been updated to 2.07.
522 Picture Quality
- Thread starter jginsburg
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My new 522 system was installed 3 days ago. It only took me 60 seconds to recognize that the picture was over-compressed. Faces, hair, and textures look artificial - and get worse when there's movement. Sharp edges twinkle and sparkle. This is unacceptable.
I didn't quit my cable service yet. Good thing. I hooked the cable feed to an auxiliary input on the TV, and can see a marked improvement when switching from sat to cable on the same program. So I sent an email to tech support.
Below is the email I sent, and their reply:
---------------------------------------
I am very displeased with the picture quality of my new Dish 500
system with DVR. I was expecting digital video quality, but what I'm
getting is LOWER than VHS quality. In fact, it's exactly what you'd get
from a VHS tape recorded in EXTENDED PLAY (EP) MODE!! It's artificial
looking. Facial features, hair, textures, and fast moving objects often
appear smeared or smudged and lack detail. My previous Basic (analog)
cable service had NONE of these defects.
The picture quality I'm getting is symptomatic of OVER-COMPRESSION by the
digital encoder. Too much picture detail is being sacrificed in favor of
small size or download speed - ie. the BIT RATE is too low.
The installer told me the hard drive in this 522 receiver is 125 Gigs in
size, and will hold 100 hours of programming. If his numbers are correct,
that means you're compressing each hour of programming into only 1.25 GB.
That rate is FAR below the mpeg-2 standard for high quality digital video
and explains the poor picture quality I'm getting.
I don't need 100 hours of recording capacity. I would much rather have
QUALITY than QUANTITY, so I'll gladly sacrifice 50% or more of that
capacity to get a higher resolution picture. What do I have to do in
order to achieve that?
Regards,
--------------------------------------
Here is the reply I received:
--------------------------
Dear Mr. ,
The receiver model that you possess can hold up to 100 hours.
Depending on the programming that you record this can change because
different programming takes up different amounts of bandwidth based upon the
action occurring in the program. We are currently in the process of adding
more orbital locations and shifting programming around in order to help free
up more bandwidth which should alleviate some of the compression effects you
are seeing. This is not something that can be corrected by changing anything
on your receiver, but something that is being done by launching more
satellites into orbit.
Thanks,
Amber Turner
DISH Network
Technical Support
-------------------------------
And my reply:
-------------------------------
Dear Ms. Turner,
Thanks for your reply, but WHEN can I expect to see an improvement? Right
now, I'm very tempted to leave my cable service on (I haven't cancelled it
yet), and discontinue the Dish Network service. I do ALOT of digital video
work myself - including encoding for DVD, the internet, etc. - so I know
over-compressed video when I see it, and it's not pleasant to watch. Even
my wife, who knows nothing about video encoding, said peoples hair and faces
look like their "painted on", or "covered with latex". So, are we talking
weeks, months, years, or what?
Regards,
-----------------------------
I'm anxiously awaiting their reply...
I didn't quit my cable service yet. Good thing. I hooked the cable feed to an auxiliary input on the TV, and can see a marked improvement when switching from sat to cable on the same program. So I sent an email to tech support.
Below is the email I sent, and their reply:
---------------------------------------
I am very displeased with the picture quality of my new Dish 500
system with DVR. I was expecting digital video quality, but what I'm
getting is LOWER than VHS quality. In fact, it's exactly what you'd get
from a VHS tape recorded in EXTENDED PLAY (EP) MODE!! It's artificial
looking. Facial features, hair, textures, and fast moving objects often
appear smeared or smudged and lack detail. My previous Basic (analog)
cable service had NONE of these defects.
The picture quality I'm getting is symptomatic of OVER-COMPRESSION by the
digital encoder. Too much picture detail is being sacrificed in favor of
small size or download speed - ie. the BIT RATE is too low.
The installer told me the hard drive in this 522 receiver is 125 Gigs in
size, and will hold 100 hours of programming. If his numbers are correct,
that means you're compressing each hour of programming into only 1.25 GB.
That rate is FAR below the mpeg-2 standard for high quality digital video
and explains the poor picture quality I'm getting.
I don't need 100 hours of recording capacity. I would much rather have
QUALITY than QUANTITY, so I'll gladly sacrifice 50% or more of that
capacity to get a higher resolution picture. What do I have to do in
order to achieve that?
Regards,
--------------------------------------
Here is the reply I received:
--------------------------
Dear Mr. ,
The receiver model that you possess can hold up to 100 hours.
Depending on the programming that you record this can change because
different programming takes up different amounts of bandwidth based upon the
action occurring in the program. We are currently in the process of adding
more orbital locations and shifting programming around in order to help free
up more bandwidth which should alleviate some of the compression effects you
are seeing. This is not something that can be corrected by changing anything
on your receiver, but something that is being done by launching more
satellites into orbit.
Thanks,
Amber Turner
DISH Network
Technical Support
-------------------------------
And my reply:
-------------------------------
Dear Ms. Turner,
Thanks for your reply, but WHEN can I expect to see an improvement? Right
now, I'm very tempted to leave my cable service on (I haven't cancelled it
yet), and discontinue the Dish Network service. I do ALOT of digital video
work myself - including encoding for DVD, the internet, etc. - so I know
over-compressed video when I see it, and it's not pleasant to watch. Even
my wife, who knows nothing about video encoding, said peoples hair and faces
look like their "painted on", or "covered with latex". So, are we talking
weeks, months, years, or what?
Regards,
-----------------------------
I'm anxiously awaiting their reply...
I really hate the fact that people get sold on "Digital Quality"
All that means is that you can send 4 channels in the space of 1 analog channel. Unfortunately all of the current DBS provders send about 6 to 8 channnels in that space and have to compress things down way too much and thus images lose their quality.
jginsburg: I have been hearing alot of problems with the newer 522s recently. sorry to hear about your luck (great now we get to pay Receiver roulette)
videonut: If Dish actually does look worse than cable for you i would suggest going back to cable as you are very lucky. If you have digital cable in your area I would suggest trying it out because once you get into the digital channels (Digital cable is a mix between Analog and digital analog below 100 and digital over 100) over 100 you will see the same kind of compression and artifacts. unfortunately providers are currently moving twoard quantity over quality which makes people with tvs over 20 inches very angry.
Fortunately where i live the cable sucks and goes out frequently and Dish TV (SD) looks alot better than my cables regular SD.
That and the fact they wanted 200 per DCT and I would still be leasing them.
All that means is that you can send 4 channels in the space of 1 analog channel. Unfortunately all of the current DBS provders send about 6 to 8 channnels in that space and have to compress things down way too much and thus images lose their quality.
jginsburg: I have been hearing alot of problems with the newer 522s recently. sorry to hear about your luck (great now we get to pay Receiver roulette)
videonut: If Dish actually does look worse than cable for you i would suggest going back to cable as you are very lucky. If you have digital cable in your area I would suggest trying it out because once you get into the digital channels (Digital cable is a mix between Analog and digital analog below 100 and digital over 100) over 100 you will see the same kind of compression and artifacts. unfortunately providers are currently moving twoard quantity over quality which makes people with tvs over 20 inches very angry.
Fortunately where i live the cable sucks and goes out frequently and Dish TV (SD) looks alot better than my cables regular SD.
That and the fact they wanted 200 per DCT and I would still be leasing them.
ShadowEKU said:
Actually, I bought the first one on ebay only about 2 weeks ago, and Dish thought that the modem might be bad. This one has the same dialing out problems with my wireless remotes, but E* seems to think that it is calling in. The PQ of this new one is terrible a lot of the time though, and the other didn't seem to have that problem. I also have the 501 and 301 with much better quality. It's definitely going back. They're going to love me calling in to re-activate the "old" one and have me return this "new" one.
jginsburg said:
that was supposed to be play receiver roulette. but i think something is up with the newer boxes because my 522 looks about the same as my 510s and my 811. and ive seen some bad pq on a recent one so i dont know.
