811 Picture Quality

[cloverboy]

I am new to Dish, and have a 522 and 811 hooked up to an HD TV. When watching with the 522 tuner, the picture is fine. When I start using the 811, the HD picture is great, but all the SD channels are fuzzy, muted, and look like an old 70's TV picture. Is this normal picture quality for the 811??

I mostly watch on the 522 because of this. Am I missing something????

Thanks!

PS Caught my first Charlie Chat last nite. I feel like I've joined a cult and Charlie is the leader. :shocked Am I alone feeling this way?????

 

[ww2154]

I have the 301 and the 811 an I have the same problem. The 301 picture looks great but the 811 sd looks soft. Local channels on the 811 are the worst. Last night's charlie chat was a total waste of time.

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

What cables are you using, only DVI-D ?

I have found the best picture using the DVI on both my LCD's. My 510 on 61in sony looks better than my 811 on SD. I think it's the characteristics of the HD TV's. OTA Digital look fine through the 811. Satellite was designed for the older sets, they compress things so much it looks bad on the HD Sets. I don't think it really has much to do with the 811. Try different cables types, Even try the S video for SD.

 

[jbcheshire]

I came home yesterday and turned on my 50" HDTV with my 811 and the SD PQ was so BAD that I could hardly watch the shows. It has never been like that before, and I was still on the P284 version. I did a couple of switch checks and did a soft reset before it improved some. I wonder if they have have doing something to their signal???

 

[Jstanuthrdishguy]

Until recently, I have always felt my 510 provided a better image for SD than my 811. I'm using component with a Hitachi RPTV. I've thought about trying DVI from the 811, but it seems that most are reporting component looks richer and nicer overall, so I've not gone that route. Regarding the other issue, I'm starting to see a major reduction in pic quality on my DVR 510. I'm seeing saturated reds bleeding into lighter colors, mainly on the left side of images. At first I thought I had a problem with my set, but the other components look okay and a cable swap didn't improve things either. I'm wondering now what's going on. Is it Dish? Or is my receiver starting to go funky on me?

 

[new_to_hdtv]

I came home yesterday and turned on my 50" HDTV with my 811 and the SD PQ was so BAD that I could hardly watch the shows. I did a couple of switch checks and did a soft reset before it improved some.

What would switch checks and soft reset have to do with picture quality?

 

[redline65]

I've always been under the assumption that the SD picture quality is worse with component/DVI on the 811 because of the upconversion to 720p or 1080i. You can use the S-video output of the 811 simultaneously, but you would have to switch inputs on the TV whenever you want to watch HD.

 

[shanewalker]

I've always been under the assumption that the SD picture quality is worse with component/DVI on the 811 because of the upconversion to 720p or 1080i. You can use the S-video output of the 811 simultaneously, but you would have to switch inputs on the TV whenever you want to watch HD.

This use of sounds like a good idea. Wonder what Dish did to change the upconvert quality of the SD...a software update? Has anyone done an A/B to check if the SD quality is indeed good on the analog connections? I'll definitely go through the hassle of using two inputs on my TV if it makes the picture watchable.

Another 811 question, if I may. As a new sub expecting install soon, I was planning on having a 311 put into our third room which is an SD set. Upon thinking about it, maybe an 811 makes more sense, in order to take advantage of the HD channels and HD OTA. Does it allow letterboxing on SD sets or how does it handle the downconvert of HD for display on SD TVs? (Sorry if this is covered somewhere else BTW).

 

[LG811User]

In my opinion the SD quality of the 811 is *much* better when using S-video and letting my TV do the line-doubling. Definitely worth the hassle of switching inputs between S-video and component when switching from SD to HD (and vice-versa).

 

[jbcheshire]

What would switch checks and soft reset have to do with picture quality?

If you have had an 811 for a while then you know that it is known to frustrate you with its issues. Obviously when I tried those things and my picture got better that something was up with the 811.

The other interesting thing about this is that the PQ of my HD stations for locals were bad too, but the PQ for the E* subscribed HD stations was pretty good... Darned if I know, other than the fact it is an 811 and it has PROBLEMS!!!...:shocked

 

[redline65]

Another 811 question, if I may. As a new sub expecting install soon, I was planning on having a 311 put into our third room which is an SD set. Upon thinking about it, maybe an 811 makes more sense, in order to take advantage of the HD channels and HD OTA. Does it allow letterboxing on SD sets or how does it handle the downconvert of HD for display on SD TVs? (Sorry if this is covered somewhere else BTW).

It will work just fine with SD TVs, and like you said you'll get the benefit of the HD channels you wouldn't get with a 311 and also you can pick up your digital locals. In the setup for the 811 I believe there are two different 4:3 settings, and you can set the output to 480i for your SD TV. Any HD content will just be letterboxed. But an extra 811 would be pretty pricey, unless you plan to lease it. I'm not even sure they will let you lease two 811 receivers, maybe someone else knows.

 

[cloverboy]

S-Video

I will try the S-Video connection and see if that helps. I am currently connected with component cables, and the HD looks great. Never thought about using the S-video but will try it. Heck what's another wire back there.

Thanks for the help, and it's good to know I'm not alone with my 811 picture...

 

[dlsnyder]

Yes, they will let you lease two 811's.

 

[shanewalker]

Thanks for the info redline65 and dlsnyder. I think I'll request an 811 for the 3rd room...and be wary/on the lookout for it's 'issues'.

 

[el guy]

I've always been under the assumption that the SD picture quality is worse with component/DVI on the 811 because of the upconversion to 720p or 1080i. You can use the S-video output of the 811 simultaneously, but you would have to switch inputs on the TV whenever you want to watch HD.

yes

 

[JH1949]

I feed one RCA composite video from box to vcr to analog part of my hdtv. How does this compare to the previous s-video connection suggestion ?

 

[jergenf]

I feed one RCA composite video from box to vcr to analog part of my hdtv. How does this compare to the previous s-video connection suggestion ?

If your VCR is just VHS I imagine you won't see any difference between composite versus s-video. But if you have a S-VHS VCR there would be some difference. Super VHS is closer to DVD quality so you would want separate luminance and chroma over just composite.

 

[LG811User]

In my experience you'll get the best SD picture on your HDTV running an s-video cable from the 811 directly to your HDTV (not via your VCR).

(You can always attach the VCR to a different ouput of the 811 for recording purposes. Of course it would need to feed a different HDTV input too, which would require switching inputs to view it)

 

[jbcheshire]

So, if it's not one of their ~7 HD channels you are better off using the S-video cable for watching the remainder of the Dish channels on your HDTV?

 

[LG811User]

In my experience, yes. The upscaler (line-doubler) in my HDTV does a much better job converting SD to 1080i than the 811 does.