Any changes with HD PQ?

[tsduke]

I'm thinking about returning to Dish. Have a long running dispute with a local channel that seems to have to end in site. 2008 was the last time I was with Dish and I'm curious does Dish still uses the reduced res of 14xx x 1080?

Not trying to start a big debate or anything, but I did think I saw a perceived improvement in 2008 when I switched. Hoping some things have changed in 8 years.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

While I believe the resolution is still the same, the MPEG4 compression has gotten much better over the years so it may look better to you just because of the improvements in the compression.

 

[primetimeguy]

My impression is quality has actually gone down hill over last couple years. A few years ago the difference between my OTA locals and Dish Locals was very small and hard to notice. It is very obvious to me now.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would say the quality has gotten better. I have some stuff on my external DVR that I recorded a few years ago, and two of the movies I looked at looked better now then it did then.

 

[JM42]

Locals could be a bad gauge of overall quality. If your in a market with lots of HD locals, they may be trying to squeeze more than they should on one spotbeam.

 

[ChadT41]

I honestly see very little difference in OTA and Dish locals in Phx... And it's only during sports that I might notice anything. Each channel is different as well(CBS looks better on OTA, NBC looks better on Dish)

 

[tsduke]

So sounds like it's a pretty subjective thing to ask.

Trying to research what channels i will gain/lose in the change now and taking a look at the newer Dish equipment.

 

[Bobby]

So sounds like it's a pretty subjective thing to ask.

Trying to research what channels i will gain/lose in the change now and taking a look at the newer Dish equipment.

A better way to think about it is: What channels do I need and does Dish offer them at a price that is compatible with my wallet.....

 

[tsduke]

I agree, but If I switched and lost a channel my wife watches I'll never hear the end of it. No savings is worth that.

I must say, WOW, are the Dish chat folks pushy. I hopped on there to ask a question and all I can say is I felt like I was at a sleazy used car lot. Oh, and conveniently the 2 different chat reps I talked to today both used to work for Directv.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Call you local retailer.

 

[tsduke]

Big Dog Satellite is the only local retailer I see. Heard iffy things about them.

 

[JSheridan]

Give 'em a try. We've heard 'iffy' things about everybody.

 

[eddie willers]

So sounds like it's a pretty subjective thing to ask.

Trying to research what channels i will gain/lose in the change now and taking a look at the newer Dish equipment.

These days I think it is much more dependent on the source rather than box. CBS has been softening their picture on many shows. Look at an old rerun of NCIS versus new episodes. It looks like they spread Vaseline over the lens these days, while I saw the [very] old movie, "Robinson Crusoe On Mars" on the nondescript RetroPlex channel the other day and it was as sharp as Technicolor can make it. I thought it was 1964 and I was chewing on Milk Duds at my local neighborhood theater.

 

[Bobby]

These days I think it is much more dependent on the source rather than box. CBS has been softening their picture on many shows. Look at an old rerun of NCIS versus new episodes. It looks like they spread Vaseline over the lens these days, while I saw the [very] old movie, "Robinson Crusoe On Mars" on the nondescript RetroPlex channel the other day and it was as sharp as Technicolor can make it. I thought it was 1964 and I was chewing on Milk Duds at my local neighborhood theater.

NCIS has always looked like that. It is produced that way, nothing to do with CBS. NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS : New Orleans look just fine.

 

[bobvick]

I had Dish from when the 622 first came out which was late 2005 early 2006 until May 2011 when I changed to DirecTV. I have had Dish again, now since June 2014. I can say, to me, the HD PQ seems to be much better than it was in the first period of time that I was with them. It is as good to me as the HD quality was on D*. I can say this for sure, the SD PQ on Dish (Eastern Arc at least) is 10 times better than DirecTv. DirecTv's SD PQ is so bad it it unwatchable to me at least.

 

[MikeD-C05]

These days I think it is much more dependent on the source rather than box. CBS has been softening their picture on many shows. Look at an old rerun of NCIS versus new episodes. It looks like they spread Vaseline over the lens these days, while I saw the [very] old movie, "Robinson Crusoe On Mars" on the nondescript RetroPlex channel the other day and it was as sharp as Technicolor can make it. I thought it was 1964 and I was chewing on Milk Duds at my local neighborhood theater.

Certain shows on CBS , like NCIS, have an older person or two on it that they are trying to hide the ravages of time on their faces. Mark Harmon is certainly starting to show his age. Ted Danson on CSI is more than past his prime. Same technique was done on Barbara Walters on ABC the VIEW for years. You could see the other women on the set showing clean lines and details in their face. When ever Barbara was shown there was a nice film of gauzey, vasoline all over the lens. Imagine the technique they will have to try to do this IF they ever go 4k or even 8k broadcasting?

 

[eddie willers]

NCIS has always looked like that. It is produced that way, nothing to do with CBS. NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS : New Orleans look just fine.

No...it used to be MUCH better. I didn't get into NCIS until USA Network started showing the reruns over and over.

I got into it and started recording the new episodes (this was on my old ViP 722) and immediately went to IMDb and said "what the heck...when did they soften it?".
Look on USA for when they show the older episodes (if it has Sasha Alexander as 'Kate', you'll know its an oldie)

Now I haven't watched CSI in many years, but it use to be one of my go-to shows to awe friends when I was showing off my new HDTV. Sharp as a tack, it was.

 

[Bobby]

No...it used to be MUCH better. I didn't get into NCIS until USA Network started showing the reruns over and over.

I got into it and started recording the new episodes (this was on my old ViP 722) and immediately went to IMDb and said "what the heck...when did they soften it?".
Look on USA for when they show the older episodes (if it has Sasha Alexander as 'Kate', you'll know its an oldie)

Now I haven't watched CSI in many years, but it use to be one of my go-to shows to awe friends when I was showing off my new HDTV. Sharp as a tack, it was.

No, actually it was never 'much better'... Going back to 2004, its first season, it was being discussed on the AVS Website...

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/34-hd...ypd-blue-who-do-i-need-thank.html#post3402711

CSI was always primo....

 

[ClarkGable]

Just last week I checked my OTA picture vs. Dish because the Dish HD picture seemed to be significantly "softer" to me. Hey - it just might just be me, but the OTA picture appeared to be noticeably better than Dish. Granted, I was watching an NCIS rerun on USA at the time, and a basketball game was on my OTA CBS station, so it wasn't an "apples to apples" comparison. Still, the difference was very noticeable.

 

[KAB]

Just last week I checked my OTA picture vs. Dish because the Dish HD picture seemed to be significantly "softer" to me. Hey - it just might just be me, but the OTA picture appeared to be noticeably better than Dish. Granted, I was watching an NCIS rerun on USA at the time, and a basketball game was on my OTA CBS station, so it wasn't an "apples to apples" comparison. Still, the difference was very noticeable.

That should be expected. OTA is always less compressed than any Sat distribution. Also, alot depends on each channel's sub channels sharing a fixed amount on bandwidth. Regardless, in my market, OTA and Dish signal are equal in quality, to my eye.