I'm the same way, 1 HR44 and 3 HR24s .... 24s are getting old, but still working fine.
They don't have better non Genie reciever out.
I need separate for hard drives so this works best for me.
Any new software coming?
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They don't have better non Genie reciever out.
I need separate for hard drives so this works best for me.
I just got new software on hr44 early this morning. The only change I see is the directv logo is now the AT&T Death Star.
After some time on Dish and now back home on DirecTV, even though the D* receivers are looking a little old, the PQ of DirecTV is certainly better than Dish nowadays. It's not even a subtle difference anymore. So disregard this thread, and just keep the picture quality where it's at... 
After some time on Dish and now back home on DirecTV, even though the D* receivers are looking a little old, the PQ of DirecTV is certainly better than Dish nowadays. It's not even a subtle difference anymore. So disregard this thread, and just keep the picture quality where it's at...
As someone who just swapped back, I fully endorse this message (I had a Hopper 3 since launch BTW).
Everything, and I can't stress that enough, that we record and watch off satellite looks better on Directv than it does on Dish, and it is obvious. If you don't care about PQ, then sure use whatever, but I like the HR44 just fine and at least when I come out of FFWd it jumps back, the H3 does not do this.
I"ve had both and even had both on this current 4K TV for a few days. IMO, the differences in HD PQ is minimal at best. In SD it isn't even fair to D* to compare.
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Minimal might be your interpretation. Dish is soft, soft, soft, and the compression artifacts are plenty.
The OLED's don't play well with near black compressions issues. On Dish I was downloading GoT because it looked great, where the live feed stunk. I can actually record and watch the live feed on Directv.
But even with my plasma I had before, when I swapped from Directv to Dish, the softness was obvious.
If I had to compare it to anything, it is like Netflix's variable streaming. As it clicks up from 384 to 480 to 720 to 1080, you can see it pop into a little more sharpness with less compression noise. Directv is a tier above Dish on that scale.
The OLED's don't play well with near black compressions issues. On Dish I was downloading GoT because it looked great, where the live feed stunk. I can actually record and watch the live feed on Directv.
But even with my plasma I had before, when I swapped from Directv to Dish, the softness was obvious.
If I had to compare it to anything, it is like Netflix's variable streaming. As it clicks up from 384 to 480 to 720 to 1080, you can see it pop into a little more sharpness with less compression noise. Directv is a tier above Dish on that scale.
It's the compression artifacts on Dish that seem much, much worse - even on slowly moving content like an episode of Law & Order. It's not as bad as U-Verse was when it first came out, but it's certainly gone downhill in the last few years. Not horrible, but not close to the quality of DirecTV.
When this subject comes up there seems to be no end to those coming from both ends of it. Pretty much as many say it is minimal as I do, as come along telling us all how it is greatly better. On my 2015 model Sharp 70" 4K TV the differences were there but not noticeable enough to matter.
But different people have different eyes and perceptions, so this subject can pretty much be depended on to get some good conversation going. For me, the differences are so slight in PQ and channel lineup that I care about that switching was never an issue in the past. Now with the Hopper 3 I won't be switching back to D* until they revamp their hardware and software.
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But different people have different eyes and perceptions, so this subject can pretty much be depended on to get some good conversation going. For me, the differences are so slight in PQ and channel lineup that I care about that switching was never an issue in the past. Now with the Hopper 3 I won't be switching back to D* until they revamp their hardware and software.
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That's my feeling as well. I have a friend with Uverse, who bought my 2011 65" plasma, and I have not been impressed with it when I go over there. These are all calibrated displays so they are pretty fair comparisons IMO. Now I can put my wife down in front, or my dad when he comes over, and they could care less or even notice what is better, but I'm really into AV calibration and it just stands out more to me. My wife can't even catch when Netflix goes from 720 to 1080 while streaming, or back. I can. I guess we all have our OCD stuff.
On a side note, a friend just left Directv and got Mediacom here (which has crappy service), and the PQ is an upgrade. I was quite surprised. Problem is, their DVR's are really not that good and have low recording hours. Not sure why he swapped, but I don't have them in my area and I record too much anyways. I honestly did not think Mediacom would top Directv, but I was wrong.
In that particular area ... thats one of the issues with Cable companies, can look great in one city and terrible in another ... all depends on where the city is in thier stage of plant. Some cities are better than others.
I don't think Dish has very much available bandwidth so they do compress more on each transponder. Traditionally DirecTV puts at most 6 HD channels in the same transponder whereas Dish sometimes puts 8 to 10 in that same amount of bandwidth. You can't get blood from a stone.
Surprisingly Comcast's MPEG4 markets are doing 9 to 10 HD channels in the same 38.8mbps frequency. I know variable bit rate stat-mux encoders have really improved these days, but that just sounds like a lot. In MPEG2 they were doing as much as 4 HD in a single frequency. Yeah cable really varies from market to market depending on who you have.
Too bad DirecTV D15 satellite sits up there doing nothing. DirecTV has so much free bandwidth now between D14 and D15 but the positions are prohibitive to lease space to Dish Network.
Surprisingly Comcast's MPEG4 markets are doing 9 to 10 HD channels in the same 38.8mbps frequency. I know variable bit rate stat-mux encoders have really improved these days, but that just sounds like a lot. In MPEG2 they were doing as much as 4 HD in a single frequency. Yeah cable really varies from market to market depending on who you have.
Too bad DirecTV D15 satellite sits up there doing nothing. DirecTV has so much free bandwidth now between D14 and D15 but the positions are prohibitive to lease space to Dish Network.
It's been my understanding that Dish has Always crammed more channels in that same space more than D*
IIRC you can't directly compare because Dish's tech sends bandwidth where it is needed, so if one channel only needs X at a given moment that is what it gives it and leaves headroom for another, where Directv puts 6 on a TP with 30mbps, it means each one has the same amount all the time. That being said, it's obvious Directv's choices are better at this point.
I think D* is also allocating more where needed and less where not while still not over saturating the picture.
Nah, DIRECTV uses stat-mux encoders as well.
The primary reasons they have less HD channels per xpndr than Dish is because DIRECTV uses the Ka band for virtually all it's HD programming which is more susceptible to rain fade than Ku. So DIRECTV only uses QPSK modulation on the national beam xpndrs which is more robust than 8-PSK Dish uses for their HD feeds, but requires more bandwidth. So less channels per xpndr.
The other main reason is that Dish is cheating-off on their 1920 x 1080 HD feeds by down-scaling them to 1440 x 1080 resolution to save bandwidth. Whereas DIRECTV keeps all their native 1920 x 1080 feeds at the same resolution, which again requires more bandwidth and thus again means less channels per xpndr.
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