Directv HDTV picture quality v. 811

JAL

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Aug 19, 2004
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Has anyone made this comparison on the same TV? What results were found?
I'm curious, since the 811 does not look as good as OTA HD.
 
Well, in general, all the HD channels, including OTA reception. Also, is there a DirecTV receiver with better stretch mode features, such as non linear stretch?
 
I was a long-time DirecTV subscriber and recently switched to Dish Network. My experience is that the HD picture quality is very similar in general. Of course, you'll always get variances depending on the channel and content, but I don't perceive either satellite company to be better than the other in this respect.

For the record, I used three different DirecTV HD receivers: a Samsung SIR-TS360 (most recently) and a couple of different Hughes models, in addition to the Dish 811. OTA looks about the same between the 811 and the Samsung unit.
 
I had Hughes E86s for a couple of years and then, for a brief time, an HTL-HD. The picture quality on the HTL-HD was on par with both the Samsung and the Dish 811. The E86 was worse (especially up-converting SD signals), but it's an older model.

All of the Hughes boxes I owned had stability problems of one sort or another that make the 811 seem like a rock, but that's a story for a different thread. ;)
 
If you create that thread, I'd love to see it. I'm always looking into my options for when my Dish commitment is up. However, if the HTL-HD is more unstable than an 811 (hard to believe), I certainly wouldn't want to switch to that! (It's odd, because the HTL-HD, LG 3200 and Sony HD300 are all basically the same inside - all made by LG - and I haven't heard anything about those boxes that compare to the 811's woes.)
 
Well, I don't want to create a whole new thread just to bash Hughes, so I'll give you the short version: The problem I had with the HTL-HD was no sound on Dolby Digital 5.1 broadcasts (using a Sony STR-DE925 receiver). The box was a refurb that D* had sent me to replace an even flakier E86 (the third such unit). I didn't own the HTL-HD long enough to notice any other problems, and maybe there weren't any.
 
Gotta admire your restraint in not having a Hughes bashing thread. I have not seen the 811, but I own the HTL-HD an it does in fact outperform the E86 models in all aspects and I just "liked" it better than the 360 by Samsung.

To correct the previous post the HTL-HD, LG-3200A & Sony HD-200 are identical, the 300 does have new features as noted in other threads :)

I have never seen nor experienced the DD5.1 issue referenced. I have a Yamaha receiver and get flawless DD5.1 as well as DTS decoding from the HTL-HD as well as the Denon DVD-1910 player I just bought :) Well I guess the HTL-HD doesn't have DTS but the Denon does.
 
slacker - I thought that the only diff between the HTL-HD, LG3200, and HD300 was the RF remote capability on the LG and Sony models. I remember looking at all 3 manuals, and could only find that difference.

Also, the HD200 is an older model, released a year before the other 3, is it not? That one does not have simultaneous SD/HD output, IIRC. The other 3 do.

Am I wrong?
 
i work at a retail store were we have both dish and direct. An 811 on the dish side and the new direchdtv tivo as well as a a samsung hdtv model. In most cases the dish box looks better with the exception of the espn hdtv channel in which case direct looks better. Overall picture quality on the sd side dish wins here. Direct tv has more artifacts on the screen and this isnt caused by the video switch we have. I have tried this directly connected to these tv's as well. On a rare occasion it seems to differ per tv.
 

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