E* no need to Wow us, please - bring back DishHD!

[riffjim4069]

According to popular rumor, E* is getting ready to Wow us! Please, no more!

I just watched a little of The Addams Family and Twister on HBOHD a short while ago, and the macroblocking during lightning, fire, explosions, and similar scenes was the worst I've seen to date. Plus, the picture was softer than the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Wow! Speaking of Wow...Jaws, Evil Dead, Bubba Ho-Tep, and all my favorite movies now look terrible on DishHD . Wow!

If E* wants to Wow me, how about bringing back the DishHD we all knew and loved? I was very pleased with DishHD for over a year, but I can no longer recommend DishHD to anyone wanting a quality HD viewing experience.

I'm sorry to harp on the subject (I'm just as tired of complaining to E* as some of you are of hearing about DishHD-Lite) but I am just so terribly disappointed with the quality issues I am seeing. I think it may be time to drop down to the minimum subscription or place my account on vacation for a few months. In any case, this will be my last post regarding DishHD-Lite...I'll just accept the service or move on at this point.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Yeah, Twister is really bad on the current HD channels.

Much better to watch it off of a DVD. And I'm not talking a HD DVD, a SD DVD is much better than what E* is serving up. It has both high motion and low contrast, killers when heavily compressed.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the war against HD-lite is over. The decision has been made. Perhaps we can hope that it can be improved over what we are getting now. But I don't mind reading some more bitchin' about it. Just because we know we are only going to get a mediocre product doesn't mean we shouldn't complain about it.

It is very, very disappointing. I waited until last year to purchase a HDTV set and the PQ I got from Dish last Spring was very good. I never dreamed it would be this poor in 2006.

 

[richiephx]

I too am disgusted with the HD quality E* is offering. I hope we will continue to complain to E* and continue to express our concerns in this and other forums.

 

[JH1949]

.......In any case, this will be my last post regarding DishHD-Lite...I'll just accept the service or move on at this point.

Hopefully, you will supply one more post when you are able to connect to FIOS for comparison. I think you said in another forum, that it won't be for another year, but I am still looking forward to your PQ review at that time.

 

[BlackHitachi]

I too would like to know what HD some people are watching? When they say i don't notice and difference. Heck even my seven year old See's macro blocking.

 

[JH1949]

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the war against HD-lite is over......Just because we know we are only going to get a mediocre product doesn't mean we shouldn't complain about it......

If we all bought one share each of E*, could we go to the annual shareholder meeting and complain more effectively ?

 

[nazz]

It seems I picked an unfortunate time to finally jump off the D* ship. This is exactly what I got fed up with them doing to their HD and it's sad and very frustrating to see it with E* since I switched mostly due to their reputation for better PQ.

 

[waltinvt]

Twister was horrible. Even my wife, who could care less about PQ - let alone HD, said "we're paying extra for that"?

That's what it's coming to Dish ! You keep f**kin with the product and the wives will be stepping in and you won't be selling it anymore.

 

[dslate69]

... In any case, this will be my last post regarding DishHD-Lite...I'll just accept the service or move on at this point.

I so wish I could believe that.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I too have started seeing macro blocking on Hbo a station which never had it before. It tried to make dvd copies of the hd movies I want to keep but this makes it useless . I noticed years ago that Showtime too was suffering from pq problems and I alerted Dish but it still there on dark scenes. You can see the picture lighten and darken over and over like it is throbbing. I don't see it in bright sunny shots. I don't know what the answer is except to keep emailing the dishquality folks and alert them everytime whe see problems. Either that or cut off the hd portion of the receiver and go back to standard def channels.

dishquality@echostar.com

 

[Poke]

Overall Dish is still the best out there for HD! Overtime I would say between now and 1st part of next year they will address these issues..

 

[Tom Bombadil]

That's what we were saying in January of this year.

Now that Dish is moving several international channels to 61.5, I can't see how we can hope that HD is going to improve a lot.

And on top of that we are hearing rumors about them adding INHD, Cinemax HD, the Fox RSNs and more.

I think there is a good chance that PQ will degrade rather than improve.

 

[jrbdmb]

Bottom line is that the Joe Sixpacks aren't going to notice or aren't going to know any better. In general (I know that are some exceptions) DirecTV and cable HD quality is going down the chute as well. And since Mr. Sixpack doesn't know or care, this trend will not be ending anytime soon.

 

[Van]

Forgive my ignorance but was either the Adam's Family or Twister originaly recorded in HD? The reason I ask is because I know that any film thats recorded in HD will always blow away any film that wasnt but has been upconverted to HD. Back when I was going to school for art and was working on adobe photoshop with some slightly out of focus prints I had I found that it was a no win situation when it came to sharpening up these images. I was able to sharpen the images up but like those of you that have watched these two films have said there was pixeling and blocking that would come about if I took the correction to far and or also resized the picture as well. I know that most films are reformatted ( read resized ) to fit a standard tv format so wouldnt it also follow that inorder to put a film on HD that it has to be upconverted and thusly the quality will lessen at the expense of clarity?

 

[Van]

Bottom line is that the Joe Sixpacks aren't going to notice or aren't going to know any better. In general (I know that are some exceptions) DirecTV and cable HD quality is going down the chute as well. And since Mr. Sixpack doesn't know or care, this trend will not be ending anytime soon.

I have to disagrea with this idea, I live with 2 Joe sixpacks right now and a Mrs sixpack and even though they are not HD tv owners nor are they people that have any kind of mid or high end theatre gear they notice pq on standard films. I took my younger brother out to Sam's club with me to look at the Vizio line ( not a bad tv for the price and it looked better than a pany ) and he noticed the diference in pq from one line of HD LCD's to another and then the diference between plasma and LCD and rear projection.

I think that the most Joe sixpacks do see quality issues but that most dont know what they can do other than what others are doing here wich is voicing they're displeasure with the quality of the services being delivered or they live with it for a bit and then try out another service.

 

[DWS44]

I so wish I could believe that.

So glad the mediocrity police stopped in for a visit!

 

[MikeD-C05]

Maybe this will all improve by next summer when ALL hd goes mpeg 4. THat is is they can get any real improvement with the mpeg 4 encoders by then. IF not then I am going to be real disappointed in the pq. I don't want to be distracted from the movie experience by seeing pixelation, blocking, in fast moving scenes.

 

[datwell]

Overall Dish is still the best out there for HD! Overtime I would say between now and 1st part of next year they will address these issues..

Well, they had better do something quickly! Verizon's FIOS is taking our area by storm - their only real negative is their sorry DVR. If they come up with something like the 622, they will be all but impossible to beat by anyone.

---Doug

 

[DaveyBoy26]

I still think the recent severe downgrade in HD quality is only temporary(hoping). Dish is shuffling alot of channels around and adding new ones, too. Don't even get me started on the M-PEG 4 debacle(so far). I'm not happy either, I just don't think this will be permanent.

 

[Need]

I too would like to know what HD some people are watching? When they say i don't notice and difference. Heck even my seven year old See's macro blocking.

I keep trying to see if I notice any macro blocking on the HD channels but I still have not found any. I have been watching a lot of US Open on Universal HD and I cannot see macro blocking.

Does it make any difference on which bird I am getting the HD channels? I got mine from 129 bird. Maybe they lower the quality on the 61.5 bird because they have to fit in all the international channels?