Help with Picture quality from Dish Network

[knsclean]

I've had Dish Network for about 2 months and still get a lousey picture when its not HD programming. Best way I can describe it, is like this: When I'm watching a movie primarily, the backround looks liquid. Like the walls move. looks like a 60's psyicadellic scene. I've had the dish network people out 4 times and they still can't fix it.
info that may help: I have a panasonic 50" plasma that about 3 months old. I use a dual receiver and the other tv is a Sony Wega and it does the same thing. Dish network has replaced the box, and 2 of the receiver componets on the dish itself. still the same. the only time this doesn't occur is when I'm watching Hi-Def.
Help, anyone. Thanks!!!!!!

 

[chrisd_az]

I have some what the same issue!! Some of my HD channels there will be a faded black line on the right side of the TV. Its not the TV cause I had it checked. I also had my 622 replaced still the same. I have a 622 in my bedroom also with a cheap LCD and it playes better than my Toshiba in the living room. I thought about called for a teck to come out an look, anyone think that could be a waist of my money..Thanks...

 

[JEFFinINDY]

I've had Dish Network for about 2 months and still get a lousey picture when its not HD programming. Best way I can describe it, is like this: When I'm watching a movie primarily, the backround looks liquid. Like the walls move. looks like a 60's psyicadellic scene. I've had the dish network people out 4 times and they still can't fix it.
info that may help: I have a panasonic 50" plasma that about 3 months old. I use a dual receiver and the other tv is a Sony Wega and it does the same thing. Dish network has replaced the box, and 2 of the receiver componets on the dish itself. still the same. the only time this doesn't occur is when I'm watching Hi-Def.
Help, anyone. Thanks!!!!!!

These are probably compression artifacts. The larger your screen is (or the closer you sit to the screen), the more you will notice it. If this is what it is, then there's nothing anyone can do about it.

How close are you to the 50" screen?

Jeff

 

[boba]

SD is heavily compressed compared to HD. It will never come close to the picture quality of HD. You are seeing compression artifacts seeing only the action is refreshed in a digital picture, the background suffers. Turning down the sharpness on video adjustments may help you adjust to the different broadcast quality.

 

[WhitePolarBear]

SD is heavily compressed compared to HD. It will never come close to the picture quality of HD. You are seeing compression artifacts seeing only the action is refreshed in a digital picture, the background suffers. Turning down the sharpness on video adjustments may help you adjust to the different broadcast quality.

I wonder if HD vs SD should have their own optimized video calibration settings and if any Video calibration DVD coming out to account for that.

 

[DirectDishNet]

Try another input, Use a temp RCA cable (yellow-red-white)on VID1 or VID2 on the back of the TV. You won't get HD but you can tell if there is something wrong with your HD input. Also try to change the HDMI for Component (Red-Blue-Green) or Visa Versa. I have seen this before, and by replacing the component cable it cleared up nicely. Also make sure that the HDMI or Component does not go through your surround sound distrabution center while you are doing your testing. Also make sure that you are not using Red-Blue-Green to Red-White-Yellow. Color code is very important. Make sure that all the colors are plugged into the same color inputs.

 

[harshness]

I wonder if HD vs SD should have their own optimized video calibration settings and if any Video calibration DVD coming out to account for that.

Without native mode receivers, there is no point to having this feature.

It comes down to picking the right display for the job. If you want and HDTV that can do a good job with SD images, you're going to hunt it down pay extra for it. Some televisions offer MPEG clean-up and much better SD performance than others.

 

[dkstuff]

I've only had my service for a week and I have pretty horrible pic quality (non-HD) but tech has been out and said it wasn't the receiver. I know its not my TV but they can't find a solution so far. He changed some cables but also mentioned I have some older cabling in my home, however this is not the cabling to the 625 so he was at a loss.

My quality problem is shadowing and blening of dark colors. Of course this affects most movies and prime time dramas where clothing of actors is darker and some backgrounds darker. They bleed together. Cartoons and shows with a lot of white background look great. Not my TV and changing TV settings doesn't help.

 

[Jim S.]

That's probably over-compression. Sci-Fi channel always looks horrible because all their shows are so dark. In Sci-Fi's case though, I'm not sure whether it's entirely Dish's fault or whether it originates that way, because it's less than clear on analog cable too.

 

[dkstuff]

How can over compression be fixed? I don't know about Sci-Fi but the channels that I have the dark blending, shadows on were excellent on cable. I've only had Dish for a week and with all the other problems I haven't watched that many channels to see which are the worst but I know ABC, Hallmkark, Lifetime Movie Network are really really bad for the drama shows. I've noticed it on other channels as well but those are the ones I've actually tried to watch a show on.

I'd love to know how to fix it.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[rsmith7]

You could try sending a email to DishQuality@echostar.com. I recently sent one on my local channel and got a response. They were working this issue after the San Diego fires in late October.

 

[dkstuff]

I could try that, thanks. The issue is that on one of the "set-ups" in my house (DVR1 and both TVs for it) aren't too bad. There is some darkness but not nearly as bad as on set-up "2" - the 2nd DVR. However it is not the receiver as they were switched out and that didn't do it. He tried one thing with some cables in the basement and I was looking at the "good tv system 1" and whatever he did made that one dark but then switched it back because we didn't want that one dark and system 2 normal we want them BOTH normal. Duh

 

[DirectDishNet]

is your TV 1080i, 1080p, 480i or what? What are you using HDMI?, COmponent?,

 

[dkstuff]

I'm not really that TV tech oriented so I'm not certain. It's a regular TV...not HDTV or flat screen or plasma or anything like that. It's a Panasonic....about 3 yrs old. Nice picture with cable for a standard TV. Never had any complaints with it...good color, balance, etc. Same with the the 2nd TV. It's smaller and not quite as good of quality but never really had any color, clarity complaints. Both have pictures that suck now (but just on the dark drama shows). I have to say that cartoons looks awesome. Great color.

 

[rthomp03]

If you are stretching a SD 4x3 picture to fill a 16x9 larger than 40" then it is probably going to look like crap. There just isn't enough image information from a 480i signal to fill that much screen. Try the following url for more information or google "HD resolution".

HDTV resolution explained - HDTV World - CNET.com

 

[dkstuff]

I don't have HDTV. I just have a plain TV and I don't subscribe to HD service on Dish. I just want the basics....a decent standard picture that I can actually see that is not all black except for the faces.

 

[KKlare]

Have looked at the picture using the RF coax output of the Dish receiver? If the black level is correct there then the problem is in the RCA cables. For example, if you are feeding more than one set from the yellow cable, each may bias the black level of the other--one set at a time, please. You may be able to adjust your black level with the brightness. Contrast changes the range of signal or the white level. If you are using the coax already then why? Usually (composite R W Y cables) will usually give a much better picture. Since you do not have HD, we cannot speak of the improvement component and HDMI will give to this.
-Ken

 

[rthomp03]

I don't have HDTV. I just have a plain TV and I don't subscribe to HD service on Dish. I just want the basics....a decent standard picture that I can actually see that is not all black except for the faces.

My reply was to knsclean, the original op whose thread you've hijacked.

 

[DirectDishNet]

My reply was to knsclean, the original op whose thread you've hijacked.

Mine too,

 

[boba]

How can over compression be fixed? I don't know about Sci-Fi but the channels that I have the dark blending, shadows on were excellent on cable. I've only had Dish for a week and with all the other problems I haven't watched that many channels to see which are the worst but I know ABC, Hallmkark, Lifetime Movie Network are really really bad for the drama shows. I've noticed it on other channels as well but those are the ones I've actually tried to watch a show on.

I'd love to know how to fix it.
Thanks for the reply.

Maybe the best answer is go back to cable you were happy with their picture.