Hey DISH, Improve Your Picture Quality

[TheKrell]

Both of them were allowed to download fully before watching, because my DSL connection is only 3Mbps and has lag from hell.

I wonder (1) whether this affects people with higher download bandwidths and (2) whether the receiver knows you're going to watch it later. Perhaps the adaptive streaming part radically reduces consumption to keep up with real-time viewing, even though nobody is actually watching. Regarding (1) my iVOD HD is great, and the iVOD SD is WAY better than satellite SD; it's more like DVD-quality SD.

 

[sremick]

I wonder (1) whether this affects people with higher download bandwidths and (2) whether the receiver knows you're going to watch it later. Perhaps the adaptive streaming part radically reduces consumption to keep up with real-time viewing, even though nobody is actually watching.

This would be an inappropriate way to handle things. It should simply download slower... if it takes a bit longer before I can watch it in order for the picture quality to be better than Youtube, so be it.

It's worth noting that I can stream HD movies via my Roku just fine with my internet speeds. They aren't blu-ray quality, but they're definitely better than DVD, while Dish downloaded-on-demand is much WORSE than DVD.

 

[Jim S.]

Perhaps the adaptive streaming part radically reduces consumption to keep up with real-time viewing, even though nobody is actually watching.

I think you're on to something! Because, the download times that the receiver posts seem MUCH too short for the speed of my connection, unless Dish has come up with some compression method much more efficient than anything else I've ever downloaded.

This would be an inappropriate way to handle things.

Dish does a lot of things in stupid ways.

 

[TheKrell]

IMHO the Watch Later button should turn off adaptive streaming and just go with max quality. I suspect that's not happening. Did those of you having issues notice whether this started after a firmware update?

 

[fuzzfacefrombboard]

I've noticed it for over a year. It seems to be hit or miss, with HBO being the worst. Some movies and shows have no issues and others jump back and forth in quality every few minutes. The funny thing is "adaptive streaming" SHOULD only be in place for live viewing (if at all) and never for a watch it later scenario. That seems backwards to me...

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[Hall]

I think you're on to something! Because, the download times that the receiver posts seem MUCH too short for the speed of my connection, unless Dish has come up with some compression method much more efficient than anything else I've ever downloaded.

Before we moved, we had 6M DSL from ATT. I could routinely test my speeds and get 4-5Mbs speeds, but if I streamed something from Dish, it gives that quick pop-up about streaming speed and it was usually in the 1.5Mbs range. That tells me that a) the choke point is between me and Dish's servers or b) Dish's servers are slow (or throttled intentionally).

Regarding the time to download you reference, well, I've seen it tell me that it will take in excess of a DAY to download !!

 

[Hall]

IMHO the Watch Later button should turn off adaptive streaming and just go with max quality.

That's a pretty smart idea ! I was thinking, what happens if the user changes their mind, goes back and picks "Watch now" (I'm pretty sure you can do that) ? All that has to happen is 'adaptive streaming' gets re-enabled. The result might be part of the event in nice, higher quality and then it downgrades to, ummm, "lesser" quality....

 

[thechaz05]

This problem is what I have experIenced since I got my hopper last September (2012). Streaming with Netflix or HBO Go I have no issues getting a clean hd picture. Downloading any movie In hd through dish gets me a mediocre experience at best. The back and forth between hd and sd drives me nuts and at times It happens so much that for me it is unwatchable. I knew that I couldn't be the only one noticing this.

I do know that it is being looked into, just not sure how this could go unnoticed by dish for so long.

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[Dishman1978]

This problem is what I have experIenced since I got my hopper last September (2012). Streaming with Netflix or HBO Go I have no issues getting a clean hd picture. Downloading any movie In hd through dish gets me a mediocre experience at best. The back and forth between hd and sd drives me nuts and at times It happens so much that for me it is unwatchable. I knew that I couldn't be the only one noticing this.

I do know that it is being looked into, just not sure how this could go unnoticed by dish for so long.

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Maybe it didn't happen on their company hoppers....or nobody is allowed to do VOD cause Charlie says no.....joking!

 

[Scherrman]

I just watched a VOD movie last night and the PQ was great.

 

[thechaz05]

I just watched a VOD movie last night and the PQ was great.

Are you watching immediately off letting it download them watching later?

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[Hall]

I just watched a VOD movie last night and the PQ was great.

I'm sure some have complained, but overall, VOD movies don't get PQ complaints. Just to be clear, you're referring to a movie from channel 501 (or 1), right ?

Are you watching immediately off letting it download them watching later?

You're confusing this with streaming movies. There's only an immediate watch option with these.

 

[Scherrman]

I watched a VOD movie on one of the 501 channels. I went online and ordered the movie using a free PPV certificate I earned and I watched it instantly.

 

[thechaz05]

I see I see, the problem we are seeing is in the streaming movie downloads.

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[Scherrman]

I see I see, the problem we are seeing is in the streaming movie downloads.

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As soon as I rented the VOD movie I was able to press "watch" and start watching the movie without any interruptions or PQ issues.

 

[Hall]

As soon as I rented the VOD movie I was able to press "watch" and start watching the movie without any interruptions or PQ issues.

I'm 99.9% certain that you already know this, but VOD movies are sitting, fully downloaded, on the hard drive already. There should be minimal to no "issues" (not sure how it would deal with pixellation from cloud cover during the download - same that we see on "normal" programming - though).

 

[GaryPen]

I'm 99.9% certain that you already know this, but VOD movies are sitting, fully downloaded, on the hard drive already. There should be minimal to no "issues" (not sure how it would deal with pixellation from cloud cover during the download - same that we see on "normal" programming - though).

Actually, PPV movies are sitting on the HDD, waiting to be ordered. (which is what Schermann was describing.)

 

[netter]

I'm also experiencing the black flicker with on demand content, which apparently occurs when the stream switches from hd to sd or back. I have a 60" TV, but for me the black flicker that occurs is even more annoying than the changes in PQ. I also have a solid 7+ mbps stream and never have problems like this streaming from Amazon Prime, etc. The popup that says how fast the movie is downloading always indicates a fast stream as well, despite still getting the black flickers when I start watching the movie.

 

[Hall]

No, PPV movies are on channels 502 and up and come in via satellite at preset times. Events "sitting on the HDD, waiting to be ordered. (which is what Schermann was describing.)" are on channel 501 and are labeled "VOD" in the guide. These are what he's referring to.

 

[mentsmin]

We downloaded "Place Beyond the Pines" from VOD last night (under the HBO section). Our internet speed is 20+ Mbps. The quality was so terrible we abandoned it (granted I also tried a few times on HBO Go--via Apple TV--and the quality was awful. Netflix and Amazon are perfect).


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