Just installed and first impressions.

[Van]

Had install scheduled for 02/19 8 - 12, installer shows up at 11am from Mastec, we walk through the install and I point out the prime spot for the dish to go and where he will get the best line of site with the least amount of work, show him the easiest and fastest route to take the coax and what two lines have connection to the two tv's ( he was a little quick to offer using flat cable to go through the windows ).

I got the boxes from him and set them up while he built and mounted the dish and ran the lines, signals on the four sats on average of 96 - 100 with a couple in the 80's and two in the 60's and one at 24 and one at 0. The standard receiver activated easily through its menue but the H21 wouldnt and required a call to the service center.

HD picture quality is so-so and onpar with what I had with Charter so I cant say that I'm impressed specialy with channels such as discovery hd theater wich actually was extremely better on charter on componant cables than the hdmi I'm using from directv.

SD pictures look similiar to HD in quality, due to both formats not looking very good ( using a vizio 32 inch lcd ) I'm going to spend some time making adjustments to see if its a setting issue.

 

[charper1]

HD picture quality is so-so and onpar with what I had with Charter so I cant say that I'm impressed specialy with channels such as discovery hd theater wich actually was extremely better on charter on componant cables than the hdmi I'm using from directv.

SD pictures look similiar to HD in quality, due to both formats not looking very good ( using a vizio 32 inch lcd ) I'm going to spend some time making adjustments to see if its a setting issue.

There is definitely something not setup correctly.

 

[Van]

Ok so I had to go in and rework my tv's video settings from factory defaults, not sure why they were all back to defaults but I still have to work with the the red balance a bit more to get the skin tones right.

HDnet is looking much better now and is on par with what I had with Charter but I'd like it to be better, on Charter it was definitely good and I never complained about it nor hdtheater other than it repeating stuff like mad.

I cant remark on the locals yet as they arent showing any hd yet, Im surprised that even though they'r listed twice that there isnt an HD designation.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the work the installer did, only thing he didnt do was the 20 minute demo, he also didnt go over what my package was, and he didnt leave a copy of the work order though he did leave a copy of the lease agreament, outside of that he did a clean install except for an improper ground bound at the dish so tomorow I have to inspect the system ground.

 

[auburngadawg]

You should be getting HD on your locals. I used to live outside Atlanta (in Winder). 11Alive & WSB do their news in HD and 11Alive has "The Evening News With Brenda Wood" on right now (7-7:30pm). Now mind you, only the studio cameras are HD (field cameras are 16x9 SD). Of course, you could just wait until 8 and watch primetime in HD.

 

[IcEWoLF]

Had install scheduled for 02/19 8 - 12, installer shows up at 11am from Mastec, we walk through the install and I point out the prime spot for the dish to go and where he will get the best line of site with the least amount of work, show him the easiest and fastest route to take the coax and what two lines have connection to the two tv's ( he was a little quick to offer using flat cable to go through the windows ).

I got the boxes from him and set them up while he built and mounted the dish and ran the lines, signals on the four sats on average of 96 - 100 with a couple in the 80's and two in the 60's and one at 24 and one at 0. The standard receiver activated easily through its menue but the H21 wouldnt and required a call to the service center.

HD picture quality is so-so and onpar with what I had with Charter so I cant say that I'm impressed specialy with channels such as discovery hd theater wich actually was extremely better on charter on componant cables than the hdmi I'm using from directv.

SD pictures look similiar to HD in quality, due to both formats not looking very good ( using a vizio 32 inch lcd ) I'm going to spend some time making adjustments to see if its a setting issue.

I have a Sony 1080p TV, and I can tell you the HD channels look so much better on HD than SD.
Make sure your TV settings are not cropped or zoomed.
Make sure the receivers resolution is 1080i.
Good luck with the setup.

 

[Van]

I hate the guide, not how it looks but how direct has the channels set up with all the ppv filler crap in the 100's wich I can see is a way to get people to checkout purchase ( standing at the checkout line at the grocery store and theres all that crap you dont need ) but its still annoying and should be put up in the higher range like alot of the other ppv channels, that aside the guide is pretty easy to use and I have no other complaints about it.

Played around with the video settings and the picture is better, still cant figure out how the settings changed back to factory default. I'm watching hdtheater now and the picture is much better though I know its not just due to my settings fix but its also due to the earlier show not being filmed very well ( early american chopper and now a more current one ). HBOHD looks good to as do some of the other hd channels though tnt/tbs/a&e ect ect look like everyone else has stated.

It was a nice surprise to find that I have premiums free for three months when I didnt order them, the caller ID was also a surprise as I didnt know it was built into the receivers. Gonna head to monoprice to order fiber optic cable and a longer and better hdmi cable to experience the surround sound and relocate the receiver if I need to.

Believe it or not cartoon network in hd looks better than the sd version wich suprised me. I like the option to hide the sd doubles of the hd channels, have to redoe the remote for the main tv as it wont turn off the box or tv by the power button.

 

[rad]

Van, just set up a favorites list with all the PPV's excluded. I think having them back in the 100's is a throw back to when D* first started and they didn't have any channels below 100.

And remember, the HD channels in the 70-90 range, along with their mirrors, are still MPEG2/HD-Lite.

 

[charper1]

Van, how do you have the DirecTV setup as far as display and resolutions?

 

[Van]

720p and 1080i after playing around with it lastnight, the installer set it up for all resolutions , its also set to 16:9 aswell now.


My official gripes are as follows:

Directv specific is how they set up the guide, I know that I can set up a favorites list but still its the idea that you have to do that to fix something they should revamp to correct.

Audio rollercoaster from channel to channel and even on single channels is a problem again specific to Directv, I'm watching weather hd right now and the audio is low on some of the broadcast while at other times it jumps up a bit. The commercials are worse and will go way up or way down, this was the same issue that dish had but its definitely bigger on directv.

Has weatherhd always had the sidebars?

 

[rad]

Audio rollercoaster from channel to channel and even on single channels is a problem again specific to Directv, I'm watching weather hd right now and the audio is low on some of the broadcast while at other times it jumps up a bit. The commercials are worse and will go way up or way down, this was the same issue that dish had but its definitely bigger on directv.

Has weatherhd always had the sidebars?

I think if you had Weather Channel HD on Dish (or anyother provider) you'd also have the same audio problem, IMHO it' the source that's having the problem, why would D* be changing the audio levels between the program, weather forcast and commercials? Send a comment to The Weather Channel and maybe if enough folks b*tch they'll fix it.

Yes, the studio shots are all 4:3 so you have the sidebars. At least they don't stretch it like some other channels.

 

[iwc5893]

IIRC, there was a story a few years ago about the producers of commercials intentionally ramping up their source volume in an effort to make the commercials more noticeable. For a while, there were even some "smart" TV's produced that would automatically adjust the volume of the commercials so that everything was the same volume.

 

[Van]

Theres a definite volume issue going on with the channels and I know that its specific to direct but not on cable service. My wife was watching the sd box and said that the volume kept going up and down on the that tv on a nickelodian channel.

 

[michaelbudney]

720p and 1080i after playing around with it lastnight, the installer set it up for all resolutions , its also set to 16:9 aswell now.


My official gripes are as follows:

Directv specific is how they set up the guide, I know that I can set up a favorites list but still its the idea that you have to do that to fix something they should revamp to correct.

Audio rollercoaster from channel to channel and even on single channels is a problem again specific to Directv, I'm watching weather hd right now and the audio is low on some of the broadcast while at other times it jumps up a bit. The commercials are worse and will go way up or way down, this was the same issue that dish had but its definitely bigger on directv.

Has weatherhd always had the sidebars?

It could be Dish is compressing the audio a bit more. I'm not sure if the Dish receiver has the option or not but but I'll take a higher dynamic audio source over an equalized one. Even if it means having to put up with jacked commercials.

 

[Van]

The diference isnt that drastic between dish and direct but they both have the roller coaster audio, I just wish it was as balanced as what cable has after lastnight when I changed to a channel and it was like standing infront of the loud speaker at a metallica concert.

 

[Van]

Interestingly enough, charter waived all of my $177.00 bill as of today, not really related but my car insurance went down $25 a month yesterday as well and I saved $30 on specials at the grocery store yesterday and boy if this doesnt sound like a commercial for switching to directv.

 

[charper1]

The diference isnt that drastic between dish and direct but they both have the roller coaster audio, I just wish it was as balanced as what cable has after lastnight when I changed to a channel and it was like standing infront of the loud speaker at a metallica concert.

Once again I have to say odd Van; I have two home with DirecTV services and neither have any "roller coaster" audio outside of the normal LiL advertisements than can bump up a bit (that is the affiliates doing). But then again everyone's setup is a bit different. Different display methods, different audio methods, etc.

 

[michaelbudney]

Now that I'm watching TV in 5.1 sound an annoying thing I discovered is some commercials in DD blast the rear speakers with the vocals, talk about Billy Maze yelling in your ear.

But back to topic, the last time I had digital cable the box had an option to compress/equalize the audio. That bumps the quiet and drops the loud.

Despite the audio level differences I prefer that D does not mess with the original source.

 

[charper1]

VERY odd; main vocal dialog should NOT be emitting for the L&R rear, L&R surrounds or really even L&R main; it should be coming from the center. I would think any audio (program or commercial) should be directed accordingly. I have NEVER heard any on-screen dialog come from anything other than my center.

 

[Van]

The rollercoaster has settled down to the commercials now so thats good but still anoying.

 

[Islandguy43]

Had install scheduled for 02/19 8 - 12, installer shows up at 11am from Mastec, we walk through the install and I point out the prime spot for the dish to go and where he will get the best line of site with the least amount of work,

HD picture quality is so-so and onpar with what I had with Charter so I cant say that I'm impressed specialy with channels such as discovery hd theater wich actually was extremely better on charter on componant cables than the hdmi I'm using from directv.

SD pictures look similiar to HD in quality, due to both formats not looking very good ( using a vizio 32 inch lcd ) I'm going to spend some time making adjustments to see if its a setting issue.

So why are you telling the installer how to do the job and then complaining about picture quality? Seems to me, if I was the installer, I would be saying to you now; well you told me where you wanted the dish and so that is why your picture is like crap