new distant networks- awful quality??!!

[Chris Walker]

How's the quality of the NPS Atlanta/SF distants?

I'm interested in any reports from those that have been successful adding these so far. A big draw of the distants to many is the picture quality usually being superior to locals, but I am hearing mixed reviews on some of the NPS distants. If they are just uplinking them the same way Dish does their locals, there won't be any advantage in the PQ area.

 

[kstuart]

My overall experience of Broadcast Networks - having now seen them from several different cities over the years - is that ABC and NBC are consistently better than FOX and CBS. Since I never watch CBS, this has never mattered.

I am only elgible for FOX and NBC through NPS.

I have found that the quality of the NPS feeds are improving steadily during the day, clearly there are engineers actively working on it (a good sign !).

The Atlanta FOX is about the best I've seen of a FOX channel - the NY and LA ones have never been all that good and the Atlanta one matches them. I hope that the service is not struck down by the Judge, so that we can see Prison Break when it returns in good quality !

The Atlanta NBC is also very good - very nice color rendition. Brian Williams News (apparently the only person left who still has an ideal of objectivity) looks as good as I remember it on the NY NBC. More of a test would be Leno - which has always used the best available equipment.

The two S.F. channels (Fox and NBC) both look like they are sourced from analog cable - ghosts on Fox and grain on NBC.

If you have a DVR, I would use the Atlanta channels are primary and the SF ones as backup (in case of pre-emption or storm dish outage).

 

[Robert NTSC Archivist]

I agree the San Francisco channels looked horrible during the day time especially when switching between KTVU and KTTV. Even when I look at the DirecTV version of KTTV it is way better than KTVU but there has been some improvemnt so the techs are wroking on it.

 

[minnow]

I posted about three hours ago regarding PQ. I agree that the PQ has improved somewhat. 5731 is very good, 5732 is good, 5735 is very good picture but as I'm watching ABC news, the audio and video is going in and out of sync. , 5736 is just OK, 5737 is very good and 5738 is the worst of the bunch. This channel looks like a analog cable feed and not a good one at that. I didn't qualify for CBS so I don't have those to compare.

I'm editing this to report that 5735 is breaking up really bad to the point that I'm losing the picture. The audio and video are not in sync, then come back in sync, then the picture cuts out. I hope NPS is aware of this because this is not going to work out if this is what we can expect. The picture is very good however when it's working !

 

[doneno]

I was happy to learn that another provider was going to be able to get me the networks, even east and west coast. we live in remote rural Maine, and have no other options.

But, today, when i actualy got to see those new channels i was disgusted with at least half of them!! I don't mind sifting through local-yocal programming and news from a different town, but the picture and sound was horrible!!

Why does this junk come through a digital sat. system?! I am now paying $10 a month ($4 more than what i had to pay with Dish, and now I get absolute junk and cr*p channel quality. It is a real sham for this American Direct company to come to the "rescue" of those of us Dish folks who got shfted by the courts, and offer this alternative that is awful.

PLEASE PLEASE, somebody tell me WHY these channels are junk quality; if it will EVER change; how i may go about getting better network qaulity elsewhere?

Don E.
Fort Kent, Maine

 

[kstuart]

duplicate Thread

 

[doneno]

sorry

sorry about the duplicate thread. I wasn;t sure the first one went through, which was actually a reply. I posteda new subject thread to make sure.

any other imput would be welcome.

DE

 

[kstuart]

No, I meant Duplicate of an Existing Thread on The Subject (which has been pushed off the front page by all the new threads on the subject ).

PS While the SF channels fit your description, the Atlanta ones are generally decent quality - especially for someone who has no other feed of that network...

 

[Mr Tony]

merged the two threads together

 

[Bountykiller]

The quality *would* be garbage as they are pushing a lot off of just one transponder. Just because it is digital it does not guarantee you perfect picture. On the other end they must reduce the quality bit wise to fit within whatever bandwidth they have available to them. One transponder is not much! SD could be great (480p in theory) if they pushed it untouched to the other end, but they just can not afford to do so. Keep in mind that eventually one day when all the old legacy receivers are gone (ones that can only handle straight Mpeg2), they will be able to up the quality (in theory) as the new receivers have the ability to un-compress different formats with better compression such as 8PSK, MPEG4 etc. Right now, they have to worry about all the old hardware that is still out there! ;0 It may take years before they get rid of it all. The trick is doing that without pissing off lots of people.

-B

 

[orion6192]

5731 NBC-Atlanta- fairly clear picture / good surround sound
5732 NBC-S.F.- fairly clear / muted sound - almost like mono
5733 CBS-Atlanta- double images / good sound
5734 CBS-S.F.- double images / muted sound - almost like mono
5735 ABC-Atlanta- fairly clear / good surround sound
5736 ABC-S.F.- double images & fuzzy / muted sound - almost like mono
5737 FOX-Atlanta- clear / good surround sound
5738 FOX-S.F.- fuzzy w/ horizontal line / muted sound - almost like mono

I live Cohocton, NY - does it vary by region as to the quality?

Side note: before we lost our NY & LA distant locals my quality was amazing! Always clear - no glitches - no double images -

 

[Robert NTSC Archivist]

I agree I had KTVU on this morning and it looked horrible. Swithed over to KTTV (Dish) and it looked great. Switched over to KTTV (DirecTV) and it looked great.

No Idea why the San Francisco channels look like garbage. DOnt get ABC or CBS from them so I cant comment. Altant stations look pretty good. though

 

[orion6192]

Reply on the Distant Networks from All AMerican Direct

Thank you. It is an uplink issue we are experiencing. We ask that you are patient with us.


So - it may get better or may just be crap... but that was their reply.

 

[minnow]

I have noticed an improvement, especially with the ABC Atlanta feed. I have not seen any audio or signal drops in the past 1/2 hour I had the station on. This weekend was very bad.

 

[KimmiKat]

I live in the area where I can get SF channels over the air and their quality isn't that great.

 

[GaryPen]

I get the SF channels via OTA, via Comcast cable, and via E* (at work) as my local channels.

They look great OTA, especially the Digital broadcasts. (Even SD looks spectacular). They look decent via Comcast digital cable, but outstanding on the digital to digital and HD feeds. They look OK via E* as Locals. Same over-compressed crap as usual.

It's quite possible that E* must use different feeds for SF locals, and SF DNS via NPS, to satisfy the law.

 

[Robert NTSC Archivist]

Well the only good thing to come out of this is I will have the option of watching the San Francisco Giants games on KTVU this season. God I cant remember how many times both the Dodgers and Giants both televised the same game over the air thus keeping it out of the MLB Extra innings package.

 

[doneno]

NPS reply

O got this short and freindly reply (nothing unexpected), to my frustated but kind email to All American / NPS.

Donald,
We are aware of the signal issues and are working to correct it. We
appreciate your patience and value you as a customer.

Angie Commorato
Marketing Manager
AllAmericanDirect.com
NPS, LLC
acommorato@allamericandirect.com

Let's hope they continue to address thos, or a lot of us will go to Direct TV .

I can't get anything in my area over the air or on cable. So, I got ROYALY SCREWED by the courts, for doing nothing wrong.

DE

 

[CeeCee]

Just wanted to share this reply I got this morning from AA/NPS about the poor PQ.

It is being worked on its an uplink issue, which should be resolved
within 48 hours.

 

[Robert NTSC Archivist]

Well the San Francisco NBC station is much improved but the San Francisco FOX station still looka likes its coming from San Francisco and perhaps being picked up OTA down in Fresno and punched up to the satelite.