I have had HD for 1 week and the locals in SD look awful on my HD TV. Of course local HD isnt offered yet. I called to cancel, after 1 week, and they said their is a $250 cancellation fee plus I loose the $$ I paid for the Vip722.. Any thought>?
New HD customer dissatisfied
- Thread starter infospecs
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 51
- Views 5K
The majority of HDTV's I see look awful when used to watch SD Programming.. I have only seen a couple of TV's that actually handle the SD well enough to be really watchable. That being said.. All SD Locals seem to be so bit starved that they don't even look good on an SD Set. I can't watch them at all.. If there is any way you can hook up an OTA antenna and get your locals that way you will be more than satisfied..
Not that you would actually do this but I bet if you went to the thrift store and bought two 20 inch regular old TVs and looked at your locals provided by cable on one and locals by dish on the other, you couldn't see any difference. And I'd even bet there's a better than even chance that you wouldn't see much difference on a pair of 27 inch tube TVs either.
Locals converted that many times between the station and your HDTV will always look like crap after you've seen a good HD picture in your own living room.
I think Dish is right to charge you $250 if you cancel. Were you under the impression they offered you a "satisfaction guaranteed" deal?
I'd put up an antenna or just hold on till Dish makes your locals HD.
Sorry for the cold water.
An antenna for OTA might be your only solution if you don't want to pay the cancellation fees. You signed a contract for 18 months when you got it installed.
Echo that as far as OTA HD quality! OTA HD (in most markets) is far superior to what you will receive by either DBS provider. I use my local PBS channel received OTA as my overall HD benchmark for b'cst programming. The only thing that beats it is HD from disk. The quality of OTA HD will vary with how the b'cstr decides to allocate his BW. In the case of our local PBS, it is evident that they want to showcase the HD program. Their SD program (not necessarily the same) is only adequate. They also have a second SD program which is apparently BBC, and the PQ of that really $uck$! I don't need either so I'm glad they're allocating the right amount of resource to the HD content!
How long will it be until your LiLs are available as HD? If you know your DMA you can check the list available in this forum and elsewhere in terms of E*'s priority. If you're in the top 5 or so of those pending, you might have HD LiL from E* within a year or so. I'm somewhere near 85 overall, so I don't expect anything in my lifetime!
Another hint: I live in a marginal area for OTA signals, thus I need all the help I can get. It turns out that the tuners in either of my Sony TVs are superior to that in my 622. So for some programs I get better performance if I just connect directly to the TV. Of course I lose my DVR functions, but most of the time I'll have a better overall viewing experience.
Welcome to the forum, BTW...
How long will it be until your LiLs are available as HD? If you know your DMA you can check the list available in this forum and elsewhere in terms of E*'s priority. If you're in the top 5 or so of those pending, you might have HD LiL from E* within a year or so. I'm somewhere near 85 overall, so I don't expect anything in my lifetime!
Another hint: I live in a marginal area for OTA signals, thus I need all the help I can get. It turns out that the tuners in either of my Sony TVs are superior to that in my 622. So for some programs I get better performance if I just connect directly to the TV. Of course I lose my DVR functions, but most of the time I'll have a better overall viewing experience.
Welcome to the forum, BTW...
This is the reason I am with Dish. HD. I have been with Dish for over a year and I have found myself not watching programs I use to watch simply because it is not in hd. Call an hd Snob.
What type of connection are you using hdmi cables or component cables? They guy I work with says on his mitsubishi dlp tv(which is new and 1080P) has a much better picture when he switched to component cables(green blue red red & white) rather than the hdmi cable that I use but my digital channels look ok not great but ok on my samsung dlp. Try component cables and get an off air antennae if you live close enough to get a good signal to obtain hd locals and you should be satisfied with the picture.
Don't take some of the responces as indefference to your situation. This is a problem that all people new to HD and HD format tv's deal with.
There are several things to consider when in this situation. SD programing displayed on the large format of HD tv's will look far worse than on and old format SDTV. First thing that most people do is strech the picture to fit the new 16:9 format screen. This distorts the picture in the first place. Second because the HDTV is most of the time a larger screen with the ability to show a sharper image, it will show the flaws in an SD picture that an old SDTV would mask.
The next thing is in the perception. After you have been able to watch the great picture that you get with your tv in HD, that picture that you now see on your locals in SD really looks bad. The picture is really no worse than it was before, you just think it looks worse now.
So we really need more info from you to help you have a better viewing experience. Did you just change tv's when you went to Dish HD? How do you have you TV setup to view SD programs? Do you have the ability to add OTA into your Dish system?
There are several things you can do to try and improve your locals. Settings on your tv and Dish system can be changed to improve picture. Adding OTA locals is the best option, but not always possible.
We look forward to helping you work through this.
I'm not sure there is such a list available. There will be very little city additions until mid-next year when E*'s new satellite should be launched and running. Priority also becomes a moot point when locals try to charge more than Charlie is willing to spend. All in all, you should redirect your energies to getting a good OTA antenna. Even if you had HD locals, OTA will always be superior no matter what company, cable or Satellite you are with. And just to reiterate everyone above, SD will look bad on and HDTV no matter what. Your issue is not with Dish in that department.
not aware of a Echostar/dish one, but here's a list.
EKB: Dish HD Locals
best to ask the company if you are that unsatisfied. you could try the ceo@echostar.com and ask if and when you will be on the HD list.
I guess I am just being to picky. I did sign the contract and knew that loca hd was not available. I am over 40 miles from Cleveland and will attempt the ota antenna. I am looking at gettingthe biggest that Radio Shack has to offer and put it in my attic. Any more suggestions?
Some may disagree, but I would suggest getting something better than a radio shack antenna.
Go with Channel Master or Winegard.
You might also want to keep the possibility open that you'll need a amplifier on it if it's in the attic. Depending on the terrain you may get great reception or spotty. An amp could help
