New HD customer dissatisfied

[steve4810]

Those 2 little Tv's I am sure look just fine on DISHSD.
Your 1080P has to look like hell. Or your just gotten used to it or your kidding yourself. Maybe we can get one of the TP analyst guys we have here in the forum to give us a actual bit rate of the DISHSD channels and see how it stacks up to other services available, including feeds that are available free or with sub but require a BUD to view.

Who's kidding who?

Dish SD is just fine.

And, OK, I'll admit it; your dish is bigger than my dish. I can deal with it. Really.

 

[steve4810]

SD looks fine on my 65-inch Mitsubishi DLP. One of the main reasons I went with this set is it's ability to display a nice SD picture. It was as good as others in displaying HD, but clearly outshone them when viewing SD.

I am sorry for the problems the OP is experiencing, just putting this here to let people know that not all HDTV's display SD like crap.

And I think he should know that a lot of this is totally subjective.

My kid refused to add digital cable for years because he couldn't deal with the "motion artifacts" that it brought that wasn't present on the best analog cable. It got to be like Cindy Crawford's mole. When you notice it, sometimes you can't see anything else. And that's saying something.

And as has already been pointed out, analog to digital SD conversions and the problems it causes is going to go the way of the dinosaur very very soon.

Then SD will just be 480i "High Definition TV"

 

[Kb Cool]

Who's kidding who?

Dish SD is just fine.

That's exactly what DISH wants to hear but they won't hear it from me.
In fact i've emailed them to let them know how terrible their SD is. Also wrote HBO and let them know that I would be dropping my sub to HBO through DISHNET because the SD looks so bad. Never heard any thing back from HBO but DISH responded with a "were working on it". I know longer use DISH for premium movie service as i get those on my BUD. But i do continue to sub to DISHHD. It sucks having to use 2 different providers but I still watch a lot of SD and the premiums on DISH aren't worth the $40 a month. Yes I do pay more than that for all the premiums on 4DTV but IMO it's worth it.

 

[jerryez]

I have a Dish 500 and a single dish for 61.5. I have a Toshiba 65inch HDTV and my SD picture upconverted with my VIP722 and my Toshiba is very acceptable. Now the SD out picture is not that great, but the upconverted pic is pretty good. Myabe you tv needs adjusting. Have you adjusted it or had it adjusted.

 

[gbjbany]

I agree that this is a combo of set and transmission, as you can look at different channels and some look worse than others on the same set. BBC America for example can look really bad on occasion On that note, OTA will not help with all the non-local SD channels, like BBC America, it will therefore also depend how much you watch other channels on how much an OTA will help you.

 

[Kb Cool]

I agree that this is a combo of set and transmission, as you can look at different channels and some look worse than others on the same set. BBC America for example can look really bad on occasion On that note, OTA will not help with all the non-local SD channels, like BBC America, it will therefore also depend how much you watch other channels on how much an OTA will help you.

Yes,
E* crams more channels on certain Transponders than others. Thats probally why some people think SD looks just fine and others find them appalling. It really depends on the channel you are watching. I did some bit rate calculations on the transponders where DISH crams 14 channels on it and came up with a bit rate of about 2.18 mbps per channel.
12 channels per transponder gives about 2.5 mbps per channel. A little better but still Sh!t.

 

[haertig]

I have had HD for 1 week and the locals in SD look awful on my HD TV.

Is it just the locals that look bad in SD or all channels (remember, SD will never look as good as HD)? If some SD channels are acceptable (not great, but acceptable) and it's just your locals, then the problem is in the signal that Dish is sending you. You may be able to make some TV picture adjustments to compensate a little (I'd try decreasing sharpness, contrast, and brightness as a start - and make sure your TV is not set to "showroom gaudy" mode). If all SD channels look terrible then chances are maybe a little better that you can adjust your TV for a better picture (no guarrantees). If you're currently using HDMI for connection, try component. Or vica versa if you're currently using component.

I find that on my SD channels, some are acceptable and others are pretty much unwatchable. I can't comment on my locals because I'm lucky enough to have them in HD and have never tuned to their SD counterparts. I also have an OTA antenna and my Dish HD locals are on par with what I get OTA (Denver area). I haven't done really close inspection of any differences, but a casual look doesn't show a whole lot of difference. How does Dish HD look on your set?

 

[webbydude]

From what I've seen, the problem *IS* with the Cleveland locals. They definitely look overcompressed. I never noticed it when I had a SD television and my 625. The moment I upgraded to the 722 and swapped out televisions, you can notice a difference. And by difference, I mean more than the traditional SD to HD difference. On a scale of 1 to 10, CNN SD is about 7, Food HD is a 10...and *ANY* of the Cleveland locals are about 4.

As stated earlier, the only "solution" I've been able to come up with is the OTA one.

 

[Kb Cool]

From what I've seen, the problem *IS* with the Cleveland locals. They definitely look overcompressed. I never noticed it when I had a SD television and my 625. The moment I upgraded to the 722 and swapped out televisions, you can notice a difference. And by difference, I mean more than the traditional SD to HD difference. On a scale of 1 to 10, CNN SD is about 7, Food HD is a 10...and *ANY* of the Cleveland locals are about 4.

As stated earlier, the only "solution" I've been able to come up with is the OTA one.

Your clevland locals share a Transponder with 12 other channels. On the otherhand CNN only shares a transponder with 4 video channels and 7 radio channels. That is why CNN looks better.
There's nothing you can do about it other than going OTA. But you might want to call DISH and at least voice your concern of the quality not being up to par. If more people did it we might have really good looking sdtv without having to resort to a really big ugly looking dish or in your case OTA.

Oh yeah I forgot, Don't you work for DISH. You should already know all this stuff i am telling you

<<Like I tell a lot of my HD customers>>

 

[infospecs]

Thanks for all of the responses to my original post. It is mainly the Cleveland locals that look really bad. The other SD’s, while not HD, look better than Locals. I attempted the OTA antenna install today. We are really in a bad location for this, as we sit in the bottom of our allotment. Just plugged into my TV, with the antenna on my deck, the 150 mile one from RS. I got Fox and CBS and they were bad. NBC and CBS did not come in at all, probably because they are transmitted on UHF 3 & 5. So, I am thinking about going with my local cable provider, getting a used HD TIVO and a cable card. The price is $22 month... Then I can always resell the TIVO. Haven’t decided if it is worth it yet. It seems that there aren’t too many HD programs on locals anyway except the news and sports..... Or drop dish and go Direct. That would cost me $250 in cancellation plus I loose the $149 for the Vip722.......

 

[Katmandoitall]

Local SD stations awful, on HD. TRY a line doubler.

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>?

This is something DISH doesn't warn you about.
Interesting that they want YOU to pay for their
obvious mistake. They should have HD locals
when you pay the HD fee. All stations will be
HD soon.

There are line doublers out there. I think SOME
of the DISH receivers are also LINE DOUBLERS.

I have a View Sonic convertor box that has HD
composite, standard Composite inputs,
and Computer inputs, NOT hdmi, though.

Feeds into my 24" wide screen Sony CRT A7217a Monitor.
Resolution is outstanding. I run my SD dvd
machine through it and it's really a nice signal.
The box uses the standard computer monitor
connector. The convertor box cost about $200;
needs a cooling fan aimed at it though, it will
overheat without it. It's a non-maintainable
unit. Had one burn out after warranty period. It
becomes a throw away unit. Now, I cool it when it's
running.

I have the 811 and HAD planned on getting HD
service soon. I do my own installs (Army experience
FINALLY pays off and 40 years as an electrician.)
because I don't want to wait around for some
UNDERPAID installer to take up my entire day doing
the driving to my place and then the install time.
I waste much less time doing it myself.
I also don't have a contract to pay off;
should I not want the service; by doing it myself.

I'll be sure to make them TELL me and put it in an
email that local stations will look better on HD.
I don't want to get screwed by them like you did.

I had them YEARS ago and they kept screwing up the bill.
Had them shut it off in protest. It's been about 4-5 years now.

I figure I'd try them again.
Definetly don't want them to do the install.
I simply don't trust strangers in my compound.

Around my city cable and satellite
installers have set up burgularies.
I have to much to loose.

 

[Katmandoitall]

Some people advocate, KILLING YOUR TV....

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?

I know a lot of people who would rather KILL their
TV than put up with the programming and technical
difficulties.
With the WRITER'S strike looming; I'm stuck wether
to sign back onto Satellite service with Dish.