New HD subscriber

[bhodge10]

hello everybody, I just got a 622 installed (to replace a 522) and wanted to know how the PQ for HD is compared to OTA HD. I only got to play with it for a few minutes and the HD seemed kind of soft. The channels i viewed were like ESPN, discovery HD (not theater) and the installer put it on some concert/music channel in the 9400 channel #'s (I wasn't paying attention as to what channel it was) and it HD picture quality seemed kind of soft and blocky.

I have a new 58" Panasonic Plasma which has a great picture.

So is the PQ for Dish HD not as good as OTA HD?

Thanks,

 

[8bitbytes]

What is your HD output on the 622 set to? Hit MENU 6, 8. Switch between 720p and 1080i and see if there is a difference.

Yes, OTA will look markedly different than the Sat HD channels. Sat HD in order to conserve bandwidth has been scaled down to 1440x1080 or even 1280x1080 and compressed. It can look a little soft.

 

[bhodge10]

I've tried both 720P and 1080i. 1080i is a little better. Although my tv is 720P native.

 

[8bitbytes]

I've tried both 720P and 1080i. 1080i is a little better. Although my tv is 720P native.

That seems to be fairly common among the 720p folks. Your device is doing a better job of scaling than the 622 apparently. From what I understand, all of Dish's HD channels are beamed out as 1080i, even if the native feed to them is 720p. So setting your 622 to 1080i allows the receiver to do a sort of pass-through and allows your display to scale the signal.

When Dish finally gets all their content encoded as MPEG4, hopefully we will see the HD signal resolutions come back up to 1920x1080.

 

[Poke]

What kind of cable are you using? HDMI or something else?

 

[8bitbytes]

What kind of cable are you using? HDMI or something else?

Ah, good point. Forgot about the cabling. I keep forgetting people are still using composite or s-video.

 

[bhodge10]

I am using HDMI cable.

 

[8bitbytes]

I am using HDMI cable.

Then, I think you are getting the best signal you can get.

Come on MPEG4!

 

[bhodge10]

That's what I'm thinking too. A little disappointing but still better than SD.

 

[8bitbytes]

That's what I'm thinking too. A little disappointing but still better than SD.

Way better than SD, especially on my 90 inch screen!

 

[Cyclone]

Way better than SD, especially on my 42 inch screen!

 

[bhodge10]

what is the best channel currently for PQ?

 

[8bitbytes]

Don't laugh....

The Dishnetwork HD Demo Channel. But, I think that is only on the 61.5 satellite.

Now that the Voom channels are being moved to MPEG4, I am looking forward to comparing the Equator and Rush channels to stuff I have from before.

 

[bhodge10]

I believe I have the 61.5 satellite. He put replaced my old dish and put 2 new ones in with one being the 61.5. I haven't looked at them yet, but he said I would get better reception by having the 2 since the 129 is so low (his words). Is it true that I should get better reception?

 

[KAB]

what is the best channel currently for PQ?

Food Network is pretty WOW.

 

[8bitbytes]

I believe I have the 61.5 satellite. He put replaced my old dish and put 2 new ones in with one being the 61.5. I haven't looked at them yet, but he said I would get better reception by having the 2 since the 129 is so low (his words). Is it true that I should get better reception?

Yes, if you can use the 61.5 dish, use it. 129 has problems and much rejoicing will occur the day it is replaced.

The only problem with using a 61.5 where you are supposed to use 129 is with Regional Sports Networks. They are satellite specific. The RSNs I would like to watch on on the 129.

 

[8bitbytes]

Food Network is pretty WOW.

OH YEAH! That's right! I recorded the Wedding Cake competition and the PQ on that is awesome! I cannot believe what these chefs can fabricate out of sugar and food coloring!

 

[cparker]

Have you calibrated your Panasonic plasma? Most people can't afford (or just don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks) to have it professionally calibrated, but if you haven't calibrated it since you brought it home, you really should. It may even have shipped with a DVD in the box.I have a Panasonic 42" plasma and making a few minor adjustments made a big difference.

OH... and HD that you get OTA does look better than any other HD (at least any other HD that I have access to... I don't have blu-ray or anything), but satellite HD should be a huge improvement over any SD.

 

[bhodge10]

I haven't calibrated it yet. I have it set to vivid as I like the color with this setting, I realize this is just a personal preference.

Although I did find a post on a site that had showed the settings of my particular model of TV after an ICF(?) calibration. I can honestly say that it looked worse, but to each there own. I do have a calibration DVD that I haven't had a chance to play with yet.

Although, just thinking about it, the set has individual settings for each input and this is the first time I've had to use the HDMI so this may need to be adjusted. Thanks for pointing that out!

The set is set to Vivid for both Component and the antenna input which is when I briefly had an OTA hooked up and it looked great.

 

[Jim5506]

With your settings you may very well be burning the phosphors on your plasma and drasticlly shortening the life of your display.

Turn the brightness and contrast down to recommended levels.