Not happy with StarzHD quality

[slacker9876]

That is just starz. They don't have all of the movies they show in HD. Many are Sd upconverted...

Why is it that up-conversion is an issue? I have the Denon DVD-1910 and it's quality @ 1080i far exceeds HD as offered by DirecTV. There is not a single HD DVD in my library and they are all up-converted, certainly a network (Starz & E*) has better technology than a $200 DVD player is equipped with.

 

[gdarwin]

Stealth is looking pretty good right now off 61.5.

 

[M Sparks]

Stealth is looking pretty good right now off 61.5.

Actually, I was just about to say that I was finally seeing a problem on Stealth. I just flipped by for 30 seconds and it looked terrible. The other things I've seen have been fine.

They're obviously tweaking it. It'll get better.

 

[ralfyguy]

Anybody have CC on STARZ HD?

 

[device manager]

I'm watching Out of Sight as we speak and it's some of the best HD quality I have seen on my KDF-E50A10. It's very detailed and the colors are vibrant. However I did notice a blob of garbage pixelation in the center of the screen for a split second that appeared to be black and white.

Thank goodness we have more HD channels!

 

[long_time_DNC]

I saw a lot of problems (jitter, fuzzy, etc) during Stealth last night. I sent off an email to the dishquality address along with lots of description/info about the issues with 129 in-general. It'll be interesting to see what (if anything?) they reply with.

 

[Sean Mota]

I do not have Starz HD on Dish but I do have it on Cable and it does not look like you guys describe it on HD movies. I have lots of HD movies recorded on the DVR from Starz HD and each one so far has been flawless.

 

[1080psf]

Starzhd Has Heavy Compression Artifacting. Looks Like They Are Using Single Feild Mode, Dropping Feilds, Its Real Easy To See The Artifacting In The End Credits, Looks Jumpy, Should Be A Smooth Roll, But You Can See The Sikpped Frames Or Fields In A Repeated Pattern The Credits Are Almost Unreadable. It's Also Smeary They Are Averaging The Frame Rate Down Very Low. This Is Unacceptable To Me. I Want Them To Down The Compression. Makes It Hard To Enjoy A Movie For Sure. Just Watched Stealth, Jummpy And Blured Frames. Almost Got Dizzy Watching With The Blur. This Brings Hd-lite To A Whole New Level!

 

[Mark Strube]

I certainly agree. I heard they've got both mpeg4 channels on the sat in mpeg2 anyways... I wish they'd just switch us to that feed!! What a disappointment.

 

[rgerst]

Starz HD looks very jumpy to me. I tried to watch Bewitched but I had to delete the recording. It was making me feel sick to my stomach. They have got to fix this channel. The other new HD channels look fine to me.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Starz HD looks very jumpy to me. I tried to watch Bewitched but I had to delete the recording. It was making me feel sick to my stomach. They have got to fix this channel. The other new HD channels look fine to me.

Thankyou ,I feel the same way as I get a headache and feel almost sea sick when I watch some of the shows on Starz hd. Please send your emails and complain ,complain, complain to :

dishquality@echostar.com


\Keep the emails coming !!!

 

[trafter]

I'm just wondering if there is a difference depending on the satellite location. Maybe those folks on 61.5 are getting a better picture vs. 129. Do we know for sure that it is an issue with both birds?

 

[dfergie]

I'm just wondering if there is a difference depending on the satellite location. Maybe those folks on 61.5 are getting a better picture vs. 129. Do we know for sure that it is an issue with both birds?

Yes good question...

 

[gdarwin]

I'll switch out 61.5 tonight and see what happens.

 

[M Sparks]

Starzhd Has Heavy Compression Artifacting. Looks Like They Are Using Single Feild Mode, Dropping Feilds, Its Real Easy To See The Artifacting In The End Credits, Looks Jumpy, Should Be A Smooth Roll, But You Can See The Sikpped Frames Or Fields In A Repeated Pattern The Credits Are Almost Unreadable. It's Also Smeary They Are Averaging The Frame Rate Down Very Low. This Is Unacceptable To Me. I Want Them To Down The Compression. Makes It Hard To Enjoy A Movie For Sure. Just Watched Stealth, Jummpy And Blured Frames. Almost Got Dizzy Watching With The Blur. This Brings Hd-lite To A Whole New Level!

Well, it's easier to read than your post!

Seriously though, that sort of problem is usually caused by reversed field dominance. Your TV is expecting to see the even field first for each frame, but it sees the odd one. (or vice versa). It makes everything take three steps forward, one back, three forward, one back, ect.

I don't know why that would be an issue with a realtime encoder. I've screwed it up a few time rendering motion graphics.

 

[nazz]

I just checked Judge Dredd off of 61.5 and it seems to look alright on my 65" Rear Projection through component.

 

[ralfyguy]

Has anyone noticed that the Closed Captioning doesn't work on STARZ HD?

 

[Turd Fergeson]

I jumped in early on this post and said all was great, but things have changed. I can't see Starz. NO PICTURE on live tv and if I record it no picture but if I fast foward it I can see the picture. When I hit play the picture freezes. The sound works fine all the time. I have tried all flavors of resets with no results.

 

[ripnbigc]

damn i was pissed last night when Heat was on in 4:3. starz needs to get their sh*t together, that is just pathetic.

I feel the same way. I DVR'd it cause its such a great movie. I was really mad when I played it. At first I thought I'd recorded the sd channel. Also noticed that all the descriptions have (HD) even if they're not.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Got a reply from the dishquality today. Essentially, they thanked me for writing, said they've heard from others about the Starz-HD issue and the 129 issue as well and are glad to hear from concerned customers.

Here's part of what they said:

We have confirmed it. Our Engineering team is aware of the picture quality issues. We are making some sample recordings that our Engineering team can use to assist in their troubleshooting efforts. Please note this may take some time to resolve. There are several possibilities that will need to be examined to identify exactly what may be causing this phenomenon. Be assured we are pursuing these issues. As you are aware HD technology is relatively new and therefore new challenges must be overcome.

They never addressed the 129 issue at all. Not a word.