Picture Quality Noticable Getting Worse

[Nealio]

Hello everyone, n00b question here. I've searched for it, but I'm trying to figure out something in particular that most posts don't talk about. That being blockyness.

For the past month or two at least I have noticed my picture quality has been getting worse--a lot worse! I get blocky pixels during even medium motion. I have even been getting "ghost" frames too. I'm talking about standard definition signal and tv too. It used to look nice and crisp a few months ago compared to what it is now.

When the dish guy installed my system a few years ago, he said that the neighbor's trees might eventually grow to be in the way.

Can someone tell me what type of signal strength/quality (and on which satellites and transponders) I should be getting to have minimum blocky pixels? All of channels seem to be like this, not just locals... I notice it especially on ones like Cartoon Network.

 

[RandallA]

What kind of signal readings do you have? Post readings for satellites 119 and 110 on Transponder 11. We need to know the receiver you have and if you have 129 or 61.5.

 

[Nealio]

My receiver is a 311 model

Satellite 110 - Transponder 11: Signal is 101-103
Satellite 119 - Transponder 11: Signal is 113-114

Those are the only two I am hooked up to.

That signal is actually is pretty good, isn't it? Is Dish cutting back it's bitrate or something?

 

[chrisd_az]

PQ has been going down!!! Now I have what looks like a faded black line going up an down on the right side of my TV when i'm watching a HD channel!!! Is it programing or my TV??? Thanks!!

 

[RandallA]

My receiver is a 311 model

Satellite 110 - Transponder 11: Signal is 101-103
Satellite 119 - Transponder 11: Signal is 113-114

Those are the only two I am hooked up to.

That signal is actually is pretty good, isn't it? Is Dish cutting back it's bitrate or something?

Signals are very good, that's what I used to have and never had drop outs on the 311. It could be the cable or a barrel connector. Is there a barrel connector from the LNB to the receiver? They must be rated to 3.0 Ghz.

 

[Nealio]

Barrel connector... hmm I goggled a picture of it, but I'm not sure if there is one or not. I can take a look in the morning when it is light outside. Where would one of these be located at?

 

[RandallA]

Barrel connector... hmm I goggled a picture of it, but I'm not sure if there is one or not. I can take a look in the morning when it is light outside. Where would one of these be located at?

Holland 3Ghz F81 - G-F81F

It could be on the wall plate.

 

[Nealio]

Alright, well I don't have any wall plates. My cables come in through hidden holes. I have two 311 receivers, and the only thing I saw from the dish to my receivers was what looked like some kind of a loop splitter. I believe it has a ground wire connected to my electric box. The Dish guy installed that 2-3 years ago. So it should be good, shouldn't it?

As I mentioned before, it used to look good up until the last month or two. The most annoying thing about it is that every once in a while (not too often, but it's enough to annoy) there are noticeable ghost / strange artifact frames. Any other ideas for things I can check on?

 

[RandallA]

That's your ground block. Have you checked the connections outside? Connections at the dish, the ground block. Just make sure there's not water or you don't see corrosion. How is the receiver connected to the TV? Coax or Composite (red, yellow, white cable).

 

[Nealio]

I'll go out and check the connections in a minute. Would it hurt anything to unscrew each cable, clean off its connection, and then screw it back together?

I have tried using coax, composite, and s-video. They are all producing the same thing.

 

[RandallA]

No, it won't hurt unless someone is watching TV. Since you tried different cables, have you tried a different TV?

 

[Nealio]

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. Anyways, I checked all of the connections and they were too tight to unscrew. They still all looked new/clean so I think they are good.

I haven't been able to check the other receiver lately because the TV in that room isn't working right. I'll try to move a TV in that room soon and see if it has any problems.

 

[Nealio]

OK, well I've had a busy weekend but I was able to move my TV to my downstairs receiver. There seemed to be less of the problem, but it is still there. I have hooked up a receiver to my PC's capture card and recorded a short clip. Should I post some pictures of the ghosting/artifacting that I am talking about? Also just in case you are wondering, this problem is not an interlacing problem.

 

[Nealio]

I know I'm bringing this old topic alive again, but I am still having the same "ghosting" problem. I'm kind of thinking it could be the cabling. Do coax cables go bad after just a few years? I'm asking because the Dish installer put in new cables for everything except the line going to the receiver that I'm currently having a problem with. He used the old (3-4 years at the most) coax cables that my old Cable company installed since they were already running up to my room. I told the installer not to, but he did anyways.

It's a pretty big pain to test out another cable since the receiver is on the second story of my house, but I might be able to run a cable through my door to test it out. I'll have to buy a cable from somewhere, so what kind is typically recommended? I'll hunt on the Internet or at local stores to find something.

Also, just in case you are wondering/don't want to read the other posts, my TV downstairs does is not producing any of this ghosting... it is only my upstairs one--and it used to not do this a few months ago.

Thanks in advance. You guys are great!

 

[osu1991]

Make sure the cable is rg6 and rated to 3ghz

 

[RandallA]

You can just head to Home Depot or Lowes and get some RG6 cable there.

How is the receiver connected to the TV? RF, Composite, S-Video. If it's RF (channel 3 or 4), try a composite cable. It could be that the tuner is going bad on the TV thus the ghosting.

 

[WhitePolarBear]

Guys, I wonder if the blocky pixels described is due to increased data compression from Dish. I've seen the severity of this varies from channel to channel. Even among premium channels such as varies HBO and Showtime, I can tell there are some better than others. I don't know if it varies during different times of the day.

 

[KenB123]

My receiver is a 311 model

Satellite 110 - Transponder 11: Signal is 101-103
Satellite 119 - Transponder 11: Signal is 113-114

Those are the only two I am hooked up to.

That signal is actually is pretty good, isn't it? Is Dish cutting back it's bitrate or something?

I thought I read somewhere on this forum that there are two signal readings scales. An old and current scale. Is this accurate? If so, are these readings on the old scale

I ask because my signal readings are more around 70-80 (for 110 , 119). If our readings are actually in the same format, then I would think you should be getting a great signal compared to mine (which is okay).

 

[Dgenx321]

The 301 and 311 still use the old scale.

Your 70 and 80 are really 100's and 110's on the old scale.

So you are both fine.

 

[Jim S.]

I was tinkering with my TV settings last night and for once I thought the SD picture quality actually looked better instead of worse. It could've been something I changed on the TV, but I was surprised at how much of a change it seemed to be.