Poor HD picture

[imarcr2]

Hello,

I just had my dish service upgraded from SD to HD with the new 722 receiver. I wasn't home when the installers were there(wife was home), but when I got home I was underwhelmed by the picture in HD. They hooked it up using HDMI and the TV is a 720p 37inch LG LCD. The color is vibrant, but the picture is very blotchy. One example is on ESPN on the grey bars where it says "ESPN HD" The shading in this area looks like it is paint by numbers, rather than the shading being smooth. This same effect also takes place in the actual picture as well. I have an appointment this weekend with Dish Network to resolve the issue, but he said that the 722 receivers have trouble with the HDMI output, so I went ahead and purchased some component video cables. This didn't improve the situation. SD looks fine without this problem. Also, my signal strength is 51 if that matters.

Any thoughts?

I would like some insight prior to them coming out again

Thanks, Bill

 

[pweezil]

Go to Menu>6>8 and make sure your TV Type is set to 1080i or 720P and your Aspect Ratio is 16x9.

 

[imarcr2]

settings

The settings are correct. As a matter of fact, the picture doen't seem different no matter what resolution I have it set to.


Bill

 

[haertig]

Also, my signal strength is 51 if that matters.

??? Signal strength is displayed for OTA locals coming in to your 722 via your external antenna. ESPN is not a local. You wouldn't have any signal strength indication. Or are you talking about the results you get when you do a "check switch" operation via the 722 menus?

With digital signal strength, be it OTA antenna measurement or Dish satellite measurement, a poor reading will mean your display is there or it's not there. It doesn't just look worse like an analog signal (except for the ultimate case where "worse" = "not there anymore").

What you're describing sounds like banding, where you have discrete shades of a color rather than a continuous transition. I used to see this occasionally in Dishes SD signal back when I had a 522 receiver. Most noticeable when you had a broad expanse of a dark color. I have not seen it with the HD signal coming out of my 722.

Do you have something else you can test with? Borrow a set of component cables from a friend if you don't have any? Or a different HDMI cable? How does your TV perform with an HDDVD or BluRay player connected via HDMI? (If you have, or can borrow, one of those.) Your TV probably has a way to display what type of signal it is currently receiving (1080i, etc.) Does that match what your 722 is set to?

 

[zenithtv]

Upgrade to a LG 1080P Television problems will be fix.

 

[imarcr2]

component cables

I have tried a set of component cables without success. Buying a 1080p set is not really an option. I am sure this TV is adequate as the loop they were running at Circuit City looked great. I don't think my picture as anywhere near the 720p/1080i resolution much less the 1080p. A friend purchased a no name 37inch this past weekend and has comcast HD. His shaded areas are smooth where mine are very blotchy.


Bill

 

[Jim S.]

I was looking at TVs at Circuit City last weekend and they had ESPN-HD on via DirecTV. It looked like crap there too. I've never tried it on Dish because I don't watch sports, but the majority of the other HD channels look OK to me.

 

[Fredinva]

Upgrade to a LG 1080P Television problems will be fix.

get serious, no sat. receiver is gonna display that!!!!!!!!!

 

[old corps]

This is probably silly but are you sure your TV is on the correct input??? What you're describing sounds like what would occur if you were to view HD over composite (NOT component) connections. If the installer had hooked up TV1 with HDMI as well as the composite outputs and you were on the composite input of your TV it would look like you're describing. Kinda farfetched, I know. The only other simple thing I can think of would be if your picture adjustments on the TV are out of whack. In any event, something is definitely wrong! You should have GREAT HD pq on that 720p TV. Good luck!

Ed

 

[rockymtnhigh]

This is probably silly but are you sure your TV is on the correct input??? What you're describing sounds like what would occur if you were to view HD over composite (NOT component) connections. If the installer had hooked up TV1 with HDMI as well as the composite outputs and you were on the composite input of your TV it would look like you're describing. Kinda farfetched, I know. The only other simple thing I can think of would be if your picture adjustments on the TV are out of whack. In any event, something is definitely wrong! You should have GREAT HD pq on that 720p TV. Good luck!

Ed

I agree. Your PQ should be very good. Did you set Dish to output in 720p, since that's the native resolution of your tv?

I am watching a DVR of the original Rocky in HD right now. Even for a 30 year old movie, the PQ looks very good - as good as the sometimes grainy transfer they worked with.

 

[KKlare]

This is probably silly but are you sure your TV is on the correct input??? What you're describing sounds like what would occur if you were to view HD over composite (NOT component) connections. If the installer had hooked up TV1 with HDMI as well as the composite outputs and you were on the composite input of your TV it would look like you're describing. Kinda farfetched, I know. The only other simple thing I can think of would be if your picture adjustments on the TV are out of whack. In any event, something is definitely wrong! You should have GREAT HD pq on that 720p TV. Good luck!

Ed

You could be viewing the RF coax even. Then it will look little better than the OTA SD channels 2-?. Review you source selection.
-Ken

 

[daro]

Feel bad for the guy getting the TC for this.It's probably a tv adjustment that needs to be made.Maybe try turning down the contrast.

 

[kovach]

get serious, no sat. receiver is gonna display that!!!!!!!!!

I almost said the same thing, 1080p will do nothing to upgrade the picture, in fact, may downgrade it since nothing is broadcast in 1080p. The only thing 1080p will help is Blu-Ray or HD DVD.

 

[caam1]

Disconnect any cables going from the receiver to the TV except the HDMI. This will assure that you are watching the HDMI input. Make sure the receiver is set on 720p, 16x9, and the aspect ratio is set on normal. Turn off any noise reduction settings on the TV. If the TV has this option set it to the 0% overscan or "dot by dot" mode. Check a channel that is always transmitting HD such as HD Theater, HD Net, or one of the Voom channels. On good HD material the picture should look like you are looking out a window.

 

[imarcr2]

I did some troubleshooting last night. First, I went to Circuit City to look at the display unit...much better than what I am seeing. Next, I hooked up a standard DVD player....same problem. There are no other cables other than HDMI being "inputted" into the TV, so there is no possibility of the TV selecting a lesser quality input. When I put the "sharpness" level below 50% the blotchiness is reduced somewhat at the expense of ....well sharpness! I am looking to exhange the TV at this point, but I am thinking about taking it to a friend or neighbor's house to see if the problem is source related once and for all.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[netman8762]

Dlp

Try a DLP, all of the LCD's have that "blotchiness". Good Luck!

 

[Van]

One other thing to try before taking the tv to another house, run an extension cord from the tv to an electrical outlette in another room in the house on a diferent circuit. If the circuit the tv is on is overloaded or other issues like feedback from a faulty device your tv can display this by way of picture issues.

 

[Van]

Try a DLP, all of the LCD's have that "blotchiness". Good Luck!

Not true, I've never seen blotching on Sony, Vizio, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic, RCA, or the cheap low end units except when there was a problem in the system or a signal issue. Ive seen the blotching on a 311 I had on a Samsung crt 19 inch that I had and Ive seen it on all other types of tv's with dish at various times.