Real poor deffinition on locals ..

[costanzas_wallet]

ever since I upgraded to HD, my Locals (Standard Def only) come in real poorly. There are streams of 2x2 blocks that run down the darker parts of the picture, kinda like in the Matrix (is that called artifacting?)

i have a 37" Vizio, and I guess, even though it says its 1080i on the box, the true definition is closer to 720p? I dont understand it at all.. I'm just going off of what I can gather.

I am slow to change the receiver to 720 because I dont know if the downgrade in HD is worth the upgrade in SD.. or if it will even help. I also have no clue how to change the tv to 720 from 1080... but I do know that the downgrade in quality of my locals, which I pay a premium for, sucks. and OTA doesnt work out too well in my town.

Ideas on what would help?

 

[MikeD-C05]

Put the receiver in 720p and see if that helps. Also something you can try is to put the receiver in 4x3 #2 mode and it will put the right format for your sd shows. You will have to use stretch to make the hd channels look like they do in 16 x 9. Your sd channels will say normal mode and be locked so you can't change them , but they will look in proportion and they won't look as bad as partial zoom or zoom mode in 16 x 9 mode. Hd channels will say stretch.

IF you don't want to do that leave it in 16 x 9 and 720p and leave the picture in normal mode on both sd and hd channels and you will have black pillar bars on your sd picture and on hd picture when it isn't showing hd.

I have a 26 " tube top Toshiba hd tv that is supposed to do 1080i ,in my master bedroom . I have a 622 and it only looks right in 720p . I tried 1080i but the picture looks worse. So try different resolutions and formats till you are satisfied with the picture. IF you can use antenna I would recommend it as you will get hd at least ota.

 

[costanzas_wallet]

well.. it doesnt seem to matter which setting i have the box in.. there is only a change in HD .... the locals and a lot of other SD channels still suck. i was watching the doors last night on vh1 classic and there were constant green block-lines going down the screen... really apparent on the darker scenes. wish i could screen shot what i'm talking about.

i called dish last night and spoke with an (american) tech support agent who knew what i was talking about (wow?) ... she said it sounds like the dish that is picking up those stations may be out of aim and is sending out a tech to take a look.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Then try dishquality@echostar.com for all audio/video complaints.

 

[costanzas_wallet]

I did yesterday .. haha .. and he JUST called about 6:11pm est... about 30 minutes ago. unfortunately I'm at work right now and really cant do much chatting.. plus im sure im going to need to be at home... but its real funny you mentioned that.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

I will also say that in my DMA, non Hi-Def locals come in very poorly. This is a result of dish getting the signal from the Local TV stations as an analog feed. If that is the case in your DMA, the signal is being received in digital by your Local TV station, modulated to an analog signal by your local TV station, received as analog by dish networks up link, converted to digital and compressed again in MPEG-2 for Sat Transmission, then with a signal that has been converted too many times already, up converted to 1080i, 720p (whichever you have set) by your receiver. So it ends up looking like crap. Unfortunately, until Feb 2009 when all broadcast TV has to be digital, this is probably the way it will look.

 

[Barry Erick]

Dish (and DirecTV) are changing from the analog feeds from stations (since it will dissappear in February) to the digital feed in SD mode for thier locals. In this market, they are doing it the middle of June. They want to fill the screen during SD times and when HD, down convert it to SD 4:3. Automatically. Sure.