Signal Level/HD Picture Quality

[BL1STER]

I know its probably been asked before but , would getting my WA 1002 signal levels above mid 50's improve my PQ? I thought I had read somewhere that anything above 40's didn't matter much.

Thanks

 

[dwarren2]

With digital you either have a clear picture, a picture with pixilation or No Signal. If you are gettinga clear picture, that's all that matters. PQ is a functionality of the encoding.

 

[garys]

Higher signal strength will result in less dropouts, that's about all.

 

[duke02]

Out of curiosity, what is considered good or signal strength? I had a hopper install done this weekend and the signal meters show in the 60s. I was used to always seeing 90s with DTV but the tech said dish's system is different and 60s were great

 

[Mr Tony]

on western arc 60s to low 70s is fine

 

[broeddog]

On the western arc with a hopper I have 50's on the 129 satellite on several transponders. The tech who was out here yesterday hooked his meter up and told me everything was within limits, what exactly does that mean? I would assume it means that the dish is aimed well enough to pass tests for authorizing the receivers but can the dish be tweaked to improve the signal. I have had some issues with rain fade that I think are related to alignment, are 50's on the 129 any indication of a mis aligned dish?

 

[3HaloODST]

On 129 (and Eastern Arc) anything above mid to high 40s is great. On 110/119 anything above mid to high 60s is great. Signal strength does not affect PQ. Signal strength of 10 or higher is necessary for satellite lock. A channel with a (steady) 11 will look as good as a channel with 50+. The reason to aim for higher signal strengths is to minimize effects of rain fade during storms. The higher the signal strength, the more leeway you have when storms come through. However there is a point of diminishing returns. Striving for ultra-high signal strength will only gain you an extra 10 seconds of sat signal during a heavy storm. Thus the reason why people say mid-to-high 40s is great on 129/EA and mid-to-high 60s is great on 110/119.

By the way, 110/119 are no more powerful than the rest of the sats, they just use an (older) form of modulation that is compatible with old (outdated) standard-definition receivers. The set-top boxes measure the signal strength of this modulation differently, however mid-high 60s is about the same as mid-high 40s on the HD/EA satellites. Sooner or later Dish will get rid of all the obsolete receivers that require this older modulation scheme and will upgrade all of the 110/119 transponders to the new scheme. This will make the signal strength "lower" on the sats but again, mid-to-high 40s and up is fine.

 

[Jim5506]

One thing to look at if you are not satisfied with PQ is to be sure the receiver is set to either 720p or 1080i, usually to match the ability of your display.

Default on these receivers is 480p, so you may be seeing a reeeely good 480p picture when you could have a maavelous 1080i picture.

 

[broeddog]

3Halo does your feedback apply to 129 on the western arc as well.

 

[3HaloODST]

129 is on the Western Arc. However yes, 129 yields similar signal strength readings as the EA sats in most locations. Again, 45+ for 61.5/72.7/77/129 is great, 65+ for 110/119 is great.