Unsatisfied with D*picture quality

[mmulet]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for MPEG-4. MPEG-4 compresses things even more; it is good for portable devices with small screens, and even then, you see a TON of artifacts.

No doubt that some people are more discerning of their television image, in which case SD on just about any system may just look bad.

mmulet

 

[Ricknau]

Bilboa,

You are right, it is in the Directv signal and you're not being too picky IMO. And unfortunately changing to Dish Network won't help at all. You are re-living exactly what I went through when I first got my 50" TV except that I was a Dish Network subscriber at the time (about a year ago). I couldn't believe that they could sell that kind of crappy SD PQ. I had noticed the compression artifacts more and more over the months on my 27" but it was a tolerable annoyance. But on the 50" it was unbarable. I canceled Dish within a week and took a chance with Voom. Their SD was a little better but still waaaay sub par to what SD could/should be. So now I'm a Directv customer because they were the last resort when Voom went belly up. And I wasn't surprised to see that their SD sucks just like all the others.

My advise is to definitely step up to HD. Get the HD distant networks from satellite. If, as you say, you have no digital OTA stations it should (hopefully) be easily allowed. SD network shows will look much better from these feeds and the HD shows (much of primetime) will look waaay better than what you see now. (Yes I know the HD could be better, but any HD is heaven compared to the regular SD off the satellites.) Add to this primetime stuff the ton of sports available on the regular networks, ESPNHD and ESPN2HD. And even though ESPNHD shows a lot of games in SD, they look much better than their counterparts on the non-HD channels. Plus there's the DiscoveryHD, HDNet stuff, etc. (Again, not super HD quality for now but miles ahead of the internet-like "streaming video" that is normal satellite SD.) All of this together will give you at least some channels with decent to great PQ. Really, if you appreciate good PQ, i.e., hate the normal crap they put out, then this is all you can do. Don't wait for the specialty channels to show up in HD or even great SD PQ. Oh how I'd love to watch my beloved Speed Channel in full 480i "digital quality" SD but it just ain't going to happen for a looooong time... maybe never. Take the plunge. Go HD now.

 

[wolfman]

Like I stated in a previous post I don't know what you are seeing. I have a 55" Mitsubishi HD tv and 4 other other tv's that range from 35" to 13" and have great pictures on all of them.

 

[sksatellite]

Projector TV, thats the worst designed for digital signal, no matter what brand, simply go to fry electronics, spend couple hours to compare all the TV with the satellite on, you will see projector is the worst TV in picture quality.

 

[bilboa]

Projector TV, thats the worst designed for digital signal, no matter what brand, simply go to fry electronics, spend couple hours to compare all the TV with the satellite on, you will see projector is the worst TV in picture quality.

That may well be, but as I already said, I can see unwanted video artifacts on all three of my TV's, two of which are not projector TV's. Besides that, when I watch DVD's on my projector TV, and DVD's are digital too of course, the PQ is quite good. So I don't think that we can logically blame this problem on the fact that one of my TV's is a projector TV.

BTW, I am gratified that a lot of other people are agreeing with my contention that D*'s PQ leaves a lot to be desired. I know it's not the politically correct thing to say in these forums, since these forums are after all called "Satellite Guys" and they make their living off from trying to make it seem like DBS TV is the latest and greatest thing since sliced bread, and then here I come along basically saying that it sucks. So again, thanks to everyone who agrees with me.

 

[ArtWIS]

That may well be, but as I already said, I can see unwanted video artifacts on all three of my TV's, two of which are not projector TV's. Besides that, when I watch DVD's on my projector TV, and DVD's are digital too of course, the PQ is quite good. So I don't think that we can logically blame this problem on the fact that one of my TV's is a projector TV.

BTW, I am gratified that a lot of other people are agreeing with my contention that D*'s PQ leaves a lot to be desired. I know it's not the politically correct thing to say in these forums, since these forums are after all called "Satellite Guys" and they make their living off from trying to make it seem like DBS TV is the latest and greatest thing since sliced bread, and then here I come along basically saying that it sucks. So again, thanks to everyone who agrees with me.

I do not and have never had any financial interest in any DBS or DBS related company and I'm sure neither do most of the reply posters to your initial post! Reading the last portion of your above quoted post it seems to me that you are calling us all liars since we say we get very good SD (and Hd) and you don't. The bottom line here is YOU have some kind of problem somewhere in YOUR system wiring, dish or equipment and that's why you are not getting decent sd pq. I hope you find out what's causing your problem and get everything working. I know if I was having a problem that I couldn't figure out myself I'd sure call and get a service appointment with someone with the expertise to do so rather than get on here and blast folks who say they are getting good PQ. Good luck with fixing your problem.

 

[charper1]

Projector TV, thats the worst designed for digital signal, no matter what brand, simply go to fry electronics, spend couple hours to compare all the TV with the satellite on, you will see projector is the worst TV in picture quality.

I beg to differ. Just because your local consumer electronics store setups look bad, does not prove anything. If anything it proves they fail to install them correctly or have the lowest quality/overly priced items on display.

I will stack my 106" up against your RPTV, flat screen or tube any day; you pick the DVD or the HD signal of choice.