Very bad pixellation on Dish HD channels ...

[WorkOutMN]

I've been getting really bad pixellation lately as well, especially on my 6000. Watching the credits roll on HBO HD's "Bruce Almighty" on Saturday was incredibly bad. The tops of the letters would scroll up, but the bottoms would smear and slowly "pixellate" away.

My one year agreement from adding a 811 is almost over, and then I'll likely be dumping Dish for Time-Warner Cable. Several things are driving me away -- the biggest being the lack of a high-def DVR receiver with a WORKING firewire port and satellite fade during storms or buildup of snow (a common occurrence in Minnesota), and neither of these are problems with Time-Warner. Add to that I have trouble getting in my local HD channels with an off-air antenna, and I'm tired of dealing with switches, I'm willing to give Time-Warner a try now.

Locally, Time-Warner has available the Scientific-Atlanta 8000 box -- DVI, component, optical out, DVR, Firewire, etc -- and last I heard, they're beta-testing the 8300 boxes which add an HDMI interface, S-ATA for adding an additional drive for storage, and media server capability a-la what Voom is supposedly coming out with. I look at these things and I then look at both Dish and DirecTV and wonder why they're so far behind.

 

[NightRyder]

Here's my response from Dish to my earlier email. Same day reply, not too shabby.


Dear Valued Customer,



Thank you for expressing your concerns and interest in the DISH Network. Customer input is an important tool in our efforts to continuously improve the quality of the DISH Network service.



DISH Network is aware of video problems with some of the HD Networks. We have been actively pursuing this issue and believe we have isolated the source of the problems. We are currently working with one of our equipment vendors on a fix to their equipment. If everything goes well in our testing, we are planning to implement this corrective improvement to the Dish Network the second week of December.



At DISH Network we appreciate the time customers take to email their audio/video quality concerns. Thank you for your patience and for being a valued customer.



Echostar Satellite LLC

Quality Assurance Department

dishquality@echostar.com



NightRyder

 

[BobMurdoch]

I've only really noticed it on ESPN-HDduring NFL Primetime (during the static scoreboard screens as well). Smallville on HDNet has looked pretty good actually. CBS HD is OK, but that is probably due to it being on 61.5.... Can we mirror some of these on 61.5 to give us SOME relief until they get their act together?

 

[DWS44]

I had these problems (bad pixelation/blocking) on ALL of the HD channels, including HDNet, during the whole Thanksgiving weekend...at times the HD channels were almost unwatchable. I thought my 811 had gone insane, since I hadn't had these kinds of problems before.

 

[HokieEngineer]

Well,

1. I am glad other people are having this problem, I thought it was just my 6000s.

2. I AM PISSED OTHER PEOPLE ARE HAVING THIS PROBLEM as well

It normally happens on static graphics, as someone else noted. Usually sportscenter type stuff. The only things that have changed are the more HD chans per transponder AND the switch to Nagravision2 encryption. Would be interesting to find out what exactly is causing this. I don't believe I have seen it happen on HDNet, but I believe I saw it on HDnet movies.

If the only answer they got is "to live with these 'rare' pq errors" they can go F* themselves. Its slightly embarassing to invite other tech junkies over to wow them with my HD stuff, only to have them point out these nasty blocky picture errors. Dish showing their amatuernish yet again And the customer getting stonewalled, yet again

 

[MarcS]

The response I got back was an automated response saying how they can't answer each email personally but put them in a database to be reviewed and suggestions and/or complaints will be looked into.

Maybe the volume of email increased too much for personal replies--I had several email exchanges with a VP level person in engineering...

I got another automated response this morning also...

 

[ShadowEKU]

I got a phone call (i would guess because i threatened to drop the HD pack) last night from (i think his name was) shawn or jason or something like that. He said that the problem was indeed on their end and they hope to have it fixed by next week. I would be happy if this were true

 

[Texas Red]

Whew! I thought it was just me and my new 921! Sorry all of you are experiencing the same.

 

[hpman247]

I really hav not noticed this on any of the above channels. I think I saw that blocking on ESPN once. I have no idea why I have not seen it though, because I am always watching an HD channel.

 

[BFG]

Same here, I still do not see any of this blocking occuring like the folks in this thread are talking about. A blip maybe once an hour, but that's it.

 

[WildBill]

Glad to see that at least someone at Dish is finally acknowledging this problem. God only knows how many people hours have been wasted by subscribers checking and tweaking their systems in a vain effort to fix this. I've seen it on both my 6000 and 921. Thought it might be getting a little better the last day or two, but noticed it again on ESPNHD this afternoon.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I was watching the Duke game lastnight and it seem to not look as good as in the past.I have never seen the grey blocking that bad as the one picture has shown. I think in the near future that we could see more HD like ESPN2HD which is post to go live in Jan. Plus all the MPEG-4 talk that sounds like they might be already testing it and so on. So the future looks and sounds bright. Oh Thanks for the Info NightRyder!

 

[hpman247]

I want to take back my previous post. I am watching SC on ESPNHD now and the poll was horrible. However, Disc HD is still fine.

 

[GregH]

I find this thread very disconcerting. I had just decided to go sat in a new home in stead of cable. If there are such widespread PQ issues on E*HD; should I go cable?

 

[Poke]

Well I was on cable for years! They kept raising the price and their PQ was not any better if on their so called Digital. Over all I have been very happy with Dish HD and have had very little issue's with my 811. Some folks will have more issues than other but that all depends on what they have done to their equipment so on or the TV set. Overall try it for a year if your not happy go from their but with in the next year or so their most likely be some good things to come. All the PQ issues seem to be on ESPN end with their equipment they have at certain events. So if something is messed up on their end its going to affect everyone not matter if it’s Direct or Dish or whoever. From what the e-mail said in one of the post sounds like its more less issue with ESPN due to usually if it’s on Dish end going to be that way on almost all channels. Thing is when networks start jacking with stuff they are not going to let anyone know. Sometimes we as customers don’t know until we notice something is wrong or something is better. We are usually the last ones to know but for now give it a try and good luck in your new home!

 

[WorkOutMN]

I've done nothing to my 811 or 6000 to cause these recent issues, it's definitely not "rain fade", and it is happening on more than one channel. Even on non-HD channels such as Comedy Central I'm getting dropouts. And I'm not talking simply that the signal is highly compressed making it look like I'm watching standard-def, but more that there's a high amount of error in the compression and/or decompression causing these random blocks of color -- white where there should be black, green where there should be red, etc --- to show up. So no, it's not ESPN's problem and no, it's not as likely to be a problem if I switch to another provider that actually has some options as to what box you want to use. With Dish, if I want high def, I need an 811. High def PVR, a 921. Firewire? I'm SOL. Time-Warner in Minneapolis, I can have a Scientific Atlanta 8000 or 8300 -- both of which are high-def PVRs and, oh my God -- working Firewire! Wasn't the 921 supposed ... oh nevermind.

Sorry, the more I see Dish lagging behind and more problems with their equipment not working right, the more bitter I get. Since I got the 6000, I waited over three years for "good things to come", and all I got was the 811 -- no fan, integrated 8VSB/PSK modues and faster guide. Big whoop. A few more months brought a 921 with broken Firewire, broken OTA recording, broken this, broken that, all for $1000. I'd have to pay Time-Warner over eight years of a $10 box rental fee to reach the cost of a 921.

And raising prices? Welcome to Dish's yearly price increases. Just wait 'till January.

 

[Poke]

Yeah well it could be on their end Dish and the Networks also. But this is something that everyone deals with. Rather its cable or Dish or Direct whoever you will deal with all these problems no matter who you with. Main thing is you go with who fits your needs the best and some things will depend on where you live so on. But over all we hope things will get better which in the long run I think they will.

 

[rad]

Pole, I was at a friends house last Saturday and they just got an 811. I was helping them set it up and saw first hand the HD channel problem. A moving on HBO-HD was finishing and the credits were rolling. They are all jumbled up looked like the signal going out but a check showed a good signal. I have D* at my home and I've not see the same issue on D* that I saw on E* and from the picture that was posted on this thread on any of the D* HD channels.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I dont get HBO so can speak for it. I have not had the little grey dot issue like the picute shows on any of the HD channels I get. But that does not mean other's could not have issues. I just hope if it is on Dish's end of that network they get them fixed.

 

[ShadowEKU]

Woops