WTF! 2nd H10 Reciever, Picture is Dark, Ghosting... WTF!

[gnnr]

Okay, just installed and setup my 2nd H10 reciever now. Same problem... too dark SD image, ghosting, pixellation... HD image is washed out a bit too. Tried it on component, HDMI, and using an HDMI to DVI cable.

It's through a Samsung DLP RPTV. The TV is tweaked, adjusted. It's not the TV... the darned thing will run you out of the room it is so bright and clear on DVD or with my old digital cable setup (HD and SD).

Now... two things.

1) I don't have a phone in this house, I use cell. Will this box flash if I plug it in overnight? Will this help???

2) If I return this POS, what box do I want to get for 300 or so that has HD, D* compatiblity, and is ready for MPEG4?

Please help... please.

[Digital Dude]

1- Updates are from satellite, phone line has nothing to do with it.

2- Where are you located? Some CompUSA's still have TS-360 in stock

[gnnr]

North NJ, Saddlebrook. Glad I don't have to be connected to phone. what a PITA.

[Digital Dude]

I know of at least one BB locally that still has a TS360 also.

[gnnr]

Is it mpeg4 compatible? I don't want to have to buy another in a few months or what ever...

[billbillw]

There are no MPEG4 units currently available. Gnnr, you know that the settings you have tweaked for your DVD and/or your previous cable box will not be the same for this HD receiver. You must adjust them to optimize the picture. Every component outputs video differently and the TV must be tweaked to get the best picture. Good luck.

[Ricknau]

Take that mother back. I too was using one with a Samsung DLP and hated it. No amount of tweaking will make it brighten up with out washing out the scene. Replaced it with an RCA DTC-210 and am so glad I did. Don't know anything about the TS-360 but it's worth a try.

[billbillw]

Gnnr,
Before you go trying to replace this with another model, you should know that just about every model has some problems. There are threads with over 500+ posts on each of the D* HD receivers over at avsforum. The TS-360 is known to have lockup problems, audio sync problems, and it has a weak OTA tuner. The RCA DTC210 has some issues too. It likes to strech SD programming, it crushes the blacks over the DVI connection, and has an annoying horizontal line through the middle of the screen during horizontal pans on 1080i programming. (I've personally owned a DTC210).

As far as the H10 goes, I read that there is a brand new software update for the H10 that makes the HDMI brighter. Wait and see, the update should come automatically within a few days.

Your other option is to wait until D* starts swapping boxes for MPEG4. They will do this at no cost supposedly. It looks like you are probably in the NY DMA which will be one of first to get the transistion. You cannot buy an MPEG4 box yet. Anything you get today will have to be swapped out in late fall when the transition happens.

[gnnr]

There are no MPEG4 units currently available. Gnnr, you know that the settings you have tweaked for your DVD and/or your previous cable box will not be the same for this HD receiver. You must adjust them to optimize the picture. Every component outputs video differently and the TV must be tweaked to get the best picture. Good luck.

Hmmm... the H10 is mpeg4 compatible (units built after feb 05, with a flash from D*, as I understand it)... why not others... you sure about that? MPEG4 has been around a long time and the switch over has been known about for a while too. Surprising.

And I did adjust my set and I am very knowledgeable about it. I even did some service menu level tweaking and I have mine totally adjusted using my Video Essentials disk and had a tech come in soon after purchase to do a full calibration as well (not cheap but well worth it).

Even after the flash last night for us east coasters the image is still dark and I still get ghosting. The set is tweaked as good as it's getting (without washing out and exasperating the ghosting issue further, color is on though). It's the SD signal that looks like arse... the HD is pretty good to great (depending on the signal) and I am satisfied there.

[billbillw]

The H10 is definetly not MPEG4 compatible. No flash or software update in the world will provide that. There has been exhaustive discussion related to that rumor, it is false.

What channels are you watching that look so bad? I think maybe you are expecting too much out of the SD programming. I agree that the SD looks pretty crappy, but I've compared the quality of the D* SD side by side with Comcast's digital SD (using my integrated QAM tuner) and I really can't see much difference. Maybe the cable service you had was better quality (less compression) than Comcast in my area, but most are guilty of trying to squeeze too many channels into the available bandwidth.

Try watching FX on D*. I think that Over There looks great, even when zoomed to get the letterbox to fit the screen.