Compression / PQ / Argh.

JWK

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Apr 12, 2004
41
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I've been using Voom since nearly the beginning. And, before anyone starts in -- no, there's no problem with how I've got my Voom box hooked up. I use component inputs (my TV doesn't have DVI inputs) and they allow for a very beautiful picture, generally speaking.

Unfortunately, especially of late, I've been seeing some nasty compression artifacts on some channels. Particularly on HBO-HD. Watching The Rundown last night the compression artifacts were so bad they reminded me of the POS local PBS feed here in Baton Rouge (they split their digital space between FIVE channels, the jerks) at times.

Yeah, it was lame back when the SD channels were so horrendous, back in the day. Yes, I didn't much enjoy the sparklies on Nickelodeon (and other channels) that made it look like every show had been enhanced with bargain-basement special effects to make it appear as if it had been recorded during a sleet storm.

Still, I wouldn't mind going back to crappy SD channels, if it'd mean we could get some beautiful, compression-artifact-free HD feeds from Voom.

Of course, bumping up the bandwidth assigned to SD channels probably hasn't contributed as much as expanding the SD channel lineup before adequate bandwidth was available. Sure, I missed some channels back then, like the SciFi network -- still, I chose Voom because I made the conscious decision that I'd rather have fewer, higher-bandwidth, higher-resolution channels, than a couple thousand muddy, muddled, crappy channels like I'd had with Dish Network.

All of this is doubly frustrating, as it has taken place while my locals seem intent on robbing me of any decent material I could get out of them. The CBS affiliate, which used to have the benchmark feed for just how beautiful HD *could* be decided that what the world needed was a couple of lame 24-hour-a-day local spew channels... And now any time you watch a football game (or much of anything else in HD on that channel) there's blocky pixelation every time the camera moves quickly or the scene changes drastically. PBS, of course, has been participating in the "let's put enough channels out there that the PQ will actually be *worse* in HD than good old-fashioned SD PQ had been" experiment for a very long while -- at least as long as I've had an HD set, anyhow.

To those of you who claim the Voom PQ hasn't dropped, I say this: Fiddlesticks.

Sure it has. If you can't see it, you're fooling yourself. Even DiscoveryHD has had some pixelation with Voom the past couple months. Not a ton -- but it's been visible. When I originally got Voom, towards the start of 2004, DiscoveryHD never had even a hint of pixelation. It had that "3-D" pop that totally blew you away. Now, it's merely pretty, and every time there's a shot taken from a helicopter moving over jungle, I cringe a little, wondering whether the vagaries of bandwidth allocation are going to choke the picture just enough to trigger some noticeable artifact.

The trend which disturbs me more than anything else from Voom over the past year has been that of adding all these regional FoxHD stations. Voom didn't have enough bandwidth for what it was already providing. Adding channels which only a FEW customers can even SEE was absolutely assinine.

The absurdity of providing local channels via satellite was part of the reason I left Dish Network. Watching Voom start down the same path nauseates me.
 
JWK, you posted this in the "Help Desk" forum, but I don't see any questions: only statements. Anything we can help you with?
 
Ilya said:
JWK, you posted this in the "Help Desk" forum, but I don't see any questions: only statements. Anything we can help you with?

No, not really -- not unless you can move the post over to the Customer Comments folder :D
 
Oh, and I will say this -- my complaint seems a bit silly at this point. What with the imminent demise and all.

Hadn't visited the forums in quite some time. Came because HBO's pixelation (actually, HBOHD-W) had been bad enough to irk the heck out of me last night, so I wanted to vent... Now I see that I'm venting at a cadaver.

If Voom gets shut down, that'll stink.

If it gets shut down so that Dish Network can offer some fargin' local channels re-transmitted via satellite, rather than pressuring the local stations to actually use those over-the-air licenses to, y'know, BROADCAST, that'd be an absolute crying shame.

Digital OTA transmission offered the world a chance to eliminate the problem which gave rise to cable television in the first place: lousy signal reception for local channels.

Dish Network and DirecTV (or, guess I could call 'em E* and D* like most do 'round here) should've moved heaven 'n earth to push local stations to actually broadcast with those licenses. Instead, we're looking at an absurd world where both of the satellite giants are going to launch bird after bird merely to carry HD locals.
 
JWK, if it makes you feel any better, I've been a Voomer since March 2004 and I RARELY see any HD on Voom that has the 3-D POP effect. They just don't allocate enough bandwidth. When I switch from HDNET (Dish Network) to Voom, it's like "Jeez, what happened to the PQ?", there is that much difference in picture quality.

It's really a shame because Voom has potential, they just overallocated bandwidth and forgot to market that their service works with NTSC TV's, a big mistake in my book.
 

A suggestion to Chuck Dolan and VOOM

Excuse me while I...

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