HD Quality? PT Anytime? onDemand?

cmalberto

Member
Original poster
Jan 28, 2013
11
0
Southeast Texas
I have some questions around the HD quality from the various sources. Is it me or is it the Joey. I have a Hopper w/Sling, a Super Joey and a Joey - which I am watching now and questioning what I am seeing.

First of all how do they handle the compression of 4 HD channels on 1 tuner. Looks pixellated on the Joey - I don't remember seeing this on the Hopper - if the kids weren't watching a movie right now, I would go compare but thinking the quality of HD PT Anywhere on the Joey seems not up to par.

Also noticing the pixelation on my HD Rentals that were downloaded from some of the HD onDemand channels like HBO and Starz.

For the record, watching HD ESPN looks really good so there isn't a consistent flavor going on.

My Super J and Joey are both connected via cable via the Mocha protocol if that helps.

If someone could explain what I am seeing and feeling, I would appreciate it. I am still learning the ropes.

--Mickey
 
Your PQ at the Joey should be just as good or bad as it is at the Hopper, if that helps. If you are seeing a difference between the two, be certain that it is not the settings on the HDTV before calling Dish. Otherwise, do call Dish and report this. It may be a problem with the MOCA or Hopper sending it to the Joey.

In regards to HD PQ, it seems that LIL (Local into Local channels from the Dish Sat) is reported in smaller DMA's as not that good. However, in the Los Angeles DMA with tons of LIL, I am comparing to OTA TiVo and OTA directly into the HDTV, and the LA LIL's are and have always been in excellent HD PQ, none of the compression artifacts reported from smaller cities, and it looks sharp with detail very close direct to HDTV OTA (MPEG is a lossy compression; the lossy MPEG is also used by OTA's.)

Outside of LIL's that can vary in PQ, in general I have found the best HD PQ to be on Pay-per-view channels (the ones that play the movie over and over---NOT referring to the VOD channels because they are not streamed LIVE) and the Premium movie channels (HBO, Starz, etc.). Then not quite as good, but still quite good, are the general interest channels, and in my observation it depends upon WHICH general interest channel it is (meaning a non-premium movie channel). For instance, ESPN is really quite good HD PQ, while ABC Family (mostly watched by teen-age girls) seems to be just a bit inferior. History or H2 seem to stand out compared to the kids channels in HD, for example. When ever I tune to a premium movie channel, I can immediately see the difference. Although, I am still quite satisfied with the general interest channels.

Being aware of Dish dowrezing HD from 1920 X 1080 to 1440 X 1080 (if it is a 1080i source channel as opposed to a 720p source such as ABC and FOX network as only two examples) and of the compression necessary to provide all the HD content efficiently, or, frankly, at all, overall I am satisfied with the Dish HD PQ. 1440 X 1080 is an approved HDTV resolution. In fact, I think there are 9 approved HDTV formats. Don't assume your local broadcasters are sending out full resolution, either, especially if they have matrixed "sub-channels," and they are stuck using MPEG2.

Now, keep in mind that a lower HD resolution does not mean bad PQ nor any of compression artifacts. The bit rate can often play a far more important role in good HD PQ. A local broadcaster sending out full 1080 resolution, but at a greatly reduced bit rate will look far WORSE than a reduced resolution with a greater bit-rate. Resolution is not always the key to great looking PQ.

Also, keep in mind that Dish (and for that matter, one can presume DircTV and Cable) boxes were designed with hardware to take advantage of software that can enhance or allow for Turbo coding or more throughput to allow for more data than your OTA broadcaster could ever do, or, in other words, with the right hardware and chips, a software update can take a down-resolution and low bit rate HD data stream and work its magic in the box and spit out to your HDTV a PQ that looks as if it were SENT with higher resolution and at a higher bit rate. This is NOT the case for your local OTA's because they can't upgrade all the HDTV's out there, like Dish and DirecTV have upgraded their HD boxes at their own expense, to take advantage of the latest MPEG4 codec or its superior successor nor allow for Turbo coding nor any other sort of technology to improve the broadcasters rotten PQ if they have more than a 2 "sub channels" because it would render obsolete (or brick) a number of older HDTV's out in homes. Some of the newer HDTV's can, in fact, decode MPEG4, but the problem is MOST of the HDTV's in homes now can only decode MPEG2,so we're likely to NEVER see MPEG4 or successors widely implemented for OTA, although I can imagine one channel here and there for closed circuit use for a private (possibly consumer) service, but not for what we have today. KTLA main channel was so pristine HD breath-taking until they added This TV, and then it was slight degradation noticed until they also added Antenna TV, and now it looks as soft as all the other local HD's here in LA. That was some years ago.

And don't assume that just because your broadcaster does not indicate any "sub-channels" taking away the limited bandwidth they have to work with. A broadcaster can broadcast sub-channels on it frequency, but it will be down-mapped to ANOTHER broadcasters channel number, hence not so great PQ and no apparent sub-channels.

I would say, really take notice of the HD you are getting, and then compare it to other MVPD sources such as DirecTV and cable companies and see if you notice much of a difference. I would also say that INCREASING the sharpness on your HDTV and otherwise making the proper adjustments (including either turning OFF or ON "Digital Noise" features and other such options) can do a lot to get the HD from a PARTICULAR SOURCE to look really good.

I will say that everyone I've spoken with does say Verizon FiOS PQ is quite impressive, but they have that huge fiber pipe, but they Verizon has pretty much ceased its build-out, so as close as they were to my home, they will NEVER come now.

If you are interested, Google KLCS /KJLH, Los Angeles experiment and subsequent report with OTA shared bandwidth. It has some interesting facts and suprising things learned about the current ATSC (local broadcaster platform) and its possible future. The report was shared with the FCC who sanctioned the experiment in consideration of new rules nationwide for broadcasters that could allow sharing of bandwidth.

Good luck and let us know what happens.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Thanks for your reply...the good news(I guess) is that my poor HQ for the the Locals is not limited to the Joey - I checked the Hopper w/S and it too had the same compression artifacts. We are in a smaller area w/4 locals. The HBO onDemand PQ is disappointing but looks ok from a distance on the big TV with the Hopper - which is why I start questioning. My lil Joey is on my office TV @ 36 in and considerably closer which caught my eye.

So does PTA always share one tuner? What if I disable that feature? Just curious if it then uses one of my 4 other tuners? Not that I would do that but wanting to learn. I guess I could always use my OTA to.

So I wonder if DISH tweaks depending on content? Thinking sports content may get a boost and steal from other locals? CBS usually always looks good. NBC and ABC not so much last night.

Thanks again for your reply.

--Mickey
 
The big 4 network locals can always be tuned in using one tuner because they are on one satellite transponder and Hopper is set up to tune them this way. This works even if PT anytime is turned off. In the DFW area the Dish locals are quite good but not as good as OTA. I bought the OTA tuner for both of my Hoppers and usually watch the OTA channel if I am watching live sports, etc. I usually record the Dish version of the locals because it takes less disk space and I find the quality acceptable.
 
I know this sounds stupid ,but are you sure that joey is set for hd? Each receiver whether it be a hopper or super joey or joey has to be set to either 720p or 1080i/1080p resolution. I saw this when I set my super joey up and in the authorization steps they actually ask you to set the resolution to what you want. I would check again to make sure it is in hd. Might fix your problem.
 
Yes. The Joey main output is hd. Some TVs can be 720 or even 480, so the choice is offered. You get video using two kinds of cables. You can either use hdmi, or the RCA cables. RCA is sd, and hdmi is hd.
 
Definitely HD out on Joey and any other device in my house connected to the TV. After comparing the main TV, I concurred that this was due to the source that day - except for the HBO onDemand which was pixelated on all TVs. The PT channels seemed better at different times and certainly channels. I don't remember the channel or I would go review what was actually recorded too on all TVs.

--Mickey
 

Help with possible needless solutions?

110 goes out: dish will upgrade my 500 and receiver

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts