A plea to Dish to do the right thing with Mpeg4 HD

Gary Murrell

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 16, 2005
465
0
Prestonsburg, KY
Hey guys, I haven't posted here in a long while, but I figured what the heck I will stop by

as many of you may know, when Dish decided to take the road down crap PQ on their HD channels I had to do the right thing and cancel, no one loved HD more than I did and Dish was the best choice, I had multiple thousands of $'s invested, recorded hundreds of HD shows a month and gladly paid a 150$ bill to Dish, however when Dish started with Voom and the ultimate downrezzing of them and moving on to others including my favorite HDNet's, I had to draw a line in the sand and say enough was enough :mad: so I cancelled all HD services and have had none since, over a year now, I am heavily into Blu-Ray and HD-DVD now, even reviewing for a site or 2, but that doesn't mean I don't wish I still had HD services

lately I have been reading and watching the forums alot, I have come to realize that Dish at current time sits atop a fence post and can go 2 ways, the right way and the wrong way and Mpeg4 is where this all started

on one side of the fence Dish Network can very easily at this time to the right thing for HD PQ, with the movement to Mpeg4 Dish can easily treat all HD channels with the ultimate respect, most importantly full resolution 1920x1080i on the relevant channels and at minimum 8 mbps bitrate, what this means is that they can probably do 5 HD channels per 8psk transponder easily if they work with things and use the newest best encoders

or (I have to be honest here I think this is the way things will go) they can go the other way and continue with the destruction of HD image quality by lowering all channels to 1280/1440x1080i and using horrid bitrates, squeezing 8 HD channels or so per transponder

I make a public plea with Dish to do the right thing and in the process gain the extra room needed for HD channels(with untouched resolution and good rates, each citys locals would only take 1 tp for example)

don't get greedy :rolleyes: , do what is right and the customers will flock, everyone wins, current customers enjoy better true HD PQ and then subs that are quality obsessed will sign up

do whats right Dish, 1920x1080i at a minimum of 8Mbps and still gain room, I have my doubts but I never give up hope:)

-Gary
 
I was watching Soundstage the other night.

It was the one with Tori Amos...I remember on my old Sony 60" LCD how impressed I was. Now I watch it on my Samsung 61" 1080p and it looks soft, very very soft.

I think with the advent of HD DVD and BD that there might be something to that guys class action suit.

Even OTA HD doesn't come close to some of the HD DVD stuff out there. I've had a player for about 4 weeks now and its amazing how bad the PQ is on Dish in comparison.
 
Gary,

I've missed you dude! A few of us here have been fighting the good fight for HD. Our voice though is considered only a silent whisper anymore.

Therefore, I think you are right. Dish will just keep on doing as it is doing, IMHO. Like you I dropped them like a hot potato. They like to call me on the phone a lot now. Bye bye Dish. I used to know you when!
 
Scott,

I truly, truly hope you are right! I've missed Dish. But they have a great track record of broken promises. And unlike you, I have no inside track, and at this point no reason to trust Dish AT ALL!

So, either give me reason to hope, or I'm with Directv by tomorrow noon. And believe me Scott, I'm all ears! You tell me what I need to know! *LISTENING* I'm willing to be wrong, but with REASON!
 
As I've told everyone who would listen to me for years now, do what's best for you based on what's available from each provider TODAY. Promises don't show up in your EPG, and promises don't add bits to your PQ.
 
I personally would not jump to different providers in hopes of finding greener grass as far as HD PQ goes. This issue will follow you wherever you go.
 
And remember that DirecTV is on that same fence, with one new satellite dedicated to HD ready to launch soon, and another early next year. They have the same decision to make, continue with HD-Lite, or use their increased bandwidth to improve their HD quality.
 
I personally would not jump to different providers in hopes of finding greener grass as far as HD PQ goes. This issue will follow you wherever you go.

And remember that DirecTV is on that same fence, with one new satellite dedicated to HD ready to launch soon, and another early next year. They have the same decision to make, continue with HD-Lite, or use their increased bandwidth to improve their HD quality.


I couldn't agree with you more!

I'm willing to go with the provider that is advancing HD now, and that isn't Dish! And when I look over at Directv, I see MPEG4 Locals in my area, which a year ago weren't there. There is light on the horizon, but it's not on E*'s side of the horizon, though I wish it were.
 
I'm like Gary, I cancelled dish because of the PQ and now only have OTA and basic cable, which in all honesty for the majority of channels I watch is all I need. I get more in basic cable then I did in the At180 package with dish (more in terms of channels I watch).

Anyways, I tell them everytime they call that unless the put HD back to full resolution and give it a good bitrate., I won't be coming back. I still have my dishes up in hope of my request becoming reality.
 
Welcome back Gary.

Sadly with Dish it's not a matter of doing the "right thing" because it's the "right thing" - they're in business to make as much money as possible with as little expense as possible. If and when enough customers do like you did and translate their discontent into less $$ for Dish, they will change. If they (customers) continue to be passively ambivalent (as most here will), then Dish will always favor channel quantity over quality - at least as long as there are more channels available.

It's not so much a matter of "right" and "wrong" anymore now that Dish has renamed their HD to "DishHD". They're just giving people what they want and apparently more customers favor more channels with less quality to less channels with more quality.
 
MPEG-4 encoders are finally getting to be where they need to be. I am sure that as Scott mentioned above Dish will have full HD 1920x1080 with good bandwidth next year if their new system gets off the ground successfully. But, I wonder how long they will be able to hold out before the number of channels out grows the new system and they start to compress again...
 
Oh how wrong you are. :)

This time next year folks with be VERY VERY happy with the HD PQ on Dish Network. Trust me when I say this. :)

Im going to say I have faith in Scott because he has not seemed like one to dangle myth's as carrots.

Im going to sit back and see what happens as this year plays out. Granted Im not 100% satisfied with the PQ, but Dish does have a good offering.
 

good signal strengths but still Error 002

Dish HD FREE for 6 months

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