Compression - When will DirecTV boost signal strength?

[sgupta]

Hey all,

I know DirecTV is launching a bunch of new satellites to add new programming, etc., but I'd like to know if they're going to do anything to improve signal quality.

I'm a new DirecTV subscriber, and I just moved to both HDTV as well as digital (before I was using analog).

Overall I'm pleased. HD is amazing!

However, one of the things I'm not pleased with is the amount of compression artifacts I'm seeing. I watch a lot of animation on Cartoon Network and such, and the compression seems to really mess with animation...the quality of the signal just isn't as good as it should be to avoid the jaggies and macroblocking. Analog cable looks better by comparison. Additionally, I've noticed both with HD and SD, when action gets intense or there's something like an explosion, lightning, etc., there's a brief surge in pixelation. =o/ Apparently this is also due to compression. This is unfortunate, as the rest of the time, things look pretty good or even great.

I'm all for more content, but quite frankly, I'd prefer high quality for what's there first...

Anyone know if there are any plans to increase signal quality in the future?

Thanks!

 

[Loric]

You seem to be confusing 2 unrelated notions :

- Signal Strength represents the tuning quality of your receiver. It will depend on the quality of the receiver's tuner IC, of the quality of the LNB, of the positioning of your dish, and of whatever multiswitch you have in between. Signal attenuation is expressed in either in Bit Error Rate or dB. It is presented to the user in the "Signal Strength" screen with a percentage. A low value (eg lower than 65%) will generally affect many programs and would generally cause video cuts or having many macroblocks on screen at the same time...

- MPEG compression is the way to fit several programs on a limited bandwidth. Broadcasters are generally using the lowest bandwidth possible for cartoons, because they tend to compress very well (most of them have losts of areas with simple coloring, and limited movement). The downside are MPEG artefact (ghosted edges, macroblock effects...). The MPEG compression is program dependant.

If you are having a bad viewing experience only on a limited set of programs and that your signal strength screen shows good numbers, you don't need to change your dish setup, what you are seeing are MPEG artefacts.
You will see a difference with HD and MPEG4 coming over in the next year (or so) but I am afraid cartoons will keep being compressed a lot and therefore won't look perfect even then.

 

[moonman]

,
Additionally, I've noticed both with HD and SD, when action gets intense or there's something like an explosion, lightning, etc., there's a brief surge in pixelation. =o/ Apparently this is also due to compression.

------------It might not be D*. It would help to know what brand/type of
receiver and display type(TV) you have? For instance, the Tivo HR-10-250
dvr/receiver is known to produce loss of video sync on certain Sony TV's
circa 2001. This is due to video "overdrive" on the componant outputs.

 

[sgupta]

You're right - I should have been clearer. I keep forgetting with digital signals, strength is not an issue as much with satellite television, and it is NOT a signal strength problem. When I said signal strength, I actually meant amount of compression instead, so I apologize for the misnomer - I just didn't word it as I should have. What I am seeing is indeed too much compression, and the artifacts and macroblocking that comes from that. I'm hopeful, even if not an all-out-fix, MPEG4 does improve this, as it gets pretty bad at times with both animation and fast-moving HD. I know I'm not the only one who isn't thrilled with the amount of compression that DirecTV uses. I work with computers a lot and am familiar with MPEG video and its flaws, so perhaps I'm a little sensitive to this.

As to my box, I am using an HD Tivo (the Tivo HR-10-250 you mention), but on a new Sony TV (KDF-50WE655) using the HDMI input. I don't know if there are any inherent problems with this unit and my TV or not (if there are, first I've heard of it), but I shouldn't think this should happen on a newer TV. If it is the case, I hope there's a fix for it. (But my initial impression is that it's the amount of compression used, not a box problem, though I'd gladly be mistaken if something can be done about this. lol.)

Thanks very much for the replies. Still hoping DirecTV finds a way to reduce the compression sometime soon.

 

[tdti1]

I dumped my DTV, for this reason, some channels are just unwatchable, dish network was bad to, I would not be to shocked if when MPEG-4 is on, it will not help, maybe only in the start, before they start to cram more and more to save money this is why I hang on to my BUD, and still some channels are not to great, but I just recall how bad it looked on the small dish systems, so then I smile and keep watching.

 

[sgupta]

BUD? Not familiar with that.

Unfortunately, I'm in an area with little options. Virtually NO OTA offerings, and cable thus far has no HD at all. There is digital cable, but I doubt around here it's that good either, and with an HDTV, I certainly want some HD! So DirecTV is the best option available to me at present. (Dish doesn't offer the big 4 in HD to my knowledge, so that's out for me as well.) As that changes, I may eventually switch to the provider with the channels I want at the quality I want, but at the moment, DirecTV's the best there is. Great selection, but dubious quality sometimes. =o/

Guess I'll keep hoping they decide to improve this.

 

[tdti1]

BUD (big ugly dish) or (big useful dish)

 

[aggets]

Wait untill nfl sunday ticket begins things will be even worse

 

[sgupta]

One thing I did figure out today. Switching to 480i output instead of 1080i seems to have improved things significantly. Lines are much cleaner - with 1080i, they become blurry, especially angled ones. So the TV handles upconversion better than the box.

Unfortunately, on HD content, this means much less detail, and I have to switch to 1080i for best picture there.

So I'm going to have to switch back and forth unless I find a better solution.

There's still plenty of compression noise, but it seems more bearable with cleaner lines.

 

[jesserulz233]

i hope

i do hope these new satellites going up will also fix the compression issues. Some days the picture is clearer than other days. I just hope they do something about it.

 

[dfergie]

i do hope these new satellites going up will also fix the compression issues. Some days the picture is clearer than other days. I just hope they do something about it.

I agree... I get E* and D* hd... right now E* wins... but... who knows ... and I do not get nets(just cbs) from E* so I do not look a gift horse in the mouth...

 

[fkostyn]

Rumor does have it that NFL ST HD will be on the new sats. (From what I have read)

This could be on Spaceway or D* 8S