Dark Picture - Direct TV New Installation PLEASE HELP

[JC-TX]

I just had Direct TV installed after having Time Warner Cable. It seems the picture is dark and gets darker the longer the box is on. I had a WOW picture with the cable and very true natural color saturation. It seems Direct TV is much darker, colors are more saturated and looks more digital looking than cable. Has anyone had this issue and if so would you please help. Should I cancel the service or is this something that could be resolved? Thanks in advance, JC

All equipment is connected using HDMI and my setup is as follows:

Pioneer Elite plasma 1080p
Pioneer Elite Vsx84txi receiver
(2) HD DVR's
(2) Standard boxes
SWM line 3LND-which is hitting all sattelite with a minimum of 95% signal strength.

Sattelite coax feeds the digital sat box then out to the Pioneer reciever, then back to the TV.

 

[Zynergi]

Is it dark on all 4 TV's or just 1?

You said you feed to a AV rec first then to the TV.. Via what type of cable and have you tried going directly to the TV, also what Picture Color settings do you have on the TV.. Ie game/Movie/Cool etc...

 

[JC-TX]

It is dark on all 4 TV's with the HD DVR's seeming to be worse and the old CRT/standard box looking the best. Some channels are worse than others. For example I have watched the movie The Bucket List on DVD and know the quality of the film. It is showing this morning on HBO 502 and it is dark to the point there is very little detail showing. I won't even watch it.

I am using HDMI connections and I have removed the AV reciever from the equation and end up with the same picture.

I have always used the PURE settings on the TV. It has always been AMAZINGLY natural, bright annd clear to the point it seemed 3-D.

I would call the picture quality muddy, it seems there is resistance somewhere, or it is getting hot.Could there be a problem with the power inserter and if so what would the picture look like if a power inserter or switch was bad or not configured correctly?

Everything I have read says sattelite is waaay better than cable so there must be something wrong somewhere???

 

[Zynergi]

If its happening on all 4 boxes, SD and HD then yea there is definitely a problem somewhere. I doubt you got 4 bad boxes of 2 different types, so something is causing interference. Are you able to snap a shot of DVD vs DTV?

 

[JC-TX]

Here are the pictures: The HD theater (car engine) and the CW (people sitting on couch) are Direct TV and then the lady is a DVD. Can the ODU (power inserter) cause a dirty signal or do we need an amplifier. These are all new cabling so i wouldn't think it is a cable. We did have trouble with a connection on the ODU, and I remember the installer saying he initialy wired the power supply backwards.

I hope i don't have to live with this picture for 2 years I would be sick!

 

[Zynergi]

First the signal is Digital.. ie 1's and 0's so there is no degradation (Works or Doesnt), but.. if he did wire the PI wrong it is possible he sent 21v into the boxes causing some issues. But it Still "seems" to be a Issue with the TV's. So to eliminate that we need to try a couple things.

First The TV In the Picture...

On my TV I can set the HD settings and Picture Quality Settings Per port. Ie I can have a high contrast image on HDMI1 for games, but have a low contrast setting on HDMI2 for Movies (just examples) So

Use the Same HDMI Port the DVD player is using, swap D* and the DVR on the TV and see if it is still there.

Cycle through the Pre-Set Picture Settings (I am sure you have tried)

Set the D* HDDVR to ONLY 720p and Cycle Settings

Set the D* HDVR to Native on and Cycle Settings

It is quite Possible the cable company was just transmitting a high contrast image and you adjusted to seeing that, now that your TV is getting a new source, new settings may need to be made. If trying the above make no difference I would call D* and get a Tech out to Swap a box to see if the PI issue damaged the boxes. I would have him put in a new HDDVR and see if the Customer Ed channel looks good or the same (201 now).

If you do not mind... Put a Pic up with the Guide and 201, I want to see what shade the blue is. But also swap DVD for HDVR inputs.. Ie hook up the HDDVR to the exact same way the DVR is into the same ports. Take the shot straight on so there is no side view distortion.

Did you by Chance DVR "The Bucket List" or have a DVR recording of a movie you have on DVD?

 

[JC-TX]

Excellent info, thank you.

I am currently running the Pure setting on both the Sat and DVD through the HDMI 3 port on the TV. My setup is through an AV receiver, Pioneer Elite VSX84txi. The sat HD DVR goes from the DVR HDMI to the HDMI IN on the receiver then the HDMI goes out from the reciever to the HDMI 3 port on the TV. That is the only feed I am using on the TV. I have changed it to HDMI 2 and cycled the presets, with no much better results.

I did try the native settings on and off, but did not see a differance other than speed. I actually tried to change the resolution on the box to 720 and I wasn't successful, it stayed at 1080i. I guess I didn't know what I was doing. Can you tell me what I did wrong?

I also hooked up the cable box tonight on HDMI 2 and then toggled back and forth between cable and D-TV taking the reciever out of the equation and running HDMI cable from Sat/Cable boxes to each individual box. The TWCable box is brighter on most channels, but it looks like the contrast level is differant (cooler or more bluish than Direct TV) just like you said. Neither one of them seemed to have the detail that I once had. I've had the Pioneer guy look at the TV and he said it wasn't the TV, so I just don't know.

I didn't DVR the Bucket List today, it wasn't on a HD channel so maybe that is why it was so dark. The SD on D-TV are not very good, cable definitely seem better. What did you think the picture looke like?

I can't run the test/post pictures as you are suggesting tonight but I will do it tomorrow afternoon as soon as I get in from work. Please look for the posted results tommorrow evening and again, thanks I really appreciate your help!!!

 

[ChrisPC]

Looks like you need to readjust your contrast and brightness for DirecTV. Every input is going to be different.

 

[JC-TX]

I remember the installer telling someone over the phone that he had hooked the power inserter up backwards at the switch in the attic. I am wondering if this may in fact have caused a problem. I think the ODU/power inserter for the SWN line puts out 21 volts and the box puts out 12-18 I think someone from Direct said.

It always makes me uneasy having these power inserters inline/before expensive AV equipment. I have been told that is very unlikely that these low voltage can do any damage to AV equipment, but if it is powered with 110volts seems that is entirely possible if the power conversion mechanism fails.

I am going to try the tests above and post pictures and results.

 

[JC-TX]

I just came in and powered up the Sat receiver, AV receiver and the Pioneer Elite plasma and the picture quality is an awesome WOW picture. Could it be that it has something to do with the Sat receiver updates or if the power inserter damage the box would it run normal until it gets hot?

Haven't tried the differant connection yet, however after seeing the stunning quality ofter the SAT receiver had been powered down for almost 24 hours it makes me think it is a SAT receiver issue. I did take a picture of CH 201 and the guide for you and some pictures of the current picture quality on differant channels, even TNT is smooth clear and bright!!! I know pictures don't show the true quality but has stunning brightness/clarity more so than the pictures. I'll have to wait and see after the box has run for a while. Haven't tested the other boxes yet.

I will post later after Sat receiver has run for a while and has become warm/hot. Thanks again.

 

[D700]

Ive seen the channel guide look green untill after enough updates have downloaded. Then back to blue.

 

[Randall DBS]

Yea on my 42 inch rear projection Sony i had that problem when I first got my HDDVR when I had all of my programming with Direct and had a similar problem, then when all the updates came through it cleared up.