DC Local HD quality

[bbrukx]

I got my 622 installed yesterday and was shocked by the poor quality of the DC locals in HD, especially WRC (NBC). The picture was trailing, the inside of the faces of the people were moving different than the outline (same problem as on the old box in SD). The other 3 locals were a little bit better, but still nothing compared to OTA.

I'm pretty sure it is not my setup, as the national HD's looked pretty good.

I'm thinking about sending this thing back, does anybody know about the cancellation policy? I know I just committed to 18 months, but can I cancel within a couple of days or even 30 days?

Thanks.

 

[barheel]

You are talking about the HD locals in DC are in the 6xxx channel range, correct?

I also had my 622 installed yesterday in DC too. Unfortunately they installed it incorrectly and put in a dish 1000 so I don't have access to the HD channels on 61.5 They are supposed to come back on Friday and fix it.

 

[bkos]

I got my 622 installed yesterday and was shocked by the poor quality of the DC locals in HD, especially WRC (NBC). The picture was trailing, the inside of the faces of the people were moving different than the outline (same problem as on the old box in SD). The other 3 locals were a little bit better, but still nothing compared to OTA.

I'm pretty sure it is not my setup, as the national HD's looked pretty good.

I'm thinking about sending this thing back, does anybody know about the cancellation policy? I know I just committed to 18 months, but can I cancel within a couple of days or even 30 days?

Thanks.

I've noticed the same thing...trailing, some lip sync issues, etc. The OTA locals are by far superior than their satellite versions. I don't think this is a 622 issue but maybe an MPEG4/compression issue with Dish. If you look at the non-local HD channels like HDNet or even the VOOM channels, you don't see those kinds of issues.

Anyone think that this is an MPEG4 issue? Are the local DC channels fully MPEG4 or is it just the header information marking them as MPEG4 but really being MPEG2 (like I thought I read about the newer VOOM channels)?

 

[navychop]

If you can, put up an OTA antenna for your locals. After seeing HD that way, you'll never be happy with satellite locals.

 

[bbrukx]

You are talking about the HD locals in DC are in the 6xxx channel range, correct?

I also had my 622 installed yesterday in DC too. Unfortunately they installed it incorrectly and put in a dish 1000 so I don't have access to the HD channels on 61.5 They are supposed to come back on Friday and fix it.

I don't know the numbers, but they are the HD locals. I already had 2 dishes (one at 61.5) on my roof. The installer did not change anything on the dishes, he just plugged in the box.

I could go the OTA route, but then I can only record one quality (OTA HD) channel at one time.

Anyone know why WRC (NBC) in particular is so bad? I don't think Dish will get away with this PQ and call it HD. Zoomed in OTA analog looked better.

 

[riffjim4069]

I've had my 622 for three weeks now and rarely flip to the DC HD LIL since I have OTA. Here is my original post: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=506062&postcount=5. Although I rarely watch these channels, I have observed theat WTTG-DT (FOX) and WJLA-DT (ABC), which are both 720p, both look and perform better than WUSA-DT (CBS) and WRC-DT (NBC), which are both 1080i. The 720p channels are tolerable and, in fact, Fox5 will often look almost just a tad softer than OTA...however, the 1080i channels are soft as hell and have a variety of motion and audio problems.

I don't think HD LIL will ever look at good as OTA, but I think the current problems will improve as they work the kinds out of their encodes. Threads like this, and your calls into Dish Network, will [hopefully] help them correct the problems.

 

[datwell]

Ouch!

I don't know the numbers, but they are the HD locals. I already had 2 dishes (one at 61.5) on my roof. The installer did not change anything on the dishes, he just plugged in the box.

I could go the OTA route, but then I can only record one quality (OTA HD) channel at one time.

Anyone know why WRC (NBC) in particular is so bad? I don't think Dish will get away with this PQ and call it HD. Zoomed in OTA analog looked better.

Ouch!! I have the same setup (Dish 500 + 61.5) and am planning to upgrade to the 622 from my current 942 after April 1. My home's location makes OTA unreliable at best and I was hoping for big things from E* regarding my HD locals.

BTW, WRC HD looks weak OTA . Our CBS station is the best for HD - CSI Miami is a real showpiece!

Please keep us posted - this is a real concern!

---Doug

 

[riffjim4069]

Also, the new national HD channels are still MPEG-2 (with MPEG-4 headers)...the only MPEG-4 encoded channels are HD LIL.

 

[riffjim4069]

Ouch!! I have the same setup (Dish 500 + 61.5) and am planning to upgrade to the 622 from my current 942 after April 1. My home's location makes OTA unreliable at best and I was hoping for big things from E* regarding my HD locals.

BTW, WRC HD looks weak OTA . Our CBS station is the best for HD - CSI Miami is a real showpiece!

Please keep us posted - this is a real concern!

---Doug

Well, enjoy watching the Final Four on WUSA-DT...it's like being on LSD. Checkout my post over the weekend: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=516157&postcount=35

Also, I just placed a call into E* Tech Support....recommend everyone experiencing these problems do the same thing.

 

[RobertsD]

I got my 622 installed yesterday and was shocked by the poor quality of the DC locals in HD, especially WRC (NBC). The picture was trailing, the inside of the faces of the people were moving different than the outline (same problem as on the old box in SD). The other 3 locals were a little bit better, but still nothing compared to OTA.

I'm pretty sure it is not my setup, as the national HD's looked pretty good.

I'm thinking about sending this thing back, does anybody know about the cancellation policy? I know I just committed to 18 months, but can I cancel within a couple of days or even 30 days?

Thanks.

Are you sure you are actually watching HD programming? The stations might be HD, but for the most part, the only shows/programs that are actually in HD are the primetime shows(7pm-10pm).

In my case the Local news on NBC is also in HD, but other then that, only primetime shows.

 

[datwell]

riffjim4069: Thanks for the good scoop! And thanks for trying to light a fire under E* too!

We are on the back side of the big hill that is 7 Corners - just directly in the line of sight from the transmitters! We put up a big CM 4228 with a rotor, pre-amp, etc. and as long the trees have no leaves and the wind isn't blowing - we're good, but otherwise hang it up!

CBS (WUSA-DT) is the best by far - ABC & Fox are ok, but noticably softer than CBS. NBC is just weak - we don't watch much there anyway - however, they will have some NFL football this season, so we may watch then.

Still, Charlie & Co. need to get this fixed! There is cerainly no problem with WUSA-DT's output!

--Doug

 

[bbrukx]

Are you sure you are actually watching HD programming? The stations might be HD, but for the most part, the only shows/programs that are actually in HD are the primetime shows(7pm-10pm).

In my case the Local news on NBC is also in HD, but other then that, only primetime shows.

Yep, was watching Law and Order SVU last night, flipping back between OTA and Dish HD LIL.

That show has a lot of faces, so that issue made watching the HD LIL unbearable. Audio was out of synch too, but we'll put that to the HDMI issue and hope they fix that soon.

I agree the real test will be CSI Miami, with the deep colors and fast moving shots....

for full disclosure, I have the 622 hooked up with an HDMI cable to a Sony 42" lcd projection TV.

 

[bkos]

Doug -- it's surprising to me that you have such problems with NBC from 7 Corners. I receive it fine on my 811 and 622 from Centreville using a CM 4221 with a pre-amp. I have read on avsforum that some folks were having problems receiving NBC using a pre-amp because the pre-amp caused the signal to the receiver to overload the OTA tuner. Taking the pre-amp out of the equation helped those folks.

Any chance you can try to remove the pre-amp from your system to see if that would help?

 

[datwell]

Doug -- it's surprising to me that you have such problems with NBC from 7 Corners. I receive it fine on my 811 and 622 from Centreville using a CM 4221 with a pre-amp. I have read on avsforum that some folks were having problems receiving NBC using a pre-amp because the pre-amp caused the signal to the receiver to overload the OTA tuner. Taking the pre-amp out of the equation helped those folks.

Any chance you can try to remove the pre-amp from your system to see if that would help?

bkos: Well, I could try but then that might have a negative impact on the remaining channels - our priorities are; 1) WUSA-DT (CBS) as we watch much of their content (CSI, etc.) 2) WTTG-DT (Fox - 24 + "Hail to the Redskins!") 3) WJLA-DT (ABC - watch sometimes) and finally a distant 4) WRC-DT (NBC - seldom). So, we can live with a second-rate NBC, but not with the others - especially WUSA-DT!

---Doug

 

[HokieEngineer]

I've been having a problem with WRC and WBAL OTA with my 211. Very bad lip sync problem.

Dish HD locals are 720p for fox and abc, and 1440x1080i for cbs and nbc, which might explain why cbs and nbc look worse or exhibit problems, since they are doing some sort of image conversion.

I had no problems with WJZ or WUSA OTA (besides the occasional out of focus blur that happens) during the NCAA games.

 

[datwell]

I just hope E* gets this one fixed real soon!

--Doug

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

You should ask this on the D* forum as well to see if it's just WRC4 not working with MPEG4 on both DISH and DirecTV and not necessarily WRC4 and DISH.

 

[bbrukx]

You should ask this on the D* forum as well to see if it's just WRC4 not working with MPEG4 on both DISH and DirecTV and not necessarily WRC4 and DISH.

Thanks, I just put the question out on the DirecTV HD Forum.

 

[riffjim4069]

I can tell by his description that he is talking about the new Washington DC HD locals (satellite) just brought online as of 1 March.

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

Isn't most of the stations fed by a fiber link, well they have to pay for that bandwidth. Can you imagine the cost of upgrading all those links to what 19mb, they are probably running much less than that now.

I might be way off on this, but just a thought