Discovery HD Theater Picture Improved?

[NightRyder]

Ok, I noticed this last night but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to watch some more programming before I posted.

Has anyone else notice that the picture on Discovery HD has improved? Watching last night and again this morning I can see a noticeable improvement in the PQ. I can't say it's as good as before the Olympics but it looks much better now than it has in over a month. My wife was walking through the room and stopped to watch for a minute and asked what I had done to make the picture look better? The flickering light level seems to be gone along with most of the banding and the picture once again has that wow factor.

So what do you think? Better? Worse? Same?


NightRyder

 

[mdonnelly]

I'm watching it now. Still looks a little fuzzy. No change.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Nope I still see the pulsation signal where it goes light to dark every second . It keeps perfect time with my watch. Steady and annoying as hell. It is still unwatchable.

 

[JHuibregtse]

I thought I was nuts seeing the brightness pulsate on DiscHD. I tried pointing it out to my son and he couldn't see it. I even watched the forums for mention of it and saw nothing. It seems very obvious to me, why isn't everyone complaining about it?

 

[Horsnuts]

I've seen it too. Looks horrible. I have to admit- although it's a different channel- Friday the 13th on HDNET Movies last night looked excellent. Very impressive picture for a 24 year old movie.

 

[MikeD-C05]

If you want to see the pulsation and show others, put your receiver so it does not use the transparent guide. Then hit guide and the picture will appear on the upper right hand side in a small pip window and this will show you the full pulsation going on on a smaller space. It is very noticeble. I talked to Jeff McSchooler at Dish last month and he said that the problem was on the Discovery channels part and partly because Dish put three hd channels on a transponder during the Olympics. He said they were working to put things right but IT IS STILL THERE!! Maybe I will email Jeff again and see where they are.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Interesting... I checked it a couple of days ago (Tuesday or Wednesday) and it looking pretty lame. I just checked a few minutes ago and it looks great. No pulsation, no flicker, no jitter. Did they fix it? It looks as good as it used to prior to the Olympics.

 

[NightRyder]

Interesting... I checked it a couple of days ago (Tuesday or Wednesday) and it looking pretty lame. I just checked a few minutes ago and it looks great. No pulsation, no flicker, no jitter. Did they fix it? It looks as good as it used to prior to the Olympics.

Well that was my observation but it looks like we are in the minority. Don't know why it should matter but we do have the same TV.


NightRyder

 

[OdiOdin]

the PQ changes wildly between each program.. makes me wonder if discovery is doing something funky that makes the dish compression even funkier

and if the brightness is pulsating then my tv is correcting it. (I'll look at it again at night to make sure, the living room has too many windows )

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well, per http://www.dishchannelchart.com and my own test using Point Dish, DSCHD is still 3-per with ESPHD & SHOHD (9460), so my hopes in that area have been dashed.

 

[goaliebob99]

i just think it depends on your 811... if it was to be a good pq day or a bad pq day.. it has a mind of its own you know...

 

[OdiOdin]

it's most likely they are trying different compression algorithms. not to mention the variety of quality of the source to begin with... it's just really hard to tell what is "better"... the compression is still obvious to me.. it's just not as bad. and, I can see the difference between 60, 72, 85, and 120hz refresh rates.. so I think I would notice the brightness "pulsating".

 

[NightRyder]

Update: Well while the pulsing seems to be better it isn't gone. It reared it's ugly head again while watching The Blue Realm. At this point I have to agree with OdiOdin, the PQ is all over the place. The special on South Georgia Island last night looked spectacular, other programs I have watched today less so. I also noticed the grey blocks for the first time on Discovery HD.

Come-on Dish quit f*cking around and go back to 2 channels per transponder.


NightRyder

 

[long_time_DNC]

Update: Well while the pulsing seems to be better it isn't gone. It reared it's ugly head again while watching The Blue Realm. At this point I have to agree with OdiOdin, the PQ is all over the place. The special on South Georgia Island last night looked spectacular, other programs I have watched today less so. I also noticed the grey blocks for the first time on Discovery HD.

Come-on Dish quit f*cking around and go back to 2 channels per transponder.


NightRyder

I still am not seeing the pulsing this evening, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Maybe it just happens on certain programs?

Maybe this is a dumb question, but since the Olympics are long overwith, as is the DNC and RNC, why don't they just go back to 2 HD channels per transponder? I mean, Charlie doesn't seem to much give a rip about HD, seeing as he's telling customers that want more HD to get cable ( ),so why not at least give us excellent pq on the HD we do get?

 

[OdiOdin]

big fat negative on the pulsating even at night with no other light sources (I definitely would of noticed)... using DVI/hitachi 46f500

 

[120inna55]

...even in a bitch black room...

 

[long_time_DNC]

I was watching some desert-type show this morning and it looked spectacular! I also watch in a (nearly) bitch black room ( )...just a slight glow coming from the ceiling can lights (I love a high-quality dimmer)...anyway, I digress. There was nothing wrong with the picture quality.

 

[mike123abc]

I would bet they are simply fine tuning the hardware/software that does the recompression of 3 channels/TP. The picture should continue to improve as they work out the bugs in the system and they do not get tempted to add a 4th channel to the TP.

 

[long_time_DNC]

I would sincerely hope that they don't even remotely consider going to 4/TP. It's been painful enough watching them struggle to get the PQ back to something resembling acceptable. I can't imagine what 4 HD channels per TP would do to the PQ other than decimate it.

 

[JonUrban]

I just was setting the 921 up to record Boz Scaggs at 9 (HDNet) and noticed that DiscoveryHD looked much better than the last time I looked. It was a show about penguins. It was so improved that I actually noticed it!

:-jon