Harmonic Encoder Improvements? (Feedback Need it)

[bryan27]

Dunno, call me crazy but SD PQ seems to me better...

This is just my theory but because of stastical multiplexing we are going to see the PQ vary by channel, time, and transponder. It could be at the time I was watching D-Health that the 3 HD channels on the TP needed more bandwidth than usual and D-Health happend to be the poor channel that got the life sucked out of it for a while.

I think we should be given the function that the other providers have in their receivers. The ability to see what TP a particular channel is on and it's signal strength. This way I can look at D-Health, see that the PQ is bad look around and see 'oh it is on the same TP as X-HD, Y-HD, Z-HD and those are all airing a sports program, that explains it' or 'oh look the signal dipped down below 80 on that TP that's why it broke up'

 

[GabeNet]

Watching toon network too and just saw a big chunk of scrambled crap (pixelation) in the lower right of the screen.

Same thing here, lots of blocks that look like they are slower at catching up with the current image.

 

[cmurray]

Dunno, call me crazy but SD PQ seems to me better...

I actaully stated this in another thread, before this was created. Starting last night, I had been switching through channels and stumbled on a commerical that seemed HD. I then realized it was on WE. I have also looked at the SD channels tonight and it's hard to give a cut and dry answer, but I would have to say that SD looks better and HD is the same, if not a little worse.

 

[mukaidaf]

looks like a lot of us are watching cartoon network i noticed the blocking earlier also. i hope it's resolved by the time fullmetal alchemy and GiTS:SAC is on


now that my wife has taken the remote, HGTV looks pretty good for SD. color, sharpness.

 

[DarrellP]

I haven't checked out the SD channels yet (rarely watch them), but overall, PQ is improved but (and there's a big butt here), it seems to depend on the transfers. I went through all of the Cinema10 and at first was very disappointed. Every channel seemed softer but with less overall noise. Then during the Voom inserted breaks, the PQ jumped up in a quantum leap.

Moov, Equator, Gallery & Auction still have skeeter noise, while Worldsport pixelates and is soft as all get out during a fast break. I checked out Rush and it was an old movie so I could not rate it. Rave had Phil Collins and it totally sucked, super soft but then Sonic Youth was on and it looked quite good.

I have not seen any channel that I would rate excellent yet. Nothing is as good as OTA. OTA and HDNET are the standards I expect to get from any HD provider and we are not getting it. If this is the best we can expect, I guess it's time to shrink my screen. Hopefully some tweaking can improve PQ because as it is, it is only a marginal improvement in some areas and a big decrease in other areas. So far, I am not impressed with the change.

 

[Jeff_in_MA]

The picture quality is definitely worse on my 65" HDTV, especially when watching moving images. Still images are slightly worse also, just like when a jpeg picture is compressed another 20%.

 

[JimP]

To those experiencing block noise (I think that means everybody) check the user menu on your TV. My Sony GWIII has a block noise filter adjustment that I moved from off to next to the highest on a scale of 4. Cleaned the picture up nicely.

Although, it'll probably be fixed by Voom LLC in a few days, this work around can carry you for a while.

I see a definate improvement in SD on the SciFi channel.

Two things that I did notice that may be worth mentioning is that it looks like most of the channels have a higher black level (brightness). This is over component input. A couple of days ago, I calibrated this input using a Accupel HD signal generator and got the black level looking pretty good. It looks lighter tonight(Wednesday) than it did last night. Colors are also more saturated across the board.

 

[calikarim]

Pic Quality is Wow

I have never seen more brilliant colors on ultra and such detail. I was watching Joey Kidd on her fashion purchases thru Milan, and god was she and the entire background mindblowing. I have never seen this channel, and even Auction channel look so rich in color and detail . My picture quaility is about 30% better. I know they are playing with the channels, cause many of my channels are dark, but it is for a good cause.

I was considering an ISF calibration, but after seeing the improvements, i love what i see, and am going to cancel.. It is the source that is deterring image quailty. I can't wait for MPEG 4.

May voom live Eternally, God Bless Charles Dolan- King of HD

 

[softwiz]

I checked out Rush and it was an old movie so I could not rate it. Rave had Phil Collins and it totally sucked, super soft but then Sonic Youth was on and it looked quite good.

The Phil Collins thing is recorded in Analog HD. There is a little blurb at the beginning that states this and says you should expect some imperfection. I guess it was recorded in 1987 which is quite a while back.

 

[scottabs]

The Phil Collins thing is recorded in Analog HD. There is a little blurb at the beginning that states this and says you should expect some imperfection. I guess it was recorded in 1987 which is quite a while back.

The Genesis show was recorded in '87, but the Phil Collins concert is fairly new so it should look decent. So, hopefully they are still tweaking Rave as that has normally looked good in the past.

 

[penguinbrat]

Volume a problem?

I don't know if this is a problem with the mpeg4 stream or not, but in the last week the volume has gotten all screwed up (anyone else notice this?). I used to be able to surf channels without changing volume (a little if at all), now I may be on one channel, having to jack up the volume to 45 and then switch to another to only wake up my neighbors :-(

On PQ - all I have really noticed pixelation, and blocking it some high motion clips - on most HD channels... SD is looking good.

 

[bryan27]

WOW!!!! What a difference a night makes!!!

This morning the SD channels were greatly improved over yesterday evening. Universal-HD was a little soft this morning, but that is probably from the source rather than from VOOM.

Don't touch a thing. If broadcasting has taught me anything when you try to change settings after it is really good then you just mess it up

 

[flipper2001]

I was watching Face Off on Showtime last night and was almost unable to watch it. The PQ is much worse than it ever has been. There was the seen (which it was dark) that was a shooting scene where the black and white colors were horrible and i actually turned to another station. There was so much pixelation it was impossible to watch without getting dizzy. I also have D* and turned on showtime there and the picture was much better (voom used to be much better over D*) but in the past day, its not anymore. Much pixelation, tonight TNTHD has basketball so I will see how good/bad it is and report back.

 

[bradley]

Unless harmonics leeds to less bandwidth I can see no reason for degradation. We're talking digital v. analog; it should have no impact.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[DarrellP]

I was gone most of last night so I only had about an hour after Alias to check things out. I'll give it a thorough test tonight and report back.

 

[d151b]

rush and worldsport were the most noticeable. very granular.

 

[techweb]

Looks worse too me too.

 

[klen]

Rave had Phil Collins and it totally sucked,

I don't know about the picture quality, but that Phil Collins concert did totally suck. I used to really like Genesis up to and including "Duke", but Phil Collins pussed them out, and they were never able to recover.

It's painful to watch him now......


-k

 

[riffjim4069]

I haven't had time to watch TV lately, but a quick channel scans tells me the PQ is better on the HD channels than it was last night, but there are still motion artifacts and inconsistencies among the channels. I'll wait for Darrell's complete review this evening.

 

[nemisis633]

My Observations are that on some SD channels it actually looks better BUT

Right now on Channel 229 (ATMAX) Alien Ressurection looks about the quality of a downloaded movie rip. It's by far the WORST picture quality I've seen since I've owned voom. Almost at the level of direcTV.

I'm sure it just need some tweaking. Keep up the good work Voom Techs!

Jon