I realize this has been adderessed here several times but I wanted to know from those that have both services concurrently...based on comparisons with similar TV's, who has the best HD picture quality? I have Dish and was over at a friends house who has Directv and wow...what a noticeably better picture on HBO and Speed Channel. I mean it seemed to me a day and night difference! Thanks for your input.
HD Picture Quality: Dish vs Directv
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I'm begging a moderator to close this thread, send the poster to the correct forever ongoing discussion on this.....PLEASE! 
Is there a difference, maybe? But I'd just remind you to make sure you are comparing the same program, same lighting conditions of the viewing area and the pictures settings (calibration) of the TV before you say one is better. There is a lot of variables there, including the brain, which is known to play tricks on you.
Also my truck can run over your car and that would be fun.My picture is better and your picture sux... oh wait, did I forget to specify which service I have?... ah well, I thought I'd attempt to cover 100% of the responses
You will get a lot of conflicting answers on this, but one thing is for sure, if there is a difference it is very slight. There is certainly not a night and day difference like you thought you saw. It is more likely that your friend has a better TV and/or has it adjusted differently.
I have both Dish and Directv. I can say Directv has a better picture for locals channels I can see a difference. But all the other channels look about the same to me.
Both here, I give the PQ nod to Directv, the NY CBS from Directv & my Local CBS from Albuquerque are about the same, I prefer NY as it is an hour earlier and no station Bug after commercials... OTA does beat both
+1
And just to add a little story to that, last week we had a bunch of people here and the brother-in-law wanted to see the difference because he 'heard' DirecTV 's HD picture is better. So we compared using DVR's and the movie 'Twister' which was on Starz or one of the other movie channels. Watching the same scenes on the same SONY TV with the same settings and even though the pictures were nearly identical, everybody that was here preferred the Dish picture because DirecTV didn't seem to handle the intense action as well, especially when the cow went flying by.
I'm watching more Directv lately for 3D, but I feel limited when surfing as Dish offers more movie channels...
This is kind of off topic. I have Sky Mexico and that's the best HD quality I've ever seen! I wish you guys could see it! I think the HD quality on Dish has decreased a little because most of the channels don't look as sharp. I also used to think that OTA had the best quality but not anymore. Maybe it's because I live in Los Angeles though. There are SO MANY channels and subchannels and then there are the channels on Sezmi. OTA doesn't look like it used to anymore.
Before you can ask or compare who has (if either really does) a better HD picture...the first question needs to be "Am I really watching HD?" I cannot tell you how often (it's daily) I go to a customers house for an upgrade or service call and find that the customer has been paying for HD (or is subscribed to the free HD), THINKS they are watching HD, and their jaw drops when I inform them and show them that they haven't been watching HD at all. It's only HD if several things come together - HD capable equipment (dish,receiver & tv), HD capable cabling (HDMI & component), HD subscription, equipment set up for 720 or 1080. Most of the time, the receivers are either still in 480 mode from the factory, or they're connected with standard rca cables on a video input.
Agreed, I had a friend who for a year and a half had it on 480, I showed him how to change it and he cxxe in his pxxts.
So you got to have fun coming in and bashing both D* & E*. 4DTV HD is getting close to being history isn't it?
There is no HD on 4DTV anymore
There is some on free to air and just like Dish and Directv it varies. Good examples are sporting events
The "big name" networks use a full transponder for the HD sporting event. Last night there was a game on a regional sports network that was "in HD" yet they only used 1/6 of a transponder to show that game "in HD". For someone asking what the comparison is......
full transponder.....1 channel on that TP
1/6 of a TP...think what it looks like when there are 7 or 8 MPEG2 channels on a TP
While it was clear to watch, it wasn't HD
There is some on free to air and just like Dish and Directv it varies. Good examples are sporting events
The "big name" networks use a full transponder for the HD sporting event. Last night there was a game on a regional sports network that was "in HD" yet they only used 1/6 of a transponder to show that game "in HD". For someone asking what the comparison is......
full transponder.....1 channel on that TP
1/6 of a TP...think what it looks like when there are 7 or 8 MPEG2 channels on a TP
While it was clear to watch, it wasn't HD
There's other things to consider in terms to comparing HD quality, other than just the obvious one of any deliberate resolution reduction by the providers [whether that's noticeable or not to most viewers, I'll leave to the debate of others]. I'll also include the already importantly noted "making sure everything is set correct" factor. The OP doesn't say whether they're on Eastern or Western Arc, and contrary to what some might believe, the bitrates for a respective channel on both aren't always the same (see below). Bitrates also may vary for the exact same program at a different time. So, any comparisons between Dish and Direct need to factor these things in as well.
I will say that I am a bit disheartened that Dish has decided to apparently up their Eastern Arc channel count to 9 HD channels per transponder (and in a couple cases...10). Even with the best encoders money can buy, and a resolution-reduced picture already taken into account, motion and complex scenes are going to suffer. There's only so many bits in the mux to go around. How Direct fares on this front...I honestly have no idea, other than the occasional, casual viewing elsewhere.
I will say that I am a bit disheartened that Dish has decided to apparently up their Eastern Arc channel count to 9 HD channels per transponder (and in a couple cases...10). Even with the best encoders money can buy, and a resolution-reduced picture already taken into account, motion and complex scenes are going to suffer. There's only so many bits in the mux to go around. How Direct fares on this front...I honestly have no idea, other than the occasional, casual viewing elsewhere.
There is no HD on 4DTV anymore
There is some on free to air and just like Dish and Directv it varies. Good examples are sporting events
The "big name" networks use a full transponder for the HD sporting event. Last night there was a game on a regional sports network that was "in HD" yet they only used 1/6 of a transponder to show that game "in HD". For someone asking what the comparison is......
full transponder.....1 channel on that TP
1/6 of a TP...think what it looks like when there are 7 or 8 MPEG2 channels on a TP
While it was clear to watch, it wasn't HD
So except for a few FTA channels & some nets then HD is gone off C/Ku?
