HD quality issues with Hopper??

[nick2196]

Hello all. I had the Hopper installed on the 16th. I have had 3 techs out since then to troubleshoot picture issues I am having. My 1080i HD picture seems blurry or pixelated. For example: When watching the basketball games, the players seem to have a pixelated halo around them 2 or 3 pixels deep. This is when there is a lot of movement, like on a half-court zoomed camera angle. When shown up close, the players look much better.

When watching regular shows, the pixelation occurs as well, (Did I just make up "pixelation?") and it sort of seems like it tries to refocus. The pixelation occurs again, and it refocuses again. This is a 2-second pattern.

I have the main hopper unit connected to a 46" LCD, and a joey unit connected to a 19" LED. Both TV's are showing this problem. The problem is worsened when playing back a DVR show.

It kind of looks like the pixelation that occurs sometimes when you watch a video on your PC. When I hook up my laptop to the tv to watch a show in 720p, it looks like this. I think I am getting a 720p picture from my receiver, even though it is set on 1080i.

As stated previously, I have had 3 techs out to lok at it, and they keep telling me everything is hooked up fine. However, this is not "right". I switched to dish from directv to take advantage of the Hopper. My inlaws have Dish, and I know the quality on their TV is excellent. What could be different on mine?

 

[Tampa8]

I wish I had an easy answer. As you said Dish does have a good HD picture.
Also, a it is doubtful you would see a difference between a 720P picture and a 1080I picture. They are very close in quality, some actually think the 720P looks better. You might see a slight difference on a 60" TV but not on a 48" or less one.
Sure sounds like something wrong maybe with the cabling, connections.... Make them get it right, don't try to live with it because you should be getting a great picture.

 

[PokerMunkee]

Do you have an easy way to swap out the RG6 going from the Hopper to your dish? It surely has to be either the RG6 or the dish needs to be adjusted?

 

[CK SatGuy]

Hmmm... This is now the 2nd time I've heard about issues with the PQ on the hopper (Here's the other thread about it: http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/280457-regretting-hopper-maybe-going-back-722k.html ) Either there's a bad connection or your needs to be replaced.

 

[nick2196]

Thanks guys. It shouldn't be too difficult to swap out the RG6. I have another tech coming out tomorow morning. Maybe I will ask him to start there. I know the techs that installed it originally ran new wiring into the house, but only to my "hub". From the hub to the TV is old/typical wiring.

 

[Tampa8]

Hope it gets resolved tomorrow! Wish we had more precise answers.

 

[rdinkel]

Thanks guys. It shouldn't be too difficult to swap out the RG6. I have another tech coming out tomorow morning. Maybe I will ask him to start there. I know the techs that installed it originally ran new wiring into the house, but only to my "hub". From the hub to the TV is old/typical wiring.

When you say "From the hub to the TV" do you mean from the Node to the Hopper? If so, that is your problem. The wiring from the Node to the Hopper must be able to pass 3ghz.

 

[nick2196]

Thank you rdinkel. Do you know where I could find this info on the net, to back me up to the tech tomorrow? I am now near positive that is the problem. I know the previous wiring was fairly old.

 

[sparc]

Thank you rdinkel. Do you know where I could find this info on the net, to back me up to the tech tomorrow? I am now near positive that is the problem. I know the previous wiring was fairly old.

wiring diagrams...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/279755-hopper-joey-wiring-diagrams.html

the frequencies are nicely shown in the pdf linked in this post...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/279176-rg6-cabling-requirements-hopper-vs-dpp.html

 

[nick2196]

SO the tech came to my house this morning. He said again, that there was nothing that he can do, but that I should call DISH to have an "advanced tech" come out and diagnose my issue. I called DISH, and they told me there was no such thing as an "advanced tech." However, I was told the issue I am having is a software glitch, and will hopefully be fixed in the next update/patch. I'll not hold my breath.

 

[rdinkel]

Contact DIRT for help.

 

[EmSurfer]

It is now May and I was wondering if you ever got the situation corrected as there has been several software updates since your install. I just upgraded to the Hopper from 922 5 days ago.

 

[Jim5506]

I have heard of receivers getting "locked" on a certain resolution and it taking either a power cord reboot or a total reset of the receiver to get it to "release" the 480p mode or whatever it is stuck on.

 

[Tampa8]

I have heard of receivers getting "locked" on a certain resolution and it taking either a power cord reboot or a total reset of the receiver to get it to "release" the 480p mode or whatever it is stuck on.

Good thought. There was a thread where that indeed was the situation. Although it was "set" to 1080I it wasn't really.

 

[Zaytron]

I have similar issues with basketball games on ABC channel (sundays). The basketball games on ESPN or TNT look ok.

 

[KenSoren]

I hit a similar problem a week or so ago with all the LA Locals plus any recorded program played back one night - posted a complaint on this forum with no responces. It looked like static and showed up really bad on dark pictures.

So far that was the only night we had the problem and I hope it is the last.