HDNet Movies joins the HD-Lite crowd??

[Tom Bombadil]

Just write to the dishquality address provided earlier in this thread (you could copy it to the CEO address if you like). Tell them that you made a substantial investment in HD technology, so that you could enjoy the beautiful / life-like video quality. However you've been noticing that channels from the VOOM lineup lack the crispness and fine detail that you've seen from cable channels and Dish's demo channel. And just recently, you noticed that HDNET movies aren't quite as impressive as they used to be. Ask them why the HD video quality is degrading and what they plan to do about it. Express your dissatisfaction with this trend.

Do not mention that you found out about it from an on-line forum. Write it as if you discovered it with your own eyeballs and express your personal dissatisfaction given your investment in HD, including what you paid to E* for a HD receiver and your annual costs for HD programming.

Put these things in your own words. Better for them to look sincere and unique than a form letter.

 

[Kirby Baker]

And what about making comments about the actual resolution and bitrate, if we have the proper tools? Not sure what kind of reaction that would bring, especially from the ceo address.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Well, maybe someone who will write a very technical letter that shows they know what they are talking about and they measured the resolution and bitrate.

It's probably fine for the mix of letters to include some that cite on-line references about the down-rezzing and how disappointing this is. As long as there isn't some form letter where everyone is making that argument.

I think it is better if they get a lot of letters from subs who are saying that they can SEE the loss of quality and that it disturbs or disappoints them. People who point out that HD quality is important and was the reason why they dropped $2K-$4K on a HDTV and now pay a lot of money to Dish to get HD programming.

 

[nazz]

I wrote earlier and stressed how I recently switched from DirecTV because of their poor HD picture quality and was concerned that HDNet Movies did look significantly better when I switched but hasn't looked as good recently. I expalined that my decision was based on Dish's reputation of caring more about picture quality and selection with their HD programming. I expressed the hope that this is not an indication of Dish changing that philosophy.

 

[BFG]

Well this ruins The Shining

and I wonder how HDNet gets a 1.85 version of this film when they will only release the intended 1.33 aspect on DVD

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I watched The Shining a few days ago too, along with 2001 and 2010. I didn't know how good I had it.

The 1.85 aspect ratio is actually a negative in this case. The film was shot in 1.37:1 (not 1.33, but 1.37) and when it is shown in 1.85, they are masking off the top and bottom of the frames.

So you actually see less of the movie in 1.85

 

[BFG]

agh it was on earlier? I must've missed it oh well

 

[retorq]

It was on the other night, I caught it then too.

 

[richiephx]

For what it's worth, yesterday, I emailed dishquality@ecostar.com and expressed by dissatisfaction. Everyone who feels strongly about the issue should also comment.

 

[Kirby Baker]

For what it's worth, yesterday, I emailed dishquality@ecostar.com and expressed by dissatisfaction. Everyone who feels strongly about the issue should also comment.

And hopefully you sent it to dishquality@echostar.com.

My letter has been sent. Dont expect a reply though. I watched some of HDnet and HDnet movies last night, and its quite visible the difference from a week ago.

The real shame is going to be watching the Barca soccer match tonight in HD Lite. Thank you Dish! I wonder if that will make Barca only 2/3's as good as usual.....

 

[gdarwin]

This brings up the old question of who contols the bitrates? Is E* controlling it or did HDNet do it at E*'s request.

I'm guessing it is E* controlling it and the old VOOM finger pointing games was just that!

 

[BFG]

the 2 aren't related but it's E* reshaping HDNet

 

[long_time_DNC]

I wrote my email to them this morning. It'll be interesting to see if I get a reply. I'm not holding my breath...

 

[dfergie]

My D* HDnet and E* HDnets are pretty much equal, a week ago the difference was was night and day... If I remember right the Sunday Ticket was one of the contributing factors to D* HD lite...

 

[gdarwin]

I watched 2001 again... Where the space stations were rotating - before the throttle down the movement was perfect.... On this viewing you could see the rotation jerk from the dropped frames...

 

[long_time_DNC]

I don't know what they've done to 129, but I've been watching Starz-HD for the last 30-minutes with no LOS!! That's got to be a record for me. It's still HD-Lite, but at least I can watch it now without dropouts every 20-minutes.

Is it going to last? I'm not holding my breath...

 

[Kirby Baker]

Obviously they have someone sitting at the thruster control panel tonight

 

[long_time_DNC]

That must be the case. Watched for an hour and ten minutes and no dropouts. I was amazed. Just tried Monsters-HD and got only 20 minutes in and it blitzed-out...the person at thruster control must've gone home.

 

[BFG]

I think the dropped frames is worse than the reduced resolution

I think we deserve a refund for this, I can't even watch the channel now, I feel ripped off

I was gonna watch night at the roxbury, but just too frustrated, gonna watch a DVD instead

 

[ScottChez]

Seems like a Bait n Switch which is against the law in my state.

I signed an 18 MOnth Contract with the understanding of getting HD Programing, now I got HD Lite.

Think back 5 Years or so when Dish first started, what if we signed 1 year contracts expecting SD programing and then due to bandwidth they changed it to all Black n White.

Anyone ever ask a lawyer if what they are doing is not a class action law suite waiting to happen?