Improved Picture Quality

[dalyew]

My eyes might be deceiving me but I've noticed a slight uptick in Directv's PQ this week on all my hdtvs. Did they upgraded something this week or it's just the atmospheric conditions at this time of year?

My teenage daughter noticed it too so no guys, it's not new glasses (or lack thereof). Only with Direct a month now so not sure if pq fluctuation is normal or Direct actually did something this week. I'm in South Florida, if that makes a difference ie time of year, earth's rotation, etc. Dish pq was all over the damn place most of the time but a tech visit suggested a bad receiver at the time but I bailed on them before that was resolved.

I know it's a novice question but was just wondering if I shouldn't get too comfortable with the improvement as atmospheric conditions may affect the pq from time to time. I really do love it as I do have some mid to higher level hdtvs and the pq is approaching bluray quality, especially the baseball playoffs on TBS.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I think there are a lot of factors. Dish shares bandwidth among channels, so that could account for variation, then you have variation for the channel itself. Not as sure on Directv because I thought there allotment was set for each channel.

As far as Dish vs Directv, its obvious to me that Directv offers a slightly better image on a larger screen. I see this in ESPN, FX, locals, etc... on my 65". On the 32" they both looked great.

 

[Jimbo]

D* allows a set amount of bandwidth, but it does change from time to time, if a big evemt is happening, Super Bowl, World Series ect, but that is by channel, there is a lot less bandwith need for a channel such as News, vs say a Sporting event, so when D* sets up bandwidth allotment, that is considered. You"ll typically find the NFL Sunday Ticket will look Great.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Another good example is ESPN may not look as good during day games, because across the entire system there is a lot of football going on. Night games to to look great, but at that point there is not as much bandwidth hogging going on.

 

[Broe67]

It is possible that they upgraded equipment at the VHO, to allow better use of the available bandwidth. Remember that in four years, 4k or UltraHD is supposed to roll out. With that, you are going to have providers moving to equipment with better encoders in them, so you in turn get more efficient use of the space they have available, without the end user seeing a huge degrading of the PQ on their hd sets.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ive not heard of anything.