My Directv looks like Youtube

[erik73]

Hi folks, first time poster here.
I switched from Dish to Directv about 6 months ago to get the MLB extra innings package. I have an older (but still good) 27" Sony Trinitron tv, obviously SD hooked up via svideo, from a R-15 SD dvr. The picture from Directv is really bad compared to what I was use to seeing on Dish. There are tons of what look like compression artifacts: somewhat blurry picture, bad pixilation on especially dark colors/shadows and bright whites. Basically it looks like YouTube. I complained to them, they sent a guy out who said the picture looks fine, and this is normal. I think this can't be normal. Sat signal is perfect. Anyone else have this issue? Is this what directv actually looks like. Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated. Again I'm watching SD on a tube tv.
Thanks
Erik

 

[Zellio2008]

Not much can be said here. Directv has excellent hd picture quality, because only 5 channels are on transponders.

However, tons of sd channels are on a few transponders, so sd on d* looks really bad.

I'd suggest wait though. Their gonna switch all the mpeg2 sd channels to mpeg4, which will make the sd picture look FAR better.

 

[HDinCincy]

I used to have E* and switched to D* about a year ago. Oddly enough, my picture looks MUCH better in SD than E* did. I have a 50" plasma. Might you have your setup on "stretch" or something? I get almost not digital artifacts on most channels. There RSN will occasionally look, as you say, like YouTube though. Same as on E*. I also use a 32" LCD in my tailgating setup (using a D11 rec'vr) and people always marvel at the PQ. ?! !??

HTH

 

[aztracker]

I have to agree with the OP, Directv's SD channels are hideous! Not quite as bad as Youtube, but pretty close. Because of that, I will only watch their HD channels.

The same goes for Starz on demand (SD)movies. I won't watch them because the compression is way too high.

 

[mlb]

I think the SD sucks, but E*'s is just as bad. I would not say it looks like youtube, however.

 

[Al K]

It may be bad, but it's "100% digital quality"

 

[Sori4mvp]

I never noticed how bad their SD was till I upgraded to HD. So I'm not sure if it's just DTV or if it's the fact that I'm spoiled and used to HD now because being a big sports fan and what not, mostly everything I watch is HD.

 

[Zellio2008]

It looks exactly like a good high quality youtube feed, the SD does.

 

[charper1]

To the OP; its a sad misconception that just because something is digital it is "perfect". There are so many factors that go into delivering a digital DBS signal to the end user, its amazing that there aren't more issues; some of which is outside the DBS company's control.

Also, not all displays are the same either. You could have the exact same setups all the way from the DBS receiver, out the same cables but only the displays are different and you could see vastly differing images.

I am assuming you are only talking about the SD looking bad? It sure looks better that any youtube video and looks about the same as most all other SD I have seen.

If you are talking your HD too, then there is an issue.

 

[erik73]

So just to clarify, I've had the same tv for like 7 years, it's a Sony SD tube, had Dish Net, and it looked fine, got Directv and it looks real bad. I was wondering if digital compression artifacts like motion problems and, pixilation in darker colors are what is expected from Directv, because both Dish and Comcast looked fine on the same tv. I don't have an HD set up....yet.

 

[Mike Al]

Did you try adjusting the brightness/picture/contrast/color settings on the Sony. I had the same problem on my 20 inch Sony when I switched to DirecTV from cable a number of years ago. After making some adjustments the picture looked fine. I can't promise it will work for you but you might want to give it a try.

 

[Kevin1514]

I recently switched my grandparents over to D* and the picture looked terrible when they set it up. The installer said thats just what it looks like, but I refused to believe that, so I played around with the TV settings (sharpness, color, etc.) and that improved the picture dramatically. I suggest you try that.