New DISH Install and some issues

[NotBrad]

Hi All,

We had DISH installed this week at the golf course and the picture quality is unfortunately not really up to par.

There's pixelation on the HD channels and also the picture appears "undersized" as in it has a black border of approximately 4" all the way around it. I can use the zoom feature of the TV (it's a Vizio 60" HD TV 1080p) to fill the screen but I fell like that image should be larger than what it is. I understand that it may not fill every square inch of the screen due to format differences but a 4" border seems a little excessive.

So any things I could possibly do prior to calling out support? I'd hate to make a call just to have it be some stupid setting I could have changed myself. I would have had the install tech look at it but they were running late and it was after we'd closed by the time they finished so there wasn't a chance to really put it through it's paces and double check things.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[KAB]

Check to make sure your picture size is 16x9 and resolution set for 720p or 1080i. Did you order HD? But, the pixelation indicates poor aiming of the Dish, a bad LNB or cabling problem. You should call tech support.

 

[garys]

When I worked for Blockbuster, one of the Joeys were not set properly, the image quality was pretty bad, but there wasn't pixelation. Settings on the receiver were incorrect and tv settings were also set incorrectly and both had to be adjusted. If you could also post signal strength of a couple of transponders to see if dish need alignment.

 

[NotBrad]

Thanks guys. Will check things out and post back results.

Also we ordered HD so shouldn't it be 1080p? That's what it says on the site...

 

[KAB]

Thanks guys. Will check things out and post back results.

Also we ordered HD so shouldn't it be 1080p? That's what it says on the site...

The only thing that is 1080p are some PPV movies. Most regular channels are 1080i, and a few 720p (like ABC/Espn and Fox.) In fact, many here set our resolutions to 720p because some sets look better with it.

 

[NotBrad]

Ah... Will give that a try.

 

[KAB]

Ah... Will give that a try.

That's not really going to help with your problem.

 

[n0qcu]

It's rare to see a window boxed image on a HD channel, it can happen but it's common to see window boxed images if you're watching a SD channel on a HDTV.
Which leads to the question, are you sure you're tuned to a HD channel?

 

[NotBrad]

Thanks Guys.

So I'll check all the things mentioned above and play around some.

Thanks again.

 

[dwarren2]

Also check the format key on the Dish remote. It's the * key. What receiver did you get and is it connected via hdmi?

 

[NotBrad]

Got it all setup and doing OK. Whoever mentioned the SD thing was right. Odd thing, the HD picture does fine, the SD one has pixelation issues...

 

[garys]

Not really. If you are on WA (119, 110, 129) HD and sd channels may be on different sats. If this is the case, dish could be fine tuned to get sat with sd channels better.