Not happy with StarzHD quality

[MikeD-C05]

Try sending the comments to this address and YES, I encourage everyone to KEEP sending the emails to them.


dishquality@echostar.com

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Minor correction...HGTVHD (what an unfortunate name!) is ALL HD. It's just relatively repetitive. (Although not as bad as any of the Vooms).

According to the numbers of HD programming hours available, as released by both HGTV and Rainbow Media, it should be worse than some of the VOOM channels.

Although it may be the case that HGTV is releasing more new HD programming right now, but that it is going to be repeating a lot for several months.

HGTV has only 350 hours of HD programming in their library right now. VOOM has several thousand (I've heard it is >15,000) hours. Even divided by 15, VOOM has more original HD programming hours per channel than does HGTV.

So if HGTV is releasing 6 hours of new HD content per day, they are going to exhaust their entire library within 2 months.

But within 2-3 years, Scripps (owner of HGTV & FOOD) expects to record all new content into HD. Right new, several of their current series are still recording in SD.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Why did E* release Starz HD now?

To get press releases like this one:

http://www.tvpredictions.com/echohd061206.htm

 

[M Sparks]

According to the numbers of HD programming hours available, as released by both HGTV and Rainbow Media, it should be worse than some of the VOOM channels.

Ahhh, sorry. I thought you were talking about hours of HD per day, or percentage of HD vs Upconvert.

Since I only watch an hour or two a day, and that's spread over 60-70 channels, the repetition doesn't really bother me. I just want to know that I'm going to see HD (UNDISTORTED HD) when I tune into an HD channel. I would have to watch HGTV-HD an hour a day to run out of programming in a year. That's not going to happen. I might watch one program a week.

TNT-HD still ticks me off more than any other channel. It's particularly annoying because I don't really watch TNT anyway. If I see a good movie listed on TNT, I don't bother tuning in, because it's censored and full of ads. But sometimes I see something on and say "Well, I haven't seen that in HD...even if it is censored." But 9 times out of 10, it's Stretch-O-Vision. I know for people who watch sports or Law & Order, it's pretty good, but it's worthless to me. If you have "HD" at the end of your name, I expect to see HD- regardless of repetition.

 

[techfan]

sent this to dishquality@echostar.com

"While I appreciate the extra HD channels that DISH is releasing, I have been extremely unhappy with the quality of the STARZ HD channel. The picture looks great, however, there is significant stuttering when motion is being displayed. This motion stuttering is extremely distracting and as a result I have refrained from watching further programming. If this is an indication of how further channels are to be broadcast, then this is a cause for concern.

Can you tell me if you have acknowledged this problem, and what steps are in place to rectify it?"

I will let you know the response.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

TNT "HD" makes my eyes hurt. I rarely watch the channel. I wouldn't mind the upconverts so much if they weren't stretched. Although the Alias episode they showed last night looked fine.

Do people find Starz HD harder to watch than TNT "HD"? I can't imagine that it could be worse, but perhaps some are more put off from the motion artifacts than the stretching.

 

[M Sparks]

Do people find Starz HD harder to watch than TNT "HD"? I can't imagine that it could be worse, but perhaps some are more put off from the motion artifacts than the stretching.

I suppose it depends on what's on. I've yet to watch a whole movie on Starz HD, but when I check in on it, sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's unwatchable. It's been a week or so since I saw something horrible, so maybe it's getting better.

The thing is, TNT chooses to make their picture bad ON PURPOSE, and yet most people don't seem to mind.

 

[techfan]

Reply from DISH:

Thank you for your information. We had several people write in on this issue. We have confirmed it. Our Engineering team is aware of the picture quality issues. We are making some sample recordings that our Engineering team can use to assist in their troubleshooting efforts. Please note this may take some time to resolve. There are several possibilities that will need to be examined to identify exactly what may be causing this phenomenon. Be assured we are pursuing these issues. As you are aware HD technology is relatively new and therefore new challenges must be overcome.

At DISH Network we appreciate the time customers take to email their audio/video quality concerns. Thank you for your patience, information, and for being a valued customer.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Well, looks like a form-letter to me. My response from them was almost word-for-word identical to your response from them.

Thank you for your information. We had several people write in on this issue. We have confirmed it. Our Engineering team is aware of the picture quality issues. We are making some sample recordings that our Engineering team can use to assist in their troubleshooting efforts. Please note this may take some time to resolve. There are several possibilities that will need to be examined to identify exactly what may be causing this phenomenon. Be assured we are pursuing these issues. As you are aware HD technology is relatively new and therefore new challenges must be overcome.

Yep, word-for-word...

 

[gdarwin]

HD technology is not relatively new...

 

[uhlesses]

very satisfied with STARZ HD

 

[Tom Bombadil]

A form letter doesn't mean they aren't serious about fixing the problems. If a lot of people inquire about something, then you'll have some one in your PR dept draft up a response ... i.e. a form letter.

They may be quite sincere about their efforts to fix it.

 

[abricko]

I got the form letter response also... it's a total BS response...

I suppose learning how to *cheat* a new technology such as MPEG4 would be a more honest response, because HD has been around for a while and they've offered HD content for long enough to understand how to do it right (HDNET looks beautiful).

 

[HookedOnTV]

This is getting rediculous. I get the feeling they're not even trying to fix it. This isn't rocket science.

 

[dude2]

I tried starz hd, hbo hd, and showtime hd and dropped them all. Many times the movies were not even in full 16x9 but 4x3. Also the movies are old and I find I get just as great a picture with my sony dvd connected to the component in with the latest dvd;s.

 

[RandallA]

....and even if it's rocket science you don't release a product that is not finished. Obviously they are still beta testing with the customers and this goes for receivers and MPEG4 encoding.

 

[MikeD-C05]

The answer would be to do it in MPeg 2 untill they get the mpeg 4 working properly.

 

[long_time_DNC]

The answer would be to do it in MPeg 2 untill they get the mpeg 4 working properly.

What, and miss out on reading all our gripes about it and sending a canned response to those of us who write them about it?

This is just so bogus of them. Mpeg2 would be the way to go until they get it right.

 

[waltinvt]

very satisfied with STARZ HD

Then think of how much you'll love it if they fix it.

 

[waltinvt]

The answer would be to do it in MPeg 2 untill they get the mpeg 4 working properly.

It's become obvious that "E" wasn't and still isn't ready for MPEG4. However I'm not sure they had a choice. I think Charles is gambleing they can make it work because they can't afford for it not to work.

Ready or not, "E" had to do something in response to "D"s well publicized launch of HD LiLs.

He probably also had some idea about the outcomes of the impending court action on distants which makes LiLs even more important.

If "E" has to shut off distants and still has some DMAs left with no LiLs, they can probably kiss those customers goodbye. He also has to add as many HD feeds to those LiLs as possible to stay ahead of "D".

So ready or not, Charlie had to gamble on MPEG4 giving him at least some extra space even if he has to BS his way around quality issues with both the programing and the hardware.