P266 Dark Video Thread

[keith]

Put your $$$ where your mouth is, Keith! You said before 266 that if it didn't fix your issues, you'd be returning your 811 or switching to DirecTV!

Thanks for your concern about my 811.

Waiting for a replacement 811 here, and returning the older one - assuming that the new one is any better. I will continue to complain until the 811 is "right". If you dumped your 811, then you are just trolling and wasting your time here.

Move along.

Keith.

 

[stlouisrod]

Thanks for your concern about my 811.

Waiting for a replacement 811 here, and returning the older one - assuming that the new one is any better. I will continue to complain until the 811 is "right". If you dumped your 811, then you are just trolling and wasting your time here.

Move along.

Keith.

I'm glad you have the time and patience to "bench test" plenty of 811's for us all! And I look forward to the day when someone like yourself lets us all know that the 811 finally works properly. At that time, I may consider buying up to the receiver again... which is why I still occassionally "troll" this message board. Keep up the diligent work .

 

[JoeSp]

BOY, You guys sure do get your hair all messed up over the 811. I bought this receiver to watch HD both from Dish and OTA. Since the 266 download my OTA viewing has improved--seems that once the 811 locks on it stays locked. I get all my channels now -- before anything under 74 and the 811 would not lock. Heck, now when I get 64 I get a lock and can watch.

And watching basketball in HD on TNT-HD was great. I am looking forward to the TNT specials and NASCAR in HD on TNT soon. BTW, ESPN will go to 7/24 HD on June 6th!!

As for the darkness issue? On my Pioneer 630HD there was a slight improvement. I had to turn down the black and the white for SD viewing. There seems to be some black crushing going on but I am beginning to think that this might have something to do with DVI as there has been an ongoing discussion about this transport crushing blacks and whites on some equipment.

I say watch some HD and cool your jets. If you can not get HD OTA then do not buy the 811. Watching SD is not what it was made for. And please, if you returned your 811 go find somewhere else to whine!! :river

 

[GaryPen]

We hardly ever use the 811 anymore. I have both a 510 and 811 hooked to my HT, and use the 510 for the majority of viewing, unless there is something we want to watch specifically in HD, or if we're recording something with the 510.

When we do use it, it takes forever to start watching TV because it goes through the "acquiring satellite signal" routine, then the "downloading guide information", then, if I forget and scroll down instead of up, it downloads again. Then, we have to reboot because the captions aren't working. It probably takes 5-10 minutes to get going whenever we switch over to the 811.

BTW, we dropped the HD Pack. It just wasn't worth $10 to us. We get a ton of HD via OTA and HBO-HD. Plus, we watch a lot of DVD's, leaving less time for TV viewing, anyway. (Hey. If it wasn't for TCM, IFC, Bravo and my RSN, we'd drop down to AT60.)

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Thanks for your concern about my 811.

Waiting for a replacement 811 here, and returning the older one - assuming that the new one is any better. I will continue to complain until the 811 is "right". If you dumped your 811, then you are just trolling and wasting your time here.

Move along.

Keith.

Would be interested to hear what the results of the replacement is. Nothing wrong with complaining as long has it does not enter the rehashing over and over and over the same issue at ever possible opportunity.

If the next update does not correct 90% of the other reports and people get happier, I might suspect that it is a combination hardware and software. At one time, there was talk that Dish was replacing a part that helped the problem and that swapping boxes with a new one would help. Anyone got info if this is actually the case or still in the rumor stage?

 

[GaryPen]

Hopefully, Keith will tell us, once he gets the new one!

 

[Pb ft.]

BOY, I say watch some HD and cool your jets. If you can not get HD OTA then do not buy the 811. Watching SD is not what it was made for. And please, if you returned your 811 go find somewhere else to whine!! :river

Huh? I certainly thought the 811 was for both HD and SD. At least mine has SD outputs. Or are they taping the SD outpust over on recently shipped units? It shouuld work as advertised! A lot of people use SD for VCR or TiVo which is preferable than watching live TV, IMO. Yes, HD is nice but not the only thing I'm interrested in. I'll whine if I want.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I just got a 811 last week. I have noticed over component connection that the hd picture and most of the sd picture looks fine. I connected the dvi today and I notice all kinds of blacks colors crushing and it almost make the dark areas look like xrays. I called Dish tech department tonight and he informed me that there is NO issue with a dark dvi ouput. He even said I should get Best Buy to test the tv itself and see if the dvi works on a device like dvd player with dvi. If it does then Dish would give me a replacement receiver. My tv is a brand new Toshiba 57 hd tv with built in tuner. The dvi cable is monsterDVI 400 . I mentioned to the tech that I think it would be the receiver's problem, since everyone knows that dish has buggy receivers. He said he couldn't believe this and that I should do all I can to test the receiver on a different tv with dvi. Right!! This guy is clueless. The main reason I wanted to use dvi was for the best connection for picture quality . I think I will be returning the 811 to dishdepot since it doesn't work like it was supposed to, Or do you think I should get a replacement 811 from Dish and give it another try?

 

[Diamond Dog]

I just got a 811 last week. I have noticed over component connection that the hd picture and most of the sd picture looks fine. I connected the dvi today and I notice all kinds of blacks colors crushing and it almost make the dark areas look like xrays. I called Dish tech department tonight and he informed me that there is NO issue with a dark dvi ouput. He even said I should get Best Buy to test the tv itself and see if the dvi works on a device like dvd player with dvi. If it does then Dish would give me a replacement receiver. My tv is a brand new Toshiba 57 hd tv with built in tuner. The dvi cable is monsterDVI 400 . I mentioned to the tech that I think it would be the receiver's problem, since everyone knows that dish has buggy receivers. He said he couldn't believe this and that I should do all I can to test the receiver on a different tv with dvi. Right!! This guy is clueless. The main reason I wanted to use dvi was for the best connection for picture quality . I think I will be returning the 811 to dishdepot since it doesn't work like it was supposed to, Or do you think I should get a replacement 811 from Dish and give it another try?

See my thread

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=19637

I couldnt be happier with my 811 and orginally I wasnt.

Since the software update, I have not had the "dark" issue

 

[eddie_d_lopez]

No amount of adjustment is going to correct the dvi dark video issue. With my 811, component definitely looks better than dvi, and dvi is definitely crushing blacks.

 

[tonyp56]

I don't have any problems with my DVI, I've hooked up both DVI and component and I don't see any difference between them. My dark video is with S-video, and composite connections. I don't understand why, but thats where my dark video issue is at.

 

[Ripper]

As it stands, the 811 still has an inferior picture when compared side by side with the 6000. The comparison used component cables to the same input on a Mits 55905 using a Zektor HDS4 to switch between the receivers. The overall picture is darker and there are fewer details in darkened scenes while watching with the 811. After a few minutes, my wife said she preferred the 6000 picture quality over the 811.
Therefore the P266 did not "fix" the PQ to the level of the 6000, and IMHO the 811 is an inferior product. Are there any details on a further "dark picture" fix coming up, or is this it?

 

[GaryPen]

No amount of adjustment is going to correct the dvi dark video issue. With my 811, component definitely looks better than dvi, and dvi is definitely crushing blacks.

I experience the same thing you do. DVI looks better than it did with P265. But, it still has a loss of dark detail compared to Component.

 

[SRW1000]

I tried calling into the Charlie Chat tonight to get an answer on the 811, surprise - I didn't get through. But the advance tech support guy said that the next update (288) is supposed to take care of the dark SD video problem and a few other issues.

He also added that he has no way of contacting engineering to ask if this is a hardware problem or software problem.

This is all very depressing. I've owned the 811 for just about 6 months now, and it's just sitting on my loveseat. I'm having flashbacks of my old 4700 receiver, which had the dreaded red jaggies problem that Dish wasn't able to diagnose until after my warranty was expired.

I don't intend to let that happen with the 8111.

Scott

 

[alocher]

Interesting, Scott. Except that version 266 was supposed to take care of the dark video problem. It is better than it was, but it still isn't right yet. The solution(s) seem(s) to be incremental -- sort of like the movement of the continental plates. I hope Dish isn't expecting us to accept geological time-frames in the progress towards the solution here, since at the rate they are going, LA and San Francisco might be next to each other before this problem gets solved.

Albert

 

[WeeJavaDude]

I experience the same thing you do. DVI looks better than it did with P265. But, it still has a loss of dark detail compared to Component.

Interesting Gary.. With mine I believe I got better detail with DVI but that I am not sure. Been a while since I did the A/B. My component inputs are all taken up know so It is a pain to do the A/B know. I am happy with the PQ on my DVI, but would welcome improvement.

 

[GaryPen]

I am happy with the PQ on my DVI, but would welcome improvement.

I don't know if I'd use the word "happy" with my DVI PQ. But, it is definitely acceptable, and I'm willing to accept it without excessive pissing and moaning...for now. But, like you, I would welcome improvement.

Of course, for the sake of those who use the SD outputs, I hope they fix the SD output PQ, which is no doubt number one on those users' lists.

Then, I'd really like to see them focus their energies on what I consider to be the big four bugs (acquiring signal, downloading guide, OTA recall, and Closed Captions) before spending any more effort on the HD output PQ.

They also need to add OTA guide info, of course.

Then, they can go back and tweak that DVI image.

 

[Spankle]

I've received my 2nd 811 receiver and black crush has not changed what-so-ever with either the rec'vr or the 266 release(both boxes). HD over component is seriously black. SD is dark also but possibly slightly improved only by 266. I don't know how anyone can watch this unit. It's a dust collector and I'm hoping that VERY soon they will create a fix for this so I can feel better about tossing my hard earned money away on a piece of crap.

I'm rediculously disappointed in this 811.
I pumped money into HD and I'm stuck watching SD over my 522.

RECAPPING...
HD still huge black crush via component.
SD.. still black crush.

Annoyance is cbsHD isn't retained in a favorites list. It just doesn't "stick".
(not that I can watch it because of the black crush anyway)

The only bright side is now when I have 1/16th of an inch of dust on the 811 I know it's time to clean.

Feet getting tired from danc'n with Dish support.
Can only do the Texas-two-step for so long.
The fat lady is warming up in the background.

 

[NightRyder]

Annoyance is cbsHD isn't retained in a favorites list. It just doesn't "stick".
(not that I can watch it because of the black crush anyway)

To work around this bug try adding another channel (higher channel number) along with CBS-HD. It appears to not save the last channel added.

NightRyder

 

[GaryPen]

Annoyance is cbsHD isn't retained in a favorites list. It just doesn't "stick".
(not that I can watch it because of the black crush anyway)

Oh yeah. Another bug. There's an easy workaround to this one. (I know it's hard to keep track of all the 811 workarounds. The 811 should come with a Roladex.) Just add channel 9900 to your favorites. Then, 9484 CBS-HD will stick, and 9900 won't.

Oops. Nightryder beat me to it. Well, I've got a cooler car.