Philly HD Locals Problem

[psumattDE]

I currently have the Philly locals - with the HD locals off of 61.5

I've noticed when watching FOX and ABC HD (especially during Grey's Anatomy last night) that the screen freaks out from time to time. I don't even mean the typical pixellation - it's like the screen gets all computerized and jumbly. It lasts anywhere from a second or two to like 5-6 seconds. If i flip to the SD version, no problems at all.

I have not seen this happen on any of the other HD channels (non-locals). Can this be attributed to issues coming from the local station? (I know Philly's local HD quality was crap even on Comcast) Or is there something going on with the MPEG-4 transmission?

Just curious if anyone else is seeing this off of the Philadelphia channels.

 

[garys]

I currently have the Philly locals - with the HD locals off of 61.5

I've noticed when watching FOX and ABC HD (especially during Grey's Anatomy last night) that the screen freaks out from time to time. I don't even mean the typical pixellation - it's like the screen gets all computerized and jumbly. It lasts anywhere from a second or two to like 5-6 seconds. If i flip to the SD version, no problems at all.

I have not seen this happen on any of the other HD channels (non-locals). Can this be attributed to issues coming from the local station? (I know Philly's local HD quality was crap even on Comcast) Or is there something going on with the MPEG-4 transmission?

Just curious if anyone else is seeing this off of the Philadelphia channels.

I have the NY LiL HD locals. Fox has sound problems, cuts in and out rapidly with no problems with video. ABC has video freezing with what looks like the color chart appearing briefly then pictures comes back in. Sounds like similar problems.

 

[psumattDE]

ABC has video freezing with what looks like the color chart appearing briefly then pictures comes back in. Sounds like similar problems.

Bingo! Gary - totally what i'm seeing on Philly's ABC HD feed...wonder what we can peg it down to?

 

[Weezknight]

I'm going to say that it is not a transmission problem locally. I get all of the Philly HD locals OTA and can't say that there were any problems last night with Grey's Anatomy. I get about 88%-90% on ABC and everything was ship-shape.

 

[rcbridge]

Which receiver are you using, I mostly watch the networks OTA.

 

[jtthirty]

Okay, maybe that explains this. I don't get locals out of Houston yet, so I put up an OTA. I was having trouble with freeze ups (particularly with the ABC local) and figured that it was my OTA since I just went with my old Radio Shack antenna and a new Channel Master 7777 preamp. I crawled back up and peaked the antenna to where I was getting a consistent 85 on the signal strength. Last night the wife and daughter were watching Desperate Housewives and it had a couple of video freeze ups that I could cure by switching to sat SD and then back again. They said that it better not happen when Gray's Anatomy came on. I left the room and when I came back they had switched to SD saying that it froze again and they didn't want to switch back and forth. Anyway, I thought that maybe the OTA was just going to be glitchy, but since you guys had the same problems with the sat signal, maybe it is ABC's problem or maybe the 411. Anyway--stay with it and let's see what's up.

See ya--
Rick

 

[mdonnelly]

If I were a betting man, I'd say the problem is with the real-time MPEG-4 encoders that Dish is using on the uplink, just not being able to keep up. Does the problem seem to occur when the scene changes completely (ie: night-day, new location, ...).

 

[psumattDE]

If I were a betting man, I'd say the problem is with the real-time MPEG-4 encoders that Dish is using on the uplink, just not being able to keep up. Does the problem seem to occur when the scene changes completely (ie: night-day, new location, ...).

Yes - or when it comes back from a commercial...

This is on a 622 receiver - I also saw it on my 211 - so it doesn't seem receiver specific - BUT - they are both MPEG4

 

[psumattDE]

So if this is really DISH's issue - what'd be the best way to make them aware?

 

[garys]

Yes - or when it comes back from a commercial...

This is on a 622 receiver - I also saw it on my 211 - so it doesn't seem receiver specific - BUT - they are both MPEG4

I'm gonna send problem to the tech email. Maybe you should do the same.

 

[psumattDE]

What would this "tech email" address be?