Picture quality

[jeff924]

522 and 811 were installed on Monday. I switched from Directv. The picture quality from 522 is much worse than Directv DVR I replaced. The picture from 522 is changing from noisy(kind of pixelization) to clear then back to noisy every second. I don't know if it is software, receiver or signal problem. But my 811 don't have the problem, acturally the 811 picture on SD channels is a little bit better than Directv HD receiver.

 

[itsonthedish]

Just another of the many glitches of the 522 software.

 

[ibleedblue]

I noticed a substantial drop in PQ when I switched to Dish from digital cable. I think it's one of the undocumented features of the 522. I'm switching to Directv in Feb, so it's good to hear that D*'s PQ is better. I wish you better luck with the 522 than I've had.

 

[haertig]

522 and 811 were installed on Monday. I switched from Directv. The picture quality from 522 is much worse than Directv DVR I replaced. The picture from 522 is changing from noisy(kind of pixelization) to clear then back to noisy every second. I don't know if it is software, receiver or signal problem. But my 811 don't have the problem, acturally the 811 picture on SD channels is a little bit better than Directv HD receiver.

I've never run into that with my 522. You can sometimes note blotchiness in larger darker areas of the screen, but it doesn't come and go as you are describing. And I don't really notice this blotchiness on my regular TV's ... only on my 60" rear projection unit where my viewing position is too close, given the size of the screen. And then only on large dark areas of the picture - they just don't look "smooth".

When you are saying "pixellation", are you talking about obvious piexllation where the errant parts of the picture are far different from the adjacent parts, in color and/or tone? That would sound like a signal problem to me, although I can't explain the one-second switching you mention. If your "pixellation" is more like areas of the screen that are very close to, but not quite perfectly matched with, adjacent color/tone, than that sounds more like compression artifacts to me.

Signal problems could be because you have obstructions between your dish and the satellite, or a poorly peaked (aimed) dish, or rain/snow interference. Probably other things as well. But this explanation doesn't really hold up if your 811 is doing well and your 522 is not - unless things boil down to problem wiring, bad cable connections, etc. Compression artifacts are more systemic and come from trying to pack more data into limited bandwidth. You could contact dishquality@echostar.com to possibly address compression problems, or regular tech support to look into signal problems.

 

[monteis2000]

I just switched from Dtv and I also notice a quality difference, but only on certain channels. Some of the Dtv channels were cleaner then the Dish channels, but other Dish channels are cleaner than the Dtv channels. Overall I'm happy with the switch. I'm definately glad I did it.

 

[jeff924]

Yeah, you are right. l took a second look on my 811, and it has the same problem. It looks like compression artifacts. I don't how to describle it, but it just switch between good and bad image every second. I had the installer came to my house again to add the arms to my superdish. I describle the problem to him. He said it could not be the signal problem because it's digital signal (on of off). I only subscrible to the internation channels (on 121), local channels(don't know they are on 121, 119 or 110) and HD package. The local channels don't have this problem, but image quality and color are very bad compare to Direct tv I had before (same wiring).
My signal strength are:
119: 95
110: 95
121: 69 - 84 (75 mostly).

 

[mammothskier]

Yeah, you are right. l took a second look on my 811, and it has the same problem. It looks like compression artifacts. I don't how to describle it, but it just switch between good and bad image every second.

Is image worse (more artifacts) on dynamic scenes and better when the scene becomes more static?

 

[jeff924]

Both dynamic scenes and static object. I already sent an email to Dish to complain about it. Wife started to blame me for swiching to Dish Same channel and same wiring used by my previous Directv, but Dish has much worse picture quality. My local and international channels are terrible (VCD quality at best). I found the channels from 121 have the worst picture quality.

 

[kirkdj]

Noise

Are the 533 noisy? My makes a constant hard drive noise that can be heard over the tv sometimes and is VERY loud if the tv's off....it's very noticeable to the point your wondering what that noise is? I'm trying to determine if this unit is defective or something...I know it's remanufactured

 

[supereal]

The picture on my 522 is no more noisy than my 4DTV, except on local channels where there is noticable channel-on-channel problems. Black level is comparable, but the 522 is not the way to go if you have a really big screen TV. If the hard drive seems excessively loud, try lifting up on the front of the case. That's where my rattle was on the remanufactured replacement sent last month.