PQ Quality Still Suffering On Hd Channels

eschu97611

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 4, 2004
573
0
L.A. CA
Haven't noticed much of an improvement on Show HDWest and a couple other movie channels since sw "fix". Brits concert on Showwest is stuttering horribly and pixelation is evident on Show East as well-encoder issues now-is that the next "solution" we are all waiting for-oh, boy it seems to never end with Voom thus far-ho hum-I long for the day when I can simply watch certain channels without the pq degradation issues mentioned. Does anyone predict that day will EVER arrive with our beloved Voom? Time will tell I guess, in the mean time-PAY THAT FIRST BILL FOLKS-DON'T BE LATE!!!!!!
 
eschu97611 said:
Haven't noticed much of an improvement on Show HDWest and a couple other movie channels since sw "fix". Brits concert on Showwest is stuttering horribly and pixelation is evident on Show East as well-encoder issues now-is that the next "solution" we are all waiting for-oh, boy it seems to never end with Voom thus far-ho hum-I long for the day when I can simply watch certain channels without the pq degradation issues mentioned. Does anyone predict that day will EVER arrive with our beloved Voom? Time will tell I guess, in the mean time-PAY THAT FIRST BILL FOLKS-DON'T BE LATE!!!!!!

I posted earlier about this jerky, blurry show hd west feed. And I was just about to post that folks can easily see what I'm talking about with this Britney concert! Thank you for speaking up about this, I was begining to think either I was the only one seeing issues with the HD channels, or others just don't care about PQ! If we don't speak up, nothing will get fixed folks.
 
No problem Gene. It is getting very frustrating with these pq issues-I've said before that Voom is no longer a fledging service and cannot continue to pass on inferior service on certain channels to its PAYING CUSTOMERS. When we aere beta testers, one could not really complain too loudly, but now that we are all spending our hard earn duckets, please Voom give us premiums that are watchable-it's stuff like this that will drive me away faster than any lack of content, etc. It is one thing to be an apologist for a company we all want to succeed, but another to simply overlook and tolerate basic pq issues while shelling out hundreds of dollars a year.
 
eschu97611 said:
No problem Gene. It is getting very frustrating with these pq issues-I've said before that Voom is no longer a fledging service and cannot continue to pass on inferior service on certain channels to its PAYING CUSTOMERS. When we aere beta testers, one could not really complain too loudly, but now that we are all spending our hard earn duckets, please Voom give us premiums that are watchable-it's stuff like this that will drive me away faster than any lack of content, etc. It is one thing to be an apologist for a company we all want to succeed, but another to simply overlook and tolerate basic pq issues while shelling out hundreds of dollars a year.

I'm honestly trying to decide whether or not I just want to get rid of the vavaVOOM package, and just get my HBO/ SHowtime HD fix with D* again. The picture was much more stable. I would miss all the other channels, but as long as I had Monsters, and the other VOOM exclusives, I think I can manage. Although there is still the stutter issue with all the channels, that VOOM hasn't even addressed as a problem, and most folks don't even see. It's funny how their exclusives look great, with little pq issues,(stutter issue) and some of the premium movie channels just look plain ugly at times.
 
I kept HBO on D* just so I could watch it in my bedroom where I don't have Voom-I agree that stability is there on D* and NOT with Voom and none of us should turn a blind eye to these pq issues until they are fixed. I too love the service Voom provides, but it is time to focus on pq and not how fast channels change-I agree that the latest sw fix makes watching Voom more pleasurable, but a lack of pq on very popular PREMIUMS(channels we all now pay EXTRA for) can no longer be accepted and must be addressed in the very near future at the risk of losing loyal cust. to more relaible service providers such as D* and cable
 
Are you guys watching the same HBO that I am? When I compared, I found a very definite improvement with HBO-HD on Voom compared to D*. I did see an issue with HBOW-HD last week, but I think that was fixed. I probably need to look again.

The issue with the ShowHD-W feed is very obvious and needs to be fixed.
 
Tell what I'm doing wrong

It's really hard to believe we're using the same system. I just added Voom to my Pioneer Elite 610 setup on Monday. I hooked up Voom to the same Tributaries cable I've been using for E*, and moved 6000 unit to RGB. The set was ISF calibrated by Joe Kane (really) about 9 months ago.
My view of the differences thus far:
Dish is rock solid on SD stations as well as HD.
Voom has considerable video noise(?) on SD channels. (unwatchable, in my opinion.) Sound is not synched quite frequently. Latest was CNN Worldnews this morning. Sound level varies considerably from channel to channel as well as when Voom "commercials" come on between shows.
Dropouts and pixelization are common in HD.
On screen menu is awkward to navigate. Manual is a marketing piece.
Installer was unable to mount the Voom dish on my roof on a vertical plane against a chimney because of the low angle of the satellite, (Santa Barbara, CA) so the install is on a post in my yard so that he could mount on a horizontal plane.
To be fair the CS at Voom has been outstanding. They are sending out another installer on Monday to confirm the first installer's opinion.
Yesterday I switched out the component cable to a heavy duty cable to see if there was a difference. Nada.
I like the additional program choices in HD, but long term would never replace the superior PQ and sound of Dish for what I'm seeing.
Am I doing something wrong??
 
Ken F said:
Are you guys watching the same HBO that I am? When I compared, I found a very definite improvement with HBO-HD on Voom compared to D*. I did see an issue with HBOW-HD last week, but I think that was fixed. I probably need to look again.

The issue with the ShowHD-W feed is very obvious and needs to be fixed.
Nobody said there was a problem(yet?) with HBO-it's obviously Show West HD and sometimes MaxHD west and east-the issue is pq degradatin period-it's not enough to have "perfect" quality on most of the channels we pay before and unwatchable quality on others-again nothing wrong(yet?) with the HBO feeds but the others mentioned are SUFFERING SEVERELY at the moment-let's focus on the problems and forget about the channels that work fine for now and maybe a fix will come more rapidly(BY THE WAY, VOOM NOW ENTERING ITS 6TH MONTH OF SERV ICE WITH SOME BASIC PQ ISSUES UNRESOLVED!!!)
 
eschu97611 said:
Nobody said there was a problem(yet?) with HBO-it's obviously Show West HD and sometimes MaxHD west and east-the issue is pq degradatin period-it's not enough to have "perfect" quality on most of the channels we pay before and unwatchable quality on others-again nothing wrong(yet?) with the HBO feeds but the others mentioned are SUFFERING SEVERELY at the moment-let's focus on the problems and forget about the channels that work fine for now and maybe a fix will come more rapidly(BY THE WAY, VOOM NOW ENTERING ITS 6TH MONTH OF SERV ICE WITH SOME BASIC PQ ISSUES UNRESOLVED!!!)

I honestly don't think they have the bandwith for all the channels they currently have. You know I never had a problem with the premium movie channels, (well there was that one time with HBO that had the white strips) but over all they looked fantastic, until they added more channels, *BRavoHD*, and *EncoreHD*.It just seems all to coincidental. They've also switched all the exclusives to 720p, because they needed bandwith to do some "upgrades" on some encoders. They've also got got artifacts, on HBOHD west, StarzHD, and MaxHD , that I didn't notice as much before they added the new channels. And not to mention the ugly SD channels they have. Sorry but some D* SD looks a lot better. No sparklies, like VOOM has on many of it's channels like SPikeTV, headline news, the weather channel, comedy central, A&E, BET, and the E! channel. Now to be fair, there are a few, *very few* sd channels that are comparable to D*'s SD, but when comparing most, they just do not make the grade. Even D*'s sd, isn't great, but it's still better than VOOM's.
 
SpikeTV is the SD channel I watch the most, and it seems to have the worst picture quality. I know this sounds dumb, but I almost don't care about the SD PQ, because I'm so jaded by HD. However, the PQ issues that have popped up over the last couple of weeks on the premium channels is annoying. Last month the cable company told me HBO was in the middle of it's sun fade, so I doubt that's still the problem.
 
cyuhnke said:
SpikeTV is the SD channel I watch the most, and it seems to have the worst picture quality. I know this sounds dumb, but I almost don't care about the SD PQ, because I'm so jaded by HD. However, the PQ issues that have popped up over the last couple of weeks on the premium channels is annoying. Last month the cable company told me HBO was in the middle of it's sun fade, so I doubt that's still the problem.

Cyrious that some seem to think in other threads that pq issues are non-evident-believe it....or not!!!
 
Possible cause of PQ problems

I was confused as to why my component connnection looked so much better than my DVI connection (very pixelized). Then, I noticed that the installer provided me with the wrong type of cable. He gave me a single link cable instead of a dual link cable.
 
txdude said:
I was confused as to why my component connnection looked so much better than my DVI connection (very pixelized). Then, I noticed that the installer provided me with the wrong type of cable. He gave me a single link cable instead of a dual link cable.
So, you replaced the DVI cable. Did that fix it completely?
 
Gr8Reb8 said:
So, you replaced the DVI cable. Did that fix it completely?

I haven't replaced it yet... I just realized the problem last night. It looks like radioshack has a ridiculously priced ($99) cable from monster :no So, I'm going to check @ Fry's electronics today and see if they have one for a reasonable price. If not, I guess I'll order one from Pacific Cable.
 
Gr8Reb8 said:
Please post your results after you replace the cable.

I contacted the Installs Inc. to inform them that I was provided the wrong DVI cable. They told me that the cable I received was the one that Voom supplied and if I wanted it replaced I'd have to contact Voom. So, I called Voom and they confirmed that a dual link cable should have been supplied. Voom emailed the installer about getting the correct cable out to me. Hopefully I'll get the correct cable in the next couple of days. I will post the results when I have it hooked up :)
 
Check E-Bay. I got my 10ft. Gold plated Dual-Link DVI cable for $12.00 plus 4 bucks shipping. It works great. I also had a wrong DVI cable when the installer came. I didnt notice until I saw pixelation on HD channels.

I think I had a DVI-I cable connected. It didnt have enough bandwidth to handle the HD resolutions fast enough so thats why it pixelated.

Works perfect now with new cable.
 
I'd love to be proven wrong, but a quality single link DVI-D cable can carry the full HD bandwidth.

The facts:

Dual Link? Single Link? Which do I need?

Dual Link: Dual T.D.M.S. (transition minimized differential signaling) "links". DVI can have up to two TMDS links. Each link has three data channels for RGB information with a maximum bandwidth of 165 MHz, which is equal to 165 million pixels per second. Dual-link connections provide bandwidth for resolutions up to 2048 x 1536p.

Single Link: Single T.D.M.S. link. Each link has three data channels for RGB information with a maximum bandwidth of 165 MHz, which is equal to 165 million pixels per second.
Bandwidth for a single-link connection supports resolutions of over 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz (HDTV).

Dual link vs Single Link: Don't believe the "hype" some websites are using about dual link cables being superior to single link cables. A single link cable is 100% as good as a dual link cable for single link equipment which covers about 99.5% of current equipment, including HDTV's, Projectors, Plasma Screens, and High Definition Set top Boxes. If your equipment does not specifically state it is Dual link in its specifications, it almost certainly is not. A better quality cable is a better quality cable, and single and dual link has nothing to do with quality. On the other hand, if both devices being connected support Dual links, then a dual link cable is the proper cable for the application, and you will have the capability of much greater resolutions and refresh rates. A properly designed Dual link cable should have no negative effects when used with single link equipment.

"Since it is Digital, Quality does not make a difference": This is false. DVI does not have any error correction. While you can get away with lower quality cables for short lengths, lower quality cables will have an increasing amount of errors with increasing length. Since the quality of implementation of DVI transmitters and receivers varies widely in equipment, the best reasonably priced cable should be used to ensure the best possible video quality.
 
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