I have had DISH for several years. No complaints. But for the past 3 years, I have noticed my parents' TV picture seemed to be better than mine. They live in a relatively small town in KY and they have cable (provided by Frankfort Water and Plant Board). Not many HD channels as you would expect with cable. They first had a 40 inch Samsung LCD, then they upgraded to a 52 inch Samsung LCD, and now just purchased a 58 inch Samsung plasma. There is absolutely no doubt all 3 of these 1080p TVs have a better HD picture than my 65 inch Panasonic 1080p plasma. I'm pretty certain it is not because I have a 65 inch because the 58 inch has the same PQ as the other two smaller TVs. I don't think it is because the Samsung is that much better than the Panasonic...I researched both brands extensively for reviews and the models were top rated by most reviewers. The cable company says they only broadcast 2 channels/transponder? (he may have said something else other than transponder) where Satellite uses around 6. Of course, that may have just been PR, but what isn't up for debate is their picture is the best I have seen. I have a pretty good HD picture, but the PQ on my parents TV is just that much better, not slightly better, but definitely better to my dismay. And I think it is because of what has been discussed ad nauseum on here...compression of signal by satellite providers. I'm not a fan of cable which is why I switched, and as I said above, I'm happy with DISH for the most part. And I believe most cable providers don't have as good HD PQ as satellite, certainly they don't provide the quantity of HD channels. I'd like to think DISH would hear this and would or could do something about it, but I'm not holding my breath. I want HD quantity as much as anyone else, but quality is equally important. I certainly would be willing to do with a few less HD channels or even pay a few more dollars/month in exchange for a picture more closely representing what HD is supposed to be. There is far too much fat in satellite in their effort to please everyone.
This cable has better picture than DISH
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Dish Network has been watering-down their and HD since October '85. This is the reason I am no longer a subscriber. I enjoyed a of things about their service, but life is too short and my HDTVs too good to subjects us to HD-Lite. D* and E* are both purveyors of HD-Lite in some variable bitrate form or fashion; Cable quality is all over the spectrum - some very good, some quite bad; U-Verse is almost on par with the SATS; FiOS TV is the cat's meow - it's that good for the 3-million customer who current have it.
Dish has reading these forums for years and have done little-to-nothing to improve their HD-Lite offering.
Dish has reading these forums for years and have done little-to-nothing to improve their HD-Lite offering.
October 1985? No wonder the HD sucked, that's 10 years before they even launched a satellite!
You provided no diagnostic info on how your equipment is setup or what the receiver is set to for resolution and what cables you have connected to your hdtvs.
Hard to say where the problem is without any of this info.
I've seen similar issues from others who had their Dish receiver hooked up to their tv with coax or a simple composite cable. Others had their resolution set to 480i and had no idea they could be watching a MUCH better picture on their set.
I have to say that I often watch my Tivo Series 3 OTA that has as good PQ as the "K" series STB's: Tivo Series 3 OTA is best PQ along with "K". 722 is noticeably inferior PQ, but just a bit more than slightly.
My point is that watching Tivo Series 3 OTA often (OTA and Tivo often cited as a gold standard by some on this board) and switching to Dish HD, I feel not the least bit cheated by Dish nor do I notice any PQ degradation via Dish. Dish HD does have just a bit less detail--and I do mean just ever so slightly that you would have to strain to notice--but certainly not even close to the degree that some are claiming. Yes, Dish is performing its encoding tricks, etc., but the effect is still just nearly as good as OTA, from my observations.
Now, Blu-ray and its easily superior PQ to cable, sat, or OTA is another matter.
My point is that watching Tivo Series 3 OTA often (OTA and Tivo often cited as a gold standard by some on this board) and switching to Dish HD, I feel not the least bit cheated by Dish nor do I notice any PQ degradation via Dish. Dish HD does have just a bit less detail--and I do mean just ever so slightly that you would have to strain to notice--but certainly not even close to the degree that some are claiming. Yes, Dish is performing its encoding tricks, etc., but the effect is still just nearly as good as OTA, from my observations.
Now, Blu-ray and its easily superior PQ to cable, sat, or OTA is another matter.
Why don't you just order cable and see if it makes a difference? Then when you find out the cable picture is not as good as Dish call and cancel it.
true, the dish installer who hooked up my friends 722k just connected composite cables when there were component and dvi connections available.
seems if he did not have the correct cable he should of least let him know he was not receiving the hd programming he was paying for.
I hooked it up for him with a hdmi to dvi cable because it is a older projection tv with no hdmi hook up.
the installer used the composite yellow for video and red and white for audio.
I tell you what though, this tv is HUGE, but it does have a real good picture, better them most flat screens that are older then a year or two.
Your post proves nothing. Their smaller tv's should have looked better than yours, and the 58" is still smaller than yours. Another item to consider IS the brand. I have a Panny 1080p, and certain modes have horrible Gamma and the PQ suffers. Then there is how it is connected and setup. We need more facts.
Some cable companies have much better HD than either DBS company. FIOS does too. One cannot make any general statements on DBS vs cable because every cable plant is different. Major cable companies are really just a collection of small cable facilities. Everyone of their facilities will have a different picture quality.
DBS companies have the advantage of being consistent nationwide. You just have to compare what your local cable has vs DBS. Factor in pricing and make the decision that is best for you. I feel confident that DBS is ahead of most cable systems right now, but in many places cable is probably close or better. I personally would dump DBS for FIOS if they ever did my area, but that is not to say that in a few years Dish/DIRECTV might have added enough capacity to have a similar picture to FIOS. There are only so many TV channels, once you have the capacity to carry them all with good bandwidth the comparison just becomes price.
DBS companies have the advantage of being consistent nationwide. You just have to compare what your local cable has vs DBS. Factor in pricing and make the decision that is best for you. I feel confident that DBS is ahead of most cable systems right now, but in many places cable is probably close or better. I personally would dump DBS for FIOS if they ever did my area, but that is not to say that in a few years Dish/DIRECTV might have added enough capacity to have a similar picture to FIOS. There are only so many TV channels, once you have the capacity to carry them all with good bandwidth the comparison just becomes price.
I think Cox here has pretty good PQ, but they are missing about 35 channels in HD in my area. (as compared to DBS)
The grass is always greener or in this case, the HD is always greener.
If you were that impressed the decision should be easy, switch and enjoy.
If you were that impressed the decision should be easy, switch and enjoy.
I have no doubt it's possible to have better PQ with the cable in some cases. Where I work we have Comcast for HSI and cable. The PQ on even the SD is pretty solid. Where I live is the problem. I have the choice of JetBroadband for cable or either E* or D*. I have the HSI through the cable company and currently choose E* for my TV. My cable company doesn't even have DVRs yet. Very few digital channels and no idea if they will have any HD offerings in the next few years. It's a sad cable company. Having had E* and D* in the past year or so I can say the PQ for both is pretty much the same. Seems as though certain channels looked better on each. I'd like to see some competition from my cable company, but right now it's satellite only for HD. Overall I've been pretty happy with the quality.
Our cable company makes this argument on their website:
"If you want your HDTV to look its very best, GCI's high def signal is brighter and crisper, because it's not compressed like the Dish."
They fail to say Dish have more HD channels...
"If you want your HDTV to look its very best, GCI's high def signal is brighter and crisper, because it's not compressed like the Dish."
They fail to say Dish have more HD channels...
Well do you want a filet mignon or a weeks supply of mcdonalds cheeseburgers every night?
If you are building a cable distribution system from scratch it will beat the pants off DBS. Essentially if you are building from scratch you would be doing fiber to the home. This is what Verizon is doing. They have the bandwidth on their fiber to send all the HD channels as received from the satellites without any compression from Verizon.
Old cable companies have bandwidth issues. If they dump all the analog channels they could get a ton of HD channels in full bandwidth. They are just stuck with analog for now. Some places they have cut down the number of analog stations to make room. Others are doing switched video to make room. They are all working to make the most of what they have for the least amount of money.
Old cable companies have bandwidth issues. If they dump all the analog channels they could get a ton of HD channels in full bandwidth. They are just stuck with analog for now. Some places they have cut down the number of analog stations to make room. Others are doing switched video to make room. They are all working to make the most of what they have for the least amount of money.
I do not think the OP has any idea on how his tv is hooked up or he would have responded by now. If you have HD OTA locals and HD locals from Dish, switch between them and let us know if their is a major difference. This question is for everyone, not just the OP.
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