USA Network PQ

[Scott Greczkowski]

Is there anyone on DISH Networks Eastern Arc take a look at channel 105 (HD) and let me know how the PQ is.

I am not sure if there is an issue with it or an issue here.

Thanks

 

[dwarren2]

Looks OK to me, maybe the slightest bit soft. What are you seeing?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Things were looking blotchy on NCIS but Raw is looking better although not as good as it normally does.

 

[JasonSu]

I do not see any issue listed for USA in the known issues list. One of our test units in the back room is hooked up to 61.5, I changed it to Raw and have it going in the back room, I will keep an eye on it to see if the video changes.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

RAW is looking fine, I can only guess it was NCIS.

 

[gadgtfreek]

NCIS has always been soft, and "red". OTA even isn't the best, and some of the older episode replays can look bad.

 

[Tampa8]

Yes, never go by NCIS they shoot it softly as best I can tell and the colors seem artificial. I can't check EA USA unless I disconnect the 119 DISH.

 

[MikeD-C05]

They blur NCIS because they want to make Mark Harmon look a little less old than he really is. I have always hated that about the show. I love the show , but really hate the picture quality. Even brand new episodes look faded and blurred out like an old show. Reminds me of when Barbra Walters is on the View and the set looks sharp till you see Barbra and then it looks like a vaseline blurred mess on her face. She is in her 80s so I guess they are trying to hide what an hd camera would do to her .

 

[Dr.Pepper]

It is NCIS, in my opinion. As a tech, I've noticed this on my system and customer's systems. Whether it's a first run episode on CBS or a rerun on USA, the HD quality stinks. Gotta be a technical or equipment issue with how they're filming it.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[ggw2000]

It is NCIS, in my opinion. As a tech, I've noticed this on my system and customer's systems. Whether it's a first run episode on CBS or a rerun on USA, the HD quality stinks. Gotta be a technical or equipment issue with how they're filming it.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

NCIS has always been shot with "soft focus". Sucks to be honest. Not a show you want to audition your brand new 4K TV to your friends as to it's superior upconversion!!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Something like NCIS LA or Person of Interest show a better form of CBS PQ.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

This just wasn't soft focus. It was like watching parts of the show on an EGA Monitor. The gradation of the colors was blocky and seemed to only show about 16 shades of that color. It was just odd and it was doing it on both my 4K TV (which was being fed by a Hopper with Sling) and another 40 Inch Samsung which was hooked to a standard Hopper.

It was odd to say the least.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Blocky that like, I would concur it was either a feed issue from the network or a Dish issue.

 

[DishSubLA]

They blur NCIS because they want to make Mark Harmon look a little less old than he really is. I have always hated that about the show. I love the show , but really hate the picture quality. Even brand new episodes look faded and blurred out like an old show. Reminds me of when Barbra Walters is on the View and the set looks sharp till you see Barbra and then it looks like a vaseline blurred mess on her face. She is in her 80s so I guess they are trying to hide what an hd camera would do to her .

You hit the nail on the head. Many stars HATE HD for that reason, and Harmon has a face like the surface of the moon. Probably both star and producers are in agreement with how soft to shoot the show, or it can be done in post production, keeping the source sharp for, say Blu-ray release.

FWIW, if you remember the old Bob Newhart show from the 1980's named Newhart (set in a Vermont Inn), the first season of that show was VIDEOTAPED. However, Bob Newhart thought he looked too old, so he had the producers switch to FILM, which soften things quite a bit. Ironcially, all they had to do was switch the "DETAIL" off at the video control and it would have softened things up quite (Detail was shut off on quite a few shows in that era) well enough, but "old" Bob knew film, and demanded FILM. I always thought the Videotaped episodes of Newhart looked superior with much better nuance on the lighting for warmth and effect, but once they decided to make the comedy on Newhart childishly silly along with the switch to film, they just threw light EVERYWHERE and brightened everything as flat, just like one would on silly sit-coms and game shows.

 

[DishSubLA]

Law & Order series is another show that is shot or post production processed less than optimally. For L&O it is the lighting which creates too much darkness to even see the color of a coat and creates noticeable dark voids that make one conscience that something is wrong with the PQ. This is most likely because the producers want the dark luminance as setting the MOOD of the show, as it is certainly no sit-com. They present a very dark, downbeat world with not much color, let alone light. While one purpose of lighting is to meet the technical requirements of the medium, it is also to set the MOOD of the content. Sometimes, they go so far for the MOOD that I often believe it does NOT meet the technical requirements of the medium. Then there is the issue of the quality of the transfer that can doom content. And it goes on and on.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Another thing I see abundantly on many ,many shows is low mood lighting. It is like you are watching almost all the shows in the near dark settings. Grey's Anatomy , NCIS, Sleepy Hollow as well as just about all CW shows like Arrow, Flash,Supernatural etc are filmed in dark settings ,Now you add that to the soft focus and if you are me , you are wondering why you even bothered with lasik surgery for my eye sight ,much less watch it on an hd tv. The worst part is trying to watch this moody dark show settings on a mini I-pad at work on a bright sunny day.

 

[GaryPen]

I always thought the Videotaped episodes of Newhart looked superior with much better nuance on the lighting for warmth and effect, but once they decided to make the comedy on Newhart childishly silly along with the switch to film, they just threw light EVERYWHERE and brightened everything as flat, just like one would on silly sit-coms and game shows.

Odd, as videotaped shows generally looked washed out compared to film. The lighting was always uniform, and the image was devoid of feeling.

That's why they refer to that unfortunate byproduct of LCD TV's smoothing circuitry as "soap opera effect". It sucks all of the emotion out of a film's image, and makes everything look like a TV studio production.

 

[DishSubLA]

Odd, as videotaped shows generally looked washed out compared to film. The lighting was always uniform, and the image was devoid of feeling.

That's why they refer to that unfortunate byproduct of LCD TV's smoothing circuitry as "soap opera effect". It sucks all of the emotion out of a film's image, and makes everything look like a TV studio production.

I should have stated that I was referring to the image broadcast back in the 1980's. The videotaped episodes in those days always looked superior to film after VERY EXPENSIVE Telecine on broadcast TV , and so life-like, for the technical standards of the day being shot and displayed at 480i with the best the analog TV's processing could achieve in those days. If everything was clean (often best results on CATV) 480i content on a 480i good quality TV looked superb. Of course, we had no HD with which to compare it.

Today 480i videotape shows look so bad because we have 1080P displays that show every flaw and our perception after viewing 1080 content makes it look even worse. Take for example the Match Game of the 1970's. It is interesting to see the PQ (which has been transferred to digital by Sony with care) from 1973 and notice improvements to PQ as the years pass, mostly due to improvements to camera and video tape and VTR machine quality to the point that Match Game '78 looks pretty darn GOOD on GSN on my mighty fine Sony HDTV. They really did try their best in those days, and it shows.

But I think it was a coincidence the lighting on Newhart went from warm colored subtlety giving a feel of "coziness" in the Vermont Inn, to making Newhart a cartoon, childish humored sit-com when the switch to film was made and the lighting changed to flat, bright lighting all over the set, as one would do for silly shows. The comparison would be like the lighting in the first season of Star Trek (OS) compared to season 2 and 3. Not only the lighting, but many shots in season 1 of ST OS were cinematic: stuff one would only see in movies of the era.

 

[GaryPen]

I should have stated that I was referring to the image broadcast back in the 1980's. The videotaped episodes in those days always looked superior to film, and so life-like, for the technical standards of the day being shot and displayed at 480i with the best the analog TV's processing could achieve in those days. If everything was clean (often best results on CATV) 480i content on a 480i good quality TV looked superb. Of course, we had no HD with which to compare it.

I noticed the difference between the two mediums, and the clear superiority of film, even back then. Actually, even in the 70's, when I started paying attention to such things.

 

[DishSubLA]

I noticed the difference between the two mediums, and the clear superiority of film, even back then. Actually, even in the 70's, when I started paying attention to such things.

If you are saying film in a movie theater, in those days, then agreed. But not on broadcast TV, even after the best highly expensive Telecine the major networks always performed so film could look decent on broadcast TV.