Very frustrated with Picture Quality (PQ) on Dish Network!

[andyg]

Hello folks,

I am very very frustrated with picture quality on my new Dish network system.

Here is what I have:
Dish 500 DPP twin LNBF
1 dual receiver 322 connected to 2 TVs
1 dual DVR receiver 625 connected to 2 TVs

Overall, I think the PQ is worse than cable tv. If it has any relation whatsoever my signal strength ranged from about 40 to 75 out of 125. 100 satellite is getting worse signal strength then 119. However, I;ve read that signal strength should not affect PQ at all, just the reliability of signal, which is a statement I really do not understand because I think I am getting not a reliable signal if my PQ is bad.

What specific PQ issues I have? The picture is not sharp or clear enough. It can be blotchy, hazy. Basically it is what I describe as degraded picture quality. There is a lot of fuzziness, noise, muddy or some other things what looks like grains especially when it is a moving picture, sometimes especially on the Tennis channel I see some small squares. When it is a steady shot focused on a person, then it is usually ok..but not perfect. Also, some channels appear to look a lot better then others, that's why I don't know if there is anything really wrong with my setup or not. But still even on half decent channels the quality is worse then cable TV.

I was especially frustrated with watching sports! I really love hockey. Occasionally I watch Tennis too. Well, it is frustrating to watch hockey because half the time you cannot even see the puck moving on the ice as it is so not clear. Especially when the camera is moving fast trying to follow the puck, anything in the background is really harsh looking..I do not know if that is pixelation or digitization or macro blocking or over compression, but it is totally horrible to watch.

Tennis channel is even worse. You cannot see the ball flying unless they replay in small motion. this is really upsetting. How are you supposed to watch any sports when you do not know what is going on in the field?

Other than sports, some channels have half decent PQ, like MSNBC for example..but still I think worse PQ then cable. Not crystal clear enough. Does dish network over compresses some channels or broadcasts some channels with reduced bandwidth? the point is it is impossible to watch sports.

Did anybody experience the same issues especially with sports programming? It is really frustrating to me since I just signed up with Dish Network on a 18 month contract. satellite companies are always bragging about how good they PQ is, but I am getting quality of worse than cable on both of my receivers and 4 TVs total.


I did try to realign the dish last night just to see if that helps. But it went dark fast, so I am going to try it again today. However, if I am getting a green signal with locked indication even if it is between 40-75 it should be the same PQ as if I had a signal strength of a 100 right?
Let me know what you all think cause I do not even know if has anything to do with the dish alignment.


P.S. SOMETIME AFTER POSTING THIS i came across this article - Video/Imaging DesignLine | Video compression artifacts and MPEG noise reduction
I think the most common effect I am experiencing in sports is the "mosquito nose" - http://i.cmpnet.com/videsignline/2006/02/algolith-fig2s.jpg

thanks,
andy

 

[Poke]

Need to check your install see if they can tweak your Dish some also what cable connections are you using?? S-Video are RCA what kind of TV model and make?

 

[kennya]

If your talking SD and you have a wide screen tv, then yea, your PQ isnt going to be great. In order for me to have decent SD quality on my 57" Toshiba DLP, I can't stretch the picture, I have to put it on 4:3

 

[andyg]

Need to check your install see if they can tweak your Dish some also what cable connections are you using?? S-Video are RCA what kind of TV model and make?

Yeah I will try to tweak my dish a little.
I am using regular RF input connections to all my TVs. Al the TVs are pretty old analog ones (Daewoo, GE, Sharp, etc.). However, I used to have digital cable back in the days on the same old TVs and the picture was close to perfect.

 

[andyg]

If your talking SD and you have a wide screen tv, then yea, your PQ isnt going to be great. In order for me to have decent SD quality on my 57" Toshiba DLP, I can't stretch the picture, I have to put it on 4:3

I have SD tv's, no wide screen. I think the largest TV I have is 25' or '27. However, nevertheless the point is that PQ was far greater and clearer when I had cable. Why it does not know?

also...I know when the picture is ok but not perfect..but like tennis, you cannot even see the ball flying from one side of the court to another unless they reply in slow motion. that is pretty bad!


just to give you an idea of what the picture might look like sometimes...here is the link - http://www.dbsinstall.com/N-images/HDTV/compression-high-zoom.jpg
note: that it is only one of the ways my PQ looks like sometimes especially if it is a moving image.
I wish I could show you the video of hockey or tennis, but do not have it.

 

[kennya]

I dont know. The pq on my old SD tv's is great.

 

[mattopia]

I actually had the opposite experience when I switched from my cable company to DISH. I would say for standard definition programming (SD), E* is definitely better than my cable was.

HD is a different story -- I definitely think cable had an upper hand on HD PQ.

 

[andyg]

I dont know. The pq on my old SD tv's is great.

hmm...wiered then //I think I found what I have . Mosquito noise - Video/Imaging DesignLine | Video compression artifacts and MPEG noise reduction

man I am frustrated.

 

[andyg]

I actually had the opposite experience when I switched from my cable company to DISH. I would say for standard definition programming (SD), E* is definitely better than my cable was.

HD is a different story -- I definitely think cable had an upper hand on HD PQ.

hmm..that's wiered then for me..that sucks that my situation does not seem to be common

 

[cparker]

RF connections everywhere? Couldn't he have some bad connectors? I mean... RF is like the lowest quality way to hook stuff up. Any way to try an svideo connection at least? Or even an RCA.

 

[andyg]

RF connections everywhere? Couldn't he have some bad connectors? I mean... RF is like the lowest quality way to hook stuff up. Any way to try an svideo connection at least? Or even an RCA.

you are right RF is like the lowest quality hook up, but unfortunately my TVs have only RF input.
And again as I mentioned, with digital cable with the same RF hookup, the quality was real good.

 

[cparker]

Are you re-using the cable TV cable?

 

[andyg]

Are you re-using the cable TV cable?

no, the coax is all new fresh install from last week by Dish NW. I have dual tuner receivers..so all new coax goes to all TVs

 

[MSG]

Sound like a bad connection somewhere to me.

 

[Liquidforce88]

With older 25-27" tv's there is just no reason for you picture to be that bad. I have never seen a cable system that look any where close to the picture quality of DN with these kinds of tv's. Even using the RF connection DN should look better.

Adjusting your dish is not going to do anything. Signal strength will not affect PQ unless it is dropping picture all together.

So you are saying that ALL your tv's look bad? It's not just the 2nd tv's on the 625 and 322 that look bad? Even the units right at the receivers look bad? What channel are you 2nd tv's setup to receive Dish on? Are you running thru things like RF modulators, game system modulators, VCR's?

There is only a couple of things that could cause poor picture in this kind of setup. I need to know exactly how your signal get's to the tv's.

 

[andyg]

Sound like a bad connection somewhere to me.

yeah I don't know. I checked the cable everywhere looks fine. Plus it happens on both receivers. so really not sure..the only thing I can think of is dish is out of alignment..but i read that if you get a green signal strength, basically if you get the picture to display it will not get any better whether your signal strength is 70 or 95 (with digital I heard you either get the picture or not).

no idea

 

[andyg]

With older 25-27" tv's there is just no reason for you picture to be that bad. I have never seen a cable system that look any where close to the picture quality of DN with these kinds of tv's. Even using the RF connection DN should look better.

Adjusting your dish is not going to do anything. Signal strength will not affect PQ unless it is dropping picture all together.

So you are saying that ALL your tv's look bad? It's not just the 2nd tv's on the 625 and 322 that look bad? Even the units right at the receivers look bad? What channel are you 2nd tv's setup to receive Dish on? Are you running thru things like RF modulators, game system modulators, VCR's?

There is only a couple of things that could cause poor picture in this kind of setup. I need to know exactly how your signal get's to the tv's.

thanks Dave.

Here is how the TVs are connected.
I have all of them connected through RF input. However before the cable from the receiver is connected to the TV I run it through an RF switch box (as I have many things connected to it like DVD player and stereo system and do not have RCA or S-video inputs on my TV). This 625 receiver is connected downstairs to the TV tuner 1 (this GE TV has the most pronounced picture problems and it is right by the 625 receiver). Tuner 2 is connected to the Sharp TV upstairs also through a similar setup. I have poor picture quality on that Sharp TV as well, but it is not as pronounced as the GE TV downstairs.

322 is also downstairs in the different room. The TV1 output has nothing connected to it, as I have no TV for that room yet. TV2 output is connected to the Daewoo TV upstairs into the switch box as well and then to the TV similar to the setup downstairs with 625. This Daewoo TV is real small and has PQ about the best of all of the TVs, but still I cannot watch Tennis normally.


I know you might say that RF switch box that I first connected the cable from the receiver to might be the problem, however last night I tried to connect the coax directly to my TV2 from 625 upstairs, and the picture was the same.

Channel info. 625 TV1 is on channel 3; 625 TV2 is on channel 73.
322 TV1 is not connected; 322 TV2 is on channel 73.

Anyway..hope this helps.

 

[Tyralak]

Hello folks,

I am very very frustrated with picture quality on my new Dish network system.

Who isn't?

 

[tigerfan33]

Who isn't?

How true.

 

[andyg]

How true.

do you experience mosquito noise then? Product Review

what problems are you having?