What, besides the old "more HD" ,would you like see new for 2011 from Dish?

[Jim S.]

I wouldn't even care about them shaving the resolution down a little if by doing so they could deliver enough bits that I didn't see artifacting all the time. Otherwise, why bother?

 

[JimWH]

Programmingwise, 1. bring back MSG 2. Add Funimation 3. Add MLB 4. Is there a martial arts movie channel out there? %. How about a monster movie channel Not the SCIFY dreck.

 

[voripteth]

I'd like to see a dedicated remote button to turn closed captioning on and off.
It's a major pain to dig through the menus to turn on CC for a moment so I can find out what was said too softly to hear.

 

[inazsully]

Especially if you're watching BBC and trying to understand what they are saying.

 

[Frank7004]

Especially if you're watching BBC and trying to understand what they are saying.

Dont watch it. Its a british channel. Hey you British people, speak in a US accent. haha!

Anyways, I'd like to see:
1. tv2 HD, even if its on 1 or 2rcvrs
2. 722&222 have guides like the 922
3. Dish via web; no need for a rcvr or dish

 

[papalittle]

How about diplexers and separators that are built into the receivers. Using these damn tri-plexers are a pain in the butt when you have to try to cram everything into a entertainment center that has a back on it.

 

[calrich]

I agree with the comment regarding the 2 year contracts. If I sign a 2 year contract I should receive the channels I assumed would be there. For me, it's Comcast Sports Net California. If they drop a channel to which I'm subscribed I should be able to back out of the contract based upon a breach committed by Dish. I know Comcast, Fox etc are screwing with Dish but we subscribe to a package which we expect to continue to be available.

 

[Lance Rock]

I wouldn't even care about them shaving the resolution down a little if by doing so they could deliver enough bits that I didn't see artifacting all the time. Otherwise, why bother?

+1

Personally, I think too much is often made of the the whole "HD-Lite" thing when, IMHO, the bit-starving is what's really compromising the HD PQ on DISH. Like Jim said, I'd gladly shave off a *bit* of horizontal resolution [assuming it's down-rezzed fairly transparently], if we could have cleaner, more artifact-free pictures. Though, truth be told, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't appreciate the best of both worlds.


In my fantasy world, we'd have only 4-5 HD channels per transponder delivering roughly 7 to 12mbps of the variable MPEG-4 bitrate, instead of the 7-8 channels that we now have crammed up there (and even 9 HD channels in the case of one of the Eastern Arc transponders on 61.5!). A man can dream...can't he...lol?

MGM HD on the Eastern Arc -- which just [probably not] coincidentally happens to be on the aforementioned 9-channel transponder -- is looking particularly rough for wear as of late. Really noticeable macro-motion artifacts during fast movement or medium to fast camera pans, as well as a softness/murkiness to color gradients and a blotchiness to some dark scenes. I'd be afraid to see how *much* they're actually starving that one in terms of bitrate, and frankly, it's unacceptable to me in that it's a premium channel. I've seen the same channel on my buddy's DirecTV setup, and it's no contest, so the problem doesn't lie with MGM themselves. Any reason why DISH can't stick it on one of the EA transponders that still currently houses 7 HD channels? Does that make too much sense, or am I dreaming again?

Oh well, at least it's not juddering horribly like it briefly was a couple of months ago. They did manage to finally get that part right. ; )


BTW...Happy New Year to everyone!
- LR

 

[TheKrell]

Indeed that makes too much sense AND you are dreaming again.

 

[natboomer]

In no order of preference:

1. Option to hide duplicate SD channels when HD channel is mapped down.
2. Option to hide duplicate SD channels when HD channel is mapped down.
3. Option to hide duplicate SD channels when HD channel is mapped down.

 

[TheKrell]

Hear hear. Hear.

 

[antonius]

Whole Home DVR
Multi room HD with 1 receiver.

Was ready to switch to DTV today for the whole home DVR after adding a second HD tv and realizing that I cannot watch my DVR recordings from 1 tv on the second one as they would be on a seperate DVR.

 

[Scherrman]

Get a 922 receiver, they do not have the SD counterpart. I love my 922 and when my wireless HDMI unit comes I will be even happier.

 

[hvcomputech]

Get rid of stretchovision and the very weird banding, noticeable when panning.

Full HD, not degraded.

Stop the random channel hide and seek. For example: now you see euronews channel 901, tomorrow you don't.

 

[Lance Rock]

Get rid of stretchovision and the very weird banding, noticeable when panning.

Thanks for mentioning this, as I was beginning to think that a) this was something only I was noticing or b) it was a problem singular to my setup. So much so, that I even swapped out my receiver (722k), wondering if that might make a difference -- perhaps something in the MPEG decoder board (and to no avail). FWIW, I'm on the Eastern Arc.

As you noted, it seems to be something unique to camera pans. While I'd reckon it's a result of DISH's bit-starving (or some sort of post-processing to try and mask that...smoothing, etc.), it doesn't look like the standard motion macroblocking or artifacting (although I certainly see that, too, on fast motion scenes in general). It's really distracting though. Something that I find myself focusing on when watching an HD channel, and it drives me bonkers. I can't even describe it -- only to say that it sort of looks like a data stream that's trying to play "catch-up" during those pans. Bands of motion artifacts. Does that sound about right?

Must be something that DISH "invented"...lol?