Would you swap an 811 for a 510?

[Walker1]

Hi, I have been on D since 6/7/05. I have 1 HD ready tv in the living room and 1 non HD tv in the bedroom. I am not happy with the non HD picture quality on both of the 811's. Both tv's have the same fuzzy, not sharp picture on non HD channels. I spoke with a tech person today at D. I was offered a 510 receiver for the bedroom at no charge. I was also told the 811 does not have any where near as good a picture as the 510. I find it interesting that the 811 has a near perfect picture on the HD channels. I don't plan to buy a tv with HD for the bedroom. I do, however record many movies and programs on DVD and VHS in both rooms. I need a good picture signal. I have no experience with DVRs. I have 7 VCRs, 2 DVD recorders, and 2 DVD play decks in my house. I get all my movie channels on my C-band 4DTV digital receiver. I am leasing from D for 2 years. What are your thoughts? I was told I have 30 days from when I was installed to change out any equipment at no charge. Thanks for any info you can offer on the 510 and my overall situation.

 

[NpaulTodd]

Well if your gonna get a DVR How about the 522 , that way you'll have 2 tuners at least!

 

[KKlare]

Make sure you are in 1080i and not 480p on the DVI/component connection.

But if HD is sharp then the SD pictures can be decent especially on premium channels. I'm finding even Sci-Fi/basic channels zoomed is OK most of the time for viewing on my RPTV.

The 811 will make good-to-excellent DVD recordings from s-video especially from an HD source. Too bad my DVD+Rs do not capture closed captions.

BTW, D or D* usually indicates DirecTV, not Dish or E* for Echostar.
-Ken

 

[cyberized]

I just had the 811 installed a couple of days ago and I too was VERY disappointed and surprised that the SD PQ was so POOR - unlike my old 508 [which used S-Video hookup]. Reading the forums on the 811 I found that many end up using their DVI or Component hookup for HD and also hook-up a S-Video for SD. So this is what I did too and WALA - NICE crisp SD once again. Only a little inconvenience - you must pull up your INPUT Menu on your TV and switch appropriately -- ie., Cable OR Video1.2...etc. BUT it is worth it!

Good Luck! Michael

 

[caam1]

I also use the S-Video output on the 811 when watching SD channels. I found that it looks much sharper than watching the SD channels through the DVI or Component outputs. To me it looks about the same as the S-Video from my 508.

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

Same here, add the S-Video and switch to it when watching non HD.