# Local Channel Quality



## tsdiesel (Sep 1, 2007)

I had a 625 installed this weekend and when the technician was going through the channels, I immediately realized that the local channel (NBC) was blurry. I inquired and he acknowledged that the local channels would not be crystal clear all of the time, especially one particular channel. 

I wasn't very pleased with the notion and immediately went back to my crystal clear over the air signal to show the difference to the technician and  what the heck, it is also blurry. This was during a major college football game on Saturday and I had seen a few of these before with poor qulity. Then last night, the wife went to DVR Desperate Housewives and her, not having any knowledge of my discussion with the technician, said: God that is poor quality, we are paying for this? And she also immediately swapped to the over the air feed for ABC and it was too! 

My question for you guys: Are these local channels suddenly blurry for you as well? Or do I have something installed incorrectly and causing interference? All other channels appear clear on the satellite and also DVDs. 

I was thinking maybe everything is now recorded in HD only and that the non-HD users will get the shaft in picture quality as kind of an incentive to upgrade and save the networks from having to broadcast HD and standard definition? I hope this is merely a conspiracy theory, but we have watched over the air television for years and the picture was never blurry. In fact, I had quite a few  moments when visiting friend's houses and attempting to watch the vast majority of the programming that was not in HD and how it looked much better on my antiquated tube. 

Thoughts?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Without knowing how you get the signal from the 625 SD DVR and how the OTA antenna is routed, I can't give you a good answer. I can tell you that using the RF output from the 625 is not the best way to get your Dish programming, and that it can mess up your OTA unless you turned video off on the 625 . It's far better to use the A/V inputs - preferably the S-video with the Red/white audio, but at least the yellow composite. I would NOT route the antenna through the 625 unless your TV only has the RF connection - run the OTA directly to the TV and use the above mentioned A/V connections for the DBS receiver.


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## tsdiesel (Sep 1, 2007)

625 is sent to the TV through RCA inputs. The OTA antenna is only routed to the TV and not into the 625. I didn't think about S-video, I will give that a shot. Thank you for the tip.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Sounds good so far. Any diplexers installed when the tech installed the Dish (diplexers allow sharing of the same coax for both OTA and DBS) ? Ideally, you should use seperate cables for both DBS and OTA (IOW - the tech should have run new cables) - especially if you are using some sort of preamp for the OTA.


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## Highdef Jeff (Jul 1, 2007)

tsdiesel said:


> I had a 625 installed this weekend and when the technician was going through the channels, I immediately realized that the local channel (NBC) was blurry. I inquired and he acknowledged that the local channels would not be crystal clear all of the time, especially one particular channel.
> 
> I wasn't very pleased with the notion and immediately went back to my crystal clear over the air signal to show the difference to the technician and  what the heck, it is also blurry. This was during a major college football game on Saturday and I had seen a few of these before with poor qulity. Then last night, the wife went to DVR Desperate Housewives and her, not having any knowledge of my discussion with the technician, said: God that is poor quality, we are paying for this? And she also immediately swapped to the over the air feed for ABC and it was too!
> 
> ...


We all need to keep in mind that DTV is in its infancy. Everyone should be told in regards to DTV broadcasts that they are working on the technology at the broadcasters as well. Your description sounds like the local stations where experiencing some trouble. At times you will have signal loss and such, as the broadcasters upgrade and implement new digital equipment.


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## tsdiesel (Sep 1, 2007)

Scooper, no diplexers were installed. 

I changed over to S-video and I honestly do not see a difference in quality on any channels. But once again, all channels look good, except for the local channels. If no one else is experiencing this, then the problem must be that the Louisville KY locals are simply not providing a good signal. Where/how does DishNetwork receive these? Is it received from OTA locally and sent up to the satellite? Maybe they are in a poor reception area?

Is it possible to get my local channels changed to another city? Possibly Lexington?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Ok - locals can vary in how Dish gets them, and they could be more compressed than the regular "cable" channels, depending on how many markets are using the same spot-beam.

My locals via Dish look very good - but then, Dish isn't crowding the NC spotbeam very heavy either.

Your OTA locals - that should not have changed from before - unless the installer put the dish inbetween the OTA antenna and the stations.

I'm not touching the "moving" question.


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## tsdiesel (Sep 1, 2007)

This is definitely an issue related to programs that have been recorded in HD. It is primarily sports, but not always. ABC seems to be the worst but it also happens on CBS and NBC. 

The picture will look very much like a non-HD show being played back on an HDTV with the person viewing standing closer than recommended for the size of the television. 

No one else has experienced this?


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

Why would you stand closer than recommended?


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## origkds (Dec 2, 2002)

All of my channels are crystal clear except for my locals. Some are better than others but NBC looks like it's snowing.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

tsdiesel - OK - a 625 is SD DVR - not high definition (that would be a 622). It also does NOT have any OTA tuner AT ALL. When the Dish guy installed - he should have run a totally new cable from the Dish to your 625 receiver, thus leaving the original OTA cable alone. You really need to verify that this is indeed the case. I'd also like to know what size/type of TV you are watching on, and how close is "normal viewing distance", and whether the locals you are watching are really the DBS locals or HD locals from OTA (or even the analog OTA locals). On a good antenna setup, even local analog OTA locals SHOULD look better than DBS locals (my DBS locals are very close, but this is definately a YMMV depending on your location).

I can tell you bluntly that I'm watching my 625 via s-video cable on my 32 inch widescreen LCD in original aspect and I get an image that is approximately the same size / quality as the 27 inch analog CRT I had before at a viewing distance of 6-12 feet from the display - and it looks pretty good. The OTA-HD locals look awesome - SD - DBS just doesn't compare, but it is viewable.


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## tsdiesel (Sep 1, 2007)

scooper said:


> tsdiesel - OK - a 625 is SD DVR - not high definition (that would be a 622). It also does NOT have any OTA tuner AT ALL. When the Dish guy installed - he should have run a totally new cable from the Dish to your 625 receiver, thus leaving the original OTA cable alone. You really need to verify that this is indeed the case.


I mentioned HD TV only to give an example of the pixelated look. I have been to many friend's houses with HDTV and to try and watch "non High-Def" on those HDTVs can be a painful experience, it actually gives me headaches after about an hour. The Dish Guy installed a new cable, I still have my original OTA antenna and connection.



scooper said:


> I'd also like to know what size/type of TV you are watching on, and how close is "normal viewing distance", and whether the locals you are watching are really the DBS locals or HD locals from OTA (or even the analog OTA locals). On a good antenna setup, even local analog OTA locals SHOULD look better than DBS locals (my DBS locals are very close, but this is definately a YMMV depending on your location).
> 
> I can tell you bluntly that I'm watching my 625 via s-video cable on my 32 inch widescreen LCD in original aspect and I get an image that is approximately the same size / quality as the 27 inch analog CRT I had before at a viewing distance of 6-12 feet from the display - and it looks pretty good. The OTA-HD locals look awesome - SD - DBS just doesn't compare, but it is viewable.


My television is a 32 inch CRT and we view it from about 10 feet away. I have S-Video connected as well.

Once again, this is ONLY a problem with the quality of the Local Channels that are being beamed down from the Dish Satellite. All other satellite channels are excellent quality.

I called and complained and was given the run around...unplug the satellite, check all satellite connections to make sure they are tight, basic stuff.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Ah - sounds like a local DBS locals issue. I BELIEVE there is an email address for things like this - [email protected] ? (Somebody somewhere has mentioned it). Send them an email addressing your concerns. The more detail you can provide, the better.

Dish can get locals via several different ways - direct fiber feed, OTA analog, OTA digital, microwave - and the method of acquisition as well as how many locals can make a big difference in picture quality. What it sounds like is that Dish is getting several / all of them OTA somewhere and perhaps one or more of their antennas isn't quite up to the job.

Even if all of them are direct fiber feeds to the POP (point of presence), I wouldn't expect them to look as good as your OTA analog feeds of the same - you still have the MPEG2 compression going on.

BTW - WHICH locals are you trying to get ? Have you talked to anyone else from your area with the same issue ?


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## dthom (Jan 20, 2006)

We also have a locals quality issue. All our stations are pretty clear,which surprised us since everyone told us we wouldnt be happy with the picture on our 57 in CRT without getting HD. we are content with SD,our only complaint is that for some reason,our locals quality(only locals)at night is awful. we get a slight rainbow effect down the side of the tv,and a shadowy green cast to dark areas. anyone have any ideas why this would only happen at night,and why only the locals. daytime has no problems whatever.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

For all audio/video complaints for locals and national channels:

[email protected]


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