# Hopper Picture Quality



## yence99 (Jan 31, 2005)

I have had a Hopper w/Joey for 2+ years and have been happy. About a month ago I replaced the Joey with the Super Joey. Ever since I have been having picture issues (on both TVs). I am not sure if the timing is just a coincidence. Especially CBS prime times shows are absolutely horrible. Other networks are affected also. The picture seems out of focus (ghosting, blurry) and I think there is more motion blur. Dish has come out a few times and basically replaced my whole system. No difference. The techs wanted to sell me a new HDMI cable, acknowledged the problem but then they ran out of ideas... I know its not my TVs because I am seeing the same issues on both TVs (2 year old Sony Bravias LCD). I also had Best Buy check out the TVs and their tech said the issue is related to the input signal. Does anybody experience similar issues? Thank you.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

as it perhaps relate to your LiL, I would check with someone local who are preferably using H ad J


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## yence99 (Jan 31, 2005)

what is a LiL ?
Thx.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

LiL are your locals...

But I have another thought.

The big difference between your old Joey and the Super Joey... The Super Joey has 2 tuners, the Joey had none. The Super Joey and the Hopper have more back and forth across the MoCA network than would a Hopper and a Joey.

I'm wondering if you have a coaxial issue... maybe not RG6? that maybe was sufficient enough before with just the Joey but now could be pushing past the tolerance of the connection. IF they haven't tried new cabling, I might want to start there.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

that's weirdest suggestion what could be imagined ...

OK, congestion... packets drops .. so ? blurred picture ? c'mon !
could be jerkiness, macroblocking, blackouts... but blur

HDMI cable's issue can not produce blur, nor out of focus. MoCA is not the issue.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You're assuming that what he described as "blur" is what you think of as blur in the technical sense. Without seeing his picture, I don't think we know what he is seeing.

The only thing that I can think of that might appear as actual blur... could be if somehow his settings changed back to 480i/p. When I change my settings to 480i/p it does look kind of blurry as compared to what I would expect from 1080i or 720p. So that's another thought I just had.

But he also could be describing "motion blur" as macroblocking for all we know... so I'm throwing out ideas to check that he might be able to check himself.


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## Conway (Oct 29, 2002)

I notice it on my hopper with sling. dish may be compressing the channels more to the point where it looks that way. I get you tube streams that are better than what i am getting from dish. I have directv as well and the picture quaility is much better and sharper. IMHO


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I've got both services also and can barely tell the difference between the 2 in HD on my 73" DLP.

SD is a different story though.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Conway said:


> I notice it on my hopper with sling. dish may be compressing the channels more to the point where it looks that way. I get you tube streams that are better than what i am getting from dish. I have directv as well and the picture quaility is much better and sharper. IMHO


If you are seeing YouTube streams that look better than Dish, you probably have a problem. There are debates between Dish vs DirecTV, but I've never seen anything on YouTube that I would even dream of saying looked better than my Dish setup.

No doubt Dish is doing some extra compression, and perhaps some resolution altering on some channels... but nothing new recently, and nothing that would make one Hopper look different than another.

Usually these issues come down to cabling problems (be it HDMI, component, or coaxial) or pending equipment failure (HDTV or Dish equipment) or configuration issues (TV or receiver in "zoom" mode, wrong resolution setting on receiver, etc.).


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I would have to agree with Stewart - You need to go into both the Hopper and Super Joey and confirm they are set to output the max resolution your TV can accept (probably 1080i / 1080p), then set the TV's to accept that level of input (probably don't need to do anything). You can also check on how your TV shows Over The Air as well.


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

I think the CBS issue that he is talking about is a known issue of CBS "softening" their programming. Especially NCIS. It gets so bad sometimes that it gives me a headache. There is lots of conversations about this on the net. When I went to Google it I had no idea what to use as keywords, but anything brought up huge lists of conversations. So it is a big topic. Since it's still happening, I guess CBS doesn't care.

I noticed a difference the second we switched from a 722 (direct) and 625 (distributed via a whole house distribution system) to 2 HwS and a Joey. The lack of PQ is just as noticeable on all sets no matter what they are or how they are hooked up. The output on the composite and component jacks is really bad compared to the old ViPs and other sources that are hooked up to the distribution system. The HD pictures via HDMI direct cables on all TV's show banding, some softening, lots of electronic edging. I have had to make some major changes to the sets that were not necessary with the other receivers that whack out other sources like BD. The 37" LCD Sony in the kitchen that is off the Joey, the PQ is all over the place. HD channels look like they are SD. Then sometimes it's just fine. On my DLP, any source, even a DVD player, is better than direct from a HwS. One thing with the 722, OTA was a far better picture than the DISH version of the channel. I'm kinda noticing this with the HwS also.

I've brought this up before and am discussing this with a DIRT rep. I understand that there are many things that are "known" and will be "addressed" in forthcoming update as they can get to them.


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## yence99 (Jan 31, 2005)

Thanks for all the replies. Dish already replaced my entire system. New Hopper and new super joey...no difference. Best Buy will replace the video board on my Sony, but the tech already told me he doesnt think its the TV. He thinks its the input signal. The only logic explanation is that one of the coax cables is responsible for the bad picture. I will say though that the picture isnt always bad and not on all channels. However, CBS, especially Sunday nights its just horrible. Distorted, blurry. Everything was fine for 2+ years and this started when I got the super joey about a month ago. This cannot be a coincidence.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

forget the coax cable ... it cannot make such visible problem


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

Have you tried viewing over the air to see if that is clearer? I agree, it's probably bandwidth allocation or something. Pulling bandwidth from channels that don't have fast motion and consistent motion, and providing more bandwidth to channels that display high motion sports etc. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using DBSTalk mobile app


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