# A better picture?



## Friendswood (Jan 17, 2008)

Dish or Directv?
I used to have directv, but now have dish and it seemed that directv had a more crisper, sharper picture image than Dish. Until now, I've assumed that it was probably just my imagination and that both should be pretty similar until my wife mentioned the same thing.
She feels Directv had more detail and better color, while a lot of Dish's channels seem softer with washed out color.

Are we imagining this?

***my apologies...I should have posted this on the SD board instead since the question concerns SD...NOT HD channels.


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## racton1 (Nov 7, 2007)

Friendswood said:


> Dish or Directv?
> I used to have directv, but now have dish and it seemed that directv had a more crisper, sharper picture image than Dish. Until now, I've assumed that it was probably just my imagination and that both should be pretty similar until my wife mentioned the same thing.
> She feels Directv had more detail and better color, while a lot of Dish's channels seem softer with washed out color.
> 
> ...


I had D before I got my HDTV and swithced to E. I thought D had a better picture in SD, but it may be my imagination or the fact that I'm spoiled with HD programming. I think it depends on your HDTV (HOW YOU HAVE IT SET UP) and also what signal you are getting from the sats. I know that some channels look better than others in SD and HD.

My Toshiba does not do SD very well especially with SCIFI and our local CW affiliate. I can hardly stand to watch those 2 channels. Hopefully E will come to terms with the CW and I'll get to watch Smallville in HD and Stargate Atlantis on SCIFI in HD.

Since you don't have HDTV, you would be a better judge as to whether or not SD looks best with D rather than E.


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## himini (Feb 13, 2007)

My brother has Direct and I have Dish. Same TV. Direct definitely has a better picture for both HD and SD content. No question about it in both of our minds.


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

in my opinion dish has better pq. have dish, went to D* than i ran back to E* after i saw what to me was a noticeable decline in pq. again that is my opinion


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## LinkNuc (Jul 4, 2007)

rey_1178 said:


> in my opinion dish has better pq. have dish, went to D* than i ran back to E* after i saw what to me was a noticeable decline in pq. again that is my opinion


I used to have D* too, I give a slight edge to E* on HD and D* on SD, and Cable is better than both IMHO.


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

yeah in my area comcast hd is horrible. my best choice here is E* and i'm very happy with it. :grin:


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## Highdef Jeff (Jul 1, 2007)

Having correctly installed both DirecTV and Dish, I find that Dish is the hands down winner in PQ. Seldom did I see an equivalent picture with DirecTV.

I would suggest that those who think it the other way, have a close look at their Dish system...something's not right.


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

Highdef Jeff said:


> Having correctly installed both DirecTV and Dish, I find that Dish is the hands down winner in PQ. Seldom did I see an equivalent picture with DirecTV.
> 
> I would suggest that those who think it the other way, have a close look at their Dish system...something's not right.


I have both, and honestly they are pretty much equal. Direct is better on some, dish on others.


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## Highdef Jeff (Jul 1, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> I have both, and honestly they are pretty much equal. Direct is better on some, dish on others.


That could be completely true. If there is a substantial difference where Dish overall looks worse, something's not right. A percentage of DirecTV systems look pretty much the same as Dish when installed.


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

Highdef Jeff said:


> That could be completely true. If there is a substantial difference where Dish overall looks worse, something's not right. A percentage of DirecTV systems look pretty much the same as Dish when installed.


I guess I am trying to understand what you are getting at here Jeff. If there is a substantial difference the other way wouldnt, by your thinking, something be wrong with the D* setup also?

I would give Dish a SLIGHT edge on SD quality right now, and Direct a SLIGHT edge on HD. That pretty much is the same no matter where I see them. Overall though, they are pretty much the same. I doubt very seriously that someone could tell which is which if they just walked in and saw the channel on the screen


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## Highdef Jeff (Jul 1, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> I guess I am trying to understand what you are getting at here Jeff. If there is a substantial difference the other way wouldnt, by your thinking, something be wrong with the D* setup also?
> 
> I would give Dish a SLIGHT edge on SD quality right now, and Direct a SLIGHT edge on HD. That pretty much is the same no matter where I see them. Overall though, they are pretty much the same. I doubt very seriously that someone could tell which is which if they just walked in and saw the channel on the screen


Your opinion is as good as mine on this.


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

Highdef Jeff said:


> Having correctly installed both DirecTV and Dish, I find that Dish is the hands down winner in PQ. Seldom did I see an equivalent picture with DirecTV.
> 
> I would suggest that those who think it the other way, have a close look at their Dish system...something's not right.


same experience here. E hands down


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## racton1 (Nov 7, 2007)

rey_1178 said:


> same experience here. E hands down


Several years ago E broke down and I called a local sat guy to fix it since E couldn't get out to my house for a week. The tech fixed the E problem but said I could get D for free so I said hook it up. I could not tell any differnce in the quality of the pictures, but that was when I had a crt and no HD.

Now I am back with E and HD but could not tell you currently if one is better than the other. I do know that I am disappointed in some of my SD programs but maybe I am spoiled by HDTV!


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

Highdef Jeff said:


> Your opinion is as good as mine on this.


I guess so


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## WilliamC (Jun 18, 2006)

Friendswood said:


> Dish or Directv?
> I used to have directv, but now have dish and it seemed that directv had a more crisper, sharper picture image than Dish. Until now, I've assumed that it was probably just my imagination and that both should be pretty similar until my wife mentioned the same thing.
> She feels Directv had more detail and better color, while a lot of Dish's channels seem softer with washed out color.
> 
> ...


Simple answer is Yes D* has a better picture. E* use to have a better image as far as HD went, however they decided they needed to lower the bandwidth and resolution of their channels and that affected quality greatly. Your wife is 100% correct the image now on E* is soft and does indeed have washed out colors. The detail and vibrancy are lost. When I switched to D* i had both running side by side on the same ISF calibrated TV and while watching the same channel (DVR'ed the programs to compare) it was even more noticeable. To me it was a drastic difference, but then I am a videophile so I make a big deal out of even the smallest thing. Even the downrezzed Mpeg-2 on D* looks better than the same on E*. I compared HDnet on both and the image was softer on E* while on D* it was much sharper. I wonder if E* may be applying some post-processing to reduce noise or macroblocking.


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## WilliamC (Jun 18, 2006)

Highdef Jeff said:


> Having correctly installed both DirecTV and Dish, I find that Dish is the hands down winner in PQ. Seldom did I see an equivalent picture with DirecTV.
> 
> I would suggest that those who think it the other way, have a close look at their Dish system...something's not right.


Obviously you haven't correctly installed anything. There will be many variances in PQ because not all TV's are the same and many TV's will apply some video processing to the video to properly scale it to the TV. Depending on how good the processor is the PQ may look good or bad.

Being a fanboy of one or another solves nothing and only makes you look bad.


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## WilliamC (Jun 18, 2006)

msmith198025 said:


> I guess I am trying to understand what you are getting at here Jeff. If there is a substantial difference the other way wouldnt, by your thinking, something be wrong with the D* setup also?
> 
> I would give Dish a SLIGHT edge on SD quality right now, and Direct a SLIGHT edge on HD. That pretty much is the same no matter where I see them. Overall though, they are pretty much the same. I doubt very seriously that someone could tell which is which if they just walked in and saw the channel on the screen


On a properly calibrated TV, I could! Albeit to the average person the difference will be small. I wish I could compare the channels that are broadcast from the provider in Mpeg-4, such as the new Starz HD ones (i think its comedy and edge), but Dish doesn't have those. I think these will be a tell-tale sign of what we can expect as far as differences go down the line, since everything will be Mpeg-4 at some point.


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## dcbag (Oct 1, 2006)

Having just change from D to E in the past two weeks, I can say on my 55" screen D is by far sharper HD than E. Since I have had them both hooked up for a week or so, anyone could see the difference right off. However I did switch to E for the HD only package which saves me about $35 a month, so thats what I have to remember. I do think E picture will meet D by the end of the year. I hope so anyway


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## jeffandgina2000 (Jan 6, 2008)

I definetly seen a difference when I switched from D to Dish!!!


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

DirecTV's "legacy" HD MPEG2 channels were slightly lower resolution than Dish's HD channels, which aren't full 1920x1080, but the MPEG4/Ka HD channels are full resolution and a bit higher bandwidth than Dish's, so there is a noticable difference in PQ, especially on larger TVs.


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## bnewt (Oct 2, 2003)

I was wondering the same ?. Who has the best picture quality Dish, DIrect or cable? Was talking to a guy at Sam's yesterday..........he swears Insight cable has a much better picture than Dish. I do not have HD, but I do have Dish & it is much better than my parents analog cable. Would digital cable help?


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

bnewt said:


> I was wondering the same ?. Who has the best picture quality Dish, DIrect or cable? Was talking to a guy at Sam's yesterday..........he swears Insight cable has a much better picture than Dish. I do not have HD, but I do have Dish & it is much better than my parents analog cable. Would digital cable help?


DirecTV and DishNetwork are consistant across the country (local channels aside), but all cable service is LOCAL. Meaning: even if your local cable company is owned by a major cable provider (Comcast, Cox, etc.), it still relies on the LOCAL infrastructure and business decisions of the local office, so cable prices, service, and quality can and does vary greatly from one area to the next. Thus, accurate predictions could be made from outside your local area regarding cable picture quality.


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## PalaHeel (Sep 22, 2007)

from Dish Network. I know that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but I am very picky about the picture quality and cannot ask anymore from Dish than I am getting. 

The HDTV brand/model does make a difference! I have two Samsung LCD's and get beautiful pitures on both. 

Go E!


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## jeffandgina2000 (Jan 6, 2008)

PalaHeel said:


> from Dish Network. I know that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but I am very picky about the picture quality and cannot ask anymore from Dish than I am getting.
> 
> The HDTV brand/model does make a difference! I have two Samsung LCD's and get beautiful pitures on both.
> 
> Go E!


I wish I could say the same


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## jrb531 (May 29, 2004)

PalaHeel said:


> from Dish Network. I know that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but I am very picky about the picture quality and cannot ask anymore from Dish than I am getting.
> 
> The HDTV brand/model does make a difference! I have two Samsung LCD's and get beautiful pitures on both.
> 
> Go E!


Dish HD is over compressed due to bandwidth issues. If you think Dish has excellent PQ then you just have not seen anything better in order to compare it to.

Sure Dish HD is better than Dish SD. I have Dish and their HD and it is seldom better than an upconverted DVD.

Once they get a new Sat up then things will get much better. D* was stuck in much the same way but once they got their Sat's up they were able to offer more channels and less compression.

-JB


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## jeffandgina2000 (Jan 6, 2008)

jrb531 said:


> Dish HD is over compressed due to bandwidth issues. If you think Dish has excellent PQ then you just have not seen anything better in order to compare it to.
> 
> Sure Dish HD is better than Dish SD. I have Dish and their HD and it is seldom better than an upconverted DVD.
> 
> ...


Thats what I thought!!!

When is Sat going up?


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## jrb531 (May 29, 2004)

jeffandgina2000 said:


> Thats what I thought!!!
> 
> When is Sat going up?


July 2008


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## jeffandgina2000 (Jan 6, 2008)

Jeez!


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Thats not really that far off, better than in a few years...


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

I've had both and to me DirecTV has better color and contrast and Dish has slightly better resolution.

I wish compression was against the law!

If FIOS was available where I live that's what I'd get.


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## bnewt (Oct 2, 2003)

I saw the Louisvill, Ky HD locals at Best Buy yesterday on a 65" Sharp LCD. It was impressive.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

jrb531 said:


> July 2008


While there are three satellites being launched this year, they are all replacements for aging existing satellites, at 61.5, 110, and 129. And while a few additional transponders should be available (read: 20-24 additional channels), there is NO reason to expect any additional bandwidth to be used for existing HD channels.

The DirecTV situation is very different. They launched whole new dedicated sats to new locataions and frequencies, adding a LOT of additional bandwidth. There aren't any public indications of Dish doing this (and it was a 14 year process for DirecTV) in the immediate future.

Dish promises 100 HD channels total by end of 2008. Adding about 23 channels would meet that goal, and that's just about what these new replacement sats will allow.


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## bnewt (Oct 2, 2003)

I truly hope that you are wrong. According to the latest Charlie Chat there will be many new HD channels & locals as well. Now it remains to be seen if that does happen.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

bnewt said:


> I truly hope that you are wrong. According to the latest Charlie Chat there will be many new HD channels & locals as well. Now it remains to be seen if that does happen.


The details of the 3 launches this year are pretty publically available. Echostar doesn't have any new frequencies allocated at those locations, and we know what kind of sats they are and what frequencies they support, but there are a couple of transponders that aren't currently in use on the old sats due to issues with them, and those transponders will almost certainly go live when the new birds are up. That's the only "new" space coming available with the new sats (and it's really not new, just not *currently* being used).


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## Friendswood (Jan 17, 2008)

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm going to do a little back-tracking!
I switched back to Directv and my Dish SD channels honestly seemed a little better.
However.....that is pretty much a moot point since I very seldom watch SD channels anymore....I just can't watch them after watching HD!
But....there is no doubt that the Directv HD feeds are superior to Dish Network....the difference is very noticeable. The Directv HD signal is so nice to look at that I no longer wonder if maybe I had purchased a very expensive lemon instead of a very expensive HD television!


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## led (Dec 11, 2007)

I guess that people that have been on this forum for awhile know what D* and E* are. D* could be Dish or Direct TV. I can't quite figure out what E* could be.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

led said:


> I guess that people that have been on this forum for awhile know what D* and E* are. D* could be Dish or Direct TV. I can't quite figure out what E* could be.


E* = Echostar = DishNetwork

D* = DirecTV

I'm not fond of either abbreviation, but no one asked me.


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

If it's only picture quality and not sports or channel lineup, after reviewing the opinions here I'd say 'flip a coin'.

--- CHAS


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