# Problem with HD on 811?



## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

I wasn't sure where to post this, but since I have only an 811, I thought this would be the best place.
I posted in another thread a couple days ago that I didn't feel the Olympics on 9426 was true HD because of it's PQ on my 811. Everyone who responded indicated their PQ was great. I now need to revise that issue to include all my HD channels. I've been checking during the last several days and, for some reason, all of my HD channels (including VOOM) on my 811 do not appear to be HD. They are now appearing to be fairly good SD, but not HD. This has only been going on for a short time (a week or so) because before all my HD channels (when they were broadcasting HD content) were great! And before you ask, I haven't changed one thing, settings, hardware, cabling, nothing!
My signal strengths on all SATs are good. Even when I'm looking at the HD demo channel, the PQ is just not what it used to be and honestly, in my opinion, looks to be no better than SD; better quality SD than all my other SAT SD channels, but still not HD.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing this? Has anyone else noticed poorer quality HD? I haven't called Dish yet, because I honestly figured I would get better results right here on our forum.

Ken


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## BoisePaul (Apr 26, 2005)

The only thing that I can think of that might have changed was the component video levels with P3.34. I suppose, depending on the calibration of your set, it could look like PQ degradation. The other thing you might check is whether somehow your 811 got set back to 480p instead of one of the HD resolutions, but this is unlikely.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

BoisePaul said:


> The only thing that I can think of that might have changed was the component video levels with P3.34. I suppose, depending on the calibration of your set, it could look like PQ degradation. The other thing you might check is whether somehow your 811 got set back to 480p instead of one of the HD resolutions, but this is unlikely.


I should have stated in my original post that I am using a DVI connection from my monitor to the 811. Also, my menu settings on my 811 haven't changed, it's still set at 1080i and 16X9. I am also on software rev. 3.34. To try and establish a point in time when this started happening, I would venture to say that my best guess is that it started at about the same time as receiving 3.34. I may be wrong on that however.

Ken


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## BoisePaul (Apr 26, 2005)

Hmm, that's just weird.... I didn't notice any PQ issues when I had my 811.


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## olgeezer (Dec 5, 2003)

Are there resolution settings on your monitor?


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

olgeezer said:


> Are there resolution settings on your monitor?


There are, but they have not changed either. It also is set at 1080i.

Ken


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## olgeezer (Dec 5, 2003)

khearrean said:


> There are, but they have not changed either. It also is set at 1080i.
> 
> Ken


Does your monitor have component? Have you tried that? Have you tried a different DVI cable? I'm hooked up with DVI and component and all looks well to my ancient eyes.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

olgeezer said:


> Does your monitor have component? Have you tried that? Have you tried a different DVI cable? I'm hooked up with DVI and component and all looks well to my ancient eyes.


No, I haven't tried switching over and using component cables. I've never had to do this since I've always used the DVI connection & the PQ has always been great. I guess it's possible that my DVI cable "all of a sudden" went bad, but this is probably unlikely..In these cases, I automatically tend to think it's more Dish Network related, but everyone else is saying their HD PQ is still good and are not seeing a change, so I'm really at a loss. I am going to call Dish, but I'm afraid I already know their answer..

Ken


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

My HD over DVI hasn't changed since about 5 software updates ago when it got lighter.

I'd suggest unplugging (literally) both the tv and 811, for a few minutes, before taking any other action. There might be some errant setting that's messing up the picture that a hard reboot might fix.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Thanks....when I get home, I'll give that a try. So far, all I had done was a soft re-boot.

Ken


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## cpdretired (Aug 25, 2003)

How old is your bulb? Let me know if you have a Samsung DLP. I can give you the code to get into the service menu to check the hours on the bulb. You may even want to remove and reinstall your DVI cable at both ends.


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## YellowJacket (Apr 8, 2005)

khearrean said:


> Thanks....when I get home, I'll give that a try. So far, all I had done was a soft re-boot.
> 
> Ken


Perhaps your HD output is in a zoom or stretch mode. You rotate through the various HD output Zoom modes by pressing the "Page Up" key. The 811 remembers the setting independantly for HD channels and SD channels. Tune to an HD channel and make sure the view banner says "HD: Normal"


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Or perhaps EDID is locking the settings out on his display's control panel.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Jason Nipp said:


> Or perhaps EDID is locking the settings out on his display's control panel.


I'm not sure what you mean by this, but my banner is where I always keep it which is "HD Normal." As I said, I've changed nothing at all. The only thing that has happened is that last week, we lost power here for about 3 hours. So actually, that did a hard reset/re-boot of everything.
To answer the other question, I have a Hitachi HD RPTV, not a projector.

Ken


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Is your svideo hooked up to your hitachi.. If you 811 is set to 1080i and 16x9 then it should be pumping 1080i to your set through HDMI. Just for sanity sake. If you have svideo hooked up. Pull it. 

IF this is not it, not sure what would cause it to do something like this. At this point you are wondering into the twilight zone so we need to cover the obvious DUHs!


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> Is your svideo hooked up to your hitachi.. If you 811 is set to 1080i and 16x9 then it should be pumping 1080i to your set through HDMI. Just for sanity sake. If you have svideo hooked up. Pull it.
> 
> IF this is not it, not sure what would cause it to do something like this. At this point you are wondering into the twilight zone so we need to cover the obvious DUHs!


No S video hooked up. Also I did a hard re-boot, but that didn't help. The only thing left to do is to change out my DVI cable. But in light of the fact that I have an elaborate set-up and it take me a lot of effort to get to the back of my equipment, I probably won't do that now. As I said before, I just don't believe my DVI cable went bad overnight.
I will try calling Dish as a last resort...I can also take a chance that upgrading to a 211 might change things, but if it did, I would really be puzzled. Is there any chance there could be something that has happened to my 811 (power surge, etc) which is not allowing it to properly decode true HD?..I know, I'm grasping at straws...

Ken


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Can you take a picture of the picture.  take the picture with the info screen up. 

What happens when you try 720p and 480p. Do you see any difference in PQ. Does the menus change in terms of sizing. Maybe something got fried and it is locked in 480p Mode.


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## bobbyc03 (Jul 21, 2005)

I'll just mention what I haven't seen mentioned yet...

*First off the 811 is set to normal instead of zoom/stretch?

*Your HDTV is set to full/normal instead of zoom/stretch?

*I've noticed on the 9426 HD channel that many camera angles are uprezzed/scaled to 1080i. I've also noticed this on NBC OTA.

That's about all I can think of now. I didn't think a DVI cable can go bad; either it will work or it won't. Perhaps it is time to upgrade to a 211 or 622 receiver... and if that isn't it I would start suspecting the HDTV.
Good luck,
Bob C


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> Can you take a picture of the picture.  take the picture with the info screen up.
> 
> What happens when you try 720p and 480p. Do you see any difference in PQ. Does the menus change in terms of sizing. Maybe something got fried and it is locked in 480p Mode.


Ok, I'll try that, but I really don't know if you'll be able to see from a digital photo what I am seeing here in front of the screen; at least as far as something detailed like PQ. I'll do this later tonight and try & post it here tomorrow....Thanks...

Ken


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Would be interested if you see any difference when changing modes. When I do it the size of the guide changes and I can notice it.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> Would be interested if you see any difference when changing modes. When I do it the size of the guide changes and I can notice it.


When you say changing modes, are you referring to the HDTV set-up menu in the 811? If so, I tried this awhile ago & I noticed I saw no difference between 1080i & 720P, neither in the PQ nor did the EPG look any different. (I thought this was a little unusual). However when I changed over to 480p in the 811's set-up menu, the EPG became huge. I cannot say I saw any noticeable difference in PQ.

Ken


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

That is what I mean.. That would make me think something is happending in the 811 in terms of chaning video modes. Suprised you don't see a difference with 720p and 1080i. I do whenever I have done that excercise.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> That is what I mean.. That would make me think something is happending in the 811 in terms of chaning video modes. Suprised you don't see a difference with 720p and 1080i. I do whenever I have done that excercise.


Hmmmmm....Or maybe that's just the point...Could this possibly be indicating a problem? The fact that I don't see any difference between 1080i & 720p doesn't seem right. Is it possible the 811, for whatever reason, is no longer actually showing 1080i? Could it be hung in 720p? Again, just thinking out loud as I go..

Ken


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> That is what I mean.. That would make me think something is happending in the 811 in terms of chaning video modes. Suprised you don't see a difference with 720p and 1080i. I do whenever I have done that excercise.


Ron:

If it's ok, I'd like to send you a PM regarding this so as not to tie the board up...

Ken


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