# Pixelation of HD both sat. and OTA



## bbriggs (Dec 17, 2003)

I'm getting some annoying instances of pixelation while viewing HD material both off air and satellite, fair weather or foul. Seems to happen worse during periods of rapid movement on screen, and can be really bad while the credits are scrolling up the screen at the end of a movie (haven't verified that happens OTA, but observed multiple times via satellite). Is this from compression problems, an issue with the 921, or perhaps my setup?


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## flmilkfarmer (Nov 14, 2004)

bbriggs said:


> I'm getting some annoying instances of pixelation while viewing HD material both off air and satellite, fair weather or foul. Seems to happen worse during periods of rapid movement on screen, and can be really bad while the credits are scrolling up the screen at the end of a movie (haven't verified that happens OTA, but observed multiple times via satellite). Is this from compression problems, an issue with the 921, or perhaps my setup?


 Yes I was just watching Discovery HD and this happened.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

bbriggs said:


> I'm getting some annoying instances of pixelation while viewing HD material both off air and satellite, fair weather or foul. Seems to happen worse during periods of rapid movement on screen, and can be really bad while the credits are scrolling up the screen at the end of a movie (haven't verified that happens OTA, but observed multiple times via satellite). Is this from compression problems, an issue with the 921, or perhaps my setup?


Yes, it seems worse on DiscoveryHD and HDNet. No pixelation on OTA unless the signal drops.


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## conner65 (Jan 26, 2004)

This was happening on ESPNHD last night to me and on my OTA on FOX


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## FourLizards (Nov 10, 2004)

I also have this pixelation/smearing problem. I've seen it on the above mentioned channels as well as HBO-HD and Showtime-HD. It especially likes to happen on the credits of a movie. Is this in the transmission or is it happening during the recording? Since people are reporting it in OTA programs also, it's probably happening during the recording phase since everything we see is recorded and delayed a few seconds.


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## conner65 (Jan 26, 2004)

The credits are where I noticed it most also.


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## BarryO (Dec 16, 2003)

Me too!!

'thought maybe the dish got moved, but signal strengths look OK. 'Master and Commander' on HBO-HD was bad, and Discovery-HD tonight was worse.

The PQ in Discovery-HD has been nowhere near as good as it used to be since the Olympics, but these glitches now fill major portions of the screen, and make things unwatchable.

'sounds like Dish is screwing up, and its not a problem on my end. i wonder if 6000 and 811 viewers are seeing it?


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## DJ Rob (Jul 24, 2003)

I got an 811 and I'm seeing it too.


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## bbomar (Oct 18, 2004)

DJ Rob said:


> I got an 811 and I'm seeing it too.


Same here - pixelation on Discovery HD (Extreme Machines) last night.
I thought it might be dish alignment or the weather.


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## FourLizards (Nov 10, 2004)

BarryO, I aggee with you about the problem being on Dish's end. I watched some of Master and Commander the other day and it was pretty bad for me as well. I guess this is a good thing as it indicates that the problem is not in our 921's.


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## FourLizards (Nov 10, 2004)

This discussion reminds me of a similar problem on Discovery HD where the video slows down to maybe one frame per second. The audio continues with no problem. I have to change channels to get it back to normal. I experienced this on my 921 and 811. Has anyone else seen this happen?


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## kydish (Jul 12, 2004)

FourLizards said:


> This discussion reminds me of a similar problem on Discovery HD where the video slows down to maybe one frame per second. The audio continues with no problem. I have to change channels to get it back to normal. I experienced this on my 921 and 811. Has anyone else seen this happen?


I've had a 6000 for a couple of years and just noticed this a few weeks ago


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## ctdish (Apr 9, 2004)

I noticed pixellation during movement on HBO HD during an animated movie two nights ago on both my Dish 6000 and 921 with a signal strength of 95. It was so bad on Philadelphia Experiment 2 that the show was almost unwatchable. I assume these are encoder errors at Dish, and I hope they can get the problem fixed. John


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## sgt940 (Jan 9, 2004)

bbriggs said:


> I'm getting some annoying instances of pixelation while viewing HD material both off air and satellite, fair weather or foul. Seems to happen worse during periods of rapid movement on screen, and can be really bad while the credits are scrolling up the screen at the end of a movie (haven't verified that happens OTA, but observed multiple times via satellite). Is this from compression problems, an issue with the 921, or perhaps my setup?


I am getting it as well, very bad this morning. Happening on all HDNET, TNTHD and OTA, definetly worse on credits. It was windy yesterday while watching OTA and I thought the antenna was moving and it may be the OTA problem is not related.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

I've had the same problem for a week or so, Discovery, HDNET, ESPN, HBO HD, all of Dish's HD channels, I'm not seeing any problems with OTA at all. I called Dish, they said no one has reported an issue with the HD tier and that the problem must be on my end. I spent 4 hrs on my day off trouble shooting every connection and possible scenario. It's happening on my 921 and 811, and it is on their end. I called back and get this they told me maybe both my receivers are bad and that they are having no complaints with those channels. I told them that they have one now. Hopefully if enough people complain they'll take a look at it and get it fixed.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

I am having it now too. It's not too bad at present, but definitely there.

-Chris


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## mbski (Oct 19, 2004)

Well whatever you choose to call it? It has nothing to do with your receiver 921 or 811! And here is why. I have 2 dishes 1 for 110 & 119, the other for 148 west. If I remember all dish HDTV channels used to be on sat 148 west or 61.5, now they are all on 110. Since I still have the 148 west sat, I have HBO & SHOWTIME coming from 110 and 148. When watching them on 110 the problem you described [ call it what you want] is evident! On 148 west the problem never occurs at all! So in conclusion the problem is with the 110 sat! Also I have KCBS in HD coming from 148 west and never do I have any problems! Dont know anything about superdish etc.. as i live in CA.

DISH TECH DEPT. I HOPE YOU FIX THE 110 SAT PROBLEM WITH HDTV!

921
L188-HECD


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

I have the pixilation problem also, worse of all on Discovery HD. I call tech support on Wednesday; they had me check the signal level (110+) and gave me the “No trouble found….” The tech asked me to keep track of it and call back. I also noticed a vertical pixilated line down the center of the screen started yesterday. Does anyone know the channel assignment (1-32) for Discovery HD and HDNET??? If so I will go back and check the individual channels.


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## emathis (Mar 19, 2003)

I am watching the credits of Love Actually on HBO-HD right now and they are basically unreadable. This is ridiculous. I assume this from over compression, to squeeze more channels per transponder, but we have to let Dish know this is not acceptable.


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## JD Robinson (Nov 13, 2004)

Signal strength of 115-120 on both 110 and 119, and I get intermittent quantization blocks on pretty much everything. Not nearly as bad as some others here, but in a 1-hour show on HBOHD, for instance, I counted 8 1/4th screen or more glitches.

I suspect what we're all seeing is hard drive/recording glitches though. Someone more familiar with the inner workings can correct me here, but with the pause-live feature you _always see a disk stream_, even when viewing "live", correct? Otherwise the pause/rewind wouldn't be immediate; there would be a perceptible delay as the unit switched to the disk-cached feed.

At least this is how I understand ReplayTV and Tivo work ... I don't see how the 921 can be otherwise.


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## mbski (Oct 19, 2004)

JD Robinson said:



> Signal strength of 115-120 on both 110 and 119, and I get intermittent quantization blocks on pretty much everything. Not nearly as bad as some others here, but in a 1-hour show on HBOHD, for instance, I counted 8 1/4th screen or more glitches.
> 
> I suspect what we're all seeing is hard drive/recording glitches though. Someone more familiar with the inner workings can correct me here, but with the pause-live feature you _always see a disk stream_, even when viewing "live", correct? Otherwise the pause/rewind wouldn't be immediate; there would be a perceptible delay as the unit switched to the disk-cached feed.
> 
> At least this is how I understand ReplayTV and Tivo work ... I don't see how the 921 can be otherwise.


Read my post! As you will see it isnt a receiver issue! its the 110 sat.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

JD & mbski: You are both correct.


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## zer0cool (Nov 24, 2004)

Yeah, I've noticed the occasional small glitches too, but it was the credits on "Love Actually" that really made it evident it was a big issue. They were pretty much unreadable for me too.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

I just watched a show recorded from SHO-HD. It was excellent overall.

Saw some very minor compression artifacts only at a couple of places where it's "known" to occur. I think it's actually an encoding algorithm issue. Large 'panels' of certain colors can get 'fuzzed' at the edges.

I also saw some annoying pixellation during the credits and am not sure why.


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## JD Robinson (Nov 13, 2004)

SimpleSimon said:


> I also saw some annoying pixellation during the credits and am not sure why.


Rolling credits are a particular problem for any MPEG algorithm. Lots of tiny detail and virtually no repeating patterns for the inter- or intraframe prediction to take advantage of. Even on bandwidth-rich DVD you'll sometimes see some quant-block artifacting on credits.


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

JD, yes the data stream is first recorded to the hard drive then read back off the hard drive. I sat with the Sony engineers as they worked on the TIVO a few years back. They explained some of the inter workings to me. The only type of satellite problem that would cause this is low signal strength. The satellite is a repeater; it relays the signals sent to it from the ground. Bad data going up, you get bad data coming down. 

My credits look great on Discovery HD and HDNET. I am using the DVI output going to the HDMI input on my Pioneer Elite 530HDi. This eliminates the D to A conversion in the satellite receiver for the component output and the A to D component input conversion in the TV. I do not have HBO, but what you maybe seeing is leading edge tear, this is a common C band problem. Dish network receives its signals from the C band satellites, digitized them and then sends the digital signal back up to the Ku band (110 & 119) sats. This tearing occurs before they digitized the video and is sent it along. It is most noticeable on weaker C band channels along the leading edges of credits and in bright colors like orange and red.

My 921 has pixelazation problems what seems to be all the time. I just went in the living room for lunch and turned on Discovery HD, within the first 2 minutes the pixelazation occurred and the picture lock for 6 seconds, (the weather is a clear and cold). 

This is in NO way acceptable. My DVR 510 did this once or twice a week, not every few minutes.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

JD Robinson said:


> Rolling credits are a particular problem for any MPEG algorithm. Lots of tiny detail and virtually no repeating patterns for the inter- or intraframe prediction to take advantage of. Even on bandwidth-rich DVD you'll sometimes see some quant-block artifacting on credits.


Rolling credits on a Black or constant screen are actually very low band width but do need somewhat different algorithms. At HDTV bandwidth's they should be excellent. I have several older recordings that are fine.

I have, so far, never seen these kind of problem on OTA, but in recent weeks have seen a lot on HBO, Showtime and HDNET movies. Seen both on 6000 and 921. Either the source supplier or Dishnetwork is to blame.

Originally Dish claimed not to be changing the underlying mpeg for HD channels as given them by the suppliers. But I don't know what they now claim with 3 channels pushed on each transponder.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Well first of all I have a Pioneer Elite 530 HD and I'm using DVI as well, and in my trouble shooting skit the other day I tried different receivers, different TV's and different connections (even composite) and the issue was evident with everything I tried. I did not see any problems with the pixelizing in question until about a week to ten days ago. Now it's all over Discovery and HBO and all the Dish HD channels, especially in the credits, this was never present before. It seems that images moving vertically up and down the screen seem to spark the issue. It does it on my 921 AND 811 regardless of connection or TV. The 811, as I'm sure you are aware, has no hard drive so you can rule out the hard drive or buffering. It's over compression, or the 110 sat, or something, but its on Dish's end that's obvious at this point, we are all seeing it and were all seeing it on the same material. 
If Dish doesn't step up here and it's not resolved soon I will drop the HD tier and HBO and stick with my OTA for HD reception and possibly look for other programming options. $13 a month for HBO and $10 a month for the HD tier is to much to pay a month for THIS, it is unwatchable at times.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

JD Robinson said:


> Rolling credits are a particular problem for any MPEG algorithm. Lots of tiny detail and virtually no repeating patterns for the inter- or intraframe prediction to take advantage of. Even on bandwidth-rich DVD you'll sometimes see some quant-block artifacting on credits.


 These aren't quaint, these are ridiculous


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Here is a post I made in my other forum about 5 days ago of things I tried to resolve the problem on my end:


OK, this will be a little winded but bare with me. 

Ask a favor: Anyone with a 811 or 921, keep an eye on the HD tier, Discovery HD and HBO HD in particular, and see if you see any pixelizing. The Circuit City commercials on Discovery are pretty consistent with the problem almost reliable. (not that I care about CC commercials, it's just very consistent and easy to see) When it starts moving into the programming I get ticked. 

What I've done to trouble shoot: Dish wants to push it off on my end (of course) so here is what I've done. 

Step 1) The obvious, checked signal strength (97%) on the HD sat and transponder. Did a front panel reset and unplugged and replugged for reset. Checked software version (up to date) 

Step 2) I checked all connections, this involved climbing on the roof and pulling my entertainment system away from the wall (once again) All good. 

Step 3) I bypassed my diplexers for the off air antenna. 

Step 4) I bypassed my surge protector, at this point I'm running straight RG 6 to the receiver and I'm plugged straight into the wall. Problem still there. 

Step 5) The problem still not being resolved, I thought it might be the 921, so I pulled the 811 out of the bedroom, hooked it up in place of the 921, problem still there. 

Step 6) Thinking that it might be a bad LNB or a bad RG-6 line or a bad cable from the 921 to the TV, I did what I should have done in the first place, I put the 811 back in the bedroom. Keep in mind the bedroom line is off of a completely different LNB, a completely different RG-6 line, it is a straight shot to the receiver, no breaks in the line. Of course my bedroom TV is not HD, so a completely different connection, composite video. I went to the HD tier (like an idiot, something I hadn't already tried) now of course this isn't HD, but the signal does come through in wide screen SD (and looks pretty good I might add) and BOOM there it was the same pixelizing!!! Different LNB, different cable, different receiver, different connection to the TV, different TV, good signal, good weather, same problem, same channels. 

Summary: I have no choice but to believe the problem is on Dish's end. It is just to ironic that a problem arises at the same time on the same channels (around 6 days ago), on all receivers, on all connections, on all TV's. I ruled out the programmer's because the SD version of the HD movie on HBO is shown on channel 300 I have not seen the problem there at all, but that channel is in a different tier, kinda rules out HBO. I ruled out HD decoding in the receivers because my OTA HD comes in just fine no problem. So I call Dish. The guy tells me that maybe both receivers are bad, I reply " both receivers go bad at the same time on the same channels, well if you want to send me a new 921 and an 811 that's fine with me, but I have a feeling I'll be calling you back shortly after" He says that he didn't have anything in his computer about these channels having problems. I say how do they get in the computer, he says the tech department puts it in there, I say how does the Tech department know there is a problem, he says when people call and complain, I say "there you go, turn it in. If you are seeing this issue please call and let Dish know so we can get this resolved.

I've had posts back in that forum of people seeing this problem as well.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Excellent post. I wonder if Tony or any of the other guys can enlighten us on what E* has done to F* things up this time.


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

DavidK, I’m with you. I purchased my 921 two weeks ago, and was unaware that this problem just started. I shopped for 3 weeks, spent hours in the stores and did not see anything like what I see on my TV. I tried all the same things you did today. I installed a second dish, ran new 2.2G sweep tested cable, new LNBF. My tuner 2 signal came up a little; I am headed in now to see if it improved any and to start my log. 

This problem must be Dish, with so many people reporting the problem, and with different receivers, there is no way it is a single receiver or customer type of problem. They have control over the amount of compression they use and need to loosen it up a little. This requires more bandwidth, catch 22.

E* is out of bandwidth on their sats and will not add any more HD programming till they can find more space… VOOM is going bankrupt, Wall Street told them to fold last week, and word on the street is that E* will buy them up to use the VOOM sat. I guess will need to wait to see what happens with that. But this pixilation problem needs to be fixed and fixed soon. This is not why I purchased a HD receiver to see this crap. 

My brother just order an 811, he too has a 530HD. How do you like yours?


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

I install HT's and searched high and low for the best SD picture I could find. I did allot of research and had allot discussions with the ISF techs from my other forum. The 530 produced the best SD PQ I could find and the stretch modes make it worth every penny. Tell your brother to beware of the green streak issue, but I believe Pioneer's got a wrap on it with current fix . If he experiences the problem tell him to visit Pioneer's website for the current fix/upgrade.
Which is another reason why the problem with Dish is so aggravating. I use my own system as a reference for costumers, when they see all this pixelization going on they tend to think I've installed something wrong or don't know what I'm doing.

Here is a question, and I'm probably way over my head here. I know HT, but satellite systems are just part of the home theater and something I'm sure allot of people here know more the in's and outs of than I do. It seems to be common knowledge that Dish is out of bandwidth, prompting the move to MPEG 4 in the future and the possible buy out of Voom. They have been advertising the addition of yet another channel (Com-Cast Sports I believe) for the last couple of weeks. Is it possible they have messed with the compression scheme of the HD tier to make room for the new channel? Probably a dumb question, I just thought I'd ask, you all know the inner workings of Dish better than I do. It's just ironic that it seems to be about the time this problem showed up.


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## JD Robinson (Nov 13, 2004)

tnsprin said:


> At HDTV bandwidth's they should be excellent.


I'll reveal my ignorance: What are HDTV bandwidths? I know that uncompressed it's something like 1.4Gb/s, but with MPEG2 is there a lower limit? I'm guessing Dish is shaving it to the compression-limit max.

I've had pretty bad luck compressing rolling text with MPEG2, but it's always been at DVD bandwidths.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Well I think we've ruled out OTA, maybe we should change the title of this thread to " Pixelization on Dish HD" to draw some attention from our E* tech friends.


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## bbriggs (Dec 17, 2003)

I agree, problems are much worse on Dish HD than OTA. It is embarassing when others view Dish HD on my 921 and makes me question the merit of getting a 2nd 921. I evidently can't edit the title, however.


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## HookedOnTV (Nov 7, 2003)

I don't have a 921 but do have a 6000 and 811 and they are both doing it. The problem is definately E*'s.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

I hate to keep ranting about this but I just tuned in to HD-NET and about 3 min into the program it did it's pixelizing thing and when the picture finally straightened out there was no audio, so now were getting audio drops as well. I had to change channels and change back to recover audio, and once again the credits after Ghost on HBO was unreadable. What we all ought to do is call Dish and demand a refund for the HD tier and HBO for this month and the proceding months until the problem is resolved. Sometimes money is the only thing that will get a companies attention to address a problem. Man I hate to be this way, ridiculous!!


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

I turned on Discovery HD this morning first thing, the Circuit City ad was on and within the first few seconds the picture had pixelized blocks in it. I turned the TV off. I just viewed Discovery HD for the past 35 minutes and had the pixelizing problem 13 times. I noticed that when the program had a large yellow background the pixelazation was at its worse. The Circuit City ad has a yellow background as well…


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Same pixellation problem on ESPN-HD during NFL Primetime when the blue blackground score summaries are put on the screen. Otherwise the picture is fine....

Lost a Smallville episode on Thursday to the 0 sec. bug (grr......)


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

Maybe we purchased from the wrong company&#8230;

Take a look at this: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040908/85955_1.html

500 - 1000 HD Channels on DirecTV


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

Well I will believe it when I see it.  

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

JD Robinson said:


> I'll reveal my ignorance: What are HDTV bandwidths? I know that uncompressed it's something like 1.4Gb/s, but with MPEG2 is there a lower limit? I'm guessing Dish is shaving it to the compression-limit max.
> 
> I've had pretty bad luck compressing rolling text with MPEG2, but it's always been at DVD bandwidths.


It's complicated so I refer you to www.atsc.org for details.

Essentially 18 to 19 mbps max at 1080i. Less at 720p.


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## Foxbat (Aug 1, 2003)

I managed to grab my Camedia and snapped a picture off of ESPN today. When ESPN switched to a screen of graphics, it's like the MPEG encoder at Dish chokes.


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## JohnH (Apr 22, 2002)

For the most part I watch the HD Downconverted on my 6000 and the pixelization is quite evident on Discovery HD. I don't have the HBO and rarely watch TNTHD as it hurts my eyes with all the people getting fat and skinny as they walk across the screen. I have not seen the pixelization problem on HDNET, but will watch it more to see if it is there. I watched some of the NBA HD game tonight and do not recall a problem there.


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## ctdish (Apr 9, 2004)

Just for the fun of it I recorded the credits of Old School last night from both the 110 and 148 satellite. The result was lots of break up on the 110 satellite but none on the recording from the 148 bird. I also think it would be a good idea to change the title of this thjread to reflect the satellite problem to Dish. John


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## markcollins (Jan 27, 2004)

I'm am also having the same problem ,just began a couple days ago.Also seems to be on the HD channels prevalently.


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## mwgiii (Jul 19, 2002)

I see the problem the most on ESPN Sportscenter when they show static graphics.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

I called Dish this morning to see if they had sent out a box to send my 522 back that I replaced with my 921. While I had them on the phone I asked if they were doing anything to correct the issue with the HD channels. After that discussion I have made my decision. I was basically told the same thing, that I am the only one who has called and complained. They refuse to believe that there is any problem on there end. They started the routine as usual and I explained what I had already done to trouble shoot this and there conclusion was that I need to have my set calibrated, When I explained my set had been ISF calibrated, they insisted that was the problem. So I don't see this issue being resolved any time soon and I'm not paying for it until it is. I'm dropping the HD tier and HBO, I'll stick to DVD for movies and OTA for HD (thank God for OTA). I'll follow this thread closely and when I see the problem is fixed I may subscribe again. Keep on em guys!!


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Foxbat said:


> I managed to grab my Camedia and snapped a picture off of ESPN today. When ESPN switched to a screen of graphics, it's like the MPEG encoder at Dish chokes.


Great picture man!!!!! Be careful though they'll probably tell you that you need you're set calibrated :lol:


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

This maybe of interest to some, I decided yesterday to E-mail Mark Cuban over at HDNET to let him know of the trouble we are experiencing with Dish. He e-mailed me back today and said he would check into it. I thought that was pretty stand-up, we'll see if it makes any difference, doubtfull.


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## NightRyder (Jan 29, 2004)

Here is my response from Dish to an email I sent this morning regarding the recent HD picture problems. Same day reply, not to shabby.

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for expressing your concerns and interest in the DISH Network. Customer input is an important tool in our efforts to continuously improve the quality of the DISH Network service.

DISH Network is aware of video problems with some of the HD Networks. We have been actively pursuing this issue and believe we have isolated the source of the problems. We are currently working with one of our equipment vendors on a fix to their equipment. If everything goes well in our testing, we are planning to implement this corrective improvement to the Dish Network the second week of December.

At DISH Network we appreciate the time customers take to email their audio/video quality concerns. Thank you for your patience and for being a valued customer.

Echostar Satellite LLC

Quality Assurance Department

[email protected]

NightRyder


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## DWS44 (Apr 15, 2004)

I had these problems (bad pixelation/blocking) on ALL of the HD channels, including HDNet, during the whole Thanksgiving weekend...at times the HD channels were almost unwatchable. I thought my 811 had gone insane, since I hadn't had these kinds of problems before.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

mbski said:


> On 148 west the problem never occurs at all!
> DISH TECH DEPT. I HOPE YOU FIX THE 110 SAT PROBLEM WITH HDTV!


Mike, Since your post, I've been keeping an eye one the channels for HD on 110 and 148. I've seen pixelation on both. I think that it is related to weather conditions at the up link or maybe a compression issue or both.

John


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

OK, so why are they telling their "valued costumers" when they call that there is no problem with the HD channels? Every person I have talked to at Dish says that there is NOTHING in the computer in regards to this issue, and then they procede to put us on our roofs, or tell us to calibrate our TV's. Something isn't adding up, if they are aware of the problem let us know when we call. I hope this is true however, I will refrain from dropping the programming for now.


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

This is what mine looked like today.


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## NightRyder (Jan 29, 2004)

David K said:


> OK, so why are they telling their "valued costumers" when they call that there is no problem with the HD channels?


Because there is a lack of communication within E*. Typical of a company that has grown too rapidly. The processes to inform CS are either not in place or are not being followed. The CS reps are not being dishonest, they just haven't been informed. I worked advanced technical support for a company that experienced a similar type of rapid growth. The lack of communication or outright failure of one department to work with another was extremely frustrating for both the rep and the customer. This is not an excuse for E*, just an explanation. Makes me very happy I don't work for corporate America any more. 

NightRyder


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## lifterguy (Dec 22, 2003)

I missed this thread until today, but I have also seen the same problem when watching Dish Network HD on my 811 receiver. After the terrible pixelation during Love Actually on HBO Saturday night, I finally e-mailed E* to complain. So far I have not received a reply. As I explained in my e-mail, I have been a dish customer for 6 years, and have been very satisfied until now. I expect to be moving soon, and how well Dish resolves this problem will help determine whether I remain a Dish customer after I move.


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## awp (Jun 1, 2004)

I've been seeing pixilation on my 921 as well it even shows up occasionally on non-hd channels.  I have a signal strength of 125 percent (its maxed out). I also see it on my 6000 (8vsb/8psk). 

I thought it had to do with me just switching to a DP44 switch looking at 4 sats. Reading here makes me think Ecostar has a problem.


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## sgt940 (Jan 9, 2004)

I really saw if on HBO SD (300) as well as HD.


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## BarryO (Dec 16, 2003)

David K said:


> OK, so why are they telling their "valued costumers" when they call that there is no problem with the HD channels? Every person I have talked to at Dish says that there is NOTHING in the computer in regards to this issue, and then they procede to put us on our roofs, or tell us to calibrate our TV's. Something isn't adding up, if they are aware of the problem let us know when we call. I hope this is true however, I will refrain from dropping the programming for now.


The telephone customer service people are awful. 'probably not their fault; I'm sure they are evaluated almost entirely on how many calls they handle per hour, and will say anything just to get you off the phone. I went around with them for weeks when my 921 died and they were on production hold. Eventaully I discovered the telephone CS people were telling me things they know to be not true (what most people would call a "lie").

The only way to get a straight answer out of E* is to find another way through to them. That happened to me eventually with the 921 issue. Now that i remember, I've gotten reasonable answers from the dishquality email in the past as well.

This is a very annoying problem; especially since the 921 has been working so well lately.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

Indydave said:


> This is what mine looked like today.


I haven't caught any the last few days(I was planning to send in pictures when I did), but the ones you show are just like the ones I have recently seen. Particularly obvious in the scrolling credits.


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## Indydave (Nov 28, 2004)

This has gone way beyond annoying; I worked 15 hours today, sat down at 10 PM to watch a SD show and had a vertical line down the center of the screen for almost the full 90 minutes of the movie. This 921 is going back tomorrow and I am canceling my service with Dish…


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## zer0cool (Nov 24, 2004)

Well, so far today I've seen none of the pixelation I've been getting for the past week or so. Keeping my fingers crossed.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Indydave, I understand you're frustration, I to have not seen the pixelization at all today, I would at least wait until the new software hits and see if it makes any improvements. That's my plan anyway.


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## Cyclone (Jul 1, 2002)

Its been clear for me also. I watched Discovery HD all evening.


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## bbriggs (Dec 17, 2003)

I viewed 4 hours DISH HD tonight, only one short glitch.


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## David K (Nov 27, 2004)

Is it over? I watched Discovery for a couple of hours yesterday and saw no pixelizing, not even on the CC add.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

David K said:


> Is it over? I watched Discovery for a couple of hours yesterday and saw no pixelizing, not even on the CC add.


I did see some pixelation last night.


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## C*Tedesco (Jan 31, 2004)

Bringin an ol' topic back up. I have an 811 and I'm STILL having some issue with this. I'm at my Wits end, Comcast is offering me a pretty good deal. I'm running out of reasons I shouldn't switch.


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