I have two ViP722 DVR receivers; one hooked to a 1024x1024 42" plasma and the other in my theater on a 720P LCD PJ. I have had the new DVR's for over a month now and I am frustrated by the soft picture on HD. I am yet to have one of those WOW moments when watching HD like I had before with just my OTA tuner.
I have them both set to 1080i as that seems to be the best pitcher quality setting but still falls way short of what I am use to on either the Plasma or LCD PJ.
Anyone have any idea as to why? Oh ya I find the same poor HD picture quality on OTA as well as Dish HD signals!

Are you using HDMI or component out for the 722?

By OTA issues, are you using the ATSC tuner in the receiver and comparing it to the ATSC input with Dish?

Honestly, the Dish input won't ever be as good as OTA on your set just like good Blu-Ray/HD DVD will (somewhat) look better than OTA. You have a 722. It allegedly has better video processing on the MPEG4 channels than my 622.

I have to ask one more major question. (I assume you did.) Did you (re)calibrate your input(s) on your display(s) when you added the 722?

I am running HDMI on the 42" and I have tried Component and HDMI on the PJ. I actually see a little better picture quality on the Component on the PJ (Panasonic 500 LCD on a 124" screen).
On the 42" I had ran the built in ATSC tuner and now the 722's ATSC tuner which I find to be lacking in detail.
On the Panny 500 I had a Samsung ATSC tuner before the 722 and was amazed by the HD, many times just glued to the screen because of the detail and color! I just have not seen that same wow factor with the 722's at all!
Search on the net I seem to be in the minority about the 722 picture quality. But I have 2 of them hooked up to 2 different displays and I am not happy with either.

What about the quality when you are running HD programs using the Dish satellite tuner itself instead of the ATSC tuner that is part of the Dish 722?

Having just gotten an HD (720p) projector and already being a Dish subscriber, I paid our local Dish dealer a visit to check out how good Dish HD looks.

He had a 622 going on a smallish widescreen LCD TV. Despite the small screen shrinking compression artifacts, they were still very noticeable. While there was certainly an improvement over standard-def Dish Network, the improvement wasn't significant enough to make me place an order for an upgrade. Like you, I felt it lacked the "wow" factor.

Maybe the 722 is better?

How small of a widescreen was it? I ask since if the screen is small you won't be able to tell the true difference.

It couldn't have been bigger than a 27" diagonal widescreen. Perhaps smaller.

But it wasn't so small that it hid the compression artifacts. Even on HD channels, my critical eye was easily able to see them.

I'm paying close attention since I've got a 92" screen.

Hey WCP. Reading about your Dish receiver experiences. I have a 411 hooked to a HD ready 32" Norcent LCD and get really good, sharp pictures on SD and HD satellite channels, as well as local OTA HD stations. Now I just got a VIP612 receiver and a 32" Magnavox with built in analogue and digital tuners. The pictures mostly have a 'soft'
appearance to them, SD and HD, satellite and OTA (especially all the PBS digital stations). If I hook up the 612 via the RF out of the receiver to the TV and use the Magnavox tuners, will that allow me to view HD stations? The Dish manual shows that to be what they call a standard-definition connection? Just wondering how to improve the PQ. Thanks

Dave E

Whodart, by hooking up the RF from your 612 will not let your TV's built in ATSC tuner tune in OTA HD. You can Y off the antenna going in to the 612 and go to your TV's ATSC tuner antena in and then you can use your tuner.
I'm really frustrated with the pic quality. I love the DVR in every way except the picture quality. :(
I just keep remembering the wow factor I had with the Samsung OTA tuner (I hated how it functioned though :mad:)

walford, I had read before the Dish HD would be worse quality and i kind of expected that but I figured as long as the OTA was what I was use to I would be happy but I can tell no difference on either TV with OTA and dish HD. I was really hoping some here would have posted some fix for my quality problem, I have searched the net and every one seems to rant and rave about the quality of HD from this 722 but I have two 722 on two totally different systems and I find the same disappointing quality on both. It's not as evident on the 42" as it is on the 124" in the theater. My theater: www.prosteering.8k.com

Please someone tell me how to fix it!:confused:

[I have to ask one more major question. (I assume you did.) Did you (re)calibrate your input(s) on your display(s) when you added the 722?[/QUOTE]-

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Allargon - I hate to ask stupid questions, but referring to your post above about recalibrating inputs. I have Dish VIP612 and a Magnavox 32" LCD. I don't seem to be able to find how to calibrate or recalibrate the inputs??

REgards

Dave E:confused:

WCP, the guys at dbstalk.com (affiliated w/ AVS) and satelliteguys.us could probably help you better with your 722.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-hd-discussions/

http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

I don't know what to tell you about the disappointing PQ. I actually do agree with you about component out looking the same or actually better than HDMI out. Are you comparing it to Blu-Ray/HD DVD? Are you comparing it to DirectTV, TimeWarner, Cox or Comcast? Are you comparing it to Fios, U-Verse or some other provider?

Whodart, I'm not sure about Magnavox's. From what I've seen, Philips TV's have the same settings for all inputs. Basically, you would go into the settings and see if the color, saturation, sharpness, brightness, contrast, picture, greyscale, color temperature, etc. is different for RF, HDMI, component, etc. so verify if your settings are the correct.

The guys in the display calibration forum can help you get the most out of that.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=139

Thanks,s allargon. I had just never heard of setting up your preferences for all the color brightness contrast, etc. called calibration. The Magnavox has inputs for
HDMI and Component as well as composite and RF. WIll check and see if they are
all discrete, or common to all input scenarios. Regards..

Dave E