Compared to other HD channels, lots of smearing and granyness.


Whats up?

Compared to other HD channels, lots of smearing and granyness.

Specifically what are you referring to? Any particular shows or events? Does this include HD commercials? And who is your satellite or cable provider? All of these can affect the product you get at home.

I have Dish Network. It just doesn't look as good as say, HDNET, the local channels, Discovery, it seems like widescreen SD.

is the satellite box set to the native resolution of the set? that could make a difference, especially if it isnt set to either 720p or 1080i. next what are you watching? is it actually a hd program or sd with the gray espn sidebars? how is it connected to the tv? hdmi? component? svideo?

Just what program are you looking at? ESPN does a few of its highlight shows, plus a variety of live sports, in high-definition. The rest is upconverted SD with sidebars.

If what you see on the screen has sidebars, then it's not HD.

If you are talking about the quality of actual high-definition on the channel, then issues there are probably the result of Dish Network's excess compression, because you don't see this with a cable provider like FiOS.

I have Dish Network. It just doesn't look as good as say, HDNET, the local channels, Discovery, it seems like widescreen SD.
I've had Dish for almost 3 months now, and at first I too thought ESPN didn't look as good as it did on Comcast. However, since the December bowl games, it appears ESPN has gotten considerably better and now I don't think there's any difference from what I used to get with cable. HDNET is sent in 1080i and ESPN in 720p. That may account for the difference in quality that you see. There does seem to be varying degrees of 720p as well. ABC and FOX are also 720p but seem marginally better than ESPN.

I watched part of a basketball game the other night and it looked fantastic. I have DirecTV though (ironic I'm sure). Just remember if the game has sidebars it's not actually in HD.

Both ESPN HD and ESPN 2 HD look very good via Comcast in NJ.

When they broadcast in HD it's usually good for me as well, the problem is I hardly ever see anything on ESPN 2 HD that's actually in HD.

When they broadcast in HD it's usually good for me as well, the problem is I hardly ever see anything on ESPN 2 HD that's actually in HD.

Ditto.

ESPN 1 & 2 always look wonderful (HD) on Time Warner / Adelphia cable in Maine.

Both ESPN HD and ESPN 2 HD look very good via Comcast in NJ.

Same in Chicago

I wish we had ESPN2 HD :( Although really the only thing worth watching on it will be Cold Pizza in June when they go HD.

There can be a PQ difference between 720p (the ESPNs) and 1080i just because the 1080i/p format has twice the spatial resolution of 720p--although the effective resolution (http://archive2.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5667245&&#post5667245) (resolvable detail) differences between the two formats often isn't that great, assuming the display used can resolve 1080i/p maximums. When 720p sources use 1080/60p cameras downconverted to 720p, the oversampling/downconversion often makes 720p harder to distinguish from 1080i/p. Also, since movies are usually sourced from 1080/24p master tapes, downconversion to 720p boosts the effective resolution closer to the format resolution (1280X720). Smearing and image grain is a video processing problem somewhere along the delivery path--or in the display setup if it often appears in 1080i sources, too. -- John

actually ESPN2-HD on Dish looks good finally, now they need to work on ESPN-HD.

ESPNHD looked great on Comcast last night, loved watching my Spartans beat up on the #1 Badgers

this is an obvious statement but as time goes on, more and more of ESPN's content is natively in HD and anyone who has been watching ESPN + ESPN2 in HD notices this

As distributed, ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD are some of the best quality channels available, with 17+Mbps ABR and 18.6Mbps peaks. Unfortunately, some providers filter and re-compress these channels to such a degree that they bear little resemblance to the original.

As distributed, these channels are largely artifact-free, so "smearing," "graininess," and "noise" would be the fault of your particular provider. Of course, there are always exceptions.

As distributed, ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD are some of the best quality channels available, with 17+Mbps ABR and 18.6Mbps peaks. Unfortunately, some providers filter and re-compress these channels to such a degree that they bear little resemblance to the original.

As distributed, these channels are largely artifact-free, so "smearing," "graininess," and "noise" would be the fault of your particular provider. Of course, there are always exceptions.
That’s right, what we see is dependent on what the provider does to the signals it receives before it retransmits them to its customers. There’s no telling what the OP’s provider might have done to ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD’s signals. Here in OKC it appears that Cox is a fairly honest broker, as the HD signals from both ESPN and ESPN2 usually look great, at least to my aging eyeballs. :)

ESPNHD looked great on Comcast last night, loved watching my Spartans beat up on the #1 Badgers

You must be talking about women's ball, because our Badger mens team rocked Sparty's world..Oh and claimed yet another Big Ten title..:D
That said, ESPN HD looks fantastic on my cable. I imagine the satellite's are compressing the signal unless the problem is on your end.

ESPN hd is still MPEG2 while ESPN2 is MPEG4 on Dish. I have Dish also and both are still average at best. I know several on here have pointed to the up-link of these channels to Dish is where the problem is. Dish needs to address this problem and get it fixed!!!

You must be talking about women's ball, because our Badger mens team rocked Sparty's world..Oh and claimed yet another Big Ten title..:D
That said, ESPN HD looks fantastic on my cable. I imagine the satellite's are compressing the signal unless the problem is on your end.

Did you notice that my post is over a year old...Feb of 07

Did you notice that my post is over a year old...Feb of 07

Nope didn't notice that until now..:D