DCT6200 = Bad receiver?

[IcEWoLF]

Hello everyone, i think i am going to break the DCT6200 and trash the got damn receiver and cancel my cable service..i had it. 3 techs came with no replacement receiver..they are telling me they are short on HD receivers...which is bs. The lady guaranteed me that they would come in with an HD receiver..

My problem is i get tons of pixelation when i am watching sports and things that move fast on the HD channels (the SD channels look horrid)
3 Techs came over a month now..and none of them can't do a damn thing about it. Sad no?
They tell me the problem is the 6200 is a bad receiver and that the 1080i is not progressive and there is nothing they can do on their end...ok i tried 720p setting on the HDtv channels and guess what? same problem..
Now they are telling me when they have HD-DVR (more receivers) available i should pick it up..and thats 16$ a month..its not the moxi..but something new i guess...they are telling me that receiver can do 1080p and its very nice...

Now guys if you ask me..well charter is full of BS. I think i had enough of this BS...i am going to move on to Dish Network...or even give a try to Direct TV..for HD channels..I heard Dish Network is giving free 622 Receivers for new customers....
Also i heard Dish Network is giving a better deal monthly...but looks like Direct TV is much nicer than Dish Network and that the DTV sportpackage > Dish Networks...

Let me know what i should do guys.

I currently own a Sony Bravia 32" TV brand new..i got it about a month ago.

[biker19]

Connect TV directly to the coax and see if the network HD chs look good (the clear QAM chs). Then you can at least confirm that the STB is bad. If the PQ is just as bad it's the feed (in combination with the TV) and not the STB.

[IcEWoLF]

I connected the coax and they look fine...the network HD looks good but it doesn't broadcasts 1080i ..i think its just regular default size.

[bicker1]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

they are telling me they are short on HD receivers...which is bs.

Not necessarily. Many parts of the country are short on these boxes. They're very popular, and also very unreliable, so the cable companies tend to go through their available supplies quickly.

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

My problem is i get tons of pixelation when i am watching sports and things that move fast on the HD channels (the SD channels look horrid)
3 Techs came over a month now..and none of them can't do a damn thing about it. Sad no?

Sad, yes. However, those problems tend NOT to be the box, FWIR, but rather are more often related to poor signal strength, or poor signal quality. Sometimes this is because the cable company isn't providing you enough clear signal, but very often this is because of too many splitters on the line, and/or poor quality or old coax. When you did your test (message #3, above), did you happen to remove any splitters?

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

They tell me the problem is the 6200 is a bad receiver and that the 1080i is not progressive and there is nothing they can do on their end...

We'll, they're correct about the issue with 1080i not being progressive. Changing the setting won't make a difference there, because the signal is often 1080i from the source (you didn't mention which channels you were having this problem). NBC, CBS, CW, HBO, SHO, etc., all broadcast 1080i, so are all naturally subject to more macro-blocking than Fox and ABC, which broadcast in 720p.

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

Now guys if you ask me..well charter is full of BS.

I have found that such attitudes tend to be self-fulfilling. If you expect bad service, you will almost surely get bad service. Since I've started going into these issues with the cable company (and others) planning on having a success, I've had success with them every time.

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

I think i had enough of this BS...i am going to move on to Dish Network...or even give a try to Direct TV..for HD channels.

Bad move, IMHO. There are a comparably proportionate number of complaints about every subscription television service provider -- maybe more for the satellite services than for the cable companies. The satellite services are much more notorious for bad PQ (picture quality), while my PQ on Comcast is as good (and sometimes BETTER than) even OTA broadcasts (especially for Fox, which is low-power OTA in this area, but crystal clear in HD over cable). In a nutshell, if PQ matters to you, stick with cable.

[bicker1]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

I connected the coax and they look fine...the network HD looks good but it doesn't broadcasts 1080i ..i think its just regular default size.

I don't understand what you're saying here. Could you please go into more detail about what you did to set up this test, and what you noticed as a result? I cannot tell if you're saying that you are able to get signals using the box that you cannot get without it, and so you cannot test what biker19 asked you to test....

[walford]

If the coax looks fine then it appears that the receiver may be receiving the "HD" channels fine since it is able to down scale them 480i and send them out over RF using Coax. However, as pointed out microblocking is normally a signal strength /bandwidth problem.
Are you using any splitters? If so try bypassing them.
The network broadcasts 1080i but that does not mean that the programs are all filmed with "HD" cameras. Most day tiome shoes are filmed with 480i SD cameras and then have black sidebars added and to create 852x480 and this is upscaled to 720p or 1080i.
What interface are you using for HD resolutioin programs Component or DVI/HDMI and how long is the connecting cable?

[IcEWoLF]

No i usually never use splitters but the cable guy told me to use splitters because my signal was too strong..and they are saying that is the reason is causing macroblocking..

I am using component..and the HD resolution goes to 1080i and for the regular SD channels its 480i.

[IcEWoLF]

Well i saw Direct TV + Dish Networks PQ...on my friends house..definetly better than my HD receiver PQ...cable guys telling me if i have an HD receiver my SD channels will never look good..and they can't do anything about the Macroblocking...i hate to watch Football like this..especially for Playoffs...this is pissing me off.
Most of the times i see Macroblocking on ESPNHD,MTVHD,SHOHD,StarzHD,HBOHD,and few more..

[IcEWoLF]

BTW do you guys think it may be my TV? Its a Sony 32" Model KDL32S20L1
Here is the link for my TV:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...=C&ec=&topnav=

[HDTVFanAtic]

no....its most likely a signal issue. If not, then its probably on the entire system. Ask in the local thread.

[Nmlobo]

It is not your set. Your cable guys fed you a line of BS. There is no reason your SD channels can not look good on an HDTV. If your HDTV has a good video processor and you have a good clean signal, SD should look fine. The SD displayed on my set is excellent! Your 32" set should provide you with an excellent SD picture.

Have you considered upgrading to dvr service? I have a 6216 which is a dvr. A dvr records the channel you are watching. When I watch something with a lot of action, I "rewind" the dvr a few seconds and then resume play from that point. This delay often reduces motion artifacts.

Direct TV + Dish Network will often send HD-lite, a reduced resolution signal eg. instead of a full 1920x1080 they will send 1280x1080 to your set.

[IcEWoLF]

They said it will take them months to get me a DVR HD box...they said they won't get any for a while which i think is b/s...
my cable provider is killing me...3 techs came...and they refuse to change the box..the last tech told me they don't have anymore hd boxes ..and that will take a while to get anymore in...with my cable provider i am screwed...nmlobo check the link for my tv..
I had digital box before this hd box..and i swear the SD picture quality was at least 80% better on the digital box than this hd box.
they say my signal is very good...and telling me that a 1080p hdtv box should fix this issue..

Today i was pissed off..i couldn't watch both NFL football games on HDTV channels (locals thru my cable company) so much pixelation...i had to watch both games on SD channels which it was sad....

My cable company is killing me.
My last months bill was 166$.
I have their biggest package with all hdtv channels+high speed internet 5mb.

I will keep the internet from charter but thats about it..i am not willing to put another 3 months to get a new receiver...while i am paying so much for this crappy service...plus charter customer support is horrid..5/10 times there are indian people picking up the phone..and they don't know a damn thing about this (not being racist) i am just saying they should have more knowledged people working on the call center..and it takes about 30 minutes average time on hold to speak to a representative.

[bicker1]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

No i usually never use splitters but the cable guy told me to use splitters because my signal was too strong..and they are saying that is the reason is causing macroblocking..

Yes, that's not as common of a problem, but it does happen, and introducing splitters does bring the signal down in strength. Maybe you need to add another splitter?

[bicker1]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

Well i saw Direct TV + Dish Networks PQ...on my friends house..definetly better than my HD receiver PQ...

That's definitely a problem. Around here, my Comcast HD is far better than DirecTV's and Dish's PQ.

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

cable guys telling me if i have an HD receiver my SD channels will never look good..

That's not true. SD won't look as good on a 50" HDTV as they did on a 32" CRT, but they should look just as good as they do without the HD receiver.

Understand that the box works, so the problem must be either the specific box(es) you've gotten, or something else.

Did you try the DVR yet?

[bicker1]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

They said it will take them months to get me a DVR HD box...they said they won't get any for a while which i think is b/s...

Don't. They're probably telling you the truth about that. They absolutely want to charge you the extra money for the DVR. And the DVRs are in very short supply nationwide.

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

Today i was pissed off..i couldn't watch both NFL football games on HDTV channels (locals thru my cable company) so much pixelation...i had to watch both games on SD channels which it was sad....

If you're watching live (no DVR), then I don't understand why you don't use one of the split signals as a second feed directly into your television. It has an RF Input in the rear of the set. Just connect one of the empty ports in one of your splitters to the television, and do a channel scan. You'll have to make up a chart to keep track of which channel is on which frequency. (Mine looks like this: http://brianandrobbie.com/ComcastQAM...rlingtonMA.JPG -- note how channels are on different frequencies than the TV Guide says they are. For example, local channel 4-1 is actually on 87-2 here.)

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

My last months bill was 166$. I have their biggest package with all hdtv channels+high speed internet 5mb.

We pay a little more than $100, and get all the HDTV channels except Starz.

[IcEWoLF]

Charter also adding +10$ a month for all their tiers...i don't have enough patience..i can't deal with pixelation on the hd channels...i wonder why i am still paying for something that gives me horrid picture quality..and pixelation on my hd channels...

[bicker1]

I wish I could send Comcast your way; they're excellent by comparison to what you're describing. It sounds like Charter is a real dog.

[raouliii]

It appears to me that you have a signal strength problem. Most of the time, low signal strength is the issue, but sometimes it can be too high.

In order to maximize the signal strength to your stb, you should have its cable feed out of the first splitter in your distribution scheme and it is preferable to have this splitter be a 1to2 type. If that does not provide sufficient strength, then a broadband amplifier could be installed at your cable drop.

In order to reduce signal strength, if it is too high, you would do just the opposite and have the cable feed associated with the stb pass through more splitters and/or of the 1to4(or more) type.

Check out this page on the DCT-6200 . In particular the d04 section. Tune to the HD channel you are having trouble with and enter the diagnostics mode per the page. You can use this information to troubleshoot your problem.

Good Luck
Take deep breaths and try to be calm

[IcEWoLF]

Originally Posted by raouliii

It appears to me that you have a signal strength problem. Most of the time, low signal strength is the issue, but sometimes it can be too high.

In order to maximize the signal strength to your stb, you should have its cable feed out of the first splitter in your distribution scheme and it is preferable to have this splitter be a 1to2 type. If that does not provide sufficient strength, then a broadband amplifier could be installed at your cable drop.

In order to reduce signal strength, if it is too high, you would do just the opposite and have the cable feed associated with the stb pass through more splitters and/or of the 1to4(or more) type.

Check out this page on the DCT-6200 . In particular the d04 section. Tune to the HD channel you are having trouble with and enter the diagnostics mode per the page. You can use this information to troubleshoot your problem.

Good Luck
Take deep breaths and try to be calm

I checked everything ya gave me..looks like from my end everything looks fine.
BTW i wouldn't want to be calmed down..this problem been gone over months now...

[raouliii]

Originally Posted by IcEWoLF

I checked everything ya gave me..looks like from my end everything looks fine.
BTW i wouldn't want to be calmed down..this problem been gone over months now...

The members here would like to help you resolve this issue. However, a number of posts have recommended a few things and received only cryptic responses from you stating everything looked fine. Lets see if we can get some good test results, OK.

On the d04, Inband Status page, what percentages and word do you see for SNR and AGC for one of your bad HD channels? Did you get any correctable or uncorrectable error counts on this page. In fact, just write down all of the information from that page.

Have you determined how your cable signal is fed to your stb? From the cable drop, where the cable enters your house, how many splitters are in the path and of what type and loss value, if labeled? If you have multiple cable outlets in the house, you may have a distribution point that is a mess but you need to figure this out in order to resolve any signal strength problem you may have.

[IcEWoLF]

No i only have 1 outlet for my house.
on the d04 one of my worst channels is Cinemax HD where i get tons of pixelation and bad image quality here it is:

In- Band Tuner 1
Mode 256 QAM
Carrier Lock: yes
Data: yes
SNR: 36.0 dB Good
AGL: 51% Good
5 Second Error Counts
Uncorrectable: 0000 Correctable: 0000