[Joe E]

I have a Toshiba 3000 satilite receiver and a Toshiba 65 Theaterwide hd Monitor. The picture I receive when viewing HDHBO, HDSHO, HDNET, and over the air HDTV is fantastic. When I view direct tv standard channels the picture is very fuzzy. Is there a low cost way to improve the standard direct tv picture? I find I no long can watch it.

Thanks in advance for your input

Joe

 

[kschonha]

You might find that it looks better if you switch to 480i output instead of allowing the signal to be upconverted to 1080i. It goes without saying that it also looks better if you watch their 4:3 aspect ratio programming in 4:3 mode instead of using the stretch modes available on your TV set.


However, you are absolutely correct. DirecTV's picture quality has gradually degraded over the past several years as they continually applied progressively higher degrees of compression to their signal transmissions.


Their PPV channels tend to look better since they employ a lower degree of data compression on those channels.


But, yes...it looks fuzzy and yes...it is often unwatchable. Wait until you tune in a program that also suffers from motion artifacts and edge enhancement.

 

[Steve Mehs]

What you are seeing is normal, unfortunatly in todays DBS world

 

[eric_m]

It's tough going from a HD picture to SD.

 

[sts3001]

You would be amazed what SD looks like using a 4Dtv C-Band satellite TV system.....with only 3,4,5,6 HD channels on the mini-dish / OTA systems.....you are getting hundreds of 1st generation CLEAN & TRUE 480i SD channels ....not quite as good as 1080i....but as good as a DVD's or better....video and audio both...


Directv/DishNet is mostly 2nd generation signals.....you may notice how much better PPV and their preview channels appear better...that because they come from their studios/control center....


Had one of those pizza pan set-ups....but wanted the best for this home theater....

 

[Quality Is Job One]

Quote:

Originally posted by sts3001 Directv/DishNet is mostly 2nd generation signals

.....StarChoice has many 1st generation signals as their sister company Cancom uplinks them from multiple uplink locations to Anik F1.


......These 1st generation signals are beamed down to your house from F1 if you are a StarChoice sub & to many cable headends if you are a cable sub.


Cheers!

 

[utvlvr]

The above two responses really help him get better picture on his current system. Thanks for the helpful tips.

 

[Gus]

I had the same problem until 3 hours ago. Today I went home for lunch and decided to connect my Hughes E86 via s-video and Boom! the fuzziness was gone! Just about all the channels except the HD channels were unwatchable before this.


I still have my component connection, but I'll use that exclussively for HD material which looks awesome.


P.s.

I have my E86 connected to my Onkyo 898 receiver. The display is a Sony 11HT front projector on a 133" screen.


Gus