Dish HD Picture Quality (1 Viewer)

[JerryLA]

I've now had my HD system up and running for about 24 hours now and quite pleased with it. I have a question concerning the quality of the available channels. Why is the Dish Demo channel so much better than anything else I've seen? Is it the camera used to record the material. I've only seen a couple of things in HD but the Demo channel is spectacular, much better than the HBO feed, which is better than the Showtime feed. I haven't tried the PPV yet. Thanks in advance for any insight in this matter.
Jerry
------------------

 

[Mike I]

Most of the Demo channel material are shoot with HD camera's where as the movies on HBOHD and showtimeHD depends on the quality of the transfer...Some of showtimes HD programming is just upconverted to 1080i rather than hd transferred...
------------------

 

[Frank]

If the shows are in the 4/3 format inside a 16/9 frame then they are definitely not HDTV. If they are in the 16/9 format and or letterboxed, then they may or may not be HDTV transfers from film.
True HDTV tranfers from film should look every bet as good as video based HDTV but they don't because the MPAA will not allow it. I am afraid we will not see 'full resolution' film transfers until the MPAA is satisfied with the copy protection scheme.
As it stands, these broadcasts can be copied at full HDTV resolution and put on the internet easily. Since this is the case the resolution has been reduced.
The above is just my opinion since they will not admit to this publicly.
Frank

 

[JerryLA]

That makes sense to me. It will sure be nice when it gets to the point where we can see "Premiers" via HDTV instead of going to the local multiplex. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen. Where I live they just shut down the only theatre. It was a run down cinema where the equipment was mid 1970's technology. Most of the seating was dangerous with springs poking through the bottoms of the seats. The owner claimed that he just could not make any money so the building was sold and is now being converted to a church. I won't even go into that. Our closest theatre is up the mountain in Crested Butte, about a 30 minute drive in the summer sometimes and hour in the winter. Same thing there, outdated equipment and small screen. That was the major reason I decided to build my HT. If the "demo" channels are a preview of coming attractions... I'm glad I have a reserved front row seat!
Jerry
------------------

 

[Randy Boecker]

If you got the 8vsb cartridge with your Dish receiver, get an antenna and dial-up your local PBS station. They broadcast true HD material pretty much all day. Their demo loop, IMHO, is just as good as Dish's, and it lasts about an hour.

 

[JerryLA]

Randy,
I assume you mean I could do this if I were in an area that had decent local reception. I live in the western Rocky Mountains about 4 hours away from any major city. I receive local Denver channels through Dish. The local reception with a rooftop antenna is terrible. Is there another way to get OTA HDTV?
Thanks
Jerry
------------------

 

[Randy Boecker]

Jerry:
You'd need to have at least some kind of reception to get OTA HD. Aren't there any translators in your area to carry local signals? When I lived in Utah, there were translators up and down the state so that from pretty much anywhere in the state you could pick the (only) Salt Lake City stations with a decent antenna. If you can't pick up any stations at all where you're at, then you'll have to wait until Dish decides to carry locals in digital rather than analog, or your local cable company decides to carry HD digital signals.
I don't know what channels your "local" digital stations broadcast on, but it's typically UHF. Remember that even a snowy analog UHF channel may lock in as a digital UHF signal. You only need around 50% signal to get a lock. With digital, it's all or nothing. You either get it or you don't.
It sounds like you may be out of luck to get any OTA HD signals for a while.

 

[JerryLA]

Randy,
That's what I was afraid of. The reception off normal outside antenna's is pretty bad. Unfortunately we live in a technological void here. It's a pretty place to live but we pay the price for the pristine laid back environment. We have no high speed internet access here because of the poor quality analog lines, and cellular service is only available directly in town because of the mountains. I'll have to wait probably till Dish carries more digital programming, hopefully that won't be that far off!
Jerry
------------------

 

[Randy Boecker]

Jerry:
Sorry to hear that. And I've been upset because although I live only about 43 miles from the Philadelphia transmitters, because of somewhat "mountaineous" terrain (nothing like what you've got there), signal reception is pretty poor. I'm getting ready to put up a roof-top antenna that I hope will pick up enough of the Philly signals to lock in. (cable television got it's start in this area because of the reception problems)
Sounds like you've got it worse, my friend. Best of luck to you. With the new Zenith digital translator technology (they're testing in Utah right now), hopefully it won't be long before you can pick up digital OTA from virtually anywhere. Better would be to get all of your locals via Dish, but I think that's going to take much longer. Imagine the bandwidth require to deliver local digital channels to all of the major metropolitan areas that Dish serves now? They're gonna need a lot more satellites or some new kind of technology, I think!
In the meantime, enjoy what HD you can from Dish. I'm sure we'll have at least a couple more options for HD from Dish by the end of the year.

 

[Bob Ruby]

Randy,
Keep us posted concerning your reception of the Philly stations after you put up your antenna.
I live in Nazareth, just a hop skip and a jump away from Easton.
Thanks,
Bob
------------------

 

[Randy Boecker]

Bob,
See my post at
OTA from Philly in the Lehigh Valley - It CAN be done!
The antenna is up and it WORKS!

 

[Abdul Jalib]

For the U.S. networks in HD (mostly CBS and PBS), you can use ExpressVu or StarChoice canadian satellite systems pretty much anywhere in the lower 48 states. You have to go through an address broker so that the canadian satellite company thinks you're a Canadian, eh? However, you are not breaking any law in doing so.
If you think it's frustrating living where you do, just be glad you're not in my shoes. I live in a major city, and I've got line of sight to the CBS HDTV transmitter, and I still can't get HD, because of interference from the mountains behind me. Even a half a mile difference in location would probably suffice to let me get OTA HDTV.
-Abdul