Locals Look Bad!

[timr21]

2 nights ago I broke down and decided to order my locals from Dish.  I actually have nice reception from my OTA antenna, but for a number of integration issues at my house, it would just be simpler to get the locals on satellite.

I called E* late the other night.  A few minutes later, the channels were turned on.  Being a broadcast professional, I decided I'd do an A-B comparison between the OTA and Dish delivered signals. WOW!  I can't believe how bad the Dish signals are!  My local CBS affiliate is so desaturated and out of phase on satellite, that it almost looks black & white.  Other channels aren't quite as bad, but I'd have to say that overall the colors are very, very muted and the color phasing tends to skew out on Dish's locals package. I guess I should've expected this, but doing a side-by-side comparison really polarized the effect.

On the plus side, I'm really looking forward to having PVR features on this Sunday's Bucs vs 49's game!

BTW does anyone know how the local channels from the various markets are deliverd to E*'s uplink center?  If they're uplinked from the various markets via satellite, does E* have to maintain a mini-uplink center in each market?  Do the various local channels fibre their content to E*?  Just curious if anyone has any info on this. 

Thanks!

TimR

[Chris Blount]

I know what you mean. The locals on Dish do look horrific compared to a nice strong OTA signal. The only reason I went with the Dish locals was to get PVR capability. It's really too bad it has to be that way. Giving up one thing for another.

[zimm0who0net]

Originally posted by timr21
BTW does anyone know how the local channels from the various markets are deliverd to E*'s uplink center?  If they're uplinked from the various markets via satellite, does E* have to maintain a mini-uplink center in each market?  Do the various local channels fibre their content to E*?  Just curious if anyone has any info on this. 


Some are uplinked onto satellite but most are not.  Most I believe are digitized locally, multiplexed with the other local stations in the area, and then sent via leased line (T3 or similar) to the uplink in Cheyanne.

 

[DarrellP]

I emailed tech support about our local UPN looking really bad during Enterprise and they actually tweaked the color saturation.

Since you are a broadcast pro, call them and tell them what you are seeing, maybe they will tweak yours.

I'm lucky that our locals look pretty darned good (compared to most Dish programming).

[FTA Michael]

What a coincidence! I've been tearing my hair out about the PQ on Enterprise, so last night I recorded the WSBK feed, then the local UPN station an hour later. The local version was noticeably more pixellated than the WSBK feed.

I hadn't thought to complain to the local station; I suppose it's worth an email.

The squeezing of the locals is also really annoying during NFL games -- lots of dropped frames. It's a shame that the local ABC station should look so much worse than ESPN.

I read once that the problem with LIL on Dish is that they are compressed two times. They are received locally via antenna/fiber then compressed to be transmitted to the Dish up-link center. Then they are uncompressed and re-compressed back using the sat mux algorithms.