Why are my ESPN Full Court feeds so fuzzy?

[codeman_00]

Ever since I've subscibed to ESPN Full Court and ESPN game plan, the picture is so fuzzy, some games are worse than others. Some are very difficult to watch. I noticed the same thing on my friend's NFL Sunday Ticket (from DirectTV).

Is there any thing I can do to get a clear picture?? If its just a retransmission, how come the signal distorts so much?

[Slordak]

When you say fuzzy, you mean that they appear out of focus? Do you see this on any other channels? Do you see "blockiness" or anything else that looks like a compression artifact to you?

[greggg]

My opinion is basketball looks very bad on E* because of the fast movement of the camera. When a guy is at the line or the action stops the image is very clear when the camera pans away and follows the action on the court you get the "fuzzy" image you are talking about. Blame compression. I never really noticed it on football as much. I have four TV's hooked up and yes it is on every one. It looks the worse as you go up in screen size.

[DishNet_Fan]

I can't stand watching Full Court games anymore. The PQ is so fuzzy, it's unbearable. I notice the same problem on the Fox Sports channels, too.

I also run basic cable, and I was switching back and forth the other night on a game that was on Dish and cable. NO COMPARISON, cable looked so much better, it was a joke. Unless Dish can guarantee PQ improves next year, no way in hell I will ever buy ESPN Full Court again. :nono:

[jrbdmb]

Last year I remember that the picture quality of ESPN FC on Dish was damned good. Last week, however, I turned on an SEC game featuring Kentucky vs. whoever, and every time the scene changed from one camera to another the picture almost dissolved into a mass of blocks for a half-second or so. And this is on a 27" TV. I was forced to turn the game off, it was so annoying.

[ypsiguy]

I had the same problem on NHL Center Ice when I was with Comcast. NHL was a bit better on Dish during their free preview. Comcast's picture on their basic digital tier was horrible due to overcompression. Movie channels were about same as Dish. I agree with u on Dish's ESPN , however. It seems to be one of their worse signals. Comcast's analog ESPN was much better, but since I don't watch ESPN very much I haven't cared much either. If I could drop it I would. If ESPN keeps raising their per sub rate, I think Dish should move them into a separate tier so we all don't have to pay for it.

[greggg]

I would agree on ESPN except for one thing. Sunday Night football has had an excellent picture.

[DarrellP]

You'd think with the exhorbitant fees that Dish charges for this content they would at least allocate some bandwidth to it. Vote with your wallet and don't sub to it.

[codeman_00]

When you say fuzzy, you mean that they appear out of focus? Do you see this on any other channels? Do you see "blockiness" or anything else that looks like a compression artifact to you?

When I say "fuzzy", I mean blurry to the point that there is no sharpness at all. (Not out of focus, just blurry like a smudged lense "blurry"). Now I'm not expecting it to be HDTV, I'm just expecting the picture to be like all of the other channels (excluding basketball and football on fox sports). Yes all the other channels are as clear as can be.

I assume that someone is getting the initial transmission and that ESPN and Dish Network have to retransmit it somehow, but why does the signal distort so much? Can someone really throw down on the technical reason of why this is happening?

Is there anything I can do to fix it?

And by the way guys, I'm not talking about ESPN and ESPN2, I'm talking about ESPN Full Court and ESPN Game Plan. Both are season pay per view college basketball and football packages.

[DarrellP]

1) Call Dish and complain.
2) Call Dish and complain.
3) Call Dish and complain.
4) Beat head against wall.
5) Call Dish and complain.
6) Call Dish and complain.
7) Call Dish and complain.
8) Quit paying for it and tell them why.

[Mothergoose]

I had the same problem on NHL Center Ice when I was with Comcast. NHL was a bit better on Dish during their free preview. Comcast's picture on their basic digital tier was horrible due to overcompression. Movie channels were about same as Dish. I agree with u on Dish's ESPN , however. It seems to be one of their worse signals. Comcast's analog ESPN was much better, but since I don't watch ESPN very much I haven't cared much either. If I could drop it I would. If ESPN keeps raising their per sub rate, I think Dish should move them into a separate tier so we all don't have to pay for it.
If I had to pay extra for ESPN, I would leave Dish forever. Very few people don't watch ESPN. (or anyone I have known)

[Mike Richardson]

If I had to pay extra for ESPN, I would leave Dish forever. Very few people don't watch ESPN. (or anyone I have known)

And if they took ESPN off and others didn't, I would definately stay as a subscriber.