What's with the compression?

[andrzejpw]

Has anyone noticed that it seems that there's a LOT more compression on dish network recently. . . I'm in the Pittsburgh area, dish 501. Anyone? Is it something with spotbeams?

[Mike123abc]

It is called "must carry" suddenly they have to put on a bunch of channels that they thought they could get by not putting on... They lost the court cases... now it is pack em in until more birds get up to handle it.

[Marcus S]

There is no reason for it... E* can carry the entire city, choose not to carry it, or add it when they have reasonable bandwidth. E* is back to competing with *D, I have a feeling that the merger will not happen -opinion- , and hope that it does not.

[andrzejpw]

so you guys have noticed this too?

[Marcus S]

Though I have not analyzed it by channel, overall PQ on Dish has gone to crap! -again- I don't know if they are having trouble with E*7 or just cramming channels. The great PQ was wonderfull while it lasted.

[Lyle_JP]

They're moving channels all over the place again and making transponders go dark. This must be in anticipation of the E*8 launch.

-Lyle J.P.

[andyf]

Houston locals on tp 5 @ 119 have been so bad that for the first time I wondered if DirecTV would look any better.

I've been happy with Dish through the good and bad PQ times but this last week has been the worst.

[bryan27]

IMHO The PQ on E* isn't all that bad when compared to the compression levels on some of the providers on Telstar 5. Out of all the satellite multichannel providers Pittsburgh International has by far the worst PQ of them all.

[jmeluni]

IMHO, I also don't think that the PQ on E* is all that bad. Of course, PQ is subjective and depends on the equipment that you are using to view E* (Large screen home theater vs. 25 or 27" TV). I am using a 27" two year old philips and to me, it doesn't look that bad but, that's just my personal opinion.

With all the transponder swapping taking place, I'm led to believe that the launch of E8 must be close. Has anyone heard anything about a possible launch date?

[markh]

JohnH posted that E* is moving channels all over the place. I've noticed that when they're doing that the PQ usually suffers. YMMV

[Marcus S]

Channel shuffling would be premature as E*8 is going to sit at 129 for awhile.

[lee635]

Well the portland locals are looking really good right now. I'd agree about the moving around of channels. It seems the technicians need a little time once the moves are completed to tweak the equipment and the picture quality back. Porbably just a short term problem.

[Richard King]

I installed a Dish system for a customer last Saturday who replaced AT&T digital cable (I love doing that). He watches on a 50" Toshiba and said he was amazed at the improvement in quality when the install was done. The worse channel on the Dish (a WPB local) was about the same as the typical non premium digital basic channel. All others channels at that time appeared to be much improved over digital cable.

[bryan27]

Originally posted by Marcus S
Channel shuffling would be premature as E*8 is going to sit at 129 for awhile.

Maybe, maybe not. E* could vacate some TPs at 110, test there, and put E*8 into service quicker. Instead of testing at 129, then moving to 110, then testing further.

E* doesn't have to test at 129, they just have authorization to test there if they want to.

[MarkA]

Bryan, I suspect the same given that the launch has been delayed so long. In-orbit testing at 129 would have been ideal, but given the time issue, I don't expect it to happen

[Marcus S]

I don't believe that is an option considering that E* has to file plans in advance with the FCC and thus a launch of Aug and move to 110 in Oct, which aligns with the previous plan and time frame of 90 days from launch to move to 110.

[Mark Holtz]

Summertime and Christmastime are probably the best time to make channel moves, partially because 95% of the programming outside of sports are repeats.

[bryan27]

Marcus, testing at 129 doesn't have to be done. Yes, papers were filed with the FCC, but it just authorizes testing at 129. It doesn't demand testing at 129. It has happened before in all the satellite services, where a satellite doesn't test at it's authorized test location and just goes to it's licensed location for testing.

[Marcus S]

If I recall that was done when there was not a significant number of adjacent satellites at that oribital location. I don't think E* would want to take a chance and knock down say *D's bird if solar panels did not deploy, boosters did not fire correctly, or onboard computer problems surfaced. No doubt we would all like to see an earlier production deployment date, but I don't think we will as E* is also having to insure there own birds these days.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally posted by Marcus S
I don't think E* would want to take a chance and knock down say *D's bird if solar panels did not deploy, boosters did not fire correctly, or onboard computer problems surfaced.

There is just as much chance that they could do the same thing to the Telstar 7 bird at 129. In other words, the chance is slim enough that it's just not a factor in the decision on where to test it.

And if I remember correctly, Hughes tested and peoployer their first spotbeam sat (DirecTV 5?) right in the 101 slot.

-Lyle J.P.

[Marcus S]

I guess we will just have to see... worst Hughes could have done is knock out their own, 110 is a shared slot. E*7 was actually tested at 128 if I recall from Lyngsat.

[JohnH]

Testing at 129 would be best, but they might need to get an extension of the time frame from the FCC. As far as getting the bird to 110 sooner, it is really not that necessary, considering there has been no announced plan to unload the side slots with this satellite. In fact, it looks like they are putting more on the side slots, not because there is a lack of space at this time, but because the big plan must call for it.

[andrzejpw]

Ok, this is getting rediculous. I was watching my locals last night, and I noticed: anything that's a solid color: a wall, floor, building, sky, etc, shows TONS and TONS of compression. Obviously, its more noticeable in these areas. But never like this. Please, dish, let's get this satellite stuff done!

[Ronaldo]

The picture is awful. I recorded the Top 20 Videos off of VH1 and when I played it back honest to God I could barely read the text for the artist's name, song, etc...just dreadful PQ. I hope its a temporary problem due to must carry and it will be resolved SOON...merger or no merger.

[andrzejpw]

seriously. It looks like the picture is made up of legos.

[dmodemd]

There's nothing in the FCC ruling that says how GOOD the PQ has to be right? Just that they have to "carry" it. I guess they are being selective on the PQs with the local stations being the obvious choice.

The absurdity of must carry can be thought about in the following way:

When Friends is on NBC on Thursday night, how many channels are broadcasting it simultaneously? :)

.... and repeat for west feed.

Lee

[Craig Fogus]

I just purchased a 60 inch widescreen digital TV (Phillips), and I know what you mean about compression! Some channels are definitely wose than others! Locals seem to be the worst! On such a large TV, it is really obvious! I also have the 721 if that makes any difference. I hope they improve the PQ soon! I'm getting disappointed.

[huzefa]

Wow, there are others too. I thought I was going crazy when I saw the quality of the feed yesterday; maybe there was something wrong with the TV or worse yet the receiver. Hope this gets better soon; I like watching HD channels but not as much as I like watching reruns of Law&Order on A&E.

[andrzejpw]

LOL! I thought when I posted this, I'd be the only one noticing it! The locals are just horrendous. Please dish!

[salsa]

I live in the Salt Lake City area, and I can't believe how bad the compression is here. The locals are the worst I have ever seen since I've had Dish service. Even the premium channels are somewhat compressed. The pixels are just growing bigger and bigger. I love Dish, but they need to fix this before customers start leaving to look for better picture quality. A couple of weeks ago when I called Dish, one of the reps told me there is a problem with the compression, and they are working on it. The reason I went with Dish is that I can't stand cable (prices, picture & sound quality), but I seriously am getting disappointed. On a good note, I do love my PVR 501. I won't be able to go back to watching TV the old way.

[Mike123abc]

The real problem is that E8 has not been launched. The launch was delayed 2+ months but they keep on adding more local markets to compete with D*. The keep on putting on more channels and they do not have capacity in the air.

They can go two ways once E8 is up...

1) move all the locals to spots except for the few national feeds, give more bandwith to the non LIL markets, and NOT ADD any more LIL that will not fit on the spots

2) Move all the LIL to spots then add a bunch of new local markets to really squeeze in the channels

I hope that they choose option 1. Stop with the compression until they sort out a merger with D*. I am not sure if the merger will help or hurt quality. I wonder if they will have enough spot capacity to do true LIL on spots or if the will have to pack them in even more. Maybe in a couple years they will have new settop boxes to everyone and be using 8PSK to bump up the bandwith some.

[andrzejpw]

Any word on when E*8 will be launched/operational?