The digital resolution of Dishnetwork is not really the issue with the quality of the image. They seem to project a picture somewhere around 500x500 (someone probably will post the correct resolution). But, the issue is the compression that they do. It is a very subjective thing.
On an analog set about 30" in size, it is rare to see any compression. On an older 50" projection screen that is not digital, you see fairly mild compression effects.
On a 32" digital set, it is much easier to see the compression. I think this is due to the fact that the set faithfully produces each compression block (MPEG-2 divides the picture up into a grid and compresses the blocks individually). Most of the time you can see the blocks if you look for them. On a larger digital set it is very apparent. The more motion in the picture the more blocks you will see.
Now Dish is not alone in this, prior to dish I had digital cable. It was even more compressed than dish. I have basic analog cable (I switch back and forth to antenna (a very long story)). I can see some compression artifacts on the analog stations (cable digitizes them then converts them back at the neighborhood box). There are certain MPEG effects you can see besides the blocks (the analog cable stations are not compressed as much as dish).
If you get a good analog over the air picture it will blow away anything on dish except the HDTV channels. Over the air HDTV is another step up.
On an analog set about 30" in size, it is rare to see any compression. On an older 50" projection screen that is not digital, you see fairly mild compression effects.
On a 32" digital set, it is much easier to see the compression. I think this is due to the fact that the set faithfully produces each compression block (MPEG-2 divides the picture up into a grid and compresses the blocks individually). Most of the time you can see the blocks if you look for them. On a larger digital set it is very apparent. The more motion in the picture the more blocks you will see.
Now Dish is not alone in this, prior to dish I had digital cable. It was even more compressed than dish. I have basic analog cable (I switch back and forth to antenna (a very long story)). I can see some compression artifacts on the analog stations (cable digitizes them then converts them back at the neighborhood box). There are certain MPEG effects you can see besides the blocks (the analog cable stations are not compressed as much as dish).
If you get a good analog over the air picture it will blow away anything on dish except the HDTV channels. Over the air HDTV is another step up.
