[chuckflarhu]

I can already tell the PQ for Sundays Bears Colts game is going to suck. Just like the olympics, macroblocking all over the place.

I know it is not my TV as the other stations and baseball look fine.

For the olympics, everyone said their PQ was pretty good, but mine was terrible. I even got a new 622 where the HDMI port actually worked instead of the component I was living with. Everything is better, except for NBC.

Is it the local affiliate WMAQ who is at fault here?
Anyone else in the Chicago area having PQ issues?

 

[chuckflarhu]

Actually, I just switched the 622 to 1080i and it looks quite a bit better.

Don't know if it is supposed to be that way, but there you have it.

 

[lostman72]

Yes I will have to say it's the local station. My local also looks bad KSEE 24 Fresno. I used to get the LA channels before Directv pulled the plug on me and that one looked very good. Now I have no choice but to watch it, and it's bad. Last year I even set up an antenna to test it out and no change. Trust me I feel for you.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Actually, I just switched the 622 to 1080i and it looks quite a bit better.

Don't know if it is supposed to be that way, but there you have it.

What was it set for before you changed it?

NBC is 1080i in their broadcasts... so if you have a 1080i/p HDTV you'd need to set it that way to get the best results. IF you have a 720p HDTV, then you might have to try both settings to see what works best.

 

[Bobby H]

I wish I could watch NBC's Sunday Night Football in HD.


The NBC affiliate in Wichita Falls is broadcasting its DTV channel at too weak a level for me to pick up without having to spend some decent coin on a top of the line, amplified outdoor antennae. And E* just seems content to let the same channel they up-linked on April 2 just sit there unable to be seen by E* customers.

So I'm stuck with watching the craptastic looking SD local channel instead. Boo hoo.


Seriously, is there any chance that rumored native video pass-through option might be made available for ViP series receivers? I know the local channels are 1440 X 1080 "HD Lite", but it would still be nice for the receiver to allow both 720p and 1080i signals to pass through instead of being converted to something else. Normally I leave my ViP722 set at 1080i. But sometimes I'll switch it to 720p when watching something on ESPN.

 

[chuckflarhu]

I have a 1080p Tv but i had my 622 set to 720 cause abc, fox, wgn, comcast ect. look better that way.

I am never sure where i should have this stuff. I thought my sony xbr2 should upconvert everything to my liking, but i am sure i am making an error somewhere.

Once i switched to 1080i I had no complaints.
Man, I still dont get how the bears won.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

I have a 1080p Tv but i had my 622 set to 720 cause abc, fox, wgn, comcast ect. look better that way.

I can't speak to all of those... but FOX and ABC (also ESPN) are 720p broadcasts so that makes sense you might get better picture by not processing the signal further.

I just leave mine set to 1080i. While my HDTV does accept 720p input, I find it looks "muddy" for lack of a better word on the 720p channels, while 1080i output looks sharper.

 

[Schizm]

I have the terrible All America Direct garbage for my NBC. The picture quality is literally the worst channel I receive. It is so bad that I've had to subscribe to just my local HD's via cable. I still subscribe to All America Direct so that I can buffer the football games for my own replays.

 

[BillJ]

I didn't have any PQ problems that I noticed with WMAQ. I did notice earlier in the day that my 622 had switched to the 61.5 dish for Chicago locals. Sometimes it takes them from 129 and sometimes from 61.5 since I have 2 dishes.

Maybe I was less critical of the PQ because I was enjoying watching the Bears kick Indy's a**.

 

[slowmo]

PQ was terrible in my market as well. Equally bad either thru satellite or directly via OTA. Not unusual for NBC sports coverage for the last 5 years.

If anything, the Olympics coverage was slightly improved; still fast action artifacts but much better still.

Ironically, our local NBC affiliate actually broadcasts its local news in HD. Excellent PQ too!

 

[btomillo]

I just signed up with Dish this past weekend and the PQ on all of the HD channels has been below what I expected. It looks like a softening filter has been applied. Think along the lines of a Barbara Walters interview and you know what I mean. I've tried switching output on my 722 box between 720p and 1080i and switching component and HDMI cables, but my 1080p Samsung is showing the same disappointing images. This is compared to Comcast and OTA signals and I'm in your area as well.

A bit disappointing but the cost is about 2/3 the cost of Comcast and their constant picture break up and defective Motorola HD DVRs.

 

[davethestalker]

OTA look much better than Dish's broadcast. Colors "popped" much better OTA.

 

[Jack White]

I can already tell the PQ for Sundays Bears Colts game is going to suck. Just like the olympics, macroblocking all over the place.

I know it is not my TV as the other stations and baseball look fine.

For the olympics, everyone said their PQ was pretty good, but mine was terrible. I even got a new 622 where the HDMI port actually worked instead of the component I was living with. Everything is better, except for NBC.

Is it the local affiliate WMAQ who is at fault here?
Anyone else in the Chicago area having PQ issues?

Unfortunately consumers in the US don't have much choice as far as good picture quality for programming is concerned. The only ways to have a good shot at getting good picture quality is to either have a Fiostv or a 4DTV+OTA setup or else you're probably going to have bad picture quality on most if not all channels.
We live in a Jerry Springer, WWE, Fast Food country where people would rather have quantity than quality and that's why the picture quality on the vast majority of providers sucks so bad.
The REALLY sad part is that for most people getting Fiostv or a 4DTV+OTA setup would either require moving or considable cost, space, and time.