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Topic:
DirecTV signal quality problems...
This thread has 4 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Thursday February 24, 2000 at 15:28
Bob W.
Historic Forum Post
DSS/DirecTV users,

I wanted to share some of what I have learned after talking with DirecTV, two different satellite receiver vendors, and a lot of different DSS/DirecTV customers.
A lot of people have been complaining about poor picture quality (digital artifacts) and it has been hard to get any answers as to the problem(s).

What I found out (although I can not 100% prove) is that DirecTV has effectively altered the signals they are sending to customers. The channels (transponders) are being jammed (overcompressed) to accommodate newer Dolby and all the recent local channel additions. As a result, this is degrading many other channels. It is typically NOT the fault of the DSS receiver. Apparently DirecTV is going to alleviate this problem by off-loading the local channel overload onto another satellite (which will require a special dish that adjusts for dual positioning). Once this occurs, the problems should be resolved. However, beware, the implication here is that DirecTV will be pulling the rug out from underneath a lot of people who may have suscribed to local channel support in the interim. In other words, if a customer suscribes to local channels on DirecTV, they may be getting a notice in the not-to-distant future that in order to continue to receive the local stations, they will need to upgrade their DSS system to the newer multi-satellite system.

Beware that DirecTV is being EXTREMELY evasive about telling customer what is really going with the picture problems - and how they plan to "manage" solving it in the near future.

I am not claiming 100% accuracy of the above comments, but I have spend almost 2 weeks calling a lot of individuals/companies and I confident that there is quite a bit of truth in the above.

Any additional responses/clarity welcome.

Bob W.
OP | Post 2 made on Thursday February 24, 2000 at 15:45
jazzly
Historic Forum Post
Bob:

Thanks so much for your hard work. I am a new DTV subscriber and have noticed the artifacting for some time now. Most annoying! I will not be putting up 2 dishes or, for that matter, upgrade my present system to permit the use of multiple satellites. Back to cable, I guess, unless they get their act together!

Thanks again for your research!
OP | Post 3 made on Sunday February 27, 2000 at 12:02
Jody
Historic Forum Post
Would this include black pixels randomly on the screen? They are fixed (well randomly fixed) and flicker every now and then. I have a splitter after the sattelite reciever and it appears on both televisions. I'm just wondering if it's worth making calls to RCA and everything.

Anyone else getting these black dots on their screen?
OP | Post 4 made on Sunday February 27, 2000 at 16:05
Jeff
Historic Forum Post
I've heard from DTV that they have changed they're compression techniques to accommodate the extra channels as you say, but I'm not so sure about the rest. DirecTV is using several birds in three different locations 101, 119, 110.

My understanding is they have no intentions of moving any of the locals that are currently on the 101 bird, but new locals for smaller markets will show up on the 110 bird [Link: lyngsat.com]
. The 119 bird is carrying the HDTV channels and direcTV Paro Todos [Link: lyngsat.com]
Soon, DirecTV will be offering many other ethnic channels off the 110 bird.

If your not happy with the picture quality now, don't ever expect it to get better any time soon. The competition is low and the money is going to the provider that provides the most channels and the picture happens to be better than what you can get on cable, so I wouldn't expect anything to get better unless a new player comes on the market providing all HDTV transmissions, but that can't occur until the market gets saturated with that kind of equipment - probably quite a few years away.

-Jeff
OP | Post 5 made on Sunday February 27, 2000 at 16:16
Jeff
Historic Forum Post
Jody,

Two possiblities I can think of for you problem. First of all you need to check you signal meter and make sure it is steady and preferably above 80. If it's not you either have a dish pointing problem or a hardware problem between your LNB & IRD.

You are also using the worst method of connecting you TV to your IRD. The best way (with standard IRD's) is with a S-Video cable, the second best choice is using your composite video or RCA type video jack, and last the way you are doing it now using your coax.

I would suggest you change you primary TV to S-Video and continue using coax for the second.

-Jeff


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