ebs0303

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I though it was as appropriate as any here....

I just got Direct TV and have 3 Philips DSX 5500 receivers. One of the receivers is on my Toshiba 57" TV which I just got a few months ago. It is HD ready and gets up to 1080i definition. I have noticed with the DirecTV (had digital cable before that wasnt much better, but I think a little better) that the picture on several channels appears to be fairly pixelated, and on other channels, just not that clear. The other 2 receivers are on smaller TV's (20" and 27") and the pictures seem to be much clearer. I have called DirecTV and Philips and all they can tell me is to change the cables, etc. I am using an S-video cable from receiver to TV.

Is there anything short of shelling out several hundred $$$ for a HD receiver (which I am not going to do at this point, at least until the HD Tivo receivers come out) to get a better picture on my big screen? I thought Direct TV is supposed to be a digital quality picture, so I was expecting a better, crisper picture.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

NC-36

There is nothing wrong with your TV or your cables. Directv is compressing the hell out of many channels right now, because their new satellite (Directv 7s) was delayed.

Directv added a bunch of locals to their main slot at 101 during the summer viewing lull anticipating that 7s would be ready by football season. Since that didn't happen, they now remove a few PPV channels during NFL Sundays and compress most other channels a little bit more than they were last year, resulting in slightly lowered PQ. Your big TV only amplifies the problem, showing the artifacts and fuzziness more clearly.

PQ should return to better levels early next year after the new satellite launches.

muggins

Yeah, I have also noticed significant pixelation, which gets even worse/more noticable when I decide I want to capture something on my computer via my TV card.

I thought it was just me though. Thanks for pointing out the reason, NC-36.

abintra

Maybe it is my imagination but I have always been disappointed with their audio quality. Their radio stations sound no better than FM and I have watched VHS versions of a movie they were showing that sounded better (non DD ones).

ebs0303

Thanks for the info.... So I should expect (hope?) that the picture quality will improve in the near future? Overall, do big screen TVs get somewhat worse picture quality b/c of the size? Why do my smaller TVs look fairly crisp - does it only have to do with the size of the TV?

And why didnt anyone at DirectTV give me this information?
Thanks again.

NC-36

As I said, PQ is expected to improve early next year. They went through this same thing during the months just before Directv 4s was launched (lower PQ, overcompression, etc), but within days after 4s came online, compression was eased off and PQ improved dramatically. The trade-off is that recordings on DirecTiVos take up more drive space as bandwidth increases, so a 35 hour DTiVo becomes a 28 hour DTiVo. Not a bad trade IMHO

And yes, your big screen does show more flaws simply because it's bigger and the flaws become more noticeable. Directv phone monkeys never talk about what the real problem is - they have a standard script and don't deviate from it. For real answers you need to talk to a tech rep (for hardware issues) or a retention specialist (for programming and account questions/gripes).