New channels look bad!

[barth2k]

when I first moved from D* to V*, first thing that I noticed was the SD channels looked a quite a bit better (aside from some weird artifacts on some channels). HD was harder to tell, since the content wasn't the same. But now the new recently added SD channels aren't looking good at all. Really soft with muddled colors. I don't have D* any more so I can't compare, but my guess is now SD channels are on par with D*, meaning bad! And seriously, was anybody begging for Fox Movies? Old, B-list, cropped SD movies. What a waste of bandwidth.

 

[HD_Eric]

Fox

The only cool thing about FOXMC is it has some pretty good preview shows on it.....

 

[Jamey K]

I love FoxMC....they run movies that are way out of print on VHS and haven't made it to DVD yet. Thanks for FOX MC!

 

[vurbano]

I hope the SD additions are over

 

[jgantert]

I agree, VH1 Classic looks horrible! Very blocky.

-John

 

[softwiz]

Anything that MOVES...

Uh, I don't mean to be super negative, but just about everything that MOVES on any Voom channel looks bad now...

 

[siujoey]

Uh, I don't mean to be super negative, but just about everything that MOVES on any Voom channel looks bad now...

get a new TV, looks just fine on my LCD and DLP

 

[APorter]

Noggin looks good on all three of my tvs

 

[softwiz]

get a new TV, looks just fine on my LCD and DLP

It's not the TV silly. If you can't see the PQ degrade when things move, you need some glasses. Voom was never like this before a couples weeks ago. It's been experienced and reported by many others. OTA channels are fine, it's Voom channels. Something to do with the new encoders and/or the new channels using more bandwidth.

 

[OHMS]

Let Me Count The Ways..

Or The Rain

Or The Wind

Or The ..... I Had Hoped It Was The Rain, Or Undersized Dish When West Coasters Have To Pass Signal Through So Much Of It..

Mike

 

[ECK27]

I agree the picture quality is horrible since the new encoders & channels have been added.Even the hd channels are becoming unwatchable everythings pixled and blocky.Im getting real close to canceling and going back to d* or tryin dish.Vooms pq used to be a hell of a lot better than this crap we are seeing now.

 

[HD_Eric]

Yip

I've had every service and one thing is the same......VH1-Classic looks TERRIBLE. But it is still a great channel!

 

[Nayl]

I agree the picture quality is horrible since the new encoders & channels have been added.Even the hd channels are becoming unwatchable everythings pixled and blocky.Im getting real close to canceling and going back to d* or tryin dish.Vooms pq used to be a hell of a lot better than this crap we are seeing now.

That or maybe we could give them time to work on things instead of bitching about every little thing they are trying to do right and for the survival of the company.

 

[James Long]

That or maybe we could give them time to work on things instead of bitching about every little thing they are trying to do right and for the survival of the company.

Perhaps they will get it all fixed by 3/31/05.

JL

 

[ram1220]

That or maybe we could give them time to work on things instead of bitching about every little thing they are trying to do right and for the survival of the company.

Ok but how much time do they need? It's now been 3 weeks and the PQ still sucks. If the new encoders can't be tweaked properly, then get rid of them. I'd like to see Voom go back to the old encoders and give us the great PQ that we used to have and are actually paying good money for. What they are doing now is not a good way to keep subscribers and sign up new ones.

 

[jagouar]

Ok but how much time do they need? It's now been 3 weeks and the PQ still sucks. If the new encoders can't be tweaked properly, then get rid of them. I'd like to see Voom go back to the old encoders and give us the great PQ that we used to have and are actually paying good money for. What they are doing now is not a good way to keep subscribers and sign up new ones.

The problem with this thinking is it doesnt apply to all channels.... some channels look way better than they were before new encoders. Alot of the SD look worse but moving ~200 channels over is going to take a long time to get every channel looking good again.... They cant make too many "drastic" tweaks at once because they are being viewed all the time.... they have to make a small one here and there.

 

[mudpup2003]

I have all three hoocked up to my DLP..... voom by far is the best.... then D* and last E*

 

[ECK27]

That or maybe we could give them time to work on things instead of bitching about every little thing they are trying to do right and for the survival of the company.

Im sorry i did not realize picture quality was such a little thing......thats why i orderd voom for better pq and more HD.At the moment they are delivering niether.The only reason Im still hangin around is for spanish soccer on world sport HD and thats getting difficult to watch.

 

[Lobstah]

"I have all three hoocked up to my DLP..... voom by far is the best.... then D* and last E*"

As seen above, not everyone's "PQ" assessment/experience is the same. I still have great PQ on my HD channels...and I don't watch any of the SD stuff so can't really comment. My HD PQ surpasses what Charter cable provides...

If you don't like the quality...switch providers

Lob

 

[Wally]

They HAVE improved the SD channels, especially in the lower channels (SD movies). The improvement has been in sharpness, and that is VERY important to me. However, I agree there is still a lot of pixelization and blockiness going on during motion (esp. in muted or foggy scenes - read low contrast). With this type encoder, that will be harder to cure, but they can do some. And, clearly (no pun), some channels are better than others. We should continue to press them to keep working on the improvements.

As far as HD - Adelphia just added Discovery HD here, and I could flip between the two, and alas, VOOM was actually sharper and more vivid. I kid you not. I was surprised (and encouraged).

If they tell me that we are inside of a year getting MPEG4 and that it will cure the compression/quality problem for sure, then I'm definitely hanging on.