Help - Grainy, Snowy HD sports picture on Panasonic GT50

[MDRiggs]

The only thing I "might" switch from Directv is Fios...and that choice was taken away from me because they only did some areas where I live..the reason I said "might" is that as good as Fios is..you have to deal with Verizon..which is near the bottom of the barrel in customer service...I have their phone service and computer DSL..and everytime I have to deal with them it's agony...massive incompetence..and customer service from Directv has been outstanding...I've lived in different parts of the country and have had various cable systems and none of them are as good as Directv...and in the customer service realm..Directv crushes them in every way....I can't remember how many discounts I have had(and still get) from Directv over the years and I couldn't even get someone to listen to my probems on the various cable systems I have had...no comparison...

I have FiOS for phone and internet, and it's great. Good thing that it is essentially totally reliable, though, because you're right about Verizon's customer service. How can a major ISP make it nearly impossible to do anything useful on its web site? You wind up having to call them and wait to talk to someone who goes through a big rigamarole and then, invariably, has to hand you off to someone else to actually schedule a service call or whatever and repeats most of the questions you already answered for the first one. Incredibly annoying. I've had problems with DirecTV customer service in the past, but they've been great the last few years. I've stuck with them instead of switching to FiOS for TV because FiOS seems to deliver, at most, only marginally better picture quality, and DirecTV has a much better MLB package and much better receivers and DVRs. Like you, I only very rarely have issues with rain/snow fade. This also seems to have improved over the years, but I don't know why.

[SiGGy]

Honestly Siggy...U-Verse is just a shitty service..I don't know how many people it's going to take for you to realize it..it's not going to matter what display you get..they are all going to suffer from the garbage fed into it by U-Verse...it's true that sometimes you lose the signal on Directv...but in my case it's so rare and usually only lasts a few minutes..right now we are getting pounded with heavy rains here and the signal is fine..and I live by the water and get heavy bands of rain in a dense pattern..as far as the number of HD channels.... I'm skeptical on your contention about more HD channels on U-Verse..there is some dubious accounting practices in some of these claims by the various services...I know this...there is plenty of HD content on Directv..it's the only thing I watch..and with the exception of 1 or 2 channels I'd like to have in HD...I couldn't ask for more...the only "knowledgeable" people I know who don't have Directv are ones that can't get it because of natural obstructions(trees or buildings in the way)..

The only thing I "might" switch from Directv is Fios...and that choice was taken away from me because they only did some areas where I live..the reason I said "might" is that as good as Fios is..you have to deal with Verizon..which is near the bottom of the barrel in customer service...I have their phone service and computer DSL..and everytime I have to deal with them it's agony...massive incompetence..and customer service from Directv has been outstanding...I've lived in different parts of the country and have had various cable systems and none of them are as good as Directv...and in the customer service realm..Directv crushes them in every way....I can't remember how many discounts I have had(and still get) from Directv over the years and I couldn't even get someone to listen to my probems on the various cable systems I have had...no comparison...

I was kinda feeling like you were making me sound ignorant? I don't think that was your intention. But it was how I felt reading your 1st paragraph. I assume you are trying to help yes and not make me feel stupid?

We will lose signal a lot here in the Spring. The storms that shoot through here are insane. I live in Kansas you know Not sure how well you keep up with meteorology but this area of the country is among the worst for heavy storms. Saying it won't go out in the rain here in KS is like people who say Plasma burn in is no longer a problem... lol

I OWNED Directv in Chicago, it died in heavy snow and heavy storms *all* the time. And I had it set at 90%+ signal on all transponders mounted to a brick building! Happened every spring and winter.

Have you owned both DirecTV and U-verse?

FIOS is just plain Docsis 3.0 cable delivered on fiber instead of coax. Sure it's nice, but it's really nothing high-tech. They mux the same signal that would run over coax to run through fiber. If it was IPTV and used a modern codec it'd be a bit more exciting IMO. Plus I can't get it, so not much point in discussing it

I won't disagree DirecTV is probably my best choice for *video quality*. The cable systems (including FIOS) are so antiquated and slow. Multi-room dvr on them is a hack, as well the HD line-ups are lacking. DirecTV's on-demand and multi-room DVR is also pretty lacking. But I know they just updated their hardware...

So I need to look into it a bit more. I know I'd enjoy the video quality.

[Black Ops]

Uverse cannot compete with either Fios or DirecTV. The only service that offers better PQ than DirecTV...is Verizon Fios. Uverse is at the bottom of the barrel for most of the country.

[speedking]

I was kinda feeling like you were making me sound ignorant? I don't think that was your intention. But it was how I felt reading your 1st paragraph. I assume you are trying to help yes and not make me feel stupid?

We will lose signal a lot here in the Spring. The storms that shoot through here are insane. I live in Kansas you know Not sure how well you keep up with meteorology but this area of the country is among the worst for heavy storms. Saying it won't go out in the rain here in KS is like people who say Plasma burn in is no longer a problem... lol

I OWNED Directv in Chicago, it died in heavy snow and heavy storms *all* the time. And I had it set at 90%+ signal on all transponders mounted to a brick building! Happened every spring and winter.

Have you owned both DirecTV and U-verse?

FIOS is just plain Docsis 3.0 cable delivered on fiber instead of coax. Sure it's nice, but it's really nothing high-tech. They mux the same signal that would run over coax to run through fiber. If it was IPTV and used a modern codec it'd be a bit more exciting IMO. Plus I can't get it, so not much point in discussing it

I won't disagree it's probably my best choice for *video quality*. The cable systems (including FIOS) are so antiquated and slow. Multi-room dvr on them is a joke, as well the HD line-ups are lacking. DirecTV's on-demand and multi-room DVR is also pretty lacking.

I thought you had realized from our previous conversations that I was in your corner..certainly not my intention to demean you...I think you are just being stubborn and don't want a 2 yr commitment to DTV...but I was serious about U-Verse...it's crap...D-Nice even told you so in this post...click here

I can appreciate the fact that you are passionate about your beliefs..my only problem is sometimes you generalize a lot..and I think that rubs people the wrong way(not me).....but getting back to U-Verse...I see you working your arse off on your display with your hands tied behind your back..the limitations/problems caused by U-Verse are harder to overcome than the ones on your display..I would think that D-Nice's information sums up the problems associated with U-Verse..

As far as your weather compared to mine...the rain I get here is much worse that what you get...but of course you get frequent high winds and tornados...but my Dish is less vunerable to these signal dropouts than in the past...I had my dish re-aligned about a year ago and it is much better at keeping the signal..the installers now have better equipment to spot up the satelite...I have also learned that the few times I lose my HD signal I can merely shift to the standard broadcast version of the same channel and the standard signal is still there...this helps a lot because usually the signal loss is only a few minutes..so I don't lose the program..

[MDRiggs]

DirecTV's on-demand and multi-room DVR is also pretty lacking. But I know they just updated their hardware...

If I cared about On-Demand I'd probably be less happy with DirecTV. We have multiroom DVR, and it generally works fine, although every once in a while I find I need to reboot one or the other (we have two). If you decide to switch, make sure to ask for whole-home DVR. If you don't ask up front, they may not either, and then you wind up without it. All new installs are SWM (single-wire) now, I think. Also make sure you get H24 receivers and HR24 or HR34 DVRs; the older ones are noticeably slower and less responsive.

[speedking]

If I cared about On-Demand I'd probably be less happy with DirecTV. We have multiroom DVR, and it generally works fine, although every once in a while I find I need to reboot one or the other (we have two). If you decide to switch, make sure to ask for whole-home DVR. If you don't ask up front, they may not either, and then you wind up without it. All new installs are SWM (single-wire) now, I think. Also make sure you get H24 receivers and HR24 or HR34 DVRs; the older ones are noticeably slower and less responsive.

I have 2 HD-DVR's and I try to reboot them once a month..if I do that..I never have to during a broadcast...of course I usually don't remember

[SiGGy]

I thought you had realized from our previous conversations that I was in your corner..certainly not my intention to demean you...I think you are just being stubborn and don't want a 2 yr commitment to DTV...but I was serious about U-Verse...it's crap...D-Nice even told you so in this post...click here

I can appreciate the fact that you are passionate about your beliefs..my only problem is sometimes you generalize a lot..and I think that rubs people the wrong way(not me).....but getting back to U-Verse...I see you working your arse off on your display with your hands tied behind your back..the limitations/problems caused by U-Verse are harder to overcome than the ones on your display..I would think that D-Nice's information sums up the problems associated with U-Verse..

As far as your weather compared to mine...the rain I get here is much worse that what you get...but of course you get frequent high winds and tornados...but my Dish is less vunerable to these signal dropouts than in the past...I had my dish re-aligned about a year ago and it is much better at keeping the signal..the installers now have better equipment to spot up the satelite...I have also learned that the few times I lose my HD signal I can merely shift to the standard broadcast version of the same channel and the standard signal is still there...this helps a lot because usually the signal loss is only a few minutes..so I don't lose the program..

Why do I keep seeing posts like I don't know U-verse has quality issues? I know this... U-verse quality aside, my $3k "reference" TV should have a fully functioning CMS system

We get very strong cells that move through, that can dump 4" in 1-2 hours. As well as snow DirecTV signal strength can't be generalized, where you live dictates how well your signal will be weather wise. Everyone I know that has DTV in Chicago and here in KC has rain/snow fade. It's not a deal breaker, but it sucks. When you want to watch TV the most you risk not being able too

Ya, I might be being stubborn. I had DTV for about 10 years. But it was before they switched to H.264 (mpeg4). I'm really curious how their on-demand works if you don't have an internet connection. I assume it downloads it slowly in the background.

I think we've successfully derailed this thread not that it ever had a destination. It's been going in circles for awhile now.

Well you have disagreed with me on things and I haven't caved in is the difference What's interpreted as generalizing is me doing a poor job of writing out my thoughts. Problem with internet stuff is no matter HOW you write it *someone* will misinterpret it eventually. Or just not read it entirely. People are lazy, they read the parts they want and ignore the rest... lol I can only imagine how many times D-nice has had to answer questions about the slides...

Like now people are making generalizations about U-verse. The HD quality really isn't that terrible today. It's just DTV is *much* better do to it's better bit-rate. What they leave off? U-verse has more HD movie channels than DTV, it has a real multi-room DVR that wasn't an after thought. Non-DVR boxes also act like DVR's. You can pause live TV on any STB. The only thing they need to do to make U-verse awesome is up the up-bitrates... But that won't be happening. It's a quantity over quality service.

I'm just not attached to brand names and or any hardware. I like what's made well and works. I call things as I see them. Since I happen to work for a R&D company and I happen to be in Q&A it's easy for me to spot things...

Thanks for the thoughts... I'm working on converting the fiancee over to the idea of DTV /w TW internet. She was happy when we got rid of DTV last time and switched to Timewarner... Luckily a lot has changed since then.

p.s.

Already out in the back yard dialing in where the birds are with my compass, and a nifty android app I found We have some 60 foot tree's behind us, looks like we're OK though.

[SiGGy]

If I cared about On-Demand I'd probably be less happy with DirecTV. We have multiroom DVR, and it generally works fine, although every once in a while I find I need to reboot one or the other (we have two). If you decide to switch, make sure to ask for whole-home DVR. If you don't ask up front, they may not either, and then you wind up without it. All new installs are SWM (single-wire) now, I think. Also make sure you get H24 receivers and HR24 or HR34 DVRs; the older ones are noticeably slower and less responsive.

Thanks for the info.

See this is my problem. I'M DONE being a beta tester for companies then left stuck with a partially working device since they're off working on the next one already. This reminds me of the clunky STB's timewarner had. Heck, ALL of the cable systems have crap boxes and antiquated software to boot.

U-verse has a nice interface, and the multi-room DVR is well thought out. It's so well done all of the STB boxes act just like the DVR does. The only quirk with non-dvr boxes is you have to wait 5-10 seconds after changing channels to be able to pause live TV.

[SiGGy]

Uverse cannot compete with either Fios or DirecTV. The only service that offers better PQ than DirecTV...is Verizon Fios. Uverse is at the bottom of the barrel for most of the country.

If you're only focused on picture quality, sure.

But feature wise, and channel line up U-verse has both of them beat. Comcast's on-demand is mighty impressive; their library is nuts. It's the one thing U-verse can't compete with.

I look forward to the day where someone delivers a IPTV based fiber or coax service to the house. Verizon's FIOS (cable over fiber) is neat, but it's still DOCSIS cable service. Hopefully someone puts together a high quality IPTV system one of these days...

Google is running fiber around KC, but no TV service.

[SiGGy]

lol, so fiancee watched a video of that 5 tuner receiver (HR34) with HD guide. She's sold. I'm going to schedule an install soon.

[Black Ops]

lol, so fiancee watched a video of that 5 tuner receiver (HR34) with HD guide. She's sold. I'm going to schedule an install soon.

Sounds good! Partner up with an existing customer here and you will get the $10 discount for 12 months.

[Breaks]

Well, Direct TV has been installed (on Saturday), 1 HD DVR, 3 HD and 2 Standard boxes (big family) with the GT50 taking the HD DVR. The install took much longer than anticipated but the installer did a decent job; he arrived at 11am ish and left around 5pm. I have only watched a few hours, flipping through sports (soccer, baseball, basketball), movies and news and so far I have noticed a better picture on my GT50. My one gripe was watching the NBA Finals on the set, with TWC the picture looked like a blown up SD version. I had a chance to catch a playback of the game on NBA TV HD and some issues are still there like blurry backgrounds with close ups and snowy darks but it's not as intense as it was on TWC. The GT50 definitely produces a soft picture and is noticeable to me much more now with DTV but I'd rather have the soft decent looking picture than a pixelated, grainy snowy mess that was TWC.

I do see improvement in some areas and I'm pretty satisfied with the picture and DTV service. I will now enjoy my GT50, woot! NFL Sunday Ticket was included in my package.

[MDRiggs]

U-verse has a nice interface, and the multi-room DVR is well thought out. It's so well done all of the STB boxes act just like the DVR does.

That's nice. If DirecTV had that, I'd go with one HR34 and H24s in the rest of the rooms. As it is, I like having a couple of DVRs situated in the rooms where I mostly care about being able to pause live TV.

[MDRiggs]

The GT50 definitely produces a soft picture and is noticeable to me much more now with DTV but I'd rather have the soft decent looking picture than a pixelated, grainy snowy mess that was TWC.

Do you have the DTV box set to Native output? That will probably give better results, other than slower channel changes, than letting the box do the conversions. My experience has been that the techs tend to set them for 1080i output.

[Breaks]

Yup, DTV box is set to Native output.

Check out this pic I took of my Xbox 360 white background and logo start up. I've notice this similar problem when watching HD television with certain transition and when watching movies. I tried to explain it in another forum or thread but with my 360, I was able to capture a screen easily.

Can anyone explain what's going on with the picture? Is it normal?



Using Katz settings but have also noticed this with "Game" setting.

Picture mode: Custom
Contrast: +76
Brightness: +59
Color: +45
Tint: +1
Sharpness: 0
Color temp: Warm 2
Color mgmt: Off [grayed out]
C.A.T.S.: Off
Video NR: Off

-- Pro settings submenu
Color space: Normal
W/B high R: +8
W/B high G: +2
W/B high B: +1
W/B low R: +2
W/B low G: -3
W/B low B: +2
Black extension: 0
Gamma adjustment: 2.6
Panel brightness: Mid
Contour emphasis: Off
AGC: 0

-- Aspect adjustments submenu
Screen format: Full
HD size: Size 2
H size: [grayed out]
Zoom adjustments: [grayed out]

-- HDMI settings: [no change from default]

--Advanced picture submenu
3D Y/C filter: Off [grayed out]
Color matrix: HD [grayed out]
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Motion smoother: Off
Black level: Light
3:2 pulldown: On
24p Direct in: 60Hz

[MDRiggs]

Posterization, or banding. Could be the TV (limited color gradations), or it could be baked into the signal. Usually can be minimized with proper calibration, but you may still see it from time to time, especially (and obviously) if it's in the signal itself.

[SiGGy]

Yup, DTV box is set to Native output.

Check out this pic I took of my Xbox 360 white background and logo start up. I've notice this similar problem when watching HD television with certain transition and when watching movies. I tried to explain it in another forum or thread but with my 360, I was able to capture a screen easily.

Can anyone explain what's going on with the picture? Is it normal?



Using Katz settings but have also noticed this with "Game" setting.

Picture mode: Custom
Contrast: +76
Brightness: +59
Color: +45
Tint: +1
Sharpness: 0
Color temp: Warm 2
Color mgmt: Off [grayed out]
C.A.T.S.: Off
Video NR: Off

-- Pro settings submenu
Color space: Normal
W/B high R: +8
W/B high G: +2
W/B high B: +1
W/B low R: +2
W/B low G: -3
W/B low B: +2
Black extension: 0
Gamma adjustment: 2.6
Panel brightness: Mid
Contour emphasis: Off
AGC: 0

-- Aspect adjustments submenu
Screen format: Full
HD size: Size 2
H size: [grayed out]
Zoom adjustments: [grayed out]

-- HDMI settings: [no change from default]

--Advanced picture submenu
3D Y/C filter: Off [grayed out]
Color matrix: HD [grayed out]
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Motion smoother: Off
Black level: Light
3:2 pulldown: On
24p Direct in: 60Hz

Hard to say i've never seen that specific video pattern before on my VT50. It does look awfully grainy, but it could be normal for the display and that complex pattern. Hard to say without being able to reproduce it on my TV. See if you have some pics you can put on an SD card you put in the TV and get the same results (dont forget to adjust the SD card pic viewing mode). Take a pic (with a better camera) and post them. Also attach the pics you used on the SD card in the post. I (or anyone) can then take some shots from a TV to compare with.