Directv help

[unimatrixzer0]

I didn't really see a right section for this but i thought this was the best spot. Anyways, I was wondering for those of you who have directv if you could post a screen shot or 2 off of one of your disney channels.

lol, before you start laughing at me its because its easier for me to judge the level of pixelation and noise in the video because of their large logo in the lower left corner of the screen.

The reason is because I want to see if the package you have determines the amount of bandwidth you get which determines the quality of your video.

I have TOTAL CHOICE® PLUS with Local Channels, and all my channels have a fair amount of noise and pixelation at times even though my signal is at 98-100. It makes me want to switch back to analog cable which is what i had before. It was grainy, but atleast I didn't notice any pixelation or that much noise when I did caps. Which is the main reason I got satellite, because i was hoping for digital quality video for my tv captures.

[Happygolucky]

DirecTV (and DishNetwork) use a dynamic variable-bitrate compression algorithm which allocates more bandwidth according to certain parameters as well as video content. So, for example, a Pay-per-view high-action movie will have more bandwidth than an infomercial with little movement. Other than saying that Pay-per-view and premium channels (HBO, etc.) are afforded more bandwidth, DirecTV does not say what other parameters invoke higher bandwidth, though it is a pretty good guess that children's programming would most likely garner a bit less since children aren't that particular (and animation isn't that demanding comparably). I do know that "special programming", say something on "Discovery" (like the "Walking With Dinosaurs" special) or another channel, will get a bump in bandwidth, too. So, in simplistic terms, the amount of bandwidth depends on the channel and the content. The more "special", the more bandwidth. And it is variable within those parameters, so high-action scenes will get more than still images.

Analog cable gives you the same bandwidth for everything. Digital cable must use a similar system as the satellite providers, and in my opinion, does a less effective job of it here in Atlanta. I was extremely disappointed in the picture quality of the digital cable channels when I had that system. DirecTV is much better.

[unimatrixzer0]

I'm hoping its my wiring or the switch. I was talking to other people who had similar quality issues as myself, and one person who had hdtv had a terrible signal until they had their cables replaced. Then both their reg digital channels and hdtv channels got a considerable quality increase. Although someone else suspects its my switch. I mentioned to them that when the installer was here, he said the switch was abnormally burning hot and none of my recievers was getting a signal at the time either. It turned out it was because a grounding wiring was touching the dish or something so the switch might be damage which is why my video right now makes my analog cable look good.

If you want to see how bad I'm talking about check this out.

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=105468&st=0

I posted a pic off one of my channels there.