Re: Uverse's HD is horrible and needs to be addressed ASAP

captjhamine · ‎07-13-2008

Hi wbdotcom,

I am a Video Engineer and I have seen the artifacting you mentioned. I have seen it at home with my Comcast Receiver, and I have seen it at work at the station. This artifacting is usually the result of the HD Standard conversion. The reason some customers see and some don't, generally depends on the native HD Standard of the TV, or the converter used.

For instance I see it because my Comcast SA receiver outputs 1080i and my TV is 720p. If my TV were 1080i, I would probably not see it (unless the original program was shot and edited in 720p). I have also seen that some converters do a better job than others. Maybe your Charter box was doing the conversion from 720p or 1080i to 1080p and the signal looked cleaner.

The thing is, even some professional grade converters still have issues. Since this technology is still new to everyone (including the broadcasters), it may still be a while before all the bugs are worked out. If everyone could have been on the same page from the beginning, maybe things would loook better.

DetroitWind · ‎10-22-2007

It's not possible for a broadcasted 1080i/720p to be converted to 1080p. No one can watch anything on television in 1080p

jmmarton · ‎02-16-2008

DetroitWind wrote:
It's not possible for a broadcasted 1080i/720p to be converted to 1080p. No one can watch anything on television in 1080p

Um, sure, anything can be upconverted to 1080p. And anyone with a 1080p TV can watch 1080p programming.

Joe

Freebird_1 · ‎12-01-2007

i have a 37 inch toshiba and a 32 inch panasonic hd .and my pictures are great on both tvs i use hdmi on both had component cable on one of them but switched it picture is so much clearer with hdmi cable

wbdotcom · ‎07-03-2008

captjhamine wrote:
Hi wbdotcom,

I am a Video Engineer and I have seen the artifact you mentioned. I have seen it at home with my Comcast Receiver, and I have seen it at work at the station. This artifact is usually the result of the HD Standard conversion. The reason some customers see and some don't, generally depends on the native HD Standard of the TV, or the converter used.

For instance I see it because my Comcast SA receiver outputs 1080i and my TV is 720p. If my TV were 1080i, I would probably not see it (unless the original program was shot and edited in 720p). I have also seen that some converters do a better job than others. Maybe your Charter box was doing the conversion from 720p or 1080i to 1080p and the signal looked cleaner.

The thing is, even some professional grade converters still have issues. Since this technology is still new to everyone (including the broadcasters), it may still be a while before all the bugs are worked out. If everyone could have been on the same page from the beginning, maybe things would loook better.

you are totally right. that is the main reason why i waited so long to take the HDTV plunge in the first place, there are no standards

i actually see little (if any) difference with the uverse STB output at 720p or 1080i, so it's hard to say that its the conversion, though it obviously could be. i see the same artifacts on a friend's 44" DLP. i dont really know what the casue is - as you say, it could be a resolution conversion issue, it could be a decompression issue, or who knows. the STB for charter could be set to output the native resolution of the signal, so it would change from 480i/p, 720p or 1080i depending on the channel. i dont have any beef with a STB that is capable converting resolutions, but there is something more philisophically more satisfying with haveing few things in the chain, especially if they are ultimately redundant.

BeeBeeSA · ‎06-26-2009

I had Dish w/HD before I got UV. After my install in March '08 I noticed a difference right away with the UV HD picture compared to what I was getting with Dish. I asked the installer if it looked right to him and he told me that was it and that was that. I remember when Dish came out to connect the HD and they installed a new outside dish, the receivers, and then left. The HD was horrible. Luckily I had a buddy that works for Dish and he came back out and aligned the dish so that the HD satellite had the best strength versus the other two. With that said it seems to me that UV should be able to pump up the signal strength somehow to get rid of the current flaws some people are experiencing. I did some adjusting on my TV and have the picture almost as good as it was with dish but it is still not as good, I'll call it acceptable. Before any adjustments I had the same issues WBdot is experiencing. It took me a week to finally tweak my picture settings to get things close to what I had.

"If you find this post helpful and it solved your issue please mark it as a solution. This will help other forum members locate it and will also let everyone know that it corrected your problem. If they have the same issue they will know how to solve theirs"

wbdotcom · ‎07-03-2008

bb

what types of tweaking did you do? i have played with the onboard tv options like noise reduction, no mosquito, and things of that sort. i have also messed with contrast, brightness, color, etc but all to no avail. both techs that saw what i saw said "it is what it is" and that was it. i agree that the HD is acceptible most of the time. i feel like my signal strength is good, as the numbers i posted earlier were of sufficient order. i think as soon as i get my rebates from my phone purchase and sign on bonus, ill go back to charter. believe me, this is very much a last resort. i loathe charter, their practices and their incompetence, but they have a superior product, and it kills me to admit that.

BeeBeeSA · ‎06-26-2009

Sorry for the delay in responding wb. On my Sony KDL-40XBR3 I adjusted the black light level, color temp level, black correction level (seemed to get rid of the cloudy images or artifacts on HD in the background), clear white level, white balance, noise reduction, and gamma level. It was a slow process since I changed only one at a time so as not to change something and not remember which one corrected the issue at the time. I started writing down which one looked best at the time and then experimented with added them until I came up with what looked the best. Since all broadcasts are not the same I tried this during NASCAR races which I know are shot in HD and are long enough to allow me to tweak things. They also have very bright colors on the cars so that helped also.

With out me looking back what kind of TV do you have? Allot of my changes were made in the advanced area of the menu.

"If you find this post helpful and it solved your issue please mark it as a solution. This will help other forum members locate it and will also let everyone know that it corrected your problem. If they have the same issue they will know how to solve theirs"

eldookae · ‎07-20-2008

I just signed up for uverse myself, moved over from charter and I have to agree, the HD quality is aweful on both my 1080p sets, charters HD was fantastic. I can put a standard DVD in and it looks better than the HD I get from uverse. If this is all they have to offer for HD quality my uverse experience will be a very short one.

CGI_1 · ‎07-29-2008

Its interesting that we have all moved over from Charter.

I just had U-Verse installed a month ago and I kept Charters service so that I can compare the HD quality. Charter's HD is much better. Charter wins hands down in this category. I am still on the fence on whether I will stay with U-Verse. I like everything else about them, but I have multiple HD tv's and all I watch is HD programming. I have tried component cables, HDMI, I have had techs over to check out the signal and they swear everything looks fine. The pixelation and macro shifting is subtle but once you notice it, it is always there. Im a bit frustrated, but Im not sure anything can be done about it. Im hoping new codecs will be released or I will wake up one day and it wil magically be better. I dont want to go back to Charter but it seems inevitable.

wbdotcom · ‎07-03-2008

CGI wrote:
Its interesting that we have all moved over from Charter.

I just had U-Verse installed a month ago and I kept Charters service so that I can compare the HD quality. Charter's HD is much better. Charter wins hands down in this category. I am still on the fence on whether I will stay with U-Verse. I like everything else about them, but I have multiple HD tv's and all I watch is HD programming. I have tried component cables, HDMI, I have had techs over to check out the signal and they swear everything looks fine. The pixelation and macro shifting is subtle but once you notice it, it is always there. Im a bit frustrated, but Im not sure anything can be done about it. Im hoping new codecs will be released or I will wake up one day and it wil magically be better. I dont want to go back to Charter but it seems inevitable.

i only wish you would have replied sooner , that way i wouldn't have had to argue with the first few people about this. seems like there are now many folks who see the things i do. i, too, am still waiting to some improvement...

hopefully sooner than later.

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

You may want to check this out just to make sure your tv is calibrated correctly. FYI

WarriorNine · ‎07-30-2008

Wbdotcom,

I believe I am also experiencing the problem you have mentioned. Nearly every channel has some sort of shifting or stuttering of pixels. It's constant, more noticeable on some scenes (slower and non-moving) than others, but it's there. I noticed it on my HD set as well as my SD set. I think I read before that an easy way to tell, outside of looking at the edges of people/objects in a still scene is to watch smoke/water move. Every couple of seconds, the smoke/water will stutter or shift unnaturally - it's not a smooth flow. This is definitely true in my home as well.

That being stated, what is there to do about this? I have been in touch with AT&T and was told that this pixel stutter/shift thing, along with the sound issues, have been long standing problems that currently have no fix. I spent quite some time on the phone and ultimately had to schedule an in-home service for today. If there is no fix for these two issues, I think it's time to go back to Cox..for now. At least I didn't experience these issues with their service and HDMI/5.1 sound worked properly.

I am hopeful that something can be done to fix these video and audio problems because I like the other features of U-verse. However, if it can't address problems I didn't experience on 'old' cable technology, then it may be time to move on.

I just wanted to see if the problem I am noticing is similar to yours, as it seems so.

Thanks for posting!

wbdotcom · ‎07-03-2008

WarriorNine wrote:
Wbdotcom,

I believe I am also experiencing the problem you have mentioned. Nearly every channel has some sort of shifting or stuttering of pixels. It's constant, more noticeable on some scenes (slower and non-moving) than others, but it's there. I noticed it on my HD set as well as my SD set. I think I read before that an easy way to tell, outside of looking at the edges of people/objects in a still scene is to watch smoke/water move. Every couple of seconds, the smoke/water will stutter or shift unnaturally - it's not a smooth flow. This is definitely true in my home as well.

That being stated, what is there to do about this? I have been in touch with AT&T and was told that this pixel stutter/shift thing, along with the sound issues, have been long standing problems that currently have no fix. I spent quite some time on the phone and ultimately had to schedule an in-home service for today. If there is no fix for these two issues, I think it's time to go back to Cox..for now. At least I didn't experience these issues with their service and HDMI/5.1 sound worked properly.

I am hopeful that something can be done to fix these video and audio problems because I like the other features of U-verse. However, if it can't address problems I didn't experience on 'old' cable technology, then it may be time to move on.

I just wanted to see if the problem I am noticing is similar to yours, as it seems so.

Thanks for posting!

you are experienceing the exact same things that I and others are. let me know what the tech says, because the techs that have come to my house have told me that there is no fix, like the folks on the phone told you.

keep us posted, hopefully a fix will come soon

WarriorNine · ‎07-30-2008

I will let you know what I find out. The tech should be here in about 30 minutes.

In the few moments I spoke with him, he did confirm the sound issues are known. He wasn't so sure about the video, but I will show him and we'll go from there.

billmich · ‎07-25-2008

wbdotcom wrote:

And how about letting the STB output the native resolution of the signal instead of making it 720p or 1080i?

amen to that, let me watch espn-HD in 720P and cbs-hd in 1080I, and let the SD stuff thru at 480I so either my outboard scaler can work its magic, or my tv's stretch modes can be utilized

billmich · ‎07-25-2008

skeeterintexas wrote:

Dunno what your screen name is on UU. I'm skeeter over there too. MOST users over there are on the most part happy with the service.

please enlighten me as to what UU is please

thanks in advance

Pip_2 · ‎09-30-2007

billmich wrote:
skeeterintexas wrote:

Dunno what your screen name is on UU. I'm skeeter over there too. MOST users over there are on the most part happy with the service.
please enlighten me as to what UU is please

thanks in advance

The unofficial Uverse site.

http://www.uverseusers.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,2/

WarriorNine · ‎07-30-2008

Wbdotcom and others experiencing this pixelation problem..

The tech just left a few minutes ago. He observed the problem and agreed that it was unacceptable. Unfortunately, he did not feel he could do anything about it, aside from contact his supervisor.

Before he left, the tech did switch out my RG. This did nothing, unfortunately, so he said he will pass all the information along to his supervisor. I let him know that my keeping this service hinges on what can or cannot be done about this issue. I told him I'd wait a week and if I didn't hear back, I was done with this service. Beyond that, even if I do hear back and the answer is "nothing can be done" or something similar, I'm done.

With this pixelation issue, no 5.1/sound issues, HDMI issues, it's tough to decide if going back to Cox is a good choice or if I should look into Directv or Dish.

At any rate, I just wanted to post this update - unknown cause - all things look great regarding my lines, connection, and all that. I'll wait on this supervisor to get back to me, then I'll post that information too.

CGI_1 · ‎07-29-2008

The tech that came over two days ago also and changed out my RG. He also asked me to use component cables. The HD picture appears to be softer with component cables and it does help drown out the pixelation , but the caveat is the HD is not as crisp. And since my receiver only has one TOS link hookup (xbox is connected to it) I had to purchase a TOS to digital coax coverter just to get decent sound.

He told me to monitor my stats for a few days and get back to him. I still average about 100,000 corrected blocks per day and about 1,000 uncorrected blocks. Im running everythiing with coax and three techs have told me that the connection and output to the stb's all look "good". I am about 1900 ft from the vrad and I wonder is this has something to do with it. The next options are taking a closer look at the lines outside the house. I want to repolace everything with cat5 inside but the tech didnt want to go there. Ill keep you posted on my status as well.

Message Edited by CGI on 07-30-2008 04:29 PM

randyl · ‎10-25-2007

CGI wrote:
The tech that came over two days ago also and changed out my RG. He also asked me to use component cables. The HD picture appears to be softer with component cables and it does help drown out the pixelation , but the caveat is the HD is not as crisp. And since my receiver only has one TOS link hookup (xbox is connected to it) I had to purchase a TOS to digital coax coverter just to get decent sound.

He told me to monitor my stats for a few days and get back to him. I still average about 100,000 corrected blocks per day and about 1,000 uncorrected blocks. Im running everythiing with coax and three techs have told me that the connection and output to the stb's all look "good". I am about 1900 ft from the vrad and I wonder is this has something to do with it. The next options are taking a closer look at the lines outside the house. I want to repolace everything with cat5 inside but the tech didnt want to go there. Ill keep you posted on my status as well.
Message Edited by CGI on 07-30-2008 04:29 PM

thats horse punkie ,, call at&t and or the tech back up and tell them to fix that period...

that is horrible !!!!!!!

my take

randy

WarriorNine · ‎07-30-2008

Update time!

I spoke with a supervisor earlier today, who stated that neither the pixelation nor the sound issues are likely to be resolved anytime soon. Apparently, the sound level issue is being addressed, but the shifting pixel problem is a compression issue that has no estimate on when it may be fixed. The supervisor was very nice and understanding. He offered me a deal to stay with AT&T and serve as somewhat of a 'tester' for these issues. Sadly, no offers are going to keep my business with an unfinished product. As I mentioned before, if you take this pixel problem, sound level problem, HDMI problem, and who knows what all together, then it's just not worth it.

I wish I had better news to report, but for those of you hoping the pixelation and sound problems were going to be fixed, don't hold your breath. As this supervisor said, it might be a long time.

It is a shame, since I really like most of the U-Verse features. If these issues are totally resolved one day, I'll gladly take another look. For now, it's back to Cox..

randyl · ‎10-25-2007

pretty good pic and sound at my house... not having sounds problems other than the loud commercials etc..

I do not even try to use hdmi as it only 1080i so components work just fine for us...

sorry u dont get a good picture at your house .. but your call for sure..

my take

randy

spd2demun · ‎07-28-2007

Hope you enjoy your Cable, and the constant price increases/poor service that go along with it.

Cable couldn't make me a good enough offer to come back, even with their Wii offer, even if it were free!

Message Edited by spd2demun on 08-02-2008 10:17 AM

gofer6064 · ‎07-30-2007

I watched the Colts-Redskins game today in HD, (channel 11 San Jose Ca channel 3 u-verse) i had a great HD picture on both tv's clean, clear, crisp, sharp, with no macroblocking, or pixelation or any problems of any kind, 37 inch LG LCD, 46 inch Samsung DLP, the picture on the Samsung wasn't quite as good as on the LG due to the fact the sammy needs some work done on it (new light engine) i have watched quite a bit of HD programing lately and have had no problems to speak of, although next week during the olympics will tell the tale as i am planning on watching a lot of the events will post more then.

lakerfan_1 · ‎07-26-2008

I'm glad I found this thread. I have had the exact same problem with HD.

Unfortuneately, it sounds like there is nothing to fix it for now.

I also notice that I have high number of corrected blocks.

I contacted TS and had them come out several times. We have replaced the NID and splitter.

Had an I&R guy come out too.

My corrected blocks are still up there and the HD issue is still there.

I thought maybe the high number of corrected blocks were the source of the problem, but I don't that's the case.

I observed HD when I wasn't getting any corrected blocks and the problem is still there.

For those who have experienced the same problem, please update this thread with any news.

hdmaniac · ‎08-18-2008

i've had the same exact problems that many have mentioned here with my HD picture. In my area (St. Louis) the HD quality simply does not compare to Charter's. I even hate to say that. I actually can't believe i just said something good about charter. I was so happy to leave for att when they came to my area, but i can see no other alternative but to go back to charter. and trust me, i've had three techs out to my house and have been on the phone with att for hours. they finally admitted to me recently (they meaning two techs and three tier two people) that i actually wasn't insane and the picture isn't what it should be, but they're working on it. i can't believe i'm going to go back to charter, but i see no other alternative. (and i haven't even mentioned the internet problems i've been having too!) Good luck to all with similar problems.

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

lakerfan wrote:

I'm glad I found this thread. I have had the exact same problem with HD.
Unfortuneately, it sounds like there is nothing to fix it for now.
I also notice that I have high number of corrected blocks.
I contacted TS and had them come out several times. We have replaced the NID and splitter.
Had an I&R guy come out too.
My corrected blocks are still up there and the HD issue is still there.
I thought maybe the high number of corrected blocks were the source of the problem, but I don't that's the case.
I observed HD when I wasn't getting any corrected blocks and the problem is still there.

For those who have experienced the same problem, please update this thread with any news.

You need to call ts and tell them that you are still experiencing a high number of corrected blocks. There is a problem somewhere that they haven't located yet. You are a paying subscriber and don't let them say they can't find it. If they say they can't find it and your service is still bad, tell them so stop billing you for it until it clears up. They can do line tests right when you call them so this is unacceptable to send somebody out and you still have the same problem. Can you test your stats and copy and paste them so we can see? Here is the link, if you don't already have it.

http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=B04&THISPAGE=B01&NEXTPAGE=B04

hdmaniac · ‎08-18-2008

hey, my stats have always looked awesome and i have the same issues. for some of us, for what ever reason, our service is just bad.

wbdotcom · ‎07-03-2008

and just to reiterate what i have said earlier, its not always that bad. the artifacts are always there, but sometimes they are more noticable than others. well lit slow moving images look fantastic. lower light, faster movement and large portions of the screen having a slight color gradient look progressively worse. for example, the shiny cars on HD theatre's auto show look nearly flawless, as did a lot of the olympics, but the parts of openning ceremony where the floor performers were twirling those light sticks really fast looked absolutely awful. all i saw were massive blocks of digitization. as they slowed down, it got better. disturbed water (waves, splashes, etc) looks horrible, but cardinal baseball games, when FSN shows them in HD look really good.