West Coast HD Feeds Unacceptable - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

BLT · 2010-01-03, 01:53 PM

Watching the Steelers and Miami game on CBS west and Giants/Vikings on Fox west and the stuttering/jerky video drives me crazy,to the point that I cannot watch it. I also checked out ABC west and the same thing. I know this has been brought up before and I'm sure SD will say its not their fault but I dont buy it.

My brother in law has Bell, and I have seen first hand he does not have this problem on the west coast feeds.

Any body else seeing this or is just me. I'm going to contact SD about it,but I pretty much know they will just reply with some canned response. Has anyone else contacted them about this?

BTW I have a 530 and 2 505's.

QCK · 2010-01-03, 02:34 PM

No problem for me with the HD West feeds. Maybe your dish needs to be aligned better. Check your Ecb strength (Options 6 4 7 - Tuner 1) and see what it says compared to other HD channels you have no problems with.

Starbudder · 2010-01-03, 02:57 PM

Same here, no problem on the west FOX HD feed for the Vikings Giant game for me...

BLT · 2010-01-03, 03:01 PM

No its not that. Signal strengths are 96 and Ecb/No #'s are 8.6 and 8.9 on the tuners.

QCK · 2010-01-03, 03:52 PM

Call Shaw Direct, have a chat with the technical group. Maybe you LNB is going flaky.

bigoranget · 2010-01-03, 04:38 PM

I've always found the reception on the west feeds to be problematic at times, especially NBC and FOX (FOX being the worst).

shawdirect · 2010-01-03, 07:32 PM

A long while back it was FoxHD west and then it became the west network feeds(all). I have mentioned this before elsewhere and had very little response. I actually believe that some people are not sensitive to losing a few frames and a "stuttering" picture. It has happening to more than you and me, but a lot don't seem to mind. I had the dish aimed and system checked out a couple of weeks ago. I have talked to customer service in the past and recently. Customer service seems to not have a clue.
My signal strength is very good now but nothing changed at all. It certainly did not improve a thing when it was re-aimed, except the strength indicated.
My LNB was also replaced by the guy because it was old and a brand that has had problems. No improvement.

In the past they blamed it on my UPS "causing voltage fluctuations"!!!!

My 4x8 switch .. I changed coax around and still no difference. I avoid the West feeds like the plague but sometimes 2 things to record are on at once.

I have 2 530's and a 505.

BLT · 2010-01-03, 07:58 PM

Yea shawdirect,thats exactly it. It happens every 20 to 30 seconds and it is a framerate issue.
Some people may not notice it, but if you do its a real pain. Its the exact same thing as many people were having when their tvs could not handle 1080p 24 correctly when watching Blurays.

My problem is that it is only on the west coast hd feeds. I have not had this on any other feeds.

ae_collector · 2010-01-03, 10:24 PM

I have been noticing this for awhile now as well. I haven't pinned it down to HD West feeds only but that is because I primarily watch the west feeds rather than east.

I just came back from my cabin where I have seperate dish, LNB, receivers and No multiswitch as compared to my equipment I have at home with a multiswitch. I noticed the same problem at the cabin as at home.

I replaced both LNB's (Home & cabin) about a year ago due to a different problem.

I completely rewired the cabin this past summer with new home run feeds from LNB to wall plate at each receiver location.

I have good signals at home and at the cabin. Therefore, I don't think it is an equipment or dish alignment problem in my case.

ralph_sinclair · 2010-01-04, 08:23 AM

I don't doubt that you guys are seeing the stuttering. What output resolution are you set to? Is is 720p, 1080i, or passthrough?

I thought the Steelers-Dolphins game sunday afternoon was soft on the west CBS HD feed. The CTV HD game (pats-texans) looked better, and when CTV switched to the end of the dolphins game, that looked better on CTV. The soft picture on CBS West HD for the Dolphins-Steelers game could be something with the affiliate though.

QCK · 2010-01-04, 11:24 AM

ralph, it can't be the affiliate if the majority of us are not experiencing the problem.

CanaDawg · 2010-01-04, 01:46 PM

I did notice the sound was choppy at the start of the football game last night but it seemed to fix itself I was watching NBC HD East though.

Don't Bell and Rogers compress more than ShawDirect? I saw Rogers HD not long ago. Didn't look as good.

Tazguy · 2010-01-04, 04:15 PM

Hi, I notice about once per min (could be wrong with timing) there seems to be a frame jump and once in a while, the sound goes too for 1 sec. I thought it was the PVR (530) but after reading these posts, now I know. A lot of people would not notice this if they are not watching sports or fast moving programs.

CanaDawg · 2010-01-04, 10:41 PM

Tazguy I believe you will find a long thread in here on ShawDirect audio dropouts.

2010-01-03, 01:53 PM	#1
BLT Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Ancaster Posts: 143	West Coast HD Feeds Unacceptable Watching the Steelers and Miami game on CBS west and Giants/Vikings on Fox west and the stuttering/jerky video drives me crazy,to the point that I cannot watch it. I also checked out ABC west and the same thing. I know this has been brought up before and I'm sure SD will say its not their fault but I dont buy it. My brother in law has Bell, and I have seen first hand he does not have this problem on the west coast feeds. Any body else seeing this or is just me. I'm going to contact SD about it,but I pretty much know they will just reply with some canned response. Has anyone else contacted them about this? BTW I have a 530 and 2 505's.

2010-01-03, 07:32 PM	#7
shawdirect Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 63	A long while back it was FoxHD west and then it became the west network feeds(all). I have mentioned this before elsewhere and had very little response. I actually believe that some people are not sensitive to losing a few frames and a "stuttering" picture. It has happening to more than you and me, but a lot don't seem to mind. I had the dish aimed and system checked out a couple of weeks ago. I have talked to customer service in the past and recently. Customer service seems to not have a clue. My signal strength is very good now but nothing changed at all. It certainly did not improve a thing when it was re-aimed, except the strength indicated. My LNB was also replaced by the guy because it was old and a brand that has had problems. No improvement. In the past they blamed it on my UPS "causing voltage fluctuations"!!!! My 4x8 switch .. I changed coax around and still no difference. I avoid the West feeds like the plague but sometimes 2 things to record are on at once. I have 2 530's and a 505. Last edited by shawdirect; 2010-01-04 at 03:11 AM.

2010-01-04, 08:23 AM	#10
ralph_sinclair Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 420	something to try I don't doubt that you guys are seeing the stuttering. What output resolution are you set to? Is is 720p, 1080i, or passthrough? I thought the Steelers-Dolphins game sunday afternoon was soft on the west CBS HD feed. The CTV HD game (pats-texans) looked better, and when CTV switched to the end of the dolphins game, that looked better on CTV. The soft picture on CBS West HD for the Dolphins-Steelers game could be something with the affiliate though. Last edited by ralph_sinclair; 2010-01-04 at 12:16 PM. Reason: clarification for QCK

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2010-01-03, 02:34 PM	#2
QCK Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,139	No problem for me with the HD West feeds. Maybe your dish needs to be aligned better. Check your Ecb strength (Options 6 4 7 - Tuner 1) and see what it says compared to other HD channels you have no problems with.

2010-01-03, 02:57 PM	#3
Starbudder Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Squamish, BC Posts: 125	Same here, no problem on the west FOX HD feed for the Vikings Giant game for me...

2010-01-03, 03:01 PM	#4
BLT Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Ancaster Posts: 143	No its not that. Signal strengths are 96 and Ecb/No #'s are 8.6 and 8.9 on the tuners.

2010-01-03, 03:52 PM	#5
QCK Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,139	Call Shaw Direct, have a chat with the technical group. Maybe you LNB is going flaky.

2010-01-03, 04:38 PM	#6
bigoranget Veteran Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Hamilton Posts: 2,938	I've always found the reception on the west feeds to be problematic at times, especially NBC and FOX (FOX being the worst).

2010-01-03, 07:58 PM	#8
BLT Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Ancaster Posts: 143	Yea shawdirect,thats exactly it. It happens every 20 to 30 seconds and it is a framerate issue. Some people may not notice it, but if you do its a real pain. Its the exact same thing as many people were having when their tvs could not handle 1080p 24 correctly when watching Blurays. My problem is that it is only on the west coast hd feeds. I have not had this on any other feeds.

2010-01-03, 10:24 PM	#9
ae_collector Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Coquitlam BC Posts: 595	I have been noticing this for awhile now as well. I haven't pinned it down to HD West feeds only but that is because I primarily watch the west feeds rather than east. I just came back from my cabin where I have seperate dish, LNB, receivers and No multiswitch as compared to my equipment I have at home with a multiswitch. I noticed the same problem at the cabin as at home. I replaced both LNB's (Home & cabin) about a year ago due to a different problem. I completely rewired the cabin this past summer with new home run feeds from LNB to wall plate at each receiver location. I have good signals at home and at the cabin. Therefore, I don't think it is an equipment or dish alignment problem in my case.

2010-01-04, 11:24 AM	#11
QCK Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,139	ralph, it can't be the affiliate if the majority of us are not experiencing the problem.

2010-01-04, 01:46 PM	#12
CanaDawg Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 173	I did notice the sound was choppy at the start of the football game last night but it seemed to fix itself I was watching NBC HD East though. Don't Bell and Rogers compress more than ShawDirect? I saw Rogers HD not long ago. Didn't look as good.

2010-01-04, 04:15 PM	#13
Tazguy Rookie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 29	Hi, I notice about once per min (could be wrong with timing) there seems to be a frame jump and once in a while, the sound goes too for 1 sec. I thought it was the PVR (530) but after reading these posts, now I know. A lot of people would not notice this if they are not watching sports or fast moving programs.

2010-01-04, 10:41 PM	#14
CanaDawg Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 173	Tazguy I believe you will find a long thread in here on ShawDirect audio dropouts.