Re: First time subscriber... not happy with DirecTV picture quality.

Jeff wrote:
>   We just had DirecTV installed in our home and one word... terrible. 
> Our picture quality looks like, at best, a poor VCD.  I've tried 
> adjusting the settings our televisions(a 13", 27", and 32") but I just 
> can't get a decent picture even though our signal strength is ~90.

I was surprised by this same thing.  Some people claim a wonderful 
picture with DirecTV, but for the last 18 months I've subscribed, it 
just isn't true.  The problem is on DirecTV's end.  It has to do with 
overcompression.  It's mostly visible on cartoon channels, but the 
problems are visible on every channel.  Smooth lap-dissolves are beyond 
DirecTV's current compression scheme.  Fade-outs have turned into blocky 
blip-outs.  Hard edges, such as the outlines of cartoons, "ring" with 
noise that resembles that of a badly compressed JPEG still image.

The signal is clean as can be.  My signal strength is 95 and higher. 
Unfortunately, this amounts to wonderfully clear digital mush.  Local 
cable has almost exactly the opposite problem.  The apparent resolution 
of broadcast images is greater and there are far less compression 
artifacts than on DirecTV, but the cable signal is noisier.  It looks 
much sharper, but with some slight snow.

At its worst DirecTV looks EXACTLY like a poor VCD.