Does anyone else have or know the reason for the horrible picture on a hi-res. plasma with straight non-HD Satellite? It seems to artifact all over. Not sure if it is a bandwith problem with DirecTV or DishNet or the screen just needs to see a better signal and is showing you all the inperfections of the signal.

nope its them,cable and dvds look much better...clients say looking and satellite on HD rdy sets look like cartoons

The "artifacting" tends to be a little bit more noticable on plasma televisions. BUT - I have found it to be MUCH less evident on the latest Pioneer and Fujitsu models, specifically the Pioneer PDP-503CMX, and the Fujitsu PDS-5002.

Has anyone heard of a way to sharpen (maybe with some sort of video amplifier) the image?

The image is greatly improved using a HD DirecTV unit and connecting with professional grade HD cables. We used a PDP-503CMX and a Panasonic HD receiver with Canare HD cables and the image was not HD great, but very clean and acceptable. There needs to be an image scaler somewhere in the mix to produce an acceptable DSS signal on a plasma monitor. The Sony and the Panasonic both have one built in, and this greatly improves the image.

Rue:

I am not sure if I am misunderstanding your post, if so forgive me.

All plasma TV's have built in scalers, they have to in order to scale the picture to the plasma resolution. The quality of the internal scaler can vary based on the manufacturer, but they ALL have them.

Jason:

The main way that you would improve the video performance of a plasma TV is to use an outboard scaler that is better than the scaler that is used internally in the set. Ideally, the scaler should be able to scale to the native resolution of the plasma.

If you want to learn more, check out www.avsforum.com -there is tons of info on the subject there.

This message was edited by QQQ on 08/16/02 09:34.19.

I understand fully. I have already tried using a Farudja Line Scaler and a DVDO Doubler (for the hell of it). It didnt seem to do much. It seems the signal needs to be amplified or something. Oh well. Thanks for the link.

Got answers FYI. If anyone cares. It boils down to the compression rate of the Sat. Company. DirecTV uses a higher compression rate to squeeze more channels on thier 110 transponder. The solution I was given was to try DishNetwork. They use less compresion for better video. Who knows what is going to happen after the big merger though.

The Problem is DirecTV & Dish try to up convert an non HDTV signal to 1080i. It looks like crap !

The solution is to hook it up S-Video as well and
only switch to 1080i when watching a HD channel.

OK it's not a solution it's a work around....

sounds like your native rate of your plasma is only 720p and it doesn't like 1080i? what are the brands of your gear your trying to work with? some plasmas that have a native rate of 720p, don't like 1080i and give you some compression lines. it's a good idea to use an HD receiver that has a scaleable output for plasmas. If you can find one these days!

Pioneer plasmas run at 768 by 1280 native. All input signals that are not this resolution must be scaled to it. 1080i is scaled down, 480i is scaled up. Because the scaler has to "make up" lines in the later case the picture gets soft. When the source is a highly compressed DirecTv signal(not H.D.) the problem is worse. I have seen this in all digital Tvs to one extent or another. The 1984 Sony Profeel 25" monitor I use at the shop has an awesome picture compared to any H.D. set I have seen when viewing NON H.D. Sat signals.

So Phil, what would the native rate of that plasma be if they run at 768 by 1280?