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pparks1
join:2002-01-01
Westland, MI

pparks1

Member

2012 Olympics HD quality on WOW

So, after watching the Olympics on WOW these past 2 weeks, I've been fairly disappointed in the picture quality. Has anybody else noticed lots of issues with the video quality?

For example, last night, during the finals of the mens 10m diving, it seems like at about the 1/2 way point of each dive, the screen would pixelate and literally tear a bit in the center. It happened on nearly every single dive that I watched.

But most of my other HD channels look like they normally do and it's satisfactory to me.

Puremin0rez
join:2012-02-22

Puremin0rez

Member

To be completely honest, most of the digital / hd channels are like this on a frequent basis in my entire house for me. We've had a tech out a few times and it's "network issues on wows side" i guess.

Fox and ABC usually have alot of problems around here.

Whatever I guess, can't complain too much for the price we're paying.
pargoff
join:2006-07-05
Canton, MI

pargoff

Member

You can AND SHOULD complain. Just because the pricing is better,doesn't mean WOW should get a free pass for poor service or PQ.
adymax
join:2012-03-14
Rolling Meadows, IL

adymax

Member

I only watch HD channels (SD channels are absolute and I don’t understand why companies advertise them- that’s another story) and I watched the closing ceremony last night. A lot of pixilation. WOW said they took care of this but it looks the same to me. Now it looks that only some local channels do this or maybe I’m wrong and all do. I opened another some time ago about this: »Pixilation and freezing
timf2
join:2012-01-09
Plymouth, MI

timf2 to pparks1

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to pparks1
I've grown so accustomed to it that I don't even notice it anymore. Satellite has the same type of picture quality breakups. I'm not sure if there is a service that offers perfect signal quality. Is Comcast really any better?
09129800 (banned)
join:2012-06-27
New York, NY

09129800 (banned)

Member

There is, and it's called the BBC. All 24 BBC Olympics HD networks were 10-15 Mbps 1080i H.264 on the Astra satellite. No compression problems there.

OP, the problem you are experiencing is the problem every American was experiencing. As most of the NBC networks are distributed to the end consumer on every provider as MPEG-2, or in AT&T, Dish, and DirecTV's case, very low bitrate H.264, no provider is immune from compression artifacts.

MPEG-2 is still disgustingly common in the United States and you will be suffering from these problems until cable companies like WOW! start rolling out extended H.264 support and broadcasters start sending WOW! H.264 signals at good bitrates. This is not all WOW!'s fault.
pparks1
join:2002-01-01
Westland, MI

pparks1

Member

Thanks for the responses guys. To, "RainbowDash" i figured it was the case that the feed wasn't that good to begin with, but I could also swear that the signals at some of the restaurants and bars that I went to for lunch had vastly better pictures. Maybe it was just because I wasn't watching those diving events where I saw the problem repeatedly.
09129800 (banned)
join:2012-06-27
New York, NY

09129800 (banned)

Member

Restaurants and bars typically have the brightness and contrast settings on their TVs cranked waaaay up and you're sitting farther away from the screen which helps to mask compression problems.

If they were using DirecTV as their provider there is a possibility that the H.264 was enough to prevent noticeable macroblocking - but as DirecTV's H.264 is such a low bitrate all fine detail would be washed away. Fine detail is something which wouldn't really be noticeable in a typical bar setting either.

mix
join:2002-03-19
Romeo, MI
GL.iNet GL-B1300
Netgear CM500

mix to pparks1

Member

to pparks1
I often have this problem while watching AMC. The kicker is, if i switch the channel to some other then switch back, or totally reset the cable box by doing a power cycle, the problem will go away for a while. Obviously, switching the channel and switching back is a much quicker fix. I am starting to doubt the scientific atlanta/cisco cable boxes as much I used to doubt the quality/encoding of the HD signal broadcast by WOW.
clocks11
join:2002-05-06
00000

clocks11 to pparks1

Member

to pparks1
Ever since the digital "upgrade", I've had issues with pixelation. So do my parents, and my aunt/uncle. Seems to be pretty normal for WOW tv.
adymax
join:2012-03-14
Rolling Meadows, IL

adymax

Member

It’s interesting how WOW always says they are working to fix this problem and it never gets fixed. Next they blame something near our houses and they want to send out a technician. I don’t understand how wow thinks this is an isolated problem when everyone of us is having it.
pparks1
join:2002-01-01
Westland, MI

pparks1

Member

My channel with the most problems is the Discovery channel. Some nights, it's breaking up so bad that it's downright unwatchable. Often times, a complete reboot of my cable box fixes the issue. All other channels are usually alright.

slyphoxj
join:2002-06-23
united state

slyphoxj to pparks1

Member

to pparks1
Channel 208 (ION) was out for a while here in Cleveland a few days ago (at least for me).

I often get pixelation and audio stutter on various channels 210-299... never seem to have any problems on the broadcast network stations (channels 200-209).
NuclearXP9
join:2012-04-12
Trenton, MI

NuclearXP9 to pparks1

Member

to pparks1
Now that football season is starting I'm really starting to get annoyed. Friends and family that generally couldn't care less are noticing the pixellation especially around the score boxes. I'll call in tomorrow and see what they say.