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Appalling Picture Quality

Call a tech back out. Your area got hit hard last week with a storm, there were many downed trees, maybe something wasn't fixed properly?

That's something I hadn't thought of, although I didn't notice this up until last night.

I guess with those storms seemingly centered right over my house ( ) we could have had unusual damage but I thought that FIOS should have been unaffected (my Internet seems fine) as the wires are buried.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

reply to nlk10010
I live outside Philly, I've not had any of problems you've described. While I'm not happy with a lot of things Verizon has done lately, one thing I cannot complain about is the HD picture quality. It is terrific and far superior to what I had when I was with ComCrap (with the same TV's).

It think Matcarl is on to something.

Thanks, he may be, but I just checked my Internet speed and it's a solid 25/25.

Perhaps the problem will be gone when I get back to watching tonight.....otherwise, it will be a phone call to FIOS service.

And when I say "Appalling", I mean Appalling.

reply to nlk10010

"Fox News Effect", eh. Thanks, gotta remember that.

I used to basically just listen to Fox News until someone told me they had some hot babes er.....women holding down the fort. I didn't turn it on last night, though, probably just as well.

reply to nlk10010
Fios HD is not compressed, so in theory you should always have better PQ compared to any other HD provider out there right now. So something isn’t up to snuff with your setup.

-What kind of connection are you using to your HD STB? (HDMI or Component)

-How many times is your FiosTV signal split? (Make sure the connections are tight)

-Did you add any splitters of your own to any TVs in your home? (Only splitters provided by VZ should be used unless you know what you are doing)

-Have you calibrated your TV, down to the input your using for FiosTV? Meaning the HDMI or Component input? You must calibrate your TV…it makes a HUGE difference trust me. (Google your TV model for calibration settings if your not sure about this).

It also might be worth it to run the “In Home Agent” diagnostics, which you can find under the STB Help menu. It will let you know if your signal is within acceptable levels.

And yes, I would still get a VZ tech out there to make sure all is OK.
Good Luck

Thanks, jaw2012 for the post.

I didn't mean to mislead anyone into thinking this problem has existed since I got FIOS. It hasn't. I never really looked too closely at my TV picture but I can guarantee you this deterioration is a new development.

The signal is split only once (I only have one TV hooked in), one branch going to the router, one to the TV, as originally installed by the Verizon tech. An HDMI cable goes from the STB to my LG LCD. I don't think calibration is the issue; my Dish signal looks fine and, while the LG is notorious for omitting detail in black scenes this problem was way beyond anything that could be corrected by calibration.

Last night the picture looked much better, to the point that any problems I noticed could easily have been the TV.

I will keep my eye out and in particular, at the first sign of trouble, run those diagnostics which I was unaware of. I wish I would have known because I am virtually certain that it would have showed low signal. The fact that my Internet was solid 25/25 when I tested it the next day leads me to believe that this is not storm-related damage (although I suppose VZ could have fixed it overnight); rather it's a fault at the head end. But we'll see.

Again, thanks for the comprehensive rundown.

with that many stations affected, it's rarely the head end unless it's a major problem, but you would see a bunch of people here at dslr talking about the exact same thing.

this sounds like it's individual to you/

Well that of course would depend on how many people in my area know about this board.

While I understand it may make sense that the problem was peculiar to me it also makes sense that it was not peculiar to me since my TV wasn't involved and I did nothing else. Could it have been the STB? I suppose. Otherwise it was the signal, somehow.

But, hey, your guess is as good as (probably better than) mine. I'm just glad the issue is gone for now and hope it doesn't reappear.

reply to nlk10010
This is strange because I'm having the same issue. I just recently moved into a new house. My old house had uverse and the PQ was blu-ray quality. I ordered fios because it was either that or Direct tv... I was told fios was better. After having it set up I can say I'm having THE SAME issue that you are having. Colors seemed somewhat washed out, general smoothness to the picture and tons of NOISE. I'm running mine straight to a pioneer elite KURO monitor. A tech came out and said well, thats how Fios looks thats as good as it gets. Now I'm SOL because I have no clue what to do? I'm afraid If I try out direct tv it will be worse!

Well, I can understand your dismay but believe me, at least in my experience, this kind of thing is an extreme aberration in the sense that FIOS picture quality can be excellent. In fact the signal is so sharp that I can see the problems with my LG TV in rendering blacks in scenes with high contrast.

If you are seeing the problems I saw but from the get-go then it has to be an issue with your install or, again, an anomaly affecting everyone in your area. Have you asked others in your neighborhood who have the FIOS TV service if they are seeing the same thing?

Thats the wierd thing. Our whole neighborhood is wired for fios yet most houses have a dish or direct tv dish installed on the roof. I haven't met that many people yet because I've just recently moved in. I can assure I can tell if a feed is compressed, I even get judder on the showtime HD channels. The guy that came out yesterday said that signal was good etc... It just doesn't meet my standards for HD, ie: what I've had in the past and other setups I have seen NOT in the area. Any ideas?

its a pain in the butt to hop on the roof and pull them down. most people would leave them and let them collect dust unless they were leasing them. most people own those from what I remember.

and I second that, it should be noticeably better than most broadcasts that you have seen, especially over cable, I had TWC come in put their hd boxes in, and i had them rip em out the next week it was so bad.

reply to nlk10010

the softness might be from the HD compression that dish uses. I know we've talked that issue to death. the uncompressed image from fios is often sharper and more detailed and can be confused as a worse signal, even though you are getting more picture.

cnet has some interesting tips on pic quality stuff. of course you can just play with the tv until your eye "likes what you see" but it might be semi helpful...

»www.cnet.com/1990-7874_1-5119938-1.html (broadcast resolutions, in case you wondered what channels broadcast in 720 vs 1080i.)

and »reviews.cnet.com/basic-hdtv-tips···%3bmenu3
(hdtv tune ups)

a lot of basic stuff, but sometimes it's easy to overlook the basic stuff.