Discovery's Science Channel.

[StSomewhere]

We have digital cable and like this channel because of the interesting shows. The only problem is the signal has gotten very crappy, anything with a smooth color gradient is badly pixelated (blocks of one color instead of a smooth transition). This was especially noticable in the underwater sequences on yesterday's Dive to Shark Volcano and the show on the current status of the atomic tests on Bikini Atoll. Really detracted from some nice scenes.

Is this just my cable provider trying to stuff too much bandwidth into too small a "pipe" with all the on-demand features or is it a problem with the Science Channel in general? I've avoided the dish so far (because 60 mph wind gusts aren't uncommon around here) but if thats what it takes to get a decent picture anymore than I'm open to other options

 

[Grajan]

They are not over-filling (yet) they are under-maintaining.

This could be a local area problem but it is almost certainly either the box (mine has been changed twice) or a bad connection between you and the fiber. I have had a bunch of such issues because the techs are either too lazy or poorly trained to do proper connections.

Just call the cable company and complain and keep doing it until it gets fixed.

We have digital cable and like this channel because of the interesting shows. The only problem is the signal has gotten very crappy, anything with a smooth color gradient is badly pixelated (blocks of one color instead of a smooth transition). This was especially noticable in the underwater sequences on yesterday's Dive to Shark Volcano and the show on the current status of the atomic tests on Bikini Atoll. Really detracted from some nice scenes.

Is this just my cable provider trying to stuff too much bandwidth into too small a "pipe" with all the on-demand features or is it a problem with the Science Channel in general? I've avoided the dish so far (because 60 mph wind gusts aren't uncommon around here) but if thats what it takes to get a decent picture anymore than I'm open to other options

 

[MikeC]

I have met some people from Discovery, they are anal about their picture quality. As the previous poster said, complain to your cable company. They may be trying to save bandwidth by compressing that channel too much, I doubt Discovery would approve of that.

How old is the cable in the house? Does the cable connect to your house above ground or is it buried underground? Weather can beat coax up.

 

[Robert Phillips]

If you are getting pixellation (known as digital tiling) it is most likely signal related. There are several issues that affect digital pictures: Low signal, high signal or low signal to noise ratio. Call your cable company and set up a service call and make sure the technician checks the signal levels for the frequency that the Discovery channel is carried on.
Depending on the compression ratio of the carrier, low levels will definitley affect picture quality.
If your set top box happens to be a Motorola or General Instrument, PM me and I can tell you how to check the SNR of the carrier frequency for the particular channel.
Your friendly Cable Guy.
Robert

 

[MoonWrasse]

... (because 60 mph wind gusts aren't uncommon around here) ...

60mph gusts !?
Geez that's what we called "tornados" back in Indiana