Since we were refinancing, we decided to add a couple of bucks to the existing mortgage and finish up our basement (well, half of it). Along with a full bathroom and a new office (so that I can finally get all of my shit out of the dining room), we're building a home theatre. I'll go into more details about how the home improvement project is going (hint: it's been stupid slow) in a later post.
Of course, you can't have a home theatre without something to watch, so we bought a Panasonic 50" DLP HDTV (I'll add a link as soon as I find one - the one I was going to use no longer exists). It's a pretty decent TV, but while the basement is being worked on, we've had it set up in our bedroom (I know - lame) with a basic co-ax cable connected to it. The picture has been pretty good, but I know it could be better.
The electrical work was supposed to be completed last week, so I called Eastlink to get them to come out and set me up with HDTV. Eastlink provides about 10 different HD channels at the moment, so even though it's an extra $10/mn right now (soon to be $15), it will probably be worth it (most of the shows Andrea watches are broadcast in HD, as is PBS). The electrical work wasn't completed, but I decided to set up the TV in the basement anyway, rather than having everything hooked up in our bedroom.
When we first built the house, I knew that I'd eventually get to the basement, so I had the cable guys leave a drop. Unfortunately, the drop is on the opposite end of the house from where the TV room is. The cable guy, while setting up the HD gear and installing the jacks that I want in the basement, commented that I may need a signal booster (the electrician, while working on the basement and running the co-ax for cable, also noted the same thing several weeks before). He hooked everything up, but didn't think that there was a problem.
One thing the cable guy did mention was that since I have an HDMI jack on my TV, I'd get a better picture if I had an HDMI HD box. He suggested that I give Eastlink a call and let them know and that they'd send out an HDMI box for no extra charge. I assured him that I was do that ASAP.
It turns out, though, that the quality is less than optimal.
Andrea and I decided to watch a Maple Leafs hockey game on CBCHD (one of the main reasons for getting HD in the first place!). While things were slow on the screen, the image quality was pretty good. As soon as the pace picked up, though, artifacts were showing up around the players. Artifact is likely not the correct term here - basically it looked like the signal compression algorithm was inadequate, kind of like a low quality Quicktime or WMV file. And then there were the blocks. On a far-too-frequent basis, the image would be reduced to nothing but annoying blocks. It never lasted more than a second or two, but I was getting better quality from the straight co-ax!
I also noticed that, in general, the non-HD channels didn't look all that good through the HD box. I'm not particularly amused at this point, but I haven't gone through any of the motions to resolve the problem yet - that's this week's project. Here's the list of stuff I'll be doing to correct the problem:
- Get Eastlink to replace my current box with the HDMI box. The installer said that that should improve the overall picture quality.
- Get the installer that shows up to spend some time (10 or 15 minutes) checking out the quality of the existing channels, looking for, in particular, the blocking problem. I suspect that he'll say that I'll need a signal booster, so I'll be sure to mention that to the CSR when I call about getting the new box.
- I've asked a friend, who also gets the HD service, about the artifacts/pixelation issue - he suggested that I call Eastlink and get them to re-program the box. He was having a similar issue and that seems to have solved his problems.
If none of that works, then I'll cancel the service and complain rather loudly - maybe even consider switching to satellite.
I'll post updates as I work through the list.
- Mike
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