Monday, August 27, 2007

MASN Sucks

No Matter The Picture, When Bacsik is in it, it's ugly.
Why does this crap keep happening? Look at that crappy picture. I can't be the only one who's seeing this crap, right? It's zipping in and out, the sound's coming in, then popping and disappearing for a second or two (note: not a bad thing when Carpenter is talking). Then it gets wavy and distorts the entire picture, bending it and stretching it, making it look like one of the channels your parents didn't subscribe to but that you'd spend your pubescent evenings tuning into hoping to glimpse something you probably wouldn't quite understand even if you recognized it.

This happens on no other channel. Yet it happens on MASN (at least on Comcast Alexandria). Over and over and over and over again.

posted by Chris Needham at 10:23 PM

21 Comments:

  • Blame Comcast. Everything is clear as a bell on my DirecTV broadcast.

    If you make the switch, let me know - you'll get $50 credit, and I'll get $50 credit if you sign up with them. :-)

    By Blogger Crash, at 8/27/2007 11:00 PM  

  • By the way, I SHOULD point out that something truly odd happened to me just last week:

    http://natspower.blogspot.com/2007/08/nats-take-astros-7-6-take-series-or.html

    Still don't know what it was, but I'll blame MASN because it just feels right.

    By Blogger Crash, at 8/27/2007 11:27 PM  

  • I'm on Comcast Alexandria and get the exact same crap as you.

    Sometimes it's watchable. Other times it's just not.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 7:08 AM  

  • Speaking of MASN, the Orioles telecast gets pitch type as well as MPH. They're probably inaccurate as hell, but still...

    Yea, it's not a big deal, just another one of those little things that annoy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 7:33 AM  

  • Sorry, Chris. I've not had this problem with Comcast here in Arlington.

    Blame Canada!

    By Blogger Brandon, at 8/28/2007 8:07 AM  

  • I'll echo the complaint on Comcast Alexandria. It will freeze and stutter and there's no choice but to wait it out. It happens on other channels sometimes too.

    By Blogger DC Optimist, at 8/28/2007 8:12 AM  

  • Yeah it's definitely comcast. I have Cox in Fairfax with few probs, but I had comcast in Charlottesville and they were terrible down there. The service was awful, and they scammed money out of their customers. Very shady.

    By Blogger Rob B, at 8/28/2007 8:17 AM  

  • I'll add a third (or fourth, or 27th) to the complaints, but the problem lies with Comcast Alexandria, not with MASN. More's the pity.

    By Blogger Nate, at 8/28/2007 8:24 AM  

  • MASN sucks, you say? Well gee, look who owns it: Mr. "There are no basball fans in DC"!!!

    Some day soon, I wish the Lerners would get in gear and sue the living hell out of Angelos for the Nats' fair share of their own TV rights. I mean, talk about a massive conflict of interests to have one team's TV rights owned by a rival team.

    Angelos just needs to be put in his place, plain and simple.

    By Blogger Fritz, at 8/28/2007 8:26 AM  

  • No one has mentioned the scores that too often appear at the bottom of the screen, causing the images to be scrunched up and distorted. Isn’t there a better way to do this?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 8:55 AM  

  • I've mentioned that one a few times in the past. It really pisses me off, especially because they have a knack for doing it at the PERFECT moment to affect actual action.

    The other thing that pisses me off about that is that they give scores of the GODDAMN GAME YOU'RE WATCHING!!!

    Don't distort my screen to tell me the Nats are losing!!!

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 8/28/2007 9:00 AM  

  • It's not just the Nats broadcasts that are problematic. I attempted to TiVo the Orioles/Twins game on Saturday to check out the Garza/Liz matchup, and all I wound up with was a couple hours of an on-screen error message that appeared to be the fault of Comcast(MoCo) or MASN.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 9:18 AM  

  • The problem only happens on the MASN channel. MASN2 always comes in perfectly.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 8/28/2007 9:20 AM  

  • MASN sucked on Saturday night too on whatever cable system is in Falls Church.

    By Blogger WFY, at 8/28/2007 9:33 AM  

  • It wasn't just Comcast in Alexandria. I had the same problem with Cox in Fairfax at least during pregame. By the time the game started it had mostly cleared up.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 9:35 AM  

  • I've had rock solid picture on MASN & MASN 2 via Verizon FiOS in Arlington. Of course it is still a crapy Standard Definition picture. We want our HD of MASN.

    Did you know there are only 3 teams in the majors that will have no games broadcast in HD this season. The KC Royals and penny pitching MASN Os and Nationals.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 10:01 AM  

  • Actually, I've got DireTV and I've had problems with MASN too. Not the same as Chris' though. On my TV, the picture freezes, breaks up and/or stutters. The sound tends to stay ok.

    And this isn't normal weather-realted stuff. Like Chris, all my other channels are fine.


    Mick

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 10:17 AM  

  • Direct TV doesn't get that effect, yet.
    But, ever since you pointed out the house of mirrors effect when they transition in and out of the pointless scroll where Ray Knight seems to add 20 lbs' and then magically drops them when the thing returns to full sceen mode...
    I'm expecting to now start seeing this color blurring.

    Thanks a lot!

    By Blogger Ray Firsching, at 8/28/2007 2:22 PM  

  • Erik, regarding the pitch type: Could that be because there's a display of the pitch type at Camden whereas NATCA doesn't have that capability?

    I haven't gotten those kind of problems with Cox in Fairfax Co. I do get the occasional freezes and missynchronization between the audio and video.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 3:47 PM  

  • Signal STUNK last night on Comcast in Alexandria, looks PERFECT with MASN2 in Fairfax on Cox tonight.

    Bottomline: Nats don't suck (on) Cox.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 10:35 PM  

  • Here's a snippet from a response I got from MASN:

    Thank you for your very good thoughts on the many ways to enhance MASN's production. We hope that you will be pleased to know that we are planning a significant complement of Hi Definition programming for both our Nationals and Orioles game productions next season.

    So, it sounds to me like we'll see at least some HD next year.

    By Blogger Andrew Zitnay, at 9/11/2007 11:46 AM  

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