Premium Lcd

Why does Direct TV satellite, have such poor picture quality on my brand new LCD TV?

Satellite Diagnostics show 90% Signal, I'm using S-Video cable on a brand new, next-gen (non Hi-Def) reciever. The TV is a 26inch Samsung Flat Panel LCD. The picture is very pixelated (especially the Premium channels)
You guys had some good answers, but I should expand my info; I'm using a standard reciever which does'nt have component cables. If I upgrade to an HD reciever the tech said I would need a ,bigger, HD dish, which my apartment probably wouldn't approve of. This would provide HDMI & Comp Outputs, but wouldn't be worth more installation/ service fees. On a Direct TV forum I read that right now they are using MPEG 2 video to make room for all the channels, but that in the near future, they are switching to MPEG 4. Any truth to that? Also, I did set the aspect ratio to 16:9 in the reciever settings. Does the 90% signal strength have any thing to do with the quality? Thanks for your help.

The Issue is your box and your cables. If your Sat box does not have Componet connection (Red, Blue, Green), then the S-Video connection is the best you are going to get.

If you are watching in full screen mode, the picture is just streched and it will look funnny. You can use the Format (also known as zoom or 16:9 button to get the regular image. You will see gray bars on the side but the image will look much better.

DirecTV charges 10.99 for HD service and you could probably get their customer service to give you the box for free if you want to go that way.

Even if you don't keep the HD service, the fact that you now have component cables (or even HDMI) connected to your TV, will make the picture quality that much better. Check out the link below. They have a ton of info that will help you get the most from your new TV. and if you live in the right area, Free HDTV.