Posted on 04/21/2008 8:09:46 PM PDT by george76
As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station.
The problem is viewers want more HD channels at a time when many cable and satellite providers are at the limits of their capacity...
"They have to figure out a way to deliver more HD content through their distribution networks," ...
Compressing the signal is cheaper than costly infrastructure upgrades to increase capacity. Satellite TV providers ... also have the option of launching satellites to boost the number of HD channels on their systems.
While information is nearly always lost when signals are compressed and then uncompressed, the process can theoretically be made unnoticeable to eyes and ears — and Comcast says it should be.
But some viewers say they can see it. Willcox said complaints about compression have been showing up on Web forums, including the AV Science Forum
Philadelphia-based Comcast wouldn't identify specific signals that are 3-to-1 compressed...
And there are other reasons a high-definition picture can appear subpar...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I’ve noticed that DVD manufacturing quality is often a little iffy. Haven’t tried BluRay yet. What mystifies me is how anyone in the video industry can express surprise and indignation over piracy.
Well, at least the cable companies are getting top dollar for ripping people off, and sticking it to the old folks, too...
1000 Gb / 4 Gb = 250
:-)
I had HD cable on in my house for 5 minutes before I called the cable company to come get their crap and credit my account.
Sure you even got to tune into the HD channels in that amount of time? For my cable, the HD channels sure aren’t any Blu-ray, but they’re insanely better than SD junk.
Bring me the spectrum analyzer.
Cable gets away with it because the satellite companies do it too, and on some HD channels, do it to an even greater level. There are a number of HD channels on satellite that look no better than a full-quality standard definition digital cable channel.
Clueless much?
Oftentimes because channels like TNT HD do stupid stuff like take standard def shows and stretch them to fill the screen, and that’s it. Looks like total crap.
Cable is going to be moving to something called Switched Digital Video late 08 and 09.. This will basically make all channels on demand. It will increase the channels and quality a lot.
The downside is that my Tivo S3 will need an adapter to work with that, and who knows when or if that’ll be done. Supposedly they are working on it.
bleh. TV is so 2002, dvd box sets and high spped internt is king.
And DVD is so 1996.. Gimme Blu-ray only now.
high speed internet*. I really need to get a new keyboard.
It is considered HD if it pushing more than 11 Meg....45 being the top end. That would be Mbps. Certain channels have contracts that specify no less than X amount of bandwidth given any broadcast. Namely Discovery HD which mandates X amount in order to fulfill contractural obligations signed by Comcast and the content provider. All in order to keep the picture stunning.
My cable company set up their boxes so that every time you change the channel, the bottom left-quarter of the screen was filled with a static ad for BoFlex or Citro-Kleen or some other BS....These ads stayed on the screen for 5 seconds.
My opinion was that if they were charging me a premium to watch their little flip-ads, they were probably going to rip me off through compression.
Told them I'd file an AG complaint if they charged me for any of it. They didn't.
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