which one's got the better picture? directTV and other DS companies always say that they deliver superior quality to cable...so is this true...is the picture quality better or is it about the same?
Its close. But in my area DirecTV seems to suck less than TWC-HD. I will say that Dish Net doesn't look as good as DirecTV but they have about twice the HD content. Ced
First everyone uses compression, its when they compress the signal to much that things get bad. Don't think OTA HD is better because its uncompressed it isn't. The OTA HD (ATSC) channels are just sent out at a higher bit-rate. They still use MPEG-2 compression. DirecTV has switched to MPEG-4 so they are offering the best picture quality (from a source other than OTA) at the moment. Dish Net is still better than most HD-Cable services though and they have more HD channels than anyone else. Ced
Its cool I was just making sure everyone was on the same page. See this thread for more details about bit rates... http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/444458#2690598 Good posting, Ced
how come comcast has higher bitrate than directv, or is this because of mpeg2 and 4? HD-Cable (Comcast): Compression Codec: MPEG-2 Bit Rate: 17-18 Mbps (with Statistical Multiplexing) HD-Satellite (DirecTV): Compression Codec: MPEG-4 Bit Rate: 8-10 Mbps (with Statistical Multiplexing)
When I record HD programs from my Comcast HD DVR thru firewire using CapDVHS I usually get 20 - 24 Mbps depending on the program. I never get anything below 20 Mbps.
Yes MPEG-4 requires less (about half) bits to accomplish the same goals as MPEG-2. HD DirecTV looks as good or better than most HD Cable providers. Thats strange seeing as HDTV (ATSC) only goes up to 19.39 Mbps (per 6 MHz band). Also Comcast claims to run all its HD channels at ~19.39 Mbps not 20 - 24 Mbps. ATSC: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC Ced
I'm using CapDVHS right now to record an episode of House and it does say 25 Mbps (from a Comcast/Motorola DCT6412). Added: I tried other non 5c encrypted stations and all showed 25Mbps - both 720p and 1080i. Could it be that 19.39 Mbps is the signal that goes into the HD cable box and the 25Mbps is the signal that goes out thru the firewire connection to the PC? Anyone have any ideas?
It could be but the strange part for me is why. I don't see an advantage to it or cause for it. Maybe it the way the Motorola Box does up-conversion? Ced
Ced: I did try CapDVHS again this morning and I get the same results as error5 24 - 25 Mbps. It could be the way the software reads the signal or also maybe the way the cable box processes the signal prior to firewire transmission. Strange huh?
I started this same question on another forum........... Here's what I got about when it comes to the HD programming. Quote : Ah, HD Lite, the reason I left DirecTv. They do not transmit the full 1920 x 1080 picture, they compress it down to something on the order of 1280 x 1080. For a 720 tv you probably will never notice it but you have a 1080! Quote : If you had a 720 tv, which you don't, you probably wouldn't notice it. Since you have a 1080, you are more likely to .
