Eastern Arc SD Bitrates Up, PQ Down

[TheKrell]

I thought that those didn't do MPEG4, period.

All Archos media players with which I am familiar are primarily mpeg4 devices. You need to buy either the Cinema Plug-in, or else get the free Dish Network plug-in in order to enable mpeg-2 (and DD) playback. There is no reason other than Dish and Archos parting ways that prevents the download and playback of mpeg4 SD programs, or (on the latest Archos Media Tablets) mpeg4 HD up to 720p. IIRC 1080i (or p) is still a bridge too far for Archos players.

[Jim S.]

Huh. I could've sworn there were people complaining about not being able to use their PocketDish when they switched to Eastern Arc.

[Jim S.]

Umm...okay....I mean What! How could they, umm...

OK, so it's not a huge difference, but the problem is that even the "before" picture is far removed from what a reasonable facsimile of a professional TV signal should look like!

Let me ask you this: just how far would you be willing to let them degrade the picture before you thought there was a problem? 320x240? (I actually saw somebody broadcasting that on Galaxy 19 last year.)

[TheKrell]

Huh. I could've sworn there were people complaining about not being able to use their PocketDish when they switched to Eastern Arc.

I beg your pardon; apparently I was unclear. Indeed, EA Dish subscribers cannot use their Archos products because they can only accept Dish mpeg-2 programs which by the way are encrypted during the transfer. This does not mean that an Archos can't play mpeg-4 programs from other sources. Heck most can even record using mpeg-4. So Dish and Archos could make mpeg-4 SD and HD transfers possible, but to date they have not.

[buckchow]

Although I don't think this will have much of an effect on things...over the next 2-3 weeks a lot of 77w programming will be moving to 72.7w. The locals on 77w will not move.

Looks like this definitely factors into things. 10 more SD channels have been added to the transponder with TCM as of some time earlier today. Plenty of other SD channels showing up on other transponders as well. Guess we'll have to wait and see how things compare once everything being moved is firmly in place.

Also, on at least one other transponder they've shoved the ~10-11 Mbps of null data back into the stream.

EDIT: 8 SD channels added to the transponder I had seen with lots of null data. At least they're filling the space in a timely manner this time around. The 4 or so months that the null data lived there before February was a total waste.

[digiblur]

Looks like this definitely factors into things. 10 more SD channels have been added to the transponder with TCM as of some time earlier today. Plenty of other SD channels showing up on other transponders as well. Guess we'll have to wait and see how things compare once everything being moved is firmly in place.

Also, on at least one other transponder they've shoved the ~10-11 Mbps of null data back into the stream.

EDIT: 8 SD channels added to the transponder I had seen with lots of null data. At least they're filling the space in a timely manner this time around. The 4 or so months that the null data lived there before February was a total waste.

Another round of moves tonight. Handful of SD's, audio channels, and HDPPV's are coming over.

[dcbag]

So what does all this mean?