Dish messing with Voom, All are now HD-Lite 1280x1080i: Discuss this issue HERE!

[hdtvtechno]

...which, by the way, is the reason behind this thread; VOOM has totally lost its focus!

LOL good timing

[Tom Bombadil]

It is not unfantomable for someone to hear a difference between a 5.1 448K track vs a 5.1 384K one. 448K was a compromised DVD standard to begin with. DTS 5.1 is a minimum of 768K - with the rare track going to 1536K. So applying a little more compression to squeeze it down to 384K, is within the audible range.

This relates to the current thread in that some of our HD channels are giving us DD-lite audio.

[BrettTRay]

Let's email Dish network and tell them that we will not stand for DD-Lite Audio!!!! Just Kidding Tom.

[SatinKzo]

Heh, no DD-Lite.


Honestly, I do understand that with some good equipment you can hear the difference, IF, the source material was encoded at the same bitrate and not converted along the way. This becomes very evident on TNT-HD when they show older syndicated shows or old movies compared to say LOTR or Matrix. Obviously the movies were encoded much better with newer technologies. I don't think it had as much to do with TNT's higher bitrate though as the better source to begin with.

As for higher bitrate equaling better audio... I don't agree. Much more has to do with the soundmix engineering then the audio bitrate. Also involved are the studios that release the DVD's. Universal Studio's DVD's have on average some of the worst audio I have heard, but those disc's are packed with extras usually. While Warner Bros have some outstanding audio, almost to the point that it is hard to discern the difference between the DD and DTS tracks. What is also obvious is when certain disc audio tracks are encoded form a transfer or from a master.

Now of course, DTS and DD both use lossy algorithms for sound encoding and then it can be hairy as DD is more effiecent at the encoding then DTS is so it is hard to match bitrate for bitrate with DD/DTS. So it begs to question, what standard is more noticeable in bitrate reduction? Most will tell you DTS as more is lost at lower bitrates. But DTS tends to compensate this as on average a DTS track is 4-6dbs louder then DD at the same volume level.

I would have to bet in normal conditions, that 95% of people would not hear the differnce in the two audio rates (given a good source, not law and order) on TNT-HD or other HD stations. And I still find pretty much every one of my DVD's to be of better sound quality then anything TNT-HD has shown.

I do agree that if the space is there, they might as well use the higher audio, but I the lower bitrate in audio is much much less noticeable then the lower bitrates in video.
Of course we could really thow a wrench in and demand that HDTV have DTS as the standard audio format.

Here is a good page on some DD vs DTS stuff for those interested. It also touches on bitrates a bit.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...digitaldts.php

[JohnH]

Monsters HD moved overnight. Don't know what effect the move had.

[Gary Murrell]

Your right John, monsters moved from 10 to 12 on 129


I also just wanted to report that there have been no changes to Voom as of this morning

-Gary

[JohnH]

From 5 to 7 on 61.5 also.

[Gary Murrell]

Thanks, my 61.5 is out of commision right now, I gotta get him back up quick

Work is gotta get started on Voom soon, this is gonna be a exciting few weeks

-Gary

[Tom Bombadil]

As for higher bitrate equaling better audio... I don't agree. Much more has to do with the soundmix engineering then the audio bitrate.

I would have to bet in normal conditions, that 95% of people would not hear the differnce in the two audio rates (given a good source, not law and order) on TNT-HD or other HD stations.

As to point 1, I never said it did. However all other things being equal, it will.

No way I would take the bet in point 2, as many people don't hear any difference between 128KB MPEG3 vs Redbook CD.

[Gary Murrell]

No changes to Voom as of this morning

the lone "Ultra" on a TP. all by it's lonesome is running at 9.75 Mbps and still 1280x1080i

-Gary