ratam commented:
>
using varying amounts of compression to determine what they can get away with. <
Yeah, unfortunately, that seems to be the problem with ALL the satellite providers, at this point in time. With the cost of transponder space being what it is, and the limited # of birds in their fleets, constraining bandwidth. Every one of them is/will be looking to MPEG4 to solve this problem, within the next few years.
Also unfortunately, "what they can get away with" varies by provider. The one with the largest # of subscribers can "get away with" degrading the picture much more than their competitors (instead, offering promises of how much better things will be a year, or 2, or 5... down the road). Even to the point of sometimes lowering bitrates to DVD-levels. That'll get them by for a while. Perhaps long enough. People in the mass are pretty gullible. Hey, it's worked for Microsoft for a lot of years.
IMO, Voom shouldn't be trying to get away with anything in the PQ department. They can afford to sacrifice a few #'s in the channel count race to maintain PQ at it's best. They should have every customer enthusiastically endorsing Voom to their friends and associates; not just based on quantity, but unsurpassed quality as well. Then the only missing piece they'll have is the convenience factor (the mythical DVR).
- Tim