An update from Scott at CES

[rdinkel]

I am sorry to say that it WILL be staying downrezed, even after the move to MPEG4.


No for ESPN as it is 720p but yes for UHD.

Scott, Will anything stay 1920 x 1080? How about HDNET? Discovery? HBO?

 

[rad]

I taked to a few big cable MSO's today and it looks like it is going to become a standard that they all down rez.

Scott, can you say what cable MSO's you talked to that said that, in particular, did Comcast say they were going to start to downrez?

 

[tawhite]

Well this SUCKS ASS!

 

[Juan]

Scott, can you say what cable MSO's you talked to that said that, in particular, did Comcast say they were going to start to downrez?

Once there are 50-60 national HD channels bandwidth is gonna be at a premium especially if you also want to provide analogue tv ,internet ,digital tv,telephone service and HD television on the same fiber!! Guess what!! something has to give !! Most people will never notice because most people dont have 20 thousand dollar plasma tv's that could detect a difference!!

 

[Foxbat]

I need to know soon cause if its HDLite im jumping ship.

Well, since it's HDLite on DirecTV as well, what provider can you turn to?

Maybe you're lucky enough to be in a FIOS TV area. Our Comcast cable system doesn't have anywhere near the HD offerings that Dish has: No HDNet or HDNet Movies (although they have iN Demand HD 1 & 2 - no data), no Voom. Just HBO HD($), Showtime HD($), Cinemax HD($), Starz-HD($), TNT-HD, ESPN-HD, and Discovery HD Theater. ($) requires additional programming package.

At least Dish is keeping HDNet and HDNet Movies at full 1080i. I was in ABC Warehouse and the HDNet signal they had from DirecTV was a mess. I'm surprised they could sell any HD TVs using such a crappy signal. I was also in an H.H. Gregg over the Holidays and saw they were using Dish for their HD source. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to tell you which channels they were using as I didn't have time to gawk at TVs.

Most people will never notice because most people dont have 20 thousand dollar plasma tv's that could detect a difference!!

It doesn't take a 20Kbuck TV to see how bad 1280x1080i looks. It was visible on $3K TVs at the store I was at. Granted, it does take a display with more than 700 lines horizontal resolution to see it.

 

[rad]

Once there are 50-60 national HD channels bandwidth is gonna be at a premium especially if you also want to provide analogue tv ,internet ,digital tv,telephone service and HD television on the same fiber!! Guess what!! something has to give !! Most people will never notice because most people dont have 20 thousand dollar plasma tv's that could detect a difference!!

I understand that but isn't that the same reason that MSO's, like Comcast, are moving towards a complete digital system to free up all that bandwidth that analog channels are taking? Also it's fairly easy to update the electronics on the fiber head ends to get more bandwidth out of the same strands.

 

[gutter]

Once there are 50-60 national HD channels bandwidth is gonna be at a premium especially if you also want to provide analogue tv ,internet ,digital tv,telephone service and HD television on the same fiber!! Guess what!! something has to give !! Most people will never notice because most people dont have 20 thousand dollar plasma tv's that could detect a difference!!

Well Guess what? We can always hope for Verizon FIOS. It may take awhile but they will not have any trouble putting a few hundred HD full REZ channles down the fiber pipe. DISH isn't building any loyalty here.

 

[Juan]

Well Guess what? We can always hope for Verizon FIOS. It may take awhile but they will not have any trouble putting a few hundred HD full REZ channles down the fiber pipe. DISH isn't building any loyalty here.

bad news Verizon will be down rezing too if it becomes the industry standard

 

[Juan]

I understand that but isn't that the same reason that MSO's, like Comcast, are moving towards a complete digital system to free up all that bandwidth that analog channels are taking? Also it's fairly easy to update the electronics on the fiber head ends to get more bandwidth out of the same strands.

Yes and no The cable co's have to spend millions buying digital converters for evry sub. It also depends if they installed the cheaper fiber(single mode) or the more expensive and more versatile multimode fiber.. In the early 1990's Bell Atlantic(now Verizon) spent millions installing an advanced fiber optic cable system in parts of New Jersey. Guess what!! they ripped it all out to install multimode fiber instead!!

 

[Reefer123]

Well until HD-Lite becomes a buzzword among hd non-enthusiasts we can expext more of it. When the general public becomes aware of HD-Lite someone be it Fios, Sat or cable will start touting full resolution HD. Until then don't expect any better!

 

[korsjs]

Well, since it's HDLite on DirecTV as well, what provider can you turn to?
.

FIOS

 

[korsjs]

At least Dish is keeping HDNet and HDNet Movies at full 1080i.

cuban was smart enough to have an agreement to broadcast his channels is full rez. you got to love the guy. he is brilliant.

 

[charper1]

FiOS is a great product but barely regionally available and will never be national. AND no guarantee it won't down-rez too. Content is the biggest issue anyhow and the resolution issue obviously needs to be attacked at the FCC / legislation level.

 

[DWS44]

FIOS is great...I'd be surprised if this city ever sees anything that advanced.

 

[Stargazer]

Did you guys really expect all of these channels to be added at full rez? I figured they would have to be HD-Lite in order to have that much room to add them all. To down rez and have MPEG-4 would give them a bit more bandwidth. Perhaps 2-3 times the amount we have now.

What about the statements that the rest of the HD Voom channels that were going to be added would be full rez?

 

[scooby2]

Did you guys really expect all of these channels to be added at full rez? I figured they would have to be HD-Lite in order to have that much room to add them all. To down rez and have MPEG-4 would give them a bit more bandwidth. Perhaps 2-3 times the amount we have now.
What about the statements that the rest of the HD Voom channels that were going to be added would be full rez?

One would think when they drop mpeg-2 HD they could use full rez.

 

[NOHDjunkie]

Scott,

Anything about Distant nets in HD?

 

[richmert]

well at least there is no longer a rush to go to MPEG4 receivers if all they give you is hdlite. i was really concerned that i wouldnt get a new receiver before feb first but now who cares. i was even going to go out on the limb for a vip622 as soon as it came out but why bother now? why do i want to record and archive hdlite?

i guess i will spend my money on blue ray or hd dvd now instead of MPEG4.

 

[Stargazer]

The reasons why people would want to go MPEG-4 is to get the extra HD content.

 

[richmert]

The reasons why people would want to go MPEG-4 is to get the extra HD content.

you mean the extra hdlite content. dont you? i have seen enough hdlite. there is no need to pay for more hdlite. i will just change the aspect ratio on my tv to see digital tv in full screen.
i am hoping when at&t buys echostar there will be an improvement at least in the IPTV content and then i will buy whatever box at&t wants me to buy.