Does mpeg4 mean more recording time

[spiderg8r]

Will mpeg4 broadcasts mean that we can fit twice as much HD content on the same size hdd?

 

[scooby2]

It should once DISH starts changing stuff to mpeg-4. Hopefully sometime in 2006 they will get the encoder issues worked out.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I wouldn't say "twice", but you will see an improvement - once they start transmitting REAL MPEG-4, not the MPEG-2 with MPEG-4 header they are currently doing.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I suspect we will see a gradual increase, as Dish finetunes MPEG4 streams and as the encoders get better. As noted above, at first there will be no improvement as the streams will really be in MPEG2. Once they go to true MPEG4, I would not be surprised if there are only modest gains at first. Eventually it would be nice if there would be about 50%-60% improvements. After all, the driving reason for the conversion to MPEG4 is improved efficiency.

 

[John Kotches]

It's important to note that they (any content provider) has to do these operations real time, and you won't get the same gains from real time encoders as you will from off-line encoders. Where an offline encoder (think 5 or 8:1 vs realtime) has the luxury of multiple passes etc, real time encoders don't.

Over time, as Tom points out, the improvements will be more dramatic vs. MPEG-2 as the encoders improve.

Cheers,