How do you determine if a program is in 1280x1080?

[fz5j2r]

Okay, another newbie question. I understand many programs are being downrezed from 1920x1080 to 1280x1080 (HDLite). How do you check a programs current resolution?
Do you need some type of special equipment?

 

[DVDDAD]

If you can't tell by your eyes, then yes, special equipment is neccesary.

 

[jonesbruce91361]

That's something of a smartass answer to a reasonable question. I thought the idea was to treat newbies nice. How about mentioning what kind of equipment is needed--I'd like to know myself.

 

[fz5j2r]

If you can't tell by your eyes, then yes, special equipment is neccesary.

I CAN "tell by my eyes". I am very disappointed at what has happened to the resolution with the Voom channels and others. I have sent numerous e-mails to Charlie expressing my disatisfaction.

What I asked is what "special equipment" is required because I see 1280x1080 referenced in many posts.

Being new to this forum, I thought this to be a reasonable question. One of the things that I like about this forum is that there a lot of very intelligent individuals that fully understand electronics as it relates to satellite transmission.

Most of the replys are by individuals who truly care to share there knowledge with those who do not know.

 

[BrianMis]

I CAN "tell by my eyes". I am very disappointed at what has happened to the resolution with the Voom channels and others. I have sent numerous e-mails to Charlie expressing my disatisfaction.
What I asked is what "special equipment" is required because I see 1280x1080 referenced in many posts.
Being new to this forum, I thought this to be a reasonable question. One of the things that I like about this forum is that there a lot of very intelligent individuals that fully understand electronics as it relates to satellite transmission.
Most of the replys are by individuals who truly care to share there knowledge with those who do not know.

The person who discovered and first posted about the HDLite issue was Gary Murrell. PM him I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions. After some searching I found the link to the company that manufactures the equipment that Gary uses. Thanks to Gary for posting it. :up
http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/home.htm

 

[M Sparks]

Also, if you can't tell by your eyes, it doesn't matter. And even if you can, it might not matter.

Yes, I can tell the difference, but it still looks 10 times better than SD. I don't understand the people who say "I don't see the point in paying for HD-Lite".

AND, anyone who watches DISH LIL channels knows just how bad SD pictures can get in the interest of squeezing in more channels.

To me, the difference between 1920 and 1280 is the difference between "Amazing!" and "Wow!".

I would love for everything in life to be "amazing". But sometimes, it's nice when they don't suck.

I admit, I have a lower end LCD...perhaps those with more expensive equipment see the degradation more. But I'll still take "Wow" over "ehh." "Wow" is worth $15 a month to me.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

Also, if you can't tell by your eyes, it doesn't matter. And even if you can, it might not matter.

Yes, I can tell the difference, but it still looks 10 times better than SD. I don't understand the people who say "I don't see the point in paying for HD-Lite".

AND, anyone who watches DISH LIL channels knows just how bad SD pictures can get in the interest of squeezing in more channels.

To me, the difference between 1920 and 1280 is the difference between "Amazing!" and "Wow!".

I would love for everything in life to be "amazing". But sometimes, it's nice when they don't suck.

I admit, I have a lower end LCD...perhaps those with more expensive equipment see the degradation more. But I'll still take "Wow" over "ehh." "Wow" is worth $15 a month to me.

Well said.

 

[jonesbruce91361]

Actually--and I'm no expert--it may be the other way around: you tend to notice less of a difference in downrezed broadcasts the BETTER the equipment is. It really does make a difference, for instance, if you have a generic DVD player as oppossed to an expenisve Denon, etc. The catch is, the more expensive players tend to be more quirky because of their high sensitivity and less tolerance to indifferently manufactured dics. For me it's worth the occasional non-playable disc for a clearly discernable and far better image.

As for downrezing, I have a 73" Diamond Mitz. and frankly I've noticed little to no difference in picture quality on my screen with the recent Voom downrezing . I'm not siding with Dish on this--I think 1080i should be the standard throughout at present, and 1080p in the (hopefully) near future. No excuses.

Meanwhile, will one of you high end tech heads please take time to answer this poor new guy's very reasonable question vis a vie exactly is the eestra quipment needed to detect 1081i? You're starting to get on my tits.

 

[glennh73]

The reason why most of you guys dont see the difference in Voom being in HDlite mode is cause all execpt 2 Voom stations have been in HDLite this whole time. Now i forget which one of the 2 was full HD but the one i loved was Equator and it was in Full rez and dam it looked great and now it dont.

 

[CJPC]

MonsterHD and something else, cant remember

But like M Sparks said, it is the difference between 'WOW, Thats an amazing picture' and 'WOW, thats a great picture'
Hate to say it, but most people that have seen HDTV's (that dont own em) are usually seeing them hooked up wrong, not calibrated etc anywho.

And the majority of owners (besides the technically inclined) dont even have them set up right, I had to fix someones Sony Plasma, as they had a HD box hooked up via coax, people just dont know things.
Yeah, im irritated that its HD-LITE, but it could be worse, and be no HD at all!
And personally, the VOOM is great, But i rarely watch it, unless theres a movie on MonsterHD, or GuyTV(well, its gone) that interests me.

Edit: What most people have is a R5000 (usb) or a 169time mod (firewire) in there Dish/Bell 6000, hooked to a PC so it can record the transport stream, the raw stream so to speak.

They then save it, and using programs it can show the framesize, framerate etc..

Others have DVB cards hooked onto there satellite dish, and can read all the data (without decrypting it, so its legal) to see what the transponder says it is transmitting at, not the best way (as the transponder can say 1920x1080i, but the signal may be 1280x1080i), but it works as well

 

[Ilya]

The reason why most of you guys dont see the difference in Voom being in HDlite mode is cause all execpt 2 Voom stations have been in HDLite this whole time. Now i forget which one of the 2 was full HD but the one i loved was Equator and it was in Full rez and dam it looked great and now it dont.

According to Gary's thread (stickied above) there were four VOOM channels in full 1920x1080i resolution:

Monsters-HD
Ultra-HD
Animania-HD
Equator-HD​

They are all HD-Lite now.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Monsters in 1920x1080i at 17 Mbps is why I paid 5$ a month for Voom, yes I paid and was comfortable with 5$ a month for 1 TRUE HDTV channel

-Gary

 

[Poke]

I think there are some sites that show some channels what they broadcast in and samething for OTA channels. But I think it depends on your receivers also I might be wrong but I think there are receivers out there show what your channels are being broadcast in as far as rezz.

 

[robertjp]

After all that and no one even answered the guys question.

I have the same question. How do you determine which resolution is being broadcast?

 

[goaliebob99]

Robert it was answered in post number 10

 

[fz5j2r]

So now all I have to do is find an R5000, 169time mod, or a DVB card and figure out how to hook them up to my PC to record the transport stream (raw stream). Hmmmm.

I think it will be easier to read Gary's periodic updates on resolution.

Thanks to all who took the time to respond!

 

[Ilya]

So now all I have to do is find an R5000, 169time mod, or a DVB card and figure out how to hook them up to my PC to record the transport stream (raw stream). Hmmmm.
I think it will be easier to read Gary's periodic updates on resolution.

That's why we have forums like this one, so you wouldn't have to do it all on your own.