Local HD Channels: OTA Versus DISH

[Stargazer]

To me Dish Network MPEG-4 HD locals on my reciever looked better than from OTA (maybe cause it looks brighter) on a 67 inch DLP television.

 

[BuddyBoy]

It is my understand that the source format is preserved.

True, but Dish's 1080i is broadcast with only 1440 pixels in the horizontal direction, even for locals, and then scaled to 1920 in the receiver. Still though, even w/low bitrates, the MPEG-4 H.264 implementation is good enough that PQ differences between Dish and OTA are hard to spot. At least that's what I see with SF locals.

 

[david_jr]

The biggest thing I notice between DISH HD and OTA is that OTA I get all but one of my digital channels and DISH only carries 2 of the majors and none of the minors. ABC & NBC and that's it. CBS & Fox are in retrans disputes as hard as that may be to believe. Otherwise I can't tell the difference.