SD National Channels being Down Rez'd

[sundude90]

Directv's 101 Satellite is way to full, so therefore the channels are being down rezzed to fit all of them on there. I know that this has been like this for a long time, but I feel that its getting worse, and will be getting more worse.

Has anybody else noticed that Directv's SD National Channels seem even more Down Res'd than they used to be??

I feel that Directv should take some of their SD National Channels off of 101 and put it on 110 or another Satellite. And then give customers who can only receive the 101 satellite an upgrade to a new satellite dish like a slimline dish. If there is room on another sat, that not for HD Nationals, why not put it on that one and stop cramming it all onto 101??

So what do people feel about this??

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They have always been compressed and nothing has changed lately. The same thing goes for Dish Network and even for Digital cable, they all use compression to squeeze in he most channels possible.

 

[sundude90]

Well, I feel that they should switch some of those channels to a different satellite, so the channels won't have to be so compressed. For what I can see that there is room on 110 and maybe on another satellite.

I don't agree with the Decompressing and I think they could solve that problem in other ways. I also feel that its getting worse, but maybe I am wrong.

I would like people's thoughts on this. I know that his has been down by Directv and other companies for quite a while.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions! So please post them here.

 

[charper1]

I think what Scott was saying was that it had been this way for a LONG TIME and they are converting over to MPEG4 and new sats. That being said that fact that it has been this way for so long also means there are many, many long threads already on this near dead horse topic.

 

[sundude90]

I think what Scott was saying was that it had been this way for a LONG TIME and they are converting over to MPEG4 and new sats. That being said that fact that it has been this way for so long also means there are many, many long threads already on this near dead horse topic.

I understand what you and he means. I have not seen any other threads on this either. I just wanted to post my thoughts and hear what other people had for thought and maybe even suggestion on this matter. I hope you understand my point, and that I just didn't start this thread because I am new to this issue.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[Ronnie-]

I havent noticed a drop in PQ on the SD channels on D* or E* lately. I have both, seems like its like it always is

Curious. You say that from what you can see that there is room on 110 or others. What makes you think this? Not saying there isnt, just wondering what you based that part of the post on

 

[jcrandall]

It has been this way for years. They aren't necessarily down rez'd, rather they are over-compressed, resulting in blur, motion artifacts, etc.

They can't just move stuff off of the 101 satellite, there are still MILLIONS of customers who only "see" that satellite, and with no desire for HD, have no reason to upgrade.

The cost to replace all those dish installs would be huge.

I personally think we are YEARS away from seeing any major changes with the 101 sat. Eventually, the LONG TERM goal is to go all MPEG4, allowing much better SD picture like we have on HD now.

If you want good picture quality, even if you have just SD TVs, you may consider springing for the $10 HD access fee and receiver upgrade. Even on SD TVs, the HD channel picture is significantly better.

There is no realistic way for DirecTV to improve the SD quality at this point without huge expenses. Dish is in the same boat.

 

[Rey]

i actually see that D sd is a little better than E sd. just a little better.

 

[Mr Tony]

heck here in Minneapolis there are still TONS of single LNB dishes here

they dont want HD and Minneapolis locals are on 101 so why upgrade??

 

[sundude90]

I was talking to a person from Technical Support about problems I was having with the clarity of some SD national channels. The lady told me that they we working on that issue by duplicating some of the channels on 101 and putting them onto 110 with the possibility of making them MPEG4 to take up less room on sat. She said that after that happens people with Dishes that can pick up stuff from 110 will get those channels from 110 and not from 101. Therefore making some channels quality better over time. She said that they are also working on upgrading customers equipment to MPEG 4 equipment, so that they will be ready for the future. She said that is the goal but will take a while since there is lots of people with Single LNB round dishes.

This is what I was told by Directv. Have any of you heard something like this before? Any comments about this?

 

[Ronnie-]

Generally speaking, CSRs of any level (tech support included) dont have a clue as to what D* is doing behind the scenes. I am not saying this person was wrong, but its just the general consensus here. Of course there are exceptions.

The mpeg 4 changover SHOULD help some considering other factors dont change.

 

[Jimmy 440]

Im my opinion the SD channels look fine.There hasn't really been any change that I can notice.They probably could be better.But I have no problem with the way they are now.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Whats SD?

 

[sundude90]

Standard Definition, the opposite of High Definition!

Do MPEG4 SD Programs take up less memory than MPEG 2 SD Programs??

 

[Ronnie-]

Standard Definition, the opposite of High Definition!

Do MPEG4 SD Programs take up less memory than MPEG 2 SD Programs??

He was kidding

Yes, they take up less space when you record them

 

[gadgtfreek]

He was kidding

Yes, they take up less space when you record them

 

[sundude90]

So SD MPEG 4 takes up less space on my Receiver than SD MPEG 2? And less space on Satellites and has better quality??

RIGHT?

If this is all true, then Directv should start switching over to all MPEG 4 and dump MPEG 2. If there is room on Sat 110, they shoudld put MPEG 4 SD Nationals on there, and broadcast those channels to subscribers who have MPEG 4 equipment. Therefore people with MPEG 4 equipment would get better SD National Channels than people without MPEG 4 equipment.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Easier said than done on converting everything to mpeg4.

Mpeg4 is a more efficient compression technology, which allows them to use less bandwidth for same PQ. PQ is better because once they convert to mpeg4, they can afford to give each channel a little more bandwidth and improve the PQ.

For example, a mpeg2 channel requires 12mbps and a mpeg4 requires 6mbps for the same pq. What D* has done is convert the channel to Mpeg4 and then give it 7.5mbps. Therefore they use less space AND add better PQ.

 

[sundude90]

Easier said than done on converting everything to mpeg4.

Mpeg4 is a more efficient compression technology, which allows them to use less bandwidth for same PQ. PQ is better because once they convert to mpeg4, they can afford to give each channel a little more bandwidth and improve the PQ.

For example, a mpeg2 channel requires 12mbps and a mpeg4 requires 6mbps for the same pq. What D* has done is convert the channel to Mpeg4 and then give it 7.5mbps. Therefore they use less space AND add better PQ.

Thanks for the info! That's really interesting.

I wish they could put more SD content up in MPEG 4 so it wouldn't be as compressed, or even put some MPEG 4 SD National Content on Sat 110 since there is room on that SAT. Then I could pick it up!

 

[jdspencer]

You may get an argument on that statement. Most here would rather have DirecTV focus on National HD.

BTW, DirecTV only has three TPs licensed on the 110 sat.