Take a Look MPEG 4 listings on 148

[Spike]

I thought I needed new glasses.... but NO! Look guys.. the MPEG 4 Listings are on this satellite. Starz, HBO HD, DiscoveryHD.. Encore etc....

NICE!!!! but, WHEN will they go live?

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish148.html

 

[cebbigh]

I happen to have a Dish500 pointed at 148 that I was thinking of removing when I go to a Dish1000 (the channel I originally got the 148 for was moved to 119). The installer is scheduled for Tuesday. Do you think there a good reason now to keep a dish pointed at 148?

 

[Spike]

I would keep it... there at 148. It looks like something MAY happen soon. This kind of threw me for a loop. They were testing on MPEG 4 on other satellites.

 

[lee78221]

Ultimate Shopping Network MPEG-4

Wow Shopping in HD

 

[JH1949]

Is any mgpeg4 testing going on at 61.5 ?

 

[rad]

OK, I'm confused. Didn't the tech chat say that E* wasn't going with MPEG4 since they didn't like the compression ratio's they were getting? From http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=111277&highlight=tech+chat )Tech Chat notes):

"MPEG4- No encoder in place yet to support(slower rollout than competition)
8PSK- Turbo allows 30 to 40 percent improvement in quailty, improve bandwidth for HD programming"

So E* is saying on thing and doing another (they wouldn't never do that would they? )

 

[CJPC]

They sadly may just be test channels... One because it seems E wants to move many people off 148 to 129, and second, didnt they show starz hd off 148 about a year ago (i remember there was a pic here on the site, using the 411 iirc)

 

[SatinKzo]

Ultimate Shopping Network MPEG-4

Wow Shopping in HD

Mpeg4 doesn't mean HD. The shopping channel does not indicate it is in HD

 

[mdonnelly]

Need to ask P.Smith about this. It doesn't seem to be new activity. It looks like he reported this to Lyngsat in September.

 

[dfergie]

OK, I'm confused. Didn't the tech chat say that E* wasn't going with MPEG4 since they didn't like the compression ratio's they were getting? From http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=111277&highlight=tech+chat )Tech Chat notes):

"MPEG4- No encoder in place yet to support(slower rollout than competition)
8PSK- Turbo allows 30 to 40 percent improvement in quailty, improve bandwidth for HD programming"

This all came word for word from the chat... I rewatched and paused where needed to take these down...

 

[goaliebob99]

guys this is just test channles that have been up forever.... the last I knew those channels are braudcasting Null packets... (no video content..) The safe bet right now would be to look to 129 and 61.5 for your new hd... and forget about mp4 for a while now... atleast untill the compression rate gets better.

 

[RandallA]

Those channels were added back in Sep. (050925 and 050926). And yes the only HD channels are HBO and Discovery Theater, the rest are regular SD.

 

[mlb]

I was told by E* CSR's last week that the MPEG4 was for their "interactive TV" programs. Using it for shopping would make sense to me. The SD and HDTV channels themselves would remain MPEG2 for the foreseeable future, is what I was told to expect.

 

[BrianMis]

I was told by E* CSR's last week that the MPEG4 was for their "interactive TV" programs. Using it for shopping would make sense to me. The SD and HDTV channels themselves would remain MPEG2 for the foreseeable future, is what I was told to expect.

Please, Please take everything said by any CSR at E* with a grain of salt.

They have been wrong before.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

I was told by E* CSR's last week that the MPEG4 was for their "interactive TV" programs. Using it for shopping would make sense to me. The SD and HDTV channels themselves would remain MPEG2 for the foreseeable future, is what I was told to expect.

If a CSR's lips are moving they are probably lieing....

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I sure hope E* is testing MPEG4. In fact, they said they are testing it, and so far it isn't passing the mustard. So I wouldn't hold out much hope for picking up meaningful content from 148 in MPEG4 in the near term.

Anyway, it is highly unlikely that E* is going to offer unique, new channels in MPEG4 from 148. You test out on 148 and when it is ready, and you have a coordinated program to replace 8PSK receivers with MPEG4 receivers, then you go into production on the main birds. As there are plenty of existing HD channels to use for testing, there is no need to use new channels for testing.

My hope is that E* plans to put as much programming as possible on 110, 119, and 129, so that a D1000 is all that most of us need.

 

[mlb]

That isn't what I want to hear... I've trying to decide whether to become a new customer and lease a 942 or not... I don't want to pay the money and find out I should have waited for the 962 to be released.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Given a choice, all of us would rather have a 962 (or whatever Dish calls their MPEG4 compatible DVR). However as no such beast presently exists, and there is no announced date for its introduction, we are all left with deciding to get a 942 now and start enjoying a very functional HD-DVR, or wait, wait, wait. That's the way it goes with computers, cell phones, iPods, HDTV sets, etc.

 

[HokieEngineer]

As GoalieBob and others have said, these are just test channels which have been on 148 for awhile. They are reported on lyngsat as FTA though, so I'll have to swing a dish over there and see if anything is still being tested, unless P. Smith beats me to it

There is one other h.264 channel, its on 129 on the test QPSK turbo transponder. Currently there is an mpeg2 channel mirroring one of the Voom channels, and a h.264 test channel reportedly showing the SD version of a NYC local.

Don't believe anything the CSRs say about mpeg4. They'll probably be the last to know.

 

[Smith P.]

Nay, 129W tp13 transmitting only two MPEG-2 channels, nothing there in H.264.