The ANSWER to last night's HD Poll

[Minsk1]

Again a 1080p Compatable set does not mean that it displays the full 1080p resolution. MOST DO NOT.

Sorry, Scot, but I have to agree with Paradox-SJ on that.
Most popular sets from Sony (SXRD line, Bravia line), Samsung, Mitsubishi are full 1080p TVs, not only 1080p compatibale. They are FULL HD. I bought Sony 50" SONY KDS50A2000, and also was lucky enough to pay $250 5 year extended warryanty in 2001 on my Hitach 61". Guess what, two weeks prior warranty expiration, TV broke (no sound) and they couldn't fix it, so it was replaced with new Mitsubishi WD65831.
These sets are amasing. I like Sony PQ more with SD channels. Actually Dish SD looks very good on Sony. Maybe screen is not big enough.
Mitsubishi HD is, well, HD upconverted to 1080p. SD channels are not as good as on Sony.
So whoever wants watch SD goes watch it on Sony

 

[long_time_DNC]

That was one of the first thoughts I had yesterday too. :

It sure would be nice, wouldn't it? :

 

[RandallA]

You would think Dish would want to do some sort of systematic receiver swap out over a period of time to get better utilization of their transponders. Example: they take a DMA and get everyone MPEG-4 / 8PSK compatible receivers, then as soon as they are done with that DMA's swap, convert all locals for that DMA into MPEG-4 and use mixed transponders of HD and SD for best bandwidth utilization.

Kirby, your plan sounds too logical and efficient for Dish Network. Remember it's E* we're talking about here. I like your idea.:up

 

[Kirby Baker]

Ohh, sorry for being too logical

And actually, I would go one step further on my plan, dont swap SD receivers for new SD receivers. Swap them with base HD receivers. Then you could even look at options like shutting down SD locals per market, and using special zooming for 4:3 sets so that users dont get letterboxed screens (unless they choose it).

 

[cebbigh]

Ohh, sorry for being too logical

And actually, I would go one step further on my plan, dont swap SD receivers for new SD receivers. Swap them with base HD receivers. Then you could even look at options like shutting down SD locals per market, and using special zooming for 4:3 sets so that users dont get letterboxed screens (unless they choose it).

I think there is a point where logic gets in your face and bops you in the nose if you don't listen to it.

 

[general487]

This technology is great and E* stating they want to stay ahead in the HD game is great BUT what about D* having NFL, MLB, March Madness, and NASCAR packages? Having the best HD is great but you need also to offer the programming people want. I understand not everyone is a sports nut but seriously D* has made a coup with having rights to all of this programming(STD/HD).

And charging you "nuts" for an extreme premium. Sunday Ticket and the HD games pricing is crazy.

 

[zvogt]

Have you shopped for one recently? Because if so, you'd find that many of the affordable sets in stores that people are buying are 1080i but not 1080p.

Are people really buying 1080i displays?? I doubt it.
Displaying a signal by painting every other line, then going back to fill in the skipped lines,
letting phosphor and the viewers eyeballs do the deinterlacing seems like a thing of the past.
I'd bet very few cathode-ray tubes are sold new in comparison to fixed-pixel technologies
in the consumer display market.
No fixed pixel technologies (LCD, DLP, LCOS) work that way.
Now I believe you that the internal components are only designed to process the bandwidth
of a 1080i signal and not a full 1080p60 signal, but even so I'd think that most displays are capable
of resolving all 1920 pixels across a given line, even if few HD video cameras are capable of capturing
that much data.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I remember that during a tech chat a while ago , they said that Dish would transition all hd customers to full mpeg4 by the end of 2007 and then it would take another 2 years to transition all sd customers to the mpeg 4. This would take us to the year 2009 to finish the full transition.

If Dish wants to make the sd customers pay to upgrade like they did the first hd receivers last year , they will lose customers. First thing is they need to put a deadline up for everyone to go to a vip 622 or 211 receiver for hd customers this year so they can start putting all hd channels in true mpeg 4.

Then they could start a change out on the older sd receivers by model number if they wanted to, in exchange for a year commitment to Dish. They could finish up by the end of 2008 and finally change out to pure mpeg 4 for all programming.

Imagine the picture quality they could get with true mpeg 4 . The bandwith they would gain by doing this would keep them from needing a whole bunch more satellites. Then they could gain the space they need to finish off the rest of the sd locals and start to receive them from the true digital signal instead of the sd version upconverted to digital and they might not even have to downconvert with the new mpeg 4 encoders that they have now and the new ones they will have by two years from now.

Imagine all the hd channels they could add in two years and they wouldn't need to have both sd and hd signals any longer for each channel. All mpeg 4 receviers could downconvert to 480i for sd televisions so they wouldn't need the sd version anylonger. They do need to figure out how they are going to charge for all this new hd. They need to include it in the basic programming packs like Directv is going to do. IF you sub to the sd version you get the hd version for a small tech fee of 10.99. Eventually they could drop this fee too as all programming goes hd.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

I doubt point 2 is valid anymore. Most TV sold in the last year alone (ruf. 3 million) were all 1080p.

I'm surprised at this, since most of the entry level flat panels (under 40"/under $2K) seem to still be 720p. I'd be curious to see where you were getting these numbers.

I hope people aren't wasting their money on 32" 1080p tvs, from normal viewing distances most won't see any difference...

 

[John Kotches]

Beep wrong.

They are capable of handling 1080p programming but most still do not actually display the full resolution.

Scooter. sorry dude you are wrong here.

A 1080p microdisplay (LCD, Plasma, DLP, LCoS) can display all of a 1920x1080 image... Otherwise, it wouldn't be a 1080p microdisplay.

All that has to happen is a 1080p signal is sent out or a 1080i signal is correctly deinterlaced.

Best,

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Whats a microdisplay?

 

[Peter Parker]

Scooter. sorry dude you are wrong here.

A 1080p microdisplay (LCD, Plasma, DLP, LCoS) can display all of a 1920x1080 image... Otherwise, it wouldn't be a 1080p microdisplay.

All that has to happen is a 1080p signal is sent out or a 1080i signal is correctly deinterlaced.

Best,

All he really said though was that he is not sure that the majority of sets sold in that period can display 1080p. I don't know if that is true either but it is surprising if it is true. I would agree thata 1080p set can do that. but what percentage are 720p or 1080i?


People are mentioning high end sets like the SONY KDS50A2000. Sure most $2,000 plus TVs can handle 1080p but that is nott hwe question. The question is can the majority of sets sold do it?

 

[Poke]

Well and most things will not be broadcast in 1080p much less 1080i.

 

[Peter Parker]

Whats a microdisplay?

My understanding is that anything that usesa chip anda lamp is a micodisplay. that covers alot of territiory. CRTs are clearly not in taht group but many other technologies are.

 

[Jim S.]

If Dish wants to make the sd customers pay to upgrade like they did the first hd receivers last year , they will lose customers.

If I was an SD customer I'd be begging them to upgrade to MPEG4 at any cost because what they have now on the nonpremium channels varies between mediocre and disgusting. Granted I'm watching it on an HD LCD, but I can easily tell I'm watching compressed video on other people's SD CRTs of any decent size too.

 

[lakebum431]

But what about plasma displays? Unless I'm mistaken there are only a couple of 1080P plasma displays on the market and they are very very expensive. So basically every plasma display sold is not 1080P right? I know there were alot of those things going out the door before Christmas...

 

[foghorn2]

I wonder what true 1080p shows those true 1080p display owners are watching and from where?

Get real, a majority of sets sold last year were not 1080p sets. 1080i capable yes.

This argument is getting old and sounds like Best Buy jibberish.

 

[scooby2]

I wonder what true 1080p shows those true 1080p display owners are watching and from where?

Get real, a majority of sets sold last year were not 1080p sets. 1080i capable yes.

This argument is getting old and sounds like Best Buy jibberish.

blu-ray and hd-dvd are pretty much it.

 

[onsiteSat]

2009 deadline

I remember that during a tech chat a while ago , they said that Dish would transition all hd customers to full mpeg4 by the end of 2007 and then it would take another 2 years to transition all sd customers to the mpeg 4. This would take us to the year 2009 to finish the full transition.

That puts Dish in a good position to "convince" customers to switch to the new "Digital" mpeg4 satellite receivers. Un-informed subscribers worried about the government mandated digital broadcast switchover would probably pay to have Dish upgrade them to the new standard, even though there old boxes meet the digital requirement already.

The new government non digital set warning logo:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/warning_this_tv.html

 

[Paradox-SJ]

blu-ray and hd-dvd are pretty much it.

as well as HTPC AND ANY 1080i source that is deinterlaced properly:


You know like the supperbowl....anything on my CBS and NBC stations my PS3 and 360......as well as BD/HDDVD.

Hay,wouldnt that be most sources?