The Future of Sports In HD - High Quality HD

[Carl B]

Based on the Olympics in HD broadcasts OTA and from E* (same NBC feed), I'd say that long term the best HD for watching sports is going to be OTA. Our local NBC-DT station has superior PQ and sound (DD 5.1) to the E* broadcast, which allegedly is at a higher bitrate (22 MB/s). In addition, the E* broadcast has constant breakups (streaks or pixel lines across the screen and periodic signal breakup), while the local OTA HD has been nearly flawless and much sharper in general PQ.

Since the E* HD package channels are all now exhibiting the affects of the recent HD compression move by E*, I don't think DBS and cable will be the gold standard in HD sports broadcasts. Good enough for a Walmart HDTV, but not what I expect after dropping a bundle on an HDTV setup.

 

[gmu77]

Agreed. The digital signal from the local NBC affiliate is far superior to any digital sportscast I have viewed on DirecTV. DirecTV should be ashamed to put out such poor quality (comparatively) and still try to pass it off as a leader in HD.

 

[Lem52]

Directv Ch 84 sure looks sucky to me. When the divers jump, you can hardly see them for the blocks!

Lem52

 

[Gr8Reb8]

Directv Ch 84 sure looks sucky to me. When the divers jump, you can hardly see them for the blocks!

Lem52

What D* receiver are you using?
I have a Zenith SAT-520 for OTA & D*, the HR10-250 for OTA & D* and Voom for OTA & V*. My local OTA channel comes in strong, however they are using a portion of it for a UPN station they own.
Here are my results:
D* channel 84 on both the SAT-520 and the HR10-250 look the best. They have the least macro blocking during fast motion.
V* on channel 321 is a very close second. Looks very good. Very little macro blocking on fast motion. Sound is louder than both D* & OTA.
As expected, since the local OTA station is using a portion of their bandwidth for a sub-channel (UPN), I see macro blocking galore. Any motion both fast and slow results in low picture quality.
Now here is the reason for my first question, I visited a neighbor that has D* and noticed that when they were watching 84 or OTA, they were getting a LOT more macro blocking on motion than I was (and I mean a LOT). They had an older Hughes HD D* receiver. My guess is that either the antenna (OTA and/or the dish) was not aligned/tuned that well, or that the older HD receiver might not be as good as the newer ones.

 

[Lem52]

I am using the Samsung TS360. I notice alot of blocks on Discovery HD too.

On OTA, I live too far away from the stations to recieve a watchable picture.

This isn't my reciever of choice though as I had a Hughes HTL-HD that went out in less than 2 months. Directv then sent this present one as its replacement.

Lem52

 

[Gr8Reb8]

A realignment of the dish might help. I do mine myself, but many call DirecTV and complain and DirecTV will then send a tech out.

 

[hancox]

This depends heavilly on the affiliate. WNBC-DT is a POS for us NY'ers. The E* feed is light years better

 

[Satellite Expert]

I'd say that long term the best HD for watching sports is going to be OTA.

Ypu won't be saying that if you lived in Cleveland and were stuck watching WKYC-DT supposed HD ~ @12Mbits/sec due to multicasting of SD, Telemondo and radar channeds