D* HD Resolution

[HDTVFanAtic]

Several have asked me what is up since I posted on July 1st about MHD being in 1920x1080i.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?...1&postcount=87

As some have noted, DiscoveryHD Theater is 1920x1088 and since more technical people hang out here than other sites - I'll post the the current resolutions here:

70 - HBO-HD


71 - SHO-HD


72 - ESPN2-HD


73 - ESPN-HD


74 - UHD


75 - TNT-HD


76- DHDT


78 - HDNET MOVIES


79 - HDNET


80 - KCBS-DT


81 - WCBS-DT


82 - KNBC-DT


83 - WNBC-DT


86 - WABC-DT


87 - KABC-DT


88 - WYNY-DT


89 - KTTV-DT


100 - PPV Previews and Most other SD Channels


730 - BHD1


731 - BHD2 (Yes, they appear to be converting 1280x720p to 1920x1080i)


732 - Baseball Mix - the only SD Channel I've observed at 540x480


733 - Strike Zone

[veryoldschool]

Now that I can see. Great job.
Thanks for the show & tell on what many have posted, but haven't been able to show.
If my eyes aren't deceiving me, these aren't the output from the H/HR-20 but what is in the SAT feed before it gets scaled to the output. Correct?
Now not to be greedy, but do you have any MPEG-4 images, up your sleeve, to show us next?

[HDTVFanAtic]

Originally Posted by veryoldschool

Now that I can see. Great job.
Thanks for the show & tell on what many have posted, but haven't been able to show.
If my eyes aren't deceiving me, these aren't the output from the H/HR-20 but what is in the SAT feed before it gets scaled to the output. Correct?

You are correct.

[Jeremy W]

Originally Posted by veryoldschool

Now not to be greedy, but do you have any MPEG-4 images, up your sleeve, to show us next?

It's not possible to get those, at least not with anywhere near the ease of getting the MPEG2 ones.

[Geekzilla]

I've been jonesing for just that info since seeing the thread on avsforum. Thanks a lot!

[EaglePC]

can I ask how you got the abc,cbs,nbc east and west coast,i can not have them turned on

[HDTVFanAtic]

Pretty sad state of affairs when Directv is blowing away Dish on DiscoveryHD Theater

1920x1080i on DirecTV
1440x1080i on Dish

13.25 Mbps Video Bitrate on DirecTV
8.22 Mbps Video Bitrate on Dish

I-Frame 61,648 bytes on DirecTV
I-Frame 40,028 bytes on Dish

Both flunk putting 2 B frames back to back - but Directv still has 50% more Video Bitrate and higher resolution than Dish.

[Jeremy W]

Originally Posted by HDTVFanAtic

Pretty sad state of affairs when Directv is blowing away Dish on DiscoveryHD Theater

Sad state of affairs, or the beginning of DirecTV's new reign as HD leader?

[HDTVFanAtic]

Originally Posted by Jeremy W

Sad state of affairs, or the beginning of DirecTV's new reign as HD leader?

Perhaps you mean, the beginning of DirecTV's new reign.....

You think its any coincidence that DiscoveryHD is owned by Liberty Media and the others are not?

And if you think they are doing you favors changing a 1280x720p program to 1920x1080i, that's only a waste of bandwidth....as you are in essence throwing away 33% of the resolution per frame - as well as throwing away every other frame.

[veryoldschool]

Just to give an some idea of what the receiver sends to our TVs:




Both of these have had the "missing third" averaged back into them.
This is not the same has having the whole image sent as with the Discovery HD image.

[JeffBowser]

Ah, good stuff - cold hard data.

[veryoldschool]

This is what MPEG-4 is thought to look like if the SAT feed could be seen:

[RAD]

Where did D* find the bandwidth to be able to do this? Wonder if they got new MPEG2 encoders that allowed for this?

[mx6bfast]

Originally Posted by RAD

Where did D* find the bandwidth to be able to do this? Wonder if they got new MPEG2 encoders that allowed for this?

I'm asking because I don't know for sure, does increasing from 1280 to 1920 while keeping the same bandwidth numbers increase the amount of bandwidth D* is using for the station? I would think it doesn't.

Like I posted over on the avs thread, if D* increases one they need to increase both. Meaning the resolution and bandwidth. I've still noticed a lot of blocking on the channel.

[Jeremy W]

Originally Posted by HDTVFanAtic

And if you think they are doing you favors changing a 1280x720p program to 1920x1080i, that's only a waste of bandwidth....as you are in essence throwing away 33% of the resolution per frame - as well as throwing away every other frame.

I suspect that they do it because those two channels show different RSNs every night, with different resolutions. They probably don't want to switch the resolution constantly, for whatever reason, so they just lock it on 1080i.

[Jeremy W]

Originally Posted by mx6bfast

I'm asking because I don't know for sure, does increasing from 1280 to 1920 while keeping the same bandwidth numbers increase the amount of bandwidth D* is using for the station? I would think it doesn't.

If the bitrate stays static, then the bitrate stays static. They can change the resolution all they want, it won't affect the bitrate. The only difference is that they should be using a higher bitrate at 1920 than at 1280, because there is more information. But they don't have to.

[Dazed & Confused]

Has anyone seen the latest NGC HD Sneek Peak 46 on Yosemite? I don't know the resolution or bitrate, and maybe my eyes are not that discerning, but that is a pretty sweet picture. Maybe that scenery makes anything look good, but it just seemed exceptional. If that is HD Lite, then I guess I will stop worrying about PQ.

[LameLefty]

I recorded and watched that one last night. I saw one instance of macro-blocking in a fast, dark transition (and I think that was during the one or two short breaks where they advertised NGC generally) but otherwise it was pristine.

[mx6bfast]

Originally Posted by Jeremy W

If the bitrate stays static, then the bitrate stays static. They can change the resolution all they want, it won't affect the bitrate. The only difference is that they should be using a higher bitrate at 1920 than at 1280, because there is more information. But they don't have to.

Thought so.

[HDTVFanAtic]

Originally Posted by Dazed & Confused

Has anyone seen the latest NGC HD Sneek Peak 46 on Yosemite? I don't know the resolution or bitrate, and maybe my eyes are not that discerning, but that is a pretty sweet picture. Maybe that scenery makes anything look good, but it just seemed exceptional. If that is HD Lite, then I guess I will stop worrying about PQ.

It's not HDLITE - its 1920x1080i.

They use the same mux that they use for 99 HD-PPV and 95 Special Events (i.e. BHD1 and BHD2).

So if there is no Baseball in HD, they will be showing HD-PPV on 99 in 1920x1080i and whatever the choose for the mux that is 95 (or MHD or whatever channel they decide to call it that day) for NGC HD Sneek Peak.

[Bizarroterl]

I would rate TNT-HD as HDlite. Not necessarily because of the signal, but because of the source. Almost everything on TNTHD is scaled SD. That is NOT HD!

My greatest concern over the new HD line up is how much of it will be real HD and not scaled SD.

[OutGolfn]

I am watching the PGA Championship right now on TNT-HD and I have to say it looks pretty darn good today.

[veryoldschool]

Originally Posted by OutGolfn

I am watching the PGA Championship right now on TNT-HD and I have to say it looks pretty darn good today.

Not to keep beating a dead horse:
So what you're seeing is what it can look like with a good source.

[Bizarroterl]

Which on TNTHD is rarely the case.

[brugg90]

is there anyway to tell when the ngc will air a program...i've only caught one and it was not much better than SD, i just want to see pristine hd from direcTv that i've been missing so far. The guide doesnt really tell, b/c usually the channel just goes black w/no picture.