Any Full Res Still Out There?

[Tom Bombadil]

Since low bitrate is our enemy not resolution.

Low bitrate *AND* low resolution are both are enemies.

Certainly low resolution is not our friend.

 

[foghorn2]

If you can't tell by looking at the channels, what difference does it make?

The archives don't look as good

 

[nazz]

TNTHD and HBOHD are 1920x1080i now, NHLHD 1280x720p

I thought TNTHD has always been 720p?

 

[Smith P.]

Could be a glitch in MPEG headers; I'll recheck, but that time it was the numbers.

 

[general487]

Here are the channels that operate at full resolution (updated):

9420 TNT-HD (1920x1080i?)
9421 Discovery HD (1920x1080i)
9424 ESPN-HD (1280x720p)
9425 ESPN2-HD (1280x720p)
9429 NTGHD (1280x720p)
9443 DEMO HD (1920x1080i)
9456 HBO-HD (1920x1080i)
9460 Showtime-HD (1920x1080i)
9461 HGHD (1920x1080i)
9462 Food-HD (1920x1080i)
9463 NHLHD (1280x720p)

If you have any additions or corrections let me know. TNTHD is 1080i. So I guess the only downrezzed channels on Dish are the Vooms, HDNets, NFLHD?, Starz, and non-ABC or Fox Locals (720p)?

What kind of bitrate is needed for a full resolution 1080i picture to look optimal (MPEG2 and MPEG4)? What about 720p? How many channels would need to be on each transponder to reach the optimal?

I'm actually kind of surprised that Dish has this many channels at full resolution, as Direct has downrezzed EVERYTHING!

 

[Jeff_R]

Isn't Universal HD still a full-bandwidth channel?

 

[rglore]

You can get full resolution at any bitrate. The higher bitrates allow the resolution to remain high while there is motion in the picture. The more motion, the higher the bitrate required. For this reason it is very important that Dish not down-rez the channels since once the resolution is lowered, it is lost. At least with lowered bitrates, you can still see high definition in the low motion scenes.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Universal HD has never been a "full-bandwidth" channel on E*.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

My personal observations on these channels. Note that I'm using 61.5, 110, and 119.

9420 TNT-HD (1920x1080i?)

** Usually mediocre HD quality, sometimes ok. Suffers from over compression.

9421 Discovery HD (1920x1080i)

** Inconsistent, sometimes good, sometimes below average

9424 ESPN-HD (1280x720p)

** Usually good when it is showing HD material.

9425 ESPN2-HD (1280x720p)

** Usually good when it is showing HD material.

9429 NTGHD (1280x720p)

** Inconsistent

9443 DEMO HD (1920x1080i)

** Used to be good, now bad.

9456 HBO-HD (1920x1080i)

** Usually average to a little better than average, sometimes good.

9460 Showtime-HD (1920x1080i)

** Usually average, close to HBO but sometimes a little worse.

9461 HGHD (1920x1080i)

** The three times that I checked it, it suffered badly from over compression.

9462 Food-HD (1920x1080i)

** The same as HGHD.

9463 NHLHD (1280x720p)

** Haven't seen it.


One can still catch some decent HD from time to time. But it is becoming less and less frequent.

 

[odbrv]

Does 622 settings have to be adjusted by channel

I see from the above that some channels are in 1080i and others are in 720p. When I set my 622 ,I used 1080i to match the highest lines my tv set can take. Do I need to reset it to 720p to see the 720p channels better?

 

[Dirtydan]

I see from the above that some channels are in 1080i and others are in 720p. When I set my 622 ,I used 1080i to match the highest lines my tv set can take. Do I need to reset it to 720p to see the 720p channels better?

Nope, but 720p is a little better at displaying fast action on the screen, I use 720p, never change it.

 

[general487]

Is Universal HD at full resolution? If it is, I need to add it to the chart.

Any answers to how much bitrate is needed for optimal picture quality?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I see from the above that some channels are in 1080i and others are in 720p. When I set my 622 ,I used 1080i to match the highest lines my tv set can take. Do I need to reset it to 720p to see the 720p channels better?

This can vary from TV to TV.

If you have it set to 1080i, then your 1080i channels will pass through, but your 720p channels will be converted to 1080i by the 622. There are some indications that the 622 is not top notch at doing this. If your TV can handle the 720p-1080i conversion better, then yes, you will get better quality if you set the 622 to 720p.

Of course, you have the capability of switching it at any time and observing the results. Then you will know which is best for your setup.

My 1080i set cannot handle a 720p input. So obviously in my setup, using the 622 to handle the 720p to 1080i conversion is MUCH better!!!

 

[Kirby Baker]

Is Universal HD at full resolution? If it is, I need to add it to the chart.

Yes it is. 1920x1080i.

 

[justdaved]

Has anyone compiled the data to see all channel locations by transponder, HD and SD? I would be curious to see if there is a more strategic way to organize the channel locations by transponder and get a higher amount of bandwidth per channel. Unfortunetly you'd have to take into account customer equipment and the local in local one dish regulation. I'm sure there are people who do this as a full time job @ E* but it would still be interesting to see.

 

[gdarwin]

Go to: http://www.dishchannelchart.com/

 

[Mark Strube]

Universal HD has never been a "full-bandwidth" channel on E*.

It is, actually. I know several people who had Cable with the ability to capture HD streams, and UniversalHD always hung around 6-10mbps. That's one channel E* doesn't have to bother with bit-starving since the source feed is already so low. UHD looks quite good for being at such low bitrates... if E* had encoders capable of looking this good at such low rates working on all the other channels they're bit-starving, I wouldn't mind quite as much.

 

[waltinvt]

*ding* *ding* *ding*

We have a winner!:up

double ditto :up :up

 

[general487]

Here are the channels that operate at full resolution (updated once again):

9420 TNT-HD (1920x1080i)
9421 Discovery HD (1920x1080i)
9424 ESPN-HD (1280x720p)
9425 ESPN2-HD (1280x720p)
9427 Universal HD (1920x1080i)
9429 NTGHD (1280x720p)
9443 DEMO HD (1920x1080i)
9456 HBO-HD (1920x1080i)
9460 Showtime-HD (1920x1080i)
9461 HGHD (1920x1080i)
9462 Food-HD (1920x1080i)
9463 NHLHD (1280x720p)

The only downrezzed channels on Dish are the Vooms, HDNets, NFLHD?, Starz, and non-ABC or Fox Locals (720p).

Anybody know what NFLHD's resolution is (and if it is at full resolution)?

 

[waltinvt]

Just a FYI, so dslate & froghorn please keep it in your pants.

PBS and NBC are the only local digital channels I receive OTA but other than Nascar and the Olympics, I haven't watched much prime time on NBC up until now.

Now they have some of the NFL, so I'm watching it more and we recently started watching their new series "Heros". All I can say, is it's the best HD I've ever seen - anywhere.

Now last night the sound was messed up but I can tell you, without a doubt and no exaggeration, the picture was by far better than anything I can currently watch on Dish. Even my wife remarked how good it looked and she could usually care less about HD.

I've had NBC OTA for about a year and a half and I can remember when it first started (and can confirm by archived posts) that although it was good, it was still comparable to some of the Dish channels like HDNet & DiscoveryHD.

It seems pretty obvious that over the last year Dish has slowly turned the dial down on their HD and now it's to the point when compared to real HD, there is absolutely no comparison anymore.

I realize I'm not telling many of you anything you didn't already know but if you can do a comparison with a (non-multicasting) OTA digital network, it is really a shock to see how far Dish has declined. Which of course is why they now have to call it "DishHD" with a "tm" after it, instead of just "HD".