Are all Dish Network broadcasts interlaced? (ie. question about resolutions, etc)

[sofakng]

Does anybody know if Dish Network broadcasts all MPEG streams as interlaced video and then performs deinterlacing on the receiver?

I'm just wondering how this works because I thought Dish (and other providers) broadcasted certain channels at 720p and others at 1080i, but I've been doing some research and it seems like _every_ broadcast is sent as interlaced video...

 

[Jim S.]

How are you coming to that conclusion, since Dish doesn't have a receiver with native resolution passthrough?

 

[KKlare]

Dish does not change the resolution AFAIK. (Possible exception: locals.) So if it is 720p (progressive) then it is not interlaced. If it is 1080i or 480i (interlaced), then it is. 480i, aka SD, has other lines of information like CC that travel differently for HD.

Oops, wrong the receiver does do some conversion to what you ask for.

-Ken

 

[Dah-Henny]

IIRC, Dish has stated that they don't alter anything that comes from their channel providers. True or not, who knows?

 

[sofakng]

OK - I've done some more research and it looks like 720p is broadcast at 1280x720p but 1080i is broadcast at 1440x1080i.

Therefore, the receiver must be doing conversions based on the output settings. (i.e. if the receiver is set to 1080p output then it must deinterlace the 1080i programs and then upscale to 1080p)

Anyways, I thought all programs were broadcast as 1080i but I guess I was wrong.

If anybody has any other technical information about the broadcasts I would be very interested in learning more!

(EDIT: Also, just so everybody knows, Dish is definitely changing the bitrate (for every program) and resolution (for 1080i programs), but this is exactly what every other provider does such as Comcast, DirecTV, etc).

 

[3HaloODST]

The receivers scale the channels to whatever resolution you set them to. The actual channels themselves are not modified at Dish (other than shaving off 480 lines in horizontal resolution on 1080i broadcasts.) The receivers can't do 1080p except for a certain few VoD programs. Otherwise your HD choices are 1080i or 720p.

Disney/ABC and FOX (and some PBS's) are the only ones I know of that use 720p. Disney owns ABC and ESPN so ESPN is 720p as well. I'm sure there are a few others I'm missing, but basically anything Disney/ABC and FOX owns is 720p.

Here's a thread with a list (might not be up to date but close enough) :-

http://forums.audioreview.com/home-theater-video/hd-broadcasters-guide-720p-1080i-list-34559.html

 

[Jim5506]

BYT - you cannot set your receiver to 1080p, the only choices are 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.

If you happen to have a 1080p TV, and watch a VOD 1080p movie on 501, the receiver tests your TV and if it agrees it can do 1080p, that's what you get, but you have no control over it.

 

[Jhon69]

BYT - you cannot set your receiver to 1080p, the only choices are 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.

If you happen to have a 1080p TV, and watch a VOD 1080p movie on 501, the receiver tests your TV and if it agrees it can do 1080p, that's what you get, but you have no control over it.

That is correct when I first got my 1080p HDTV I selected 1080i,but after awhile I have changed it to 720p.Reason: Personal preference no other reason.

I have heard that those who have a Logitech Revue connected for GoogleTV can select to view their channels in 1080p.