Broadcom announces MPEG 4 chip
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Now will Dish /Directv take all the existing receivers and just change the chip out making the existing receivers mpeg4 complian like the 921 dvr . Since there are far fewer hd dvrs out there, it would make sense to just change out the chip , and send the boxes back out. More than likely they will make all new receivers and change out all the other existing sd boxes out there.
So then this new chip is pin-compatible with whatever is being used by both E* and D* in all their existing receivers?!? 
Huh?
I must have missed the part that says the new chip is a pin-for-pin replacement for the old one. Where does it say that?TuxCoder said:So then this new chip is pin-compatible with whatever is being used by both E* and D* in all their existing receivers?!?
Huh.
I was referring to MikeD-C05's "change the chip out" discussion above. Changing it out won't work across the board (if on any receiver at all). But as bdemz states, an addon daugher card/module may help some receivers (but still definitely not that many models). I've heard of a select few receivers that have PCI slots or similar expansion interfaces--excluding smartcard sockets.mdonnelly said:
I agree. Even if this new MPEG4 chip is pin-compatible, which I doubt, it wouldn't be cost effective for E* to disassemble each 811, un-solder this VLSI chip and put on a new one. I haven't opened up the 811 to look, but even if it has slots for add-on boards, there's a lead time for design, test and distribution that would be pretty close to the lead time for a whole new STB.bavaria72 said:
Is it possible that an MPEG4-to-MPEG2 converter could be added to existing receivers? It would look like the existing DishPro legacy adapter (i.e., a box between the tuner and any LNBs/switches), but would be activated whenever a MPEG4 TP is selected; the converter would receive the MPEG4 signal, pick out the desired channel, and transmit it in MPEG2 to the receiver. It could communicate with the receiver via DiSEqC commands (DishPro receivers), extended legacy commands (legacy receivers), or by other connections (such as USB on 522 or 721, or Firewire on 921). Such a box may be cheap enough to let Charlie use MPEG4 as the solution to "two-dish".
I agree that an MPEG4 chip couldn't be added to existing receivers directly. Even a PCI card would be too complex for the average E* customer.
I agree that an MPEG4 chip couldn't be added to existing receivers directly. Even a PCI card would be too complex for the average E* customer.
That would be nice, but there is no way on the line it could tell what the desired channel is, or even what the desired transponder is. It could just know what satellite you need, and what polarization you want. Then there's the task of decrypting and decoding (hardware) the MPEG-4 stream and re-encoding (hardware) the MPEG-2 stream. There are other complications too, I'm sure.
I wonder if there is anything that Dish Network could use the MPEG-2 receivers for. Parts for new ones? Would ExpressVu be planning on doing the same too?
I am sure they will recycle them . This is Dishnetwork were talking about. They squeeze every penny till it screams.
The easiest thing would be to swap out the guts(Motherboard/tuner) and have the rest of the compatible hardware remain (re DVR's). They could start converting any existing stock now and then as swaps are sent back, convert them and send em back out.
Sorta like 'jack up the battery and slide a new car under it' approach.
Sorta like 'jack up the battery and slide a new car under it' approach.
RBBrittain said:
Very unlikely and would be more costly than a full retail upgrade to the next receiver that does support it. You are talking about taking an MPEG-4 signal and then converting it to MPEG-2. This would require a hard drive or very large memory buffer and not only a "decoder" but an "encoder" to do the MPEG-2 portion of the process.
I can safely predict, an't gonna happ'n.
Maybe by the time they get this going to where they want to replace everyone's receiver with MPEG-4 and have a lot of them manufactured and ready to be swapped with the current MPEG-2 that is out there that something new will be out by then already.
Lets see, I've got my chip puller handy. (these things are not soldered in) now can I figure out where the right chip to pull is, so i can put in my new BCM7411? Do I see a 27x27 336 pin chip somewhere?mdonnelly said:
Actually because the chip replaces a number of older chips on one chip, I agree with you and doubt if its pin compatible. But if it is, then its not that big a thing to replace it, and then would be cost effective.
