Clarification please on HD-Lite

[FIREBIRD81]

I'm fairly confused here. Reading all the posts, I get the impression that Dish will be switching ALL of their HD channels to HD-Lite, but reading what Scott has reported, I get the impression that it is only VOOM. So which is it? Obviously, there's a big difference there. If it's just VOOM, I'm honestly not all that concerned---the 10 channels of VOOM haven't produced any new content that I've seen since they switched over to Dish. And all reports that I've seen of the coming channels (VOOM) and added content show avery slow paced growing of the service that is EXTREMELY unsatisfactory. Aside from RAVE and RUSH, there's not a hell of a lot on any of the VOOM channels that would appeal to a wide audience even if they WERE putting new content out here. Those channels don't even hold a candle to HDNET or DiscoveryHD.

Now, if ALL of the channels are going 1280 x 1080 then I see the anger. But I think the far more pressing issue with VOOM is CONTENT! 30 days of VOOM and you'll have seen everything they have (well, most of it). It doesn't make sense to pay for THAT at any resolution. BUt I get the impression here that people assume all of the channels are going hd-lite, but I've seen no reports of that from anyone in the know, so I would like some clarification.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

So far only 3 of the VOOM channels have been downrezed. The rest of them have always been at the resolution they are at now.

CBS HD on the other hand was converted to 720p do to a technical problem.

All other channels are at their full native resolution. ESPN2HD and UniversalHD are at their native formats as well.

 

[CPanther95]

The core HD channels in the HD Pack are not HD-Lite. The outrage is the move to HD-Lite for the MPEG4 channels. When they switched the Voom channels on MPEG2 to HD-Lite and started messing with the CBS feed, the assumption was the better compression available via MPEG4 would mean that all the new channels would be in full HD. When they announced that all MPEG4 channels would be in HD-Lite, it sent up a red flag - especially since it was not accompanied by any announcement that this was only temporary.

If they assured subs that those channels that are currently full HD would remain that way, and that MPEG4 HD-Lite was only a temporary solution that would be corrected within xx months, you wouldn't see all the outrage. As it is, it appears more of a trend - and since MPEG4 is where everything is heading, it appears that E* subs are heading to an HD-Lite model and away from the full HD that they had. Until something is said to the contrary, the assumption has to be that the current full HD channels will be tampered with as soon as bandwidth restrictions require it.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Dish won't have any mpeg4 for over a year yet Panther, the reason the new Voom are 1280x1080i is that they are still mpeg2
they are mpeg2 with mpeg4 headers so only mpeg4 receivers can receive them

if Dish was heading towards HD-Lite, they wouldn't be launching Universal HD in 1920x1080i here in a week or 2 of which they are

there is some issue with Voom that Dish is not telling us about

Scott is right on the money, only Voom 10 and CBS East are HD-Lite right now on Dish

early December, Equator/Monsters/Animania where switched from 1920x1080i to HD-Lite 1280x1080i, this is where the confusion began, the other 7 Voom were HD-Lite from day one on Dish

this is Dish hear we are talking about, not Directv who has Zero respect for their customers or HDTV

-Gary

 

[FIREBIRD81]

The core HD channels in the HD Pack are not HD-Lite. The outrage is the move to HD-Lite for the MPEG4 channels. When they switched the Voom channels on MPEG2 to HD-Lite and started messing with the CBS feed, the assumption was the better compression available via MPEG4 would mean that all the new channels would be in full HD. When they announced that all MPEG4 channels would be in HD-Lite, it sent up a red flag - especially since it was not accompanied by any announcement that this was only temporary.
If they assured subs that those channels that are currently full HD would remain that way, and that MPEG4 HD-Lite was only a temporary solution that would be corrected within xx months, you wouldn't see all the outrage. As it is, it appears more of a trend - and since MPEG4 is where everything is heading, it appears that E* subs are heading to an HD-Lite model and away from the full HD that they had. Until something is said to the contrary, the assumption has to be that the current full HD channels will be tampered with as soon as bandwidth restrictions require it.

See, this is where the confusion sets in. The only announcement I've seen are what Scott has been reporting and that is that VOOM is staying HD-Lite, or so I've understood. I haven't seen any reports that all of the new mpeg 4 channels will be 1280 x 1080. I'm certainly to trying to argue with you. I'm just reading both responses here and it's still not clear to me if it's just VOOM or ALL new channels.

 

[CPanther95]

Dish won't have any mpeg4 for over a year yet Panther, the reason the new Voom are 1280x1080i is that they are still mpeg2

I should have said MPEGfaux.

 

[CPanther95]

See, this is where the confusion sets in. The only announcement I've seen are what Scott has been reporting and that is that VOOM is staying HD-Lite, or so I've understood. I haven't seen any reports that all of the new mpeg 4 channels will be 1280 x 1080. I'm certainly to trying to argue with you. I'm just reading both responses here and it's still not clear to me if it's just VOOM or ALL new channels.

I'm operating under the same info you are - the issue is that the hope pre-CES was that none of the MPEG4 (fake or not) would be in HD-Lite. Although they are not actually MPEG4 yet, to this point, there has been no announcement that they intend to correct that at any time in the future - or that HD-Lite will be limited only to Voom channels.