Compression, HD, SpaceWay & MPEG4 ... tired of speculation

[slacker9876]

I just contacted DirecTV via e-mail. I know I will not get the answers to some of my questions (NDA, SEc, etc) but I wanted to share with the rest of the geeks here. Perhaps if they receive enough fan mail be it postal or virtual, they will again respond to our needs. I reckon I am just hitting critical mass again, what else is new LOL!

I am very frustrated with DirecTV at the current moment. There are a few questions I would like answered. Please know that I am not your average customer. So if you do not know the answer, please refer this to the department that actually does.

1)I want to know why you continue to downgrade the quality of your HD programming. DirecTV HD looks nothing like it used to when launched. It is also poor in quality compared to the over the air channels I receive. If I were not receiving it at no-charge right now I would cancel it from my package.

2)Does DirecTV plans to “decompress” ANY channels once SpaceWay 1 is operational? I understand the bandwidth constraints of offering so much programming, however, DirecTV will have a bunch to spare to improve overall quality if not squandered. I appreciate all the programming also, but many of us have moved to big screen televisions and sad to say … the signal looks like garbage compared to what it used to be like. My current account only goes back to 2001, but before that I was still a customer and in like 1998 … no one could touch DirecTV, which is not the case anymore.

3)I am aware that you will move to MPEG4 over the next two years and offer HD LIL in the top 12 markets this year. Will this be at the continued expense of the rest of us?

4)Last but certainly not least. When you plan to publicly announce how much DirecTV’s move to MPEG4 will cost those of us who currently own the HR10-250 receiver. Just look at the Internet forums … your customers are sweating!

Thanks!
xxxxx xxxxxx
xxxxxxxx, xx


Cc: PRDept@directv.com


Feel free to share your thoughts and as usual append any additional topics to this thread.

 

[tds4182]

Letter to D*

I reckon I am just hitting critical mass again, what else is new LOL!



Just take a couple of mild sedatives, wash them down with a little good chardonnay, and lie down for a while.

For goodness sake, it's only TV!

 

[Jstanuthrdishguy]

For goodness sake, it's only TV!

NO, NO, NO. This is Pay TV. Everyone has a right to expect high quality. If we all keep taking it up the tailpipe, then our future products will be nothing but trash and a high price tag to go on it.

 

[DobyMax]

I reckon I am just hitting critical mass again, what else is new LOL!



Just take a couple of mild sedatives, wash them down with a little good chardonnay, and lie down for a while.

For goodness sake, it's only TV!

I agree bro. Calm down, you'll be okay. You can always buy an antenna and get free channels.

 

[colofan]

Then we all go looking for another supplier

 

[Jstanuthrdishguy]

My point is, if we become complacent about the quality of the goods and services we purchase today, the next supplier won't have anything better to offer. Look at all the people who got screwed with the 2.0 engine Chevy has been dumping in the Cavalier and Sunfire for years. This engine is inferior and barely more than a POS. But not enough people were willing to make a stink about it. Unacceptable.

 

[colofan]

Well I guess that is where all the Honda owners came from. (I don't any of these cars)

 

[tds4182]

Compression,HD, Spaceway, et.al.

NO, NO, NO. This is Pay TV. Everyone has a right to expect high quality. If we all keep taking it up the tailpipe, then our future products will be nothing but trash and a high price tag to go on it.

I can only speak for myself but I'm very happy with my service from D*. The picture quality is great on both my HD and SD Tivos and on my 2 SD receivers. There are way more channels than I have time to watch (even with Tivo) and the price compares very favorably to my local cable company's prices.

If you're not happy (for whatever reason) go ahead and switch to something else. There are several other options out there.

Many of us are old enough to remember when there was no TV and we seemed to get along just fine back then.

I stand by my earlier statement--It's only TV!

 

[Alvarez]

I can only speak for myself but I'm very happy with my service from D*. The picture quality is great on both my HD and SD Tivos and on my 2 SD receivers. There are way more channels than I have time to watch (even with Tivo) and the price compares very favorably to my local cable company's prices.

If you're not happy (for whatever reason) go ahead and switch to something else. There are several other options out there.

Many of us are old enough to remember when there was no TV and we seemed to get along just fine back then.

I stand by my earlier statement--It's only TV!

But would you complain if you were given a better picture and better sound?

Remember people DirectV and Dish and whoever else comes out of the woodwork in the future very soon will have the quality of HD-DVD and blu-ray disc's to side by side with... Upon the release of these DVD players and movies people will see TRUE HD and wonder why their HD from their Satellite company pales in comparison.. I can only hope this will cause an outcry, and decompression.

 

[vinnyv07]

I can only speak for myself but I'm very happy with my service from D*. The picture quality is great on both my HD and SD Tivos and on my 2 SD receivers. There are way more channels than I have time to watch (even with Tivo) and the price compares very favorably to my local cable company's prices.

Yes very true ...everyone should only speak for themselves. Different opinions is what makes this forum great. What isnt an opinion and is fact is that Directv is slowly degrading the picture quality of their HD. Its actually depressing. But I remember when HDNET used to be the best quality HD ch out there. Now I put it on and its still good...but nowhere near what iot used to be.

If you're not happy (for whatever reason) go ahead and switch to something else. There are several other options out there.[/QUOTE]
Yes thats an option for everyone. And if Directv continues to give us HDLite then they will lose customers to other providers.

Many of us are old enough to remember when there was no TV and we seemed to get along just fine back then.
I stand by my earlier statement--It's only TV![/QUOTE]
Its only TV but I dont remember paying a ton for tv back then. We have been spoiled , but when you pay over $100 a mth for TV doesnt that intitle you to something better than what we had back then? Best thing to do is put up an OTA ant...and pull in any OTA local ch's you could. Thats the best HD around right now. Its better than anything any provider gives to you. Until Direct and Dish take HD serously, we just wont be getting the quality we deserve.

 

[tds4182]

Yes very true ...everyone should only speak for themselves. Different opinions is what makes this forum great. What isnt an opinion and is fact is that Directv is slowly degrading the picture quality of their HD. Its actually depressing. But I remember when HDNET used to be the best quality HD ch out there. Now I put it on and its still good...but nowhere near what iot used to be.

If you're not happy (for whatever reason) go ahead and switch to something else. There are several other options out there.

Yes thats an option for everyone. And if Directv continues to give us HDLite then they will lose customers to other providers.

Many of us are old enough to remember when there was no TV and we seemed to get along just fine back then.
I stand by my earlier statement--It's only TV![/QUOTE]
Its only TV but I dont remember paying a ton for tv back then. We have been spoiled , but when you pay over $100 a mth for TV doesnt that intitle you to something better than what we had back then? Best thing to do is put up an OTA ant...and pull in any OTA local ch's you could. Thats the best HD around right now. Its better than anything any provider gives to you. Until Direct and Dish take HD serously, we just wont be getting the quality we deserve.[/QUOTE]


I don't remember what my parent's paid for their first TV (circa 1952-53) but I'm fairly certain that, adjusted for inflation since then, it would amount to several thousand of today's dollars and we only got 2 stations back then.

 

[vinnyv07]

I think you would agree..paying for a TV is different then paying for a provider. Television has changed quite a bit , but you still have to buy a TV. Anyway...the best HD continues to be the free HD...OTA.

 

[Barney]

Well, I sent an email also:

Dear DirecTV:

Sadly, the picture quality on your high definition channels has deteriorated to the point where it is now becoming the butt of jokes, on the Internet, in electronics "big box" stores, and the audio video mom and pop shops (HD-Lite). This is due to the ridiculous amount of compression you are using. 1280 x 1080I , thats not widescreen, your going backwards. And to think DirecTV is going up in their fees for their "down grading" service.

Most customers understand that your bandwidth is stretched. However, when you proudly advertise your high definition offerings, and issue press releases bragging about how you will "double or triple the amount of high definition," and then cause the picture quality to become so degraded, you are seriously damaging your reputation. When you charge $10 a month for 4 of those same degraded channels, and call it high definition, this is a misrepresentation.

When you overly compress, you degrade the picture. Yet, to belabor the obvious, you still refuse to remove or eliminate many bandwidth hogs -- the many, many repetitive and redundant self-serving promotional channels ("Here is yet another version of what is on Pay Per View this month, in case you are not watching the others two!" "Here is how to hook up your receiver -- although it must be hooked up to view this!" "Here is how to change that access card!" "Here is another logo, in case a techie needs to see whether he can see a logo!")

It is obvious where your priorities are.

I have invested a lot of money in my high definition equipment. I spent $600 for a Sony SAT-HD300, $2000 for a Toshiba 51HX83, $300 for updating my dish to oval w/3LNB's. My account only goes back to 2001 but I've had DirecTV since 1998. I've also invested alot of $$$$$'s on an audio system as well.

You are alienating those who tend to pay extra for the premium subscriptions, and those who pay for the high definition package, and the type of consumer who will subscribe to a high definition pay per view at $5 a pop, because it is in high definition. You are alienating the type of consumer who might spend a grand, or close to a grand to buy a high definition receiver.

That is a serious error.

I have access to my local CBS high definition channel, and my local high definition channels from NBC, ABC, WB, PBS, and UPN. THEY offer high definition. My local FOX will be going full power this July. It is often stunning, and always full of detail. It is never "soft." It does not break into pixels and macroblocking everytime a camera pans across a rooml, or a sports figure darts down a basketball court. My indoor antenna only cost $14 to get my OTA local HD stations. Your version of "high definition lite" is so poor that most of my DVD's (which only offer a resolution of 480p) look much better (I'm just using component connection but can use DVI/HDCP with my DVD player once I get a good deal on a DVI switcher).

Sometime this year HD-DVD and/or BluRay will be out........true HD. You want us "early adapters" compair your programing to a HD DVD?


This is ESPECIALLY true on the three channels which are sharing one transponder.

Your "rolling compression scheme" is not working. Not even close.

Disgusted and not very happy. And now you say I'll have to replace my $600 Sony HD300 because ya'll are going MPEG 4......you better start offering HD and real soon.

Not a very happy long time customer of DirecTV.
OTA is free & is blowing ya'll away.......right now


Barney

 

[Dino]

Barney-- I'm also in the Heart of Texas, in Austin.

You're getting UPN OTA? I have never received UPN digital, and didn't think anyone here could, what with the station being in Fredricksburg.

Please elaborate.

(Sorry, folks, if I'm pulling this thread off-topic.)

Thanks,
--Dino

 

[tdti1]

I feel bad for you guys, when I read these posts, I had dish net and bell they suck, I have seen dtv not good at all, the SD is trash and the HD is poor, not true HD! I get the best picture quality from my OTA and my 20 year old big dish with 4dtv and HDD 200

 

[slacker9876]

FTA is the option I am looking at next. I would rather have to mess with it and have it be good than a retransmission of junk. D* is still the best commercial option available so it is not like I can go anywhere else. It's not just TV ... it's DirecTV and lemmie tell ya ... I am not exactly feeling the joy! They do require product improvement, companies will never even try this approach unless you ask which is all I am doing.

I still have not received an answer to my message either with I found quite odd. Perhaps they are actually routing to the proper personnel!

 

[Bunnyman]

I know that "it's just television" and there are plenty of other more important things we could/should be worried about, but D* is a pay service and I feel you have a right to demand quality and to get in their faces when they start slacking off.

Would anyone accept poor quality drugs from their pharmacist if the store wanted to increase their profit margin? Anyone be happy if the electric company decided to reduce voltage 20% to increase their bottom line? I'm just sayin'...

There are plenty of things that piss me off about D* but there just aren't many viable commercial options with the recent implosion of VOOM. If I hadn't had line-of-sight problems with V*'s satellite I would have dropped D* like a plutonium suppository months ago. I really get annoyed with these god-forsaken shopping channels that keep popping up on my custom channel list every damned night even though I constantly block them. Funny how they keep showing up while other blocked channels, like the Soap channel stay blocked. And the constant robbing of bandwidth from the HD channels to give to their much-more-profitable Sunday Ticket or whatever it's called really steams me since I don't watch any sports at all and I feel like I'm unwillingly subsidizing their sports programming.

Fact is, isn't picture quality the Holy Grail when it comes to HDTV? Isn't that why we all have spent the big bucks on highly sophisticated video hardware? What the hell is the use of paying for HD programming if the PQ is only marginally better than SD? My OTA antenna gives me better PQ than D*'s "premium" HD channels.

D* is counting on the fact that their customers are going to swallow whatever kind of picture degradation they shove down our throats, just like sheep. They are obviously trying to lower customer expectations of them while promising great things to be coming soon, which I will believe only when I see. If we don't voice our dissatisfaction with them, then they will just continue to serve up poor quality products and then gleefully raise their rates whenever it suits them (like maybe at the end of this month?).

Even though I have D* I was pretty sad when V* started its slow-motion dance of death. Truth is, HDTV is still in its infancy and there is a real lack of good HD content. I mean, you can only watch so many travelogues about Tibet. V* would have been a source of HD content and more importantly an important driver of competition. Now we're at the mercy of D* and they know it.

 

[Barney]

Barney-- I'm also in the Heart of Texas, in Austin.

You're getting UPN OTA? I have never received UPN digital, and didn't think anyone here could, what with the station being in Fredricksburg.

Please elaborate.

(Sorry, folks, if I'm pulling this thread off-topic.)

Thanks,
--Dino

I thought I re-read that email before sending...no I don't get UPN...I meant to put in PBS..sorry.