Do stations not care that their signal looks worse the more sub channels that are added?

[miguelaqui]

Back in 2006, I could receive several off-ar HD channels that looked much better than an channel did in HD from Dish Network. Now, several of those channel have created su-channels, making their HD signal look worse.

I even get 3 channels that have 2 HD feeds and one standard definition feed on the same frequency.

WSLS is the worst! It looks a little yellow when compared the WXII. They used to look the exact same.

Also, WSET used to have a better quality HD signal than WXLV, now that both channels have 2 sub-channels, WXLV looks a little better. same issue, WSET not look a little yellow. They bot still give a better picture than WTVD does.

The worst thing is that they sent the same quality signal to Dish, so they look even worse on Dish.

WFXR used to have the exact same picture quality as WRAZ when shoeing FOX programming. Not that WFXR has 2 high definition channels and one 480i channel on the same frequency, WRAZ gives a much better picture.

What happened? Did the fact that nobody really cared about the HD difference from satellite to off-air point out that they could degrade their signals and everyone would accept lower quality HD for more channels?

 

[Peter Parker]

They are for profit businesses. If the additional revenue they get from the subchannels exceeds any economic loss due to reduced PQ they will do it.

 

[Mr Tony]

The worst thing is that they sent the same quality signal to Dish, so they look even worse on Dish.

most stations send their signal to the satcos via fibre so the picture in some cases looks BETTER than OTA.

What happened? Did the fact that nobody really cared about the HD difference from satellite to off-air point out that they could degrade their signals and everyone would accept lower quality HD for more channels?

more channels = more advertising revenue for the stations

It all comes down to bandwidth. You can have only one sub and the main looks like hell. My ABC (KSTP Minneapolis/St Paul) uses 1/2 its bandwidth for that STUPID STUPID STUPID (my opinion) Mobile TV. So ABC looks like mush and looks BETTER on Directv (they get a direct connection)

 

[navychop]

We have a station near DC that has 12 SD channels, none particularly good.

 

[Peter Parker]

That is actually two stations that share the channel numbering. But all 12 offerings look pretty bad.

 

[jegrant]

I only really notice this on WRTV locally, our ABC affiliate. They now have 3 SD subchannels, HTSN (local news and sports), Laff, and Escape. And the main ABC channel has a lot of noticeable pixelization around objects on screen and other artifacts as well. And I am watching the OTA signal.

 

[kittyhas1000legs]

This was a terrible problem on ion in CT. ion, ion life, some third ion, qubo, and QVC all crammed in together.

 

[Mr Tony]

This was a terrible problem on ion in CT. ion, ion life, some third ion, qubo, and QVC all crammed in together.

all of the O&O Ions have that same setup
Ion
Qubo
IonlIfe
shopping
QVC
HSN

Ion looks decent. the rest look like crap

 

[bobvick]

WTTO in Birmingham has CW in 720p on .1 and 3 480i subchannels. They all look fairly good, I can't tell much difference in the main feed. Maybe it's the encoders they use.

 

[harshness]

We have a station near DC that has 12 SD channels, none particularly good.

I have one that has seven channels but it appears that they are delivered on two different frequencies.

 

[Mr Tony]

We have a station near DC that has 12 SD channels, none particularly good.

its actually 2 RF stations that combine PSIP numbers

We have 3 such examples in Minneapolis

 

[dhett]

all of the O&O Ions have that same setup
Ion
Qubo
IonlIfe
shopping
QVC
HSN

Not exactly. Some Ion O&O's carry Airbox programming, so they only have the first 4 subs plus the Airbox suite, currently 10 movie channels, plus a barker channel, all in H.264 and scrambled, requiring a decoder. See attachment KPPX-TV.pdf for a transport stream reading from Phoenix's KPPX-TV, an Ion O&O.

Also, see https://airbox.com/.

 

[RONZ]

Not exactly. Some Ion O&O's carry Airbox programming, so they only have the first 4 subs plus the Airbox suite, currently 10 movie channels, plus a barker channel, all in H.264 and scrambled, requiring a decoder. See attachment KPPX-TV.pdf for a transport stream reading from Phoenix's KPPX-TV, an Ion O&O.

Also, see https://airbox.com/.

Remembering ON-TV in Detroit in the 70's. That lasted only a couple of years. It seem that more people received it than were paying the 22.50 a month they were asking for.

 

[Blindowl1234]

ON-TV that's an old one. There was a local Tv engineer that build a board that he was selling for $10 and you got the station for free. You supplies your own parts and solder. Most of the subs here don't look too bad considering they're SD anyway

 

[Mr Tony]

We had "Spectrum Sports" in Minneapolis which was scrambled too. They had some Twins games and North Stars games

It is now WUCW CW23

 

[Mr Tony]

Not exactly. Some Ion O&O's carry Airbox programming, so they only have the first 4 subs plus the Airbox suite, currently 10 movie channels, plus a barker channel, all in H.264 and scrambled, requiring a decoder. See attachment KPPX-TV.pdf for a transport stream reading from Phoenix's KPPX-TV, an Ion O&O.

Also, see https://airbox.com/.

I'm aware of Airbox. There are 3 stations on the Mpls Ion (KPXM) that are scrambled.
Point was MOST Ion O&O's are set up that way. Yeah there may be a couple that dont but the majority[/i[ of them do

 

[Justin Hill]

It's the "quantity over quality" thing.