G9 Starz HD Gone...

[tvropro]

I have never thought Dish or Directv looked that good with their HD. They map their SD channels (directv) beside the equivalent HD version of a channel and when you compare the difference you think "wow ..HD is great" but stop and think...the SD channel is so bit starved it makes their bit starved HD channel look good.

That's there dirty little plan.

HD Lite The Big Lie...

I know 4DTV was slipping downward when i got into it 7 years ago. i just would not bring myself to signing two year contracts with the pizza pans and cable company.
I do not see myself married to them that long with an expensive early termination fee.
i do not like the fact that directv holds your credit card hostage either.

when 4dtv is gone....i will simply be FTA and OTA. Nothing more. or if something would happen to my 4dtv receivers.

I will not do contracts. Allot can happen in those two years where you may not be able to afford it or just plain hate it. If you read on the web, Dish and Direct are stickling it to seniors on fixed incomes with there contracts and early termination fees. That's just wrong. Before I would ever look at pizza they would have to, do away with contracts, get lower pricing at the regular rate and offer alacarte or better packages for what I want to watch. I doubt that will ever happen so I'll stick with eating pizza

 

[Inno]

You can watch SD with very good results on a HD screen. It depends on your source material, and the scaler in your tv. My AQUOS looks absolutely beautiful on SD even in smart stretch mode, as long as I feed it an outstanding source. The sources I feed is either a 1st generation master feed from my 4DTV (via s video 480i), a 1st generation master feed from my Visionsat (via component 480i) or a excellent DVD (via component at 480p)

Now hooking up a HDTV to SD pizza or digital cable will look pretty sad. You have to watch there HD to get any satisfaction. On a good day there HD lite approaches the quality of a good SD source.

Of all my input sources the 4DTV is definitely the best SD source I have, aside from the handful of analog on C-Band but it is still not comparable to a good quality Blu-Ray movie.
In my case though my DSR905 does not have a S-video connection so I'm connected via composite video.

 

[tvropro]

Composite will do quite well, but S and component will be purer with color and is usually sharper. I would say that my 922 on S and my Visionsat DVB on component have excellent results to my HDTV. MY SD DVD player is on component also at 480p and puts out an excellent picture too. I don't have any HDMI devices yet but inputs for them.

Did you try to hook your Pansat 3500 up via S or component and scan some SD masters like Ion or the CW. If not give it a shot you may be quite pleased with the results.

 

[Inno]

I contemplated the 3500 with component but the problem is that all the equipment is at one end of the room and the TV is in another. The switching takes place in the HT receiver which does not have component switching. I have one that does do component switching but it does not upconvert any of the other sources to component.
So to make a long story short, I would have to run a whole bunch of new wiring to get it done.
I know ION and some of the others look pretty damn sharp even with composite video.

The other thing I could do is move the FTA stuff downstairs to the home theater room where I have a projector with all the input sources connected (HDMI, component, S-vid and composite) but we do the majority of our "everyday" watching upstairs. Need more equipment!!!!

 

[tvropro]

I have all my stuff connected to the best sources possible in my downstairs Media Center. But I also feed composite to my upstairs living room and RF all over my home. Before I got the Visionsat I ran my Pansat 2700A using S video out and converted it to composite with a passive circuit I made using 2 capacitors, a pot, and a hand wound inductor. It looked better doing that then using straight composite. I still use that circuit for other things in my home too. Including feeding my DSR-405 (Shaw) from S video > composite to hook in with the switches for composite to my HDTV.

Too many wires but worth it for the end results But then you can never have too many wires or dishes

 

[Kb Cool]

I will not do contracts. Allot can happen in those two years where you may not be able to afford it or just plain hate it

Stop it! That is not true.

 

[Kb Cool]

If you buy your own Charlie Dish and Receiver. Not that any of you guys would. But, for the record a "contract would not be required". Sound familiar? Kind of like 4DTV? Huh?

 

[Inno]

I have all my stuff connected to the best sources possible in my downstairs Media Center. But I also feed composite to my upstairs living room and RF all over my home. Before I got the Visionsat I ran my Pansat 2700A using S video out and converted it to composite with a passive circuit I made using 2 capacitors, a pot, and a hand wound inductor. It looked better doing that then using straight composite. I still use that circuit for other things in my home too. Including feeding my DSR-405 (Shaw) from S video > composite to hook in with the switches for composite to my HDTV.

Too many wires but worth it for the end results But then you can never have too many wires or dishes

I agree with the last comment but once I start it will be a very long and drawn out process! I'm not ready to invest the time right now. When it gets done the whole home theater/media center will be be re-vamped. The previous owner built it and while he had the right idea, he had no real knowledge of sound quality or proper placement etc. or the fact that wood and glass rattle..............I could go on and on but I won't. The equipment will be moved to behind the bar, up at eye level and to a place where I can easily access the wiring from the rear in a storage room. Then I'll be looking at maximizing signal sources and having a dedicated BUD just for FTA and one for 4DTV...........again, no time to do it right right now so it won't get started for awhile.

 

[photoman76]

If you buy your own Charlie Dish and Receiver. Not that any of you guys would. But, for the record a "contract would not be required". Sound familiar? Kind of like 4DTV? Huh?

That's what I did when I switched to Dish a number of years ago. I bought a 942 receiver and a Dish 1000. I installed it myself and called to activate programming. Just like I did when I had 4dtv.

When Dish switched their HD from Mpeg 2 to Mpeg 4, I could no longer receive the HD channels on my 942. I complained to Dish about them taking away the HD channels and asked for a 622 to replace my 942 receiver or I was going to switch to Directv or Comcast or U-verse. They sent me a 622 receiver to replace the 942. I have no contract and the only fee I pay is a DVR fee which started last month. Before that, it was included free with the America's Everything Package.

Last night I compared the Scripps SD 4dtv channels to the Dish HD channels. While the Scripps SD channels do look very nice on my Samsung 50 inch plasma, the Dish HD channels look better. I have over 100 HD channels. The last I checked there were 2 on 4dtv. I enjoyed my 4dtv for many years, but the lack of HD channels, the loss of the ESPN channels and increasing costs for 4dtv programming made DISH more attractive and once I started using their DVR, going back to 4dtv would be very difficult.

 

[tvropro]

Stop it! That is not true.

I have no interest in a pizza dish system. I'd rather watch HD on my bud for free each month. Us hobbyists love looking for that free find and enjoying the run. If I want cable on a stick that I can't get from 4D I would get Comcast, correction Infinity. I just thew away a bundle ad that came to my house this morning. Those ads are good to wipe my you know what with. Do that with pizza ad's all the time

 

[Kb Cool]

I have no interest in a pizza dish system. I'd rather watch HD on my bud for free each month. Us hobbyists love looking for that free find and enjoying the run. If I want cable on a stick that I can't get from 4D I would get Comcast, correction Infinity. I just thew away a bundle ad that came to my house this morning. Those ads are good to wipe my you know what with. Do that with pizza ad's all the time

That's totally fine. But, why make false statements about E* requiring contracts in the mean time? When it isn't true. Or maybe you never said it. But agreed with the poster that did.

 

[tvropro]

Aren't you the guy that got his wings clipped by satforums moderators lately for starting arguments with people over there? I seem to recall your handle on many posts looking to pick an argument. I read that forum for information too, as some here do. We won't allow any of that over here I'm sure. You can ask ICEBERG about that if you think Im wrong.

I stated that I will not do contracts and didn't make any false statements. I said pizza is for eating.

 

[Dannymcenrow]

The thing is people have to wake up and see that we're being totally RIPPED OFF!
Not just with tv but everything look at the computer world.
'In the 90''s I used to have a computer that had a 486 66mhz processor 16 mb of ram and a 420mb hard drive.
I used to do everything with it.
Wright letters surf the web play games like Doom and everything.
Today supposingly computers have like 100 times more power then those computers but what to they do?|
The same thing nothing else.
Back in the 90's I couldn't watch a video and type at the same time because the video will get choppy or the typing becomes difficult because the computer can't handle 2 tasks very well.
But try to do that on todays computer.
What will Happen?
THE SAME THING.
Computers today haven't got any faster then the ones in the 90's.
Because they had to make new updated software that requires a LOT MORE PROCESSING POWER TO DO THE SAME TASKS so that people HAVE to throw away their computer and buy a new one.
The same thing is happening with tv.
They only want to PHASE OUT STUFF so they get more people to buy their stuff.
I read on another Forum that starting next year they are gonna stop making component video outputs on EVERYTHING so they would only have HDMI.
So if you don't have an HDMI ready tv yet throw it away because next years dvd players and gaming consoles even cable boxes are gonna be HDMI only.
But the thruth is since 1997 nothing has really improved in the tv world picture quality is still the same but they found a way to play with peoples mind to let people thing they get Hd and stuff like that but it's all the same.
Look for instance why did they make Blue ray players?
to Phase out dvd.
Dvd came out in 1997 but it's not NEW Thechnology.
Before that there was LASERDISC they we're around since 1990 I still have a lot of Laserdiscs at home I cannot watch anymore but they really had a picture and the SOUND was BEYOND AWESOME most of the movies had like THX certified sound and on my THx certified A/V receiver I had back in the day it REALLY FELT LIKE A HOME THEATHER.
I personally don't think that picture quality CAN even get any better.
I don't know but I know somebody who works in a Studio who told me that S video Max capability is 720i.
I don't know if that's true.
But look now their coming with 3d tvs to phase out 2 d tvs.
On my Sony tv the 4dtv picture looks more then real I mean I can look at the picture and it has more detail that if I would look at the same thing personally.
I mean look at the discovery channelsor animal planet you can see a backround like you see an animal but the backround is so detailed like if the show is filmed in the mountains you can see the mountains in such a great detail that it almost feels like you're there
So I ask myself if it is possible to even GET a better picture if a better picture TRULY EXISTS because I mean how many details can the human eye see?
If you look at hd itself like I traveled many countrys I went to the Netherlands last year and I went to look at their Satelitte stores to see what they have.
If you look at them their system is more like ours.
They only have Ku band but they don't reuplink everything like we do they subscribe to masters and see master free to air.
But they don't have a lot o Hd channels only 1 or 2 but their SD is ONLY in WIDE SCREEN FORMAT.
All tvs thre even cheap crt ones have wide screen format they get everything in 16:9 but not HD just SD with regular 16:9.
But here people claim to have like 100 Hd channels but their not really Hds their just chanels with higher bandwith but it's not really 1080i
But the thing is since it's impossible to actually check if a program is really 1080i they can tell you it is so you would believe it.
But in fact you don't know because you can't count all the pixels to see if they are all being used.
Anyways my post is getting to long but I wish that people try to see the reality of this and stop getting sucked in by stupid commercials and stuff like that and really start looking at the facts

 

[tvropro]

They only want to PHASE OUT STUFF so they get more people to buy their stuff.

It's called planned obsolescence.

BTW Laser discs came out in 1977 I think. I had a friend who bought a player when I was in High School in the late 70's. It was called DiscoVision back then. I got my first LD player in 85 and still have the one from 1990. Laser disc has a great picture.

 

[Kb Cool]

Aren't you the guy that got his wings clipped by satforums moderators lately for starting arguments with people over there? I seem to recall your handle on many posts looking to pick an argument. I read that forum for information too, as some here do. We won't allow any of that over here I'm sure. You can ask ICEBERG about that if you think Im wrong.

I stated that I will not do contracts and didn't make any false statements. I said pizza is for eating.

Yes, i was tired of all the BS claims being made over there.
If you choose to support 4DTV. Thats fine. I'm all for it? But, the lies about SDPQ being better than E*HD, cheapest prices, contracts ect... Should stop.

 

[tvropro]

4dtv SD masters like HBO and others, and some SD DVB channels can rival pizza's HD lite. Usually they don't have the digital artifacts that bitstarving brings on.

Let's look at it in theory. A SD signal using 9 mbps like ABC Family and Disney is bound to have less artifacts (actually none) then an Echo HD signal using 4 to 4.5 mbps for HD. There may be a hint in the HD signal of a slightly crisper picture because of 720p or 1080i (which isn't the full resolution stated) over 480i but it's plagued by mosquito noise and macroblocking. I much rather watch a slightly softer clean picture instead of a crisper picture with artifacts that when they do a wide shot the peoples faces in the distance looks like blocks.

HD is a buzz word and can be better only if the bandwidth is there. In the case of pizza the bandwidth definitely is not there. Take a look at ION HD master on DVB, it's FTA and put that up against a reuplink by Echo and see what you think.

 

[Kb Cool]

But here people claim to have like 100 Hd channels but their not really Hds their just chanels with higher bandwith but it's not really 1080i

That's true for the most part! Fios maybe different and some cable. I don't know?

 

[Kb Cool]

HD is a buzz word and can be better only if the bandwidth is there. In the case of pizza the bandwidth definitely is not there. Take a look at ION HD master on DVB, it's FTA and put that up against a reuplink by Echo and see what you think.

I don't have to look at ION HD. I already know the Cband masters blow away anything E* can put out. There's a few i've been watching during the day that look great.

 

[tvropro]

Yes I know of the ones your talking about I just don't want to mention them here. Yes they look very nice. The point I guess I'm trying to make is a master is a master be it SD or HD. HD only means more pixels that's why it's suppose to be sharper. In the case of ANY reuplink unless passed through in it's original state will suffer. Pizza has too many HD channels and not enough bandwidth. As the masses keep demanding more HD out of them the quality will go down more and more till they look as bad as their SD counterpart.

 

[Kb Cool]

Let's look at it in theory. A SD signal using 9 mbps like ABC Family and Disney is bound to have less artifacts (actually none) then an Echo HD signal using 4 to 4.5 mbps for HD. .

That maybe the case, but damn nobody's selling those 2 channels.