Is Bell HD really only 720p?

[Davage]

2 weeks ago I attended a fall fair. Lots of vendors were at the fair selling their wares, and one of the vendors was selling Bell HD TV... I looked at the demo that they had (an HD DVR, playing a pre-recorded show). The "HD" video was less than impressive.. I have an over-the-air antenna and have seen true HD on my tv set, and I really wasn't impressed with the over-compressed signal that Bell was selling as HD.

While browsing through another forum, someone made mention that Bell only uses 720p resolution on their HD channels. Is that true? I had been toying with the idea of buying a Bell HD receiver to replace a standard def unit, but I'm having a hard time spending the money when the picture quality is 'crappy' compared to what I can get over the air for free...

Does anybody know what resolution Bell are broadcasting in?

 

[peano]

720p at low bitrates. Bell has the poorest HD picture quality of the four North American DBS providers.

 

[Davage]

720p at low bitrates. Bell has the poorest HD picture quality of the four North American DBS providers.

Thank you for the answer.. That explains why their HD looks like crap. I guess I'll have to look at seeing what I can do to boost my over-the-air reception of digital channels. I also have a Manhattan HDTV Free-To-Air receiver that I can use to watch some of the network feeds..

 

[peano]

Shaw Direct has excellent PQ. Problem is their receivers are not so great. Almost as bad as the D* HR series.

For HD picture quality:

DIRECTV
Shaw Direct
Dish Network







...and a VERY distant fourth.....Bell. Bell HD is more like 480p.

 

[jsattv]

I don't know for sure if Bell's HD is that bad. I can say that Oasis HD, Equator, Discovery HD, and the Sunday Nite concerts previously on HD Net on Bell were pretty close to the HD Quality on my AzBox Premium Plus. The Sports on Bell: ie Hockey and Football are also pretty good. Yes the AzBox's HD picture is better - especially the HD Channels on 99.0W, but I think the kind big screen Plasma or LCD HD TV one has may also play into the setup. Also with my Bell 9200 Receiver I can only use Component Video Cables for HD, while with the AzBox I can use a HDMI Cable. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

I take it you are also one of the hundreds with the HDMI port issues..... Don't panic, when you get your new MPEG4 receiver it 'might' have a working HDMI port.

 

[jsattv]

That is good news if I can get a 9242 replacement. Yes the HDMI port didn't work on my 9200 Rx yet the Distributor where I bought my Plasma HDTV actually had a working 9200 with HDMI. They told me to go after Bell about this - but that was a complete waste of time since my 9200 Rx was already 4 years old. Bell also wanted me to take a 9241 which was only good for 1 room. Actually the component Video Cables give a pretty good 9200 HD picture on Par with the AzBox's HDMI Picture quality.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

99% of the time it is a solder joint on the Motherboard that has failed causing the HDMI issue.

 

[Kynoch]

The Bell HD receivers default to 720p, you can increase this to 1080i in the receiver settings. I don't remember exactly where in the options, i just kinda do it by reflex when setting up a new receiver.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

Not sure why you would bother as Bell transmit NOTHING at 1080i. Leave the output on 720p, the same as the Input.

 

[peano]

I noticed they now default to 720p. Thank goodness. Used to be 480p.

80% of the Bell subs I checked with HD televisons still had the HD receiver set to 480p.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

That is so true Peano.

I still see 6131's hooked up with Composite and ask if they know they are NOT getting HD Pictures....lol

Going one step further, I just went to a location that had 49 Receivers installed in 49 Rooms to 49 TV's and they were ALL connected with Coax.....Just too funny. The Installer had no idea.

 

[Kynoch]

I agree with both of you, i run into that all the time, HD receivers hooked up with Coax or RCA cables to the TV. You do get at least 720p with the component cables do you not?