New Member/ Explanation Needed HELP!!

[bamaboy]

Great forum.. New to satellite programming. Just dumped cable due to bad picture..bad service..bad overall. I have been watching this forum and there has been a lot of talk about MPEG 4. Can someone explain to a non-tech new member what MPEG 4 is and what are the benefits. Sorry if this has already been asked in previous threads. Love the HD programming on my plasma but standard channels sometimes dont look that good. Any reasons? Thanks for everyone who replies.
Bamaboy...Roll Tide!!!

 

[LER]

MPEG4 is a new compression algorithm. It's supposed to be more efficient.

Current stuff is MPEG2. an earlier generation.

I'm sure one of the other more techie folks will chime in with more details.

LER

 

[gdarwin]

Love the HD programming on my plasma but standard channels sometimes dont look that good. Any reasons?

Because you are watching an analog channel on a digital set...

G.

 

[JamesJ]

Because you are watching an analog channel on a digital set...

G.

all sat. companies are all digital, I believe it is because you are watching SD on a set that is stretching out the picture to fit your set, therefore you see all the imperfections.... to help this watch all SD programming through a s-video connection, this helps! also Dish does compress the channels so they wont be as sharp, True Digital channels could look as good as dvd quality!

 

[gdarwin]

all sat. companies are all digital, I believe it is because you are watching SD on a set that is stretching out the picture to fit your set, therefore you see all the imperfections.... to help this watch all SD programming through a s-video connection, this helps! also Dish does compress the channels so they wont be as sharp, True Digital channels could look as good as dvd quality!

They start out analog...

 

[goaliebob99]

think of mpg 2 as a 1/2 inch pipe.... and fill that pipe with water running through it.... eventually there will be only so much that can go through that pipe at a time.. now you want to put more water through that pipe but cant because the pipe is already full. Think of mpg 4 as a 1 inch pipe. you swap that 1/2 inch pipe out with the 1 inch pipe and put the same amount of water through it as the 1/2 inch pipe.. you will have more room and the water will flow allot better. Now because there is more room you can fill that pipe with more water.. (water is programming)... In essence mpg 4 will bring you increased quality and more programming because that pipeline is now bigger. Understand ?

 

[HokieEngineer]

Good reading on the new compression that will be used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

 

[digiblur]

think of mpg 2 as a 1/2 inch pipe.... and fill that pipe with water running through it.... eventually there will be only so much that can go through that pipe at a time.. now you want to put more water through that pipe but cant because the pipe is already full. Think of mpg 4 as a 1 inch pipe. you swap that 1/2 inch pipe out with the 1 inch pipe and put the same amount of water through it as the 1/2 inch pipe.. you will have more room and the water will flow allot better. Now because there is more room you can fill that pipe with more water.. (water is programming)... In essence mpg 4 will bring you increased quality and more programming because that pipeline is now bigger. Understand ?

That would be more along the lines of QPSK versus 8PSK.

MPEG4 doesn't make the pipe bigger it just makes more efficient use of the same pipe that MPEG2 used.

 

[goaliebob99]

Good reading on the new compression that will be used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

Wikipedia HEHEEHE... The resorce for all collage students ... Everyone I know uses wikipedia.. very good resorce

 

[SimpleSimon]

think of mpg 2 as a 1/2 inch pipe.... and fill that pipe with water running through it.... eventually there will be only so much that can go through that pipe at a time.. now you want to put more water through that pipe but cant because the pipe is already full. Think of mpg 4 as a 1 inch pipe. you swap that 1/2 inch pipe out with the 1 inch pipe and put the same amount of water through it as the 1/2 inch pipe.. you will have more room and the water will flow allot better. Now because there is more room you can fill that pipe with more water.. (water is programming)... In essence mpg 4 will bring you increased quality and more programming because that pipeline is now bigger. Understand ?

Well, 1" pipe carries a lot more water than 1/2" pipe. Do the math.

And digibur is right - that analogy is more appropriate for QPSK vs. 8PSK.

MPEG-2 vs. MPEG-4 is more like moving gasoline through the pipe.

MPEG-2 = 85 octane, MPEG-4 = 120 octane - more bang per gallon.

 

[JamesJ]

They start out analog...

gotcha! this is also correct!

 

[Purogamer]

Same size pipe, but instead of trying to force honey (mpeg2) through the pipe, you use water (mpeg4). You can now move more through the same space more efficiently.

Boy we're terrible at this...someone else give a better one, i'm gonna go watch tv...

 

[aquaman67]

If they do convert to MPEG 4, how does that effect older receivers? Will we have to replace them?

 

[AndyOI]

If they do convert to MPEG 4, how does that effect older receivers? Will we have to replace them?

If every channel is converted to MPEG 4 then yes you will have to replacement. Currently it appears that only the HD Locals and POSSIBLY several national HD channels will be in MPEG 4 soon.