S2 transcoder for 4DTV

[Kb Cool]

The problem with ALL the pizza and cable providers is that everyday they are thinking of ways to cram more so called HD content for there subscribers. As time goes on they will get down to 3 mb per channel and thats just enough to support SD.

Seems to me. Most of what they're adding are Locals. I guess some feel the need to provide every town and city in the USA. And it's hurting PQ. Most people can get Locals via OTA. But won't put up an antenna. I've only had E* since 2005. But, i have heard the SD PQ was really good until they started loading up there sats w/locals. Come on people! Put up a antenna to get your locals and if you can't then call NPS for the Distant nets.

Why Does The Goverment Hate Satellite Service Providers? | Techdirt

 

[pendragon]

To my eyes. The HBOHD master's were always better than the STARZHD master feeds.

Agreed. It was tragic to see HBO HD fall off 4DTV as it was a class act. No logos plastered every 15 minutes and no advertising on top of the movie credits, unlike STARZ HD. It might have been interesting to compare the peak rates of the two, but I never got around to it. Averaged over a movie and with nulls stripped, HBO would often run 18 Mb/s, whereas STARZ rarely gets up to 15 Mb/s. Part of this is that STARZ squeezes two SD channels on the same transponder.

When HBO HD left 4DTV, I kept my subscription to STARZ, but it looks like my receiver will be retired in a couple of months. This is supposed to be progress, just like MP3 vs. CD vs. SACD/DVD-A.

 

[tvropro]

Seems to me. Most of what they're adding are Locals. I guess some feel the need to provide every town and city in the USA. And it's hurting PQ. Most people can get Locals via OTA. But won't put up an antenna. I've only had E* since 2005. But, i have heard the SD PQ was really good until they started loading up there sats w/locals. Come on people! Put up a antenna to get your locals and if you can't then call NPS for the Distant nets.

Why Does The Goverment Hate Satellite Service Providers? | Techdirt

Dish & Direct are in direct competition with Cable, thats why they offer the locals, if the don't Cable would win. As far as OTA people are too lazy to put up an antenna or the piss and moan that there UHF only plastic Hi tech crap can't get channels or VHF, then scream about it to the tv station. Check out the local OTA discussions at the AVS forum, some of the stories and demands are ridiculous.

I saw Direct SD when it first was launched. It may have been better than today but couldn't hold a candle to the bud then.

 

[truckracer]

If you ever heard a vinyl record on a top notch turntable (assuming you hearing is sharp and un damaged), through a high end harmon kardon amplifier or something high end, it makes mp3's sound like crap where mp3's are a lossy codec ripped at 128 kbs.

Society is slowly getting used to this fuzzy digital compression. Same for tv watching.

 

[pendragon]

If you ever heard a vinyl record on a top notch turntable (assuming you hearing is sharp and un damaged), through a high end harmon kardon amplifier or something high end, it makes mp3's sound like crap where mp3's are a lossy codec ripped at 128 kbs.

Society is slowly getting used to this fuzzy digital compression. Same for tv watching.

One of my other early ambitions was to run a sound company that did very high-end recording and live concert broadcasts in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. I still have one of those high-end vinyl setups from back then and have been showing friends for the past couple of decades that digital audio (not just MP3s), at least initially, was a step backwards. MP3-style compression makes this into a horror movie.

What was even more impressive were the 30 ips, 1/2" two channel analog tape recorders made at that time. I have a roomful of 30-year-old master tapes that would give many modern digital audio setups a run for their money. Up until the advent of well designed 24 bit ADCs, I used to enjoy shootouts with the latest studio ADC/DACs. Playing back from a 30 ips analog master, the idea was to compare a ADC/DAC to the original, and in some cases a second generation analog recording. It wasn't until about 2000 that the digital chain was competitive.

It's been very sad to see the availability of high quality source material in both the sound studio and broadcast worlds in parallel to what the public is offered. There is high-end audio and video available, but it is being marginalized and may well die. Lowest common denominator strikes again.

 

[tvropro]

I have compared mint records on my turntable using a Stanton Epoch 1989 vintage cartridge, and a Carver Magnetic Field Power Amplifier 1988 vintage to the same CD's. The record had warmth and overtones that lacked in the cd. Analog will always be the best in my book. What people forget is we see analog and hear analog. Once you turn it into ones and zero's and use switching transistors to re create it it never is the same. Digital can be pretty good to a point unbutchered, but the consumer never see or hears that much anymore.

 

[emuman100]

May as well dig out an old 1950 Dumont B&W tv and watch that. That's where were headed.

As a person who appreciates the beauty of old TV technology, I'd glady bring out the old Dumont.

Those new transcoders from Motorola are the DSR-6050 and the DSR-6030. They are basically Motorola IRDs with DVB-S2 demodulators, mpeg4 decoders and mpeg2 encoders. They can receive DCII encapsulated in DVB-S2, and transcode mpeg4 into mpeg2. The transcoding bitrate and such is controlled completely by the uplink, so the cable operator has no control over the output bitrate. HBO and Starz now uplinks all HD services in mpeg4 DCII encapsulated in DVB-S2, offering 8 or so channels per transponder. The transcoders are the DSR-6050 which can transcode only one service (channel), and the DSR-6030 can transcode up to 3 services. The point of these units are for support for existing STBs or headend equipment that can't decode mpeg4. Since these are commercial, they only are made for one multiplex, and not for the home. NPS can use these units and reuplink as mpeg2, if they wanted to, but of course they won't. Both these transcoders also have gigE output for transport stream output over IP, unicast or multicast, and can output both original mpeg4 and transcoded mpeg2 over IP as well as DVB-ASI.

Motorola also has a multi-decrypt receiver (not transcoder) that can decrypt up to 24 services in a transport stream and output the whole transport stream unencrypted. The older model, the DSR-4400MD, only demodulates DCII QPSK and OQPSK. The newer model, the DSR-4410MD can demodulate DVB-S2 encapsulated DCII transport streams, and also output via gigE IP as well as DVB-ASI, the older DSR-4400MD only supported DVB-ASI. The DSR-4410MD can be used with HBO and Starz too. It'll output a completely decrypted transport stream of mpeg4 services.

I play with commercial satellite receivers as a hobby, mainly from Motorola. I enjoy when broadcasters change to fixed key so my IRDs can decryrpt those services, and I can output them via gigE IP multicast, as the two Motorola IRDs I use are DSR-4530s. I plug them into my Cisco 2960 switch with "ip igmp snooping querier" and can watch the transport streams with VLC and poke around with them with TSreader on my laptop.

I invested a lot of money in this stuff (almost all used ebay deals), but I just think it's so neat. I can talk about commercial IRDs with IP output all day!

 

[CherieKu]

Fixed key boadcasters?

I play with commercial satellite receivers as a hobby, mainly from Motorola. I enjoy when broadcasters change to fixed key so my IRDs can decryrpt those services, and I can output them via gigE IP multicast, as the two Motorola IRDs I use are DSR-4530s.

We too have a DSR-4530 that can output via GigE IP multicast and be recorded using TSreader. We also have a DSR-4410 that can daisy-chain through the ASI input of the 4530 to its GigE output.

Can you mention which programs you have found that use a fixed key?