While I'm not familiar with that exact setup, I can certainly share in this thread what's actually going on and why you cannot back out.
Having friends in the broadcasting industry, 4K is a format that has not hit broadcasters in any meaningful way at this point -- meaning that any material you get that is in 4K format is likely coming from a device that is in a closed system (like the Olympics, where the 4K camera goes to segregated infrastructure that is only going to be mixed/sent via one source -- not via standard broadcast infrastructure, because that is not possible now, or like a 4K-based disc, where cinematographers and post-production facilities simply take the material and press it to disc; there is no actual broadcasting going on).
Why is this so? Because both hardware and signaling/protocol standards have not been finalized for 4K, at least not in the US. For one thing, even a high-def, 720p shop would have to use 4 cables to simply handle the bandwidth of 4K (12Gbps -- for a single feed -- is my understanding) between camera, viewfinder, CCU, switcher, and wherever else you're sending the feed. Then there's the protocol side, both baseband as well as transport for getting the signal from one place to another. Both of these issues are currently going through a "VHS vs. Beta" mode at the moment, and it probably won't be until a few years down the road before broadcasting 4K will become a reality.
Understand that your local broadcaster has already sunk a few million just to get 720p/1080i based on FCC requirements for digital broadcasts. Notice I didn't even say 1080p, which is something that no broadcaster can currently achieve (else they'd be doing it by now). For 4K, they'd have to rip up a lot of that sunk cost, go pour in even more money, and hope that whomever's receiving their signals similarly has the capability of doing so.
Frankly, what DirecTV is doing to get anyone 4K even on less than a handful of channels is really, really posh duct taping the situation. Seriously; it's not that it's bad, it's just that the infrastructure and capability of handling dozens of 4K channels, always-on, to your set is just a tad bit out of reach at the moment (granted, this setup will probably be one of the first to hit, because it's a lot easier to simply OTA your 4K feed than trying to push data across landlines!), and we're not even talking about the added space required for the exponential increase in data, even if compressed.
Perhaps now you can see why DirecTV is loathe to get you out of your contract (aside from the fact that you did sign up for a contract, per se). You're essentially a guinea pig with this tech, and they want the sunk costs they've invested back. Then again, I'd probably be in your shoes if I didn't know what the back-end state of the tech is at this point. It's just not far enough along for our family to make such an investment.
Well, that was a novel! I hope this helps!
to Satelliteguys srmotor978!
