DIRECTV HD Availability

[lobosrul]

Originally Posted by thomaszoo

Remember too that especially for movies they are shot at 24 fps, so the difference between 1080i and 1080p is more academic so long as 3:2 pulldown is performed correctly. I.E., frames will be displayed multiple times and each frame meaning there is no additional detail in the 1080p signal.

Wayne

Indeed, I've been creating progressive x264 encodes with mencoder for quite some time using reverse telecine. 1080p is almost ludicrously over-hyped as a storage or broadcast standard.

Heres some names of greater than 1080p standards I've found:

1440p - Quad HD (shouldnt this be double HD?)
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/10/17...ments/2457984/
2160p - Quad HD .... ok this is gonna be confusing
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/0...use_quad_hdtv/
2540p - UDHV?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2540p
4320p - Ultra HD (UHD)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4320p
Thats just getting crazy.

Oh and 576p is sometimes considered ED and sometimes HD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/576p

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by SHS

Mike that was 2 yaers ago and still counting.

That not going happing there are a lots of thing that keep both DirecTV and Dishnetwork from working like Tall Trees, City Law, Apts, Landlord, etc, etc.

I don't know where your 2 year number comes from - DirecTV said they would hit 100 HD locals by EOY 2006 and did so, and now they are working hard on HD nationals. Maybe they will not make it, but the people I talk to seem to indicate they are making a lot of headway. At least they are trying.

Note I am in general a big cable fan - I don't have DirecTV, and have never had a DBS service in my life. Still, it's a mistake to discount what DirecTV is doing. The management team there is quite good.

Thanks,
Mike

[SHS]

Mike two ago DirecTV starting advertising 150 HD channels then before know it now down to 100 and I'm sure before long it down to 50.

I don't know where your 2 year number comes from - DirecTV said they would hit 100 HD locals by EOY 2006 and did so, and now they are working hard on HD nationals.

Let see DirecTV 1/6/2005 press release
DIRECTV will begin a historic expansion of its capacity with the planned launch of four next-generation satellites that will deliver more than 1,500 local HD and more than 150 national HD channels and other advanced programming services to consumers nationwide by 2007

Maybe they will not make it, but the people I talk to seem to indicate they are making a lot of headway. At least they are trying.

Yup all talk no action hehe.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by mikesm

DirecTV is going to add a LOT of true NATIONAL HD channels this year. They have 2 more KA band birds to launch, and that will give them a HUGE amount of capacity for delivering HD. It's core to their strategy in fact.

The question is where are they going to come from. You can have all the bandwidth in the world, but if there's nothing to pipe down it, it's worthless.

There's only a handful of National HD channels out there (<20 probably), and Dish and DTV already cover them all, save maybe InHD.

Like I said, if there are actually ~75+ national networks going HD this year, then I'm excited just by that news. Heck if the list they gave during CES actually happens, I'll be very excited.

The problem is none of the networks they "announced", nor any other national networks have made public plans to go HD anytime soon. Plus, most of the networks they named are some of the last ones I'd expect to go HD.

The doubt expressed here is not about DTVs plans for capacity, but doubt about if there will be anything to fill that capacity.

It also kills the AT&T U-verse project before it gets any traction, as it doesn't have enough capacity to carry multiple HD streams.

IPTV doesn't need bandwidth for 100 simultaneous HD channels, they only need bandwidth for at most 2-4, since IPTV is based on only sending the channels being viewed. 4 HD channels in VC-1 or H.264 is only 32Mbps or so.

I know these guys, and they are very serious about this.

I don't doubt that. But it's not up to them to produce HD networks, it's up to the networks.

They want 100 new NATIONAL HD channels by year end, and I think they have inked deals for 50 or so already.

This is sort of and "I'll believe it when I see it." Very exciting should it come to pass, but I'm not holding my breath.

[MrD]

I'm assuming that Sage will not have the ability to record any HD content.

The non-OTA HD capture cards currently cost around $1500 and I am not even sure there is non-Mac support. They are definitely not consumer cards either (i.e. studio level editing, bnc connectors, etc...)

[cummings66]

I can't let one thing stand in this thread, 480p is not HD. I've been trained by one of the movers and shakers in the field that helped define the HD standard we now have setup. They say 480p is not HD, it starts at 720P and that's from the horses mouth, not any silly wiki site that can say whatever the last editor wanted it to say. In the technical field of repair on consumer electronics, every major player will tell you HD starts at 720p. Technicians should know more than a salesman, and that is something that sounds like pure sales talk to me.

Another way to look at it is this, if 480P was hd then we had HD before there was a standard which defined HD. Nope, it's not HD, never was and never will be.

This was an error that I could not let stand, minor errors can be tolerated but you can't go around having people believe that 480p is HD.