TBO's HDTV Customers Search For The Perfect Picture

[bdraw]

http://www.tbo.com/news/money/MGB60LMNG7F.html

Other than the obvious inaccuracies, it's good to see another article in a local paper helping people actually watch HD on their HDTV.

[DSquare]

The article says that BHN will not disclose at rate they transmit hd channels. I suppose they do that since its a number game since most people would assume that the bigger the number the better it is. Anyone here know what bitrate BHN transmits at?

[bdraw]

It's not about what the bitrate is, it's about what they do with the signal they receive. BHN -- or any other provider -- can't make the signal better than it is when they receive it. But BHN does choose to reduce the bit rate in order to ensure they don't waste bits.

Each QAM256 channel can transmit 38Mbps. If you put three 1080i HD channels on one QAM channel they have to share this. The maximum throughput for an OTA channel is 19.3 Mbps. So last time I check channels 605, 608 and 610 were on QAM channel 106. If they passed the full 19.3Mbps all three channels would take up ~41 Mbps (ch 605 is SD). Most of the time this isn't a problem because the bit rate is variable and rarely peaks at 19.3 (especially when you consider that both 8 and 10 have weather channels that steal bits from the HD feed) but when it does, they have no choice but to cap the bit rate lower than the incoming signal. This happens rather often during a football game.

This is very easy to verify for yourself. Buy a capture card that works with both ATSC and QAM. During a football game capture 1 minute with both tuners than then compare the bit rate. Obviously this works better if you have two tuners and can capture both at the same time. You will see that the BHN clip is always a lower bit rate than the OTA version.

Here is the results form the last time I did it.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7045241#post7045241

BHN was always lower than OTA.

[Bschneider]

Neither Dish Network nor DirecTV offers local channels in high-definition.


And we know this isn't entirely true with DirecTV. They at least offer the 4 big networks in the area on their satellite.

[LonghornXP]

And we know this isn't entirely true with DirecTV. They at least offer the 4 big networks in the area on their satellite.

I've called the Tribune and informed them to run a correction ASAP or risk a lawsuit from DirecTV. My contact at DirecTv has said that with as much money as they have spent to offer local HD and the fact they have done so for almost two years now in Tampa they aren't very happy at all to be reading that article.

I must say that these news companies are the worst I've ever seen in history. What the hell happened to checking your facts "before" writing an article. What ever happened to doing research "before" writing an article. At least the St. Pete Times had some clue about research and checking facts. If only their service didn't fall down the crapper lol.

[Palmateer]

Another reason I canceled my Tribune subscription, after many years.

I've called the Tribune and informed them to run a correction ASAP or risk a lawsuit from DirecTV.

I must say that these news companies are the worst I've ever seen in history. What the hell happened to checking your facts "before" writing an article. What ever happened to doing research "before" writing an article.