markofmayhem
join:2004-04-08
Pittsburgh, PA
| reply to N O Y B
Re: More HD Channels + Same Network = Less Quality
The Olympics were not the fault of Comcast, but Universal. With CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, Telemundo, Oxygen and 10 NEW feeds taking up the same transponder space, compression was added at the source. Bit starved, poorly mastered signals bounced all over the globe. Hardware failures, bad decisions, one disabled satellite, and a bunch of new HD-people expected digital HD to behave like days gone by without glitches compounded into one of the worst telecasted games in recent times. NBC hasn't recovered, with the purchase of the Weather Channel and newly launched HD channels, it's compression nightmare continues. It's ironic, for Fox was the one that was blasted for compressing its signal BEFORE the affiliate back in the new HD days of 2002 and 2003. Nowadays, Fox is one of the better pictures of the networks. Disney and Paramount are running out of transponder space as well and launching new satellites to handle it all isn't the short term answer. A new modulation for C-Band must be found to package higher compression codecs for transport. Mpeg4 is the newly talked about codec, personally, I hope it's skipped. It is vastly inferior to Mpeg2 in error correction and spatial differential cohesion. It does do one thing well, though, and is why it should replace Mpeg2 until a new codec is found: it offers smooth 30 frame progressive (60 interlaced) video at the sub 15 bitrate. Sending Mpeg2 at this low bitrate, whether it be 720p or 1080i60, is offensive to the D in HD, unless HD is now defined as High Distortion? It's not just a Cable thing, the quality of television's infrastructure is collapsing under the HD boom. It will get better or we will just accept it under terms of complacency. Only actions of our wallets in the future will determine the outcome. Once again, recorded media is the highest quality. |
