jameswade
join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC
 ·US Cellular
·Verizon BroadbandA..
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to MarkyD
Re: Small investors should avoid buying stock on merger rumors
And I'm ready to switch from DirecTV to Comcast because the picture looks like crap. especially the Atlanta locals.
This is really hard to call. Comcast in Atlanta looks much better than either Dish or DirecTV. Of course Comcast is less reliable for many people.
But Comcast could start upping their compression any time. This is hard to compare, with statistical multiplexing you picture quality on digital satellite or digital changes from second to second - if you not watching sports and too many high profile games come on at the same time your picture quality is going to drop.
MPEG 4 has nothing to do with HD. It's just a more efficient compression scheme than MPEG 2. HD uses so much bandwidth that DBS providers would really rather use it than the old scheme.
Of course, while MPEG 4 is more efficient it terms of bandwidth usage, you can still compress so much that the picture looks like crap!
So much for 'Digital Quality'! |
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lovswr
join:2001-09-15
Stockbridge, GA
| I wish I could get Comcast. Charter (who are trying to get themselves bought) is what we have down in Stockbridge. I too would switch to Comcast from D* in a heartbeat. The new MPG-4 HD DVR will start in the LA Area in Aug (who know when it will get to Atlanta) but I use an antenna to get the Locals in HD
On topic This will not result in lower prices, but they could become more competative. For example, the D* customers could start getting the VOOM channels & also it would allow them to increase the B/W across the board, what with all the existing duplicated channels. I know that the use different schemes for encoding/decoding (& encryption I think) but maybe it is close enough that the existing boxes would just need modified firmware. The Satellies of both carriers are virtually in the same orbital slots & I think the dishes (AT-9, Dish 500 etc) would be totally interchangeble...
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lovswr = good hivswr = bad |
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