stogie1020

Watching the NFL game, and also the commercials, I was really underwhelmed by the picture quality. It was just on this channel, and it seems as though someone turned up "sharpening" to 11. Saw it on the game and on the commercials...

I am on Cox Cable, and their signal quality is getting worse and worse. OnDemand is ruining their bandwith.

Anyone know if there is a place to see the actual bandwith per channel for each service (Cox, DTV, TW, etc...)?

Billiam

Good question, I've seen people post channel bandwidth measurements on AVS but I have no clue how they do it. Seems like it's never mentioned.

Scrib

Personally, I think NBC's HD is the worst of all the major networks. The picture always looks grainy. So I don't think it's your cable provider...

hornyleprechaun

NBC sucks for football games.

Doom878

Funny some on AVS have been complaining about NBC lately. Maybe they have an equipment issue? I'm sure SiGGy can elaborate if he finds us.

stogie1020

I watched the debate last night on ABC for a comparison, and it looked like crap. As soon as I switch to HDHTR or NGHD, it looks beautiful, so I know it isn't the set.

Smalls

+1 NBCHD sucks. (comparatively)

SupaRookie

Yea, it's pretty bad. I was watching the Olympic and it looks like crap. However, when I saw it on my off-air hdtv antenna, it's noticably better.

#1 STUNNA

Interesting. When I was in Gainesville I stayed at my friends house and she has Cox cable with HD. I watched the Bucs game there and I kept looking for artifacts and tiling and what not but I hardly saw any. It did a much better job than what Knology offers in Tampa, it seemed that Cox had a much higher bandwidth on its HD channels than Knology.

This thread reminds me that the end is near for me and Knology cause on Tues Verizon is coming over and installing FiOS with cheaper prices, multi-room HD DVR free for a year and I actually get to watch the football games when they're on the NFL network!!!!!!!

6 days and counting....

stogie1020

I hate you with the burning passion of seven suns.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

x2

I wish I could get good communication services here, our providers suck donkey dick.

Doom878

Antenna is uncompressed versus cable/sat that compresses signal for lower bandwith. That means that your cable provider is making it look crappier than how you should be viewing it with your antenna.

Scrib

^^^^

And I'll watch NBC OTA and I still think it looks like crap.

I dunno...

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

TW uses SDV (Switched Digital Video) and all my HD channels are great. It essentially allocates the all the bandwidth to any given channel that is being viewed. Something I read a while back said that Comcast is behind on implementing this.
More info on SDV:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...ital-video.htm

dom

You you with? HD?

IlliNorge

FWIW, NBC Sports films football in 720p while CBS films in 1080i. Fox and ESPN are also 720p. CBS looks crisper when showing still shots (and the graphics are sharper), but the other stations are less blurry during motion shots.

NBC has had some problems with macroblocking too.

Scrib

^^^^^

IIRC, NBC is 1080i.

IlliNorge

Yes, for ER, Office, Law & Order, etc. Their Nightly News is too. I could be wrong, but I thought CBS was bragging about being the only 1080i sports network.

Scrib

Naw, even on http://www.hdsportsguide.com/ they show it as 1080i.

IlliNorge

Wow, then NBC HD really sucks.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Rogers HD service, but it's balls some HD channels are like 480p, I swear they only broadcast 2 shows in 1080 at a time. AND you can't order just NHL center ice WTF!!!! you have to order the entire sports pack to the tune of 29/month which is not cool.

BigLizard

^^^You have to remember that some shows aren't recorded in HDTV format. So when you're watching an HD channel with a craptastic 480p show you get letterboxed/widescreen programs that look like absolute shit on plasma or lcd.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I'm aware of that, but for example Dexter air's in 1080HD for the new episodes but if you watch it On Demand or as a second airing later in the week it's at most 720, they just don't have enough bandwidth for full HD on all their so called "HD" channels.

dom

Do you know anything about Bell? I'm getting an HD PVR installed tomorrow

BigLizard

sounds like Comcast.

They don't care if they don't have enough bandwidth. It drives me nuts watching one HD channel/content then watching something else in HD and looks like horrible. What's the point of having HD channels if the consumer can never get what most service providers can't offer when they are saying their services are far superior than others. It drives me crazy.

TurboHD from Dish or Verizon FIOS is the way to go if you can get the service.

BigLizard

I read up on the PVR, it sounds pretty interesting if you have a small dual-core PC with a Blu-Ray burner hooked up to the system the possibilities will be endless.

dom

Small Dual core PC yes, blu-ray burner no.

Only thing I've heard is you can hook up a ext HD via USB. I'll have to do some further research.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I had expressVu at school and it was great, we did not have HD but IMO it's the way to go. The only thing that sucks is not having On Demand, but with the PVR it would be less of a deal breaker. The only thing that really made me angry with Bell was while at school in Windsor Red Wings games were blacked out because MLSE owns basically the whole province for NHL broadcast purposes. The time shifting was way better than rogers too, but with PVR it's kinda moot as well.

airjam21

Stogie- I'm in Phx and have Cox as well. Have you noticed your internet going a lot slower as well? Everything seems to be ok with the quality of my picture. While I can't say I pay particular attention to NBC, I watched Leno the other night and it looked just fine.

stogie1020

Hey neighbor.

I think Cox exceeded the bandwith they have when the opened up "OnDemand" (worthless anyway IMO). I was watching Tranformers the other day on HBO and I kept getting jaggies and serious blur, which I don't see on the DVD when I watch it.

I think COX is trying to do too much with too little bandwith, and they are driving me to DTV...

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Continuing with what I was saying about how bad Rogers sucks, It turns out they only broadcast in 1080i for their highest res HD.

SupaRookie

good stuff I'll read about this tomorrow. SDV is a pain in the ass for me. It will make cable card go to hell.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Dom, I just did some further digging, looks like expressVu HD is a mix of 1080i and 720p. And Bell has 60HD channels, while rogers only has 43.

dom

I'm SOL. The installer just left. I was wondering why in the hell I'd need an installer in the first place as I thought it was just plug and play but apparently not. Bell HD receivers need 2 Co-Ax cables to pick up the HD signal. I only have one wire coming in from the dish so he needed to add another. But my basement is finished so its next to impossible to fish it. Serves me right for drywalling a basement ceiling.

Any idea how many cables Rogers HD boxes require, I'm guessing 1. Apparently Star Choice only requires 1 so I may have to switch.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Mine has Just 1. You might consider OTA, it's free and in the GTA you can get like 15 HD channels.

dom

No tuner in the TV.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

There's set top boxes for it with PVR and all the goodies. check out

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/

There's lots of good info there about all the providers there.

airjam21

Ugh, OnDemand is worthless. It seriously takes 5 mins just to load it up and scroll through their menu. I wish I could get DTV, but my condo doesn't face to the direction where the signal is. I'm at Cave Creek Rd. and Bell. Where about in Scottsdale are you at?

stogie1020

On Demand takes forever to load, ahs no useful programming, makes me pay for OD HD content even though I already pay for HD, and suck the life blood out of the bandwith.

McDowell Mountain Ranch, FLW and the 101 area.

JediMindTricks

can't watch heroes because the signal keeps going in and out for nbc hd.