SD CHANNELS

[DENZO]

I'm a return Direct tv customer, having been a cable guy the last five years. Five years ago the SD channels on an HD TV were really bad (almost unwatchable) Five years later the SD channels ,IMO, do look better. My question, has Direct tv done something of a technical up grade to improve the SD channels or am I just imagining this (a perhaps normal reaction after dumping cable and "coming home"

[Old Tv Watcher]

I'm a return Direct tv customer, having been a cable guy the last five years. Five years ago the SD channels on an HD TV were really bad (almost unwatchable) Five years later the SD channels ,IMO, do look better. My question, has Direct tv done something of a technical up grade to improve the SD channels or am I just imagining this (a perhaps normal reaction after dumping cable and "coming home"

The SD Channels seem better my HD TV than they looked a couple months ago. I thougt it might be my TV"breaking in" if there is such a thing.

[Maruuk]

The DTV SD channels look much worse than my live OTA SD channels. That tells me they are degrading them significantly.

[newsposter]

The DTV SD channels look much worse than my live OTA SD channels. That tells me they are degrading them significantly.

so you mean OTA analog?

[ThomasM]

I don't have an HDTV yet, but I have also noticed the SD channels are much better in the past 6 months. I think this is due to the PROGRAM PROVIDERS upgrading their equipment and sending a variation of their HD signal to DirecTV, or DirecTV converting the HD/digital feed to their SD feed.

One amazing improvement I've noticed is of the SD feeds of the local Milwaukee, WI TV stations. Just a few months ago, the SD feeds were obviously an analog over-the-air pickup complete with ghosts and other analog defects, especially WTMJ-TV (channel 4). In the past month, DirecTV must have switched to their digital feed of this station to supply their SD feed, as I cannot see ANY of the previous analog items that used to be present!

[esteeze]

I think it may differ from TV to TV also...

SD channels look MUCH better on our new 32" Sharp LCD vs. our 2 yr-old 52" Toshiba DLP rear projection.

[kevinturcotte]

SD channels should really start to look better after they move all the MPEG-2 HD stuff over to the other satellites, shouldn't they?

[Stuart Sweet]

I think that once there is more bandwidth available for SD channels, they "may" be reencoded with a higher bitrate. What's interesting is that the OP seems to think they look better now while I've read others who feel the opposite.

I have no hard evidence but I can't imagine DIRECTV putting a lot of focus on SD picture quality, as those with SDTVs seem, by and large, to be OK with it.

[carl6]

I have no hard evidence but I can't imagine DIRECTV putting a lot of focus on SD picture quality, as those with SDTVs seem, by and large, to be OK with it.

As more customers get newer, larger, TV's, there will be more customer sensitivity to mediocre SD picture quality. What looks great on a 20" or even 30" CRT TV looks entirely different on a 40+ " LCD/DLP/Plasma (even when properly adjusted, which is another issue).

There will continue to be a huge amount of SD stations/sources for years to come. I certainly hope that DirecTV makes the effort to adjust SD feeds as bandwidth becomes available (by moving HD to mpeg4 only) to improve overall SD quality.

Carl

[Elephanthead]

You should see my SD locals, I am in a small market, I think DTV has a camcorder setup infront of a 19 inch TV to grab the signals!

[Stuart Sweet]

Carl, a better question IMO is the form that so-called "SD" programming will take after 2009. Will content providers eventually pillar box this programming, or will it be more common to crop or stretch it?

[itguy05]

I think it may differ from TV to TV also...

SD channels look MUCH better on our new 32" Sharp LCD vs. our 2 yr-old 52" Toshiba DLP rear projection.

That makes sense as you are going down in TV size so those pixels are getting crammed into a smaller space.

SD looks great on our 10 year old 32" Philips TV and looks adequate to poor on our 42" Philips plasma. The old TV is 10" smaller and the pixels are a lot closer together resulting in a "crisper" picture.

That being said, I do hope DTV increases the SD quality once they shut the MPEG2 HD off.

[Mocco71]

SD channels should really start to look better after they move all the MPEG-2 HD stuff over to the other satellites, shouldn't they?

Keep in mind our "eyes playing tricks on us." As we become more and more used to seeing HD programming, the SD will only naturally begin to look worse. I know that when I begin watching an SD channel in the morning, it looks good. However, after watching an hour of HD programming and switching back, the picture looks cloudy.

[Upstream]

I've noticed a significant degradation in the SD signal on DirecTV versus several years ago. The quality of the picture is now similar to what you would see on a VHS video, where it used to be more like DVD quality.

The original poster might be seeing an improvement because he is comparing it to his old cable PQ, which might have been worse.

I would be surprised if DirecTV reduces SD compression to improve SD picture quality even if bandwidth becomes available. I would expect them to use the extra bandwidth for HD purposes, if possible. It doesn't make sense to invest in SD.

[blueoyster]

I've noticed a significant degradation in the SD signal on DirecTV versus several years ago. The quality of the picture is now similar to what you would see on a VHS video, where it used to be more like DVD quality.

The original poster might be seeing an improvement because he is comparing it to his old cable PQ, which might have been worse.

I would be surprised if DirecTV reduces SD compression to improve SD picture quality even if bandwidth becomes available. I would expect them to use the extra bandwidth for HD purposes, if possible. It doesn't make sense to invest in SD.

I agree with your VHS to DVD comparison.As a 10 year subscriber I've seen the PQ degradation and the image glitches mentioned in the SD forum.The old picture I got on my first dish and receiver was amazing for it's time,and far superior to the current SD PQ.

I don't have HD yet so I'm not making any comparisons of how bad SD is to HD.I just know it's fair at best and that's a stretch.I hope you're wrong about Directv not reducing compression for SD,but you're probably right.HD is where all the competition is right now.

[kevinturcotte]

I hope you're wrong about Directv not reducing compression for SD,but you're probably right.HD is where all the competition is right now.

It is, but how many Directv customers actually have HD, as opposed to those that don't? Non HD people must still greatly outnumber those with HD, I would think.

[Upstream]

I would have to guess that non-HD customers outnumber HD customers (and even most HD customers watch SD a good portion of the time).

But the future is with HD.

So it makes sense to invest in HD, not SD. And DirecTV seems to have taken that approach; they are putting a lot of effort into HR20/21 development and almost ignoring the R15.

Taking spare bandwidth and using it to decompress SD is an investment in SD. Unless it is not possible to use that bandwidth for HD, there is no reason for DirecTV to use the bandwidth on SD.

Even though DirecTV's SD picture quality has declined, it is probably as good or better than most (but not all) cable companies. So most people won't have the choice to leave DirecTV for better SD pictures with their local cable.

I'd like to see better SD picture quality. I still watch SD. And even on an HDTV, better SD quality will uprez better.

I just don't see better SD quality ever coming on DirecTV.

[CTJon]

I find it looks terrible on my HD TV but OK on my SD tv. I really think part of the problem is our perception. As we get more and more HD we get used to it and the SD looks worse and worse. I'm not saying that it actually didn't get worse but I'm sure our viewing has also changed.

[HailScroob]

You should see my SD locals, I am in a small market, I think DTV has a camcorder setup infront of a 19 inch TV to grab the signals!


I'm an E* subscriber in the South Bend market and I only wish our locals looked that good!;)

Maybe it really is time to make the switch to D*...

[Maruuk]

Yes, my OTA SD-content digital channels look significantly better than my DTV SD channels. Which suggests that DTV has a way to go to get the PQ improved.

[newsposter]

Yes, my OTA SD-content digital channels look significantly better than my DTV SD channels. Which suggests that DTV has a way to go to get the PQ improved.

ok glad you said that as there is no way to get analog thru the directv OTA setups.

Yes the digital channel is so good that i never record from the other channels. It's amazing what colors you see with that new channel vs the old.