Compression of satellite signal

[durl]

I'm just beginning to dig into the in-depth technical side of satellite and TV and I have a question about compression.

Can Directv (or any DBS provider for that matter) alter the amount of compression that each individual channel receives? The reason I ask is because I'd like for them to decrease compression on sports and movie channels with the trade-off going to channels that aren't as important from a visual standpoint. (Infomercial channels, etc.)

[sampatterson]

yes this is possible on both Dish and DirectTV and they do vary compression based on the content. They use statistical compressor/multiplexers that can vary the amount on different streams, plus only God know what other time / date / content / whims that assign compression ratios to channels.

[Karl Foster]

...one man's trash is another man's must-see-tv... :)

[Mike123abc]

They compress 8-12+ channels together using statistical multiplexing, so if some of them need more bits for an action scene its bit rate can go up for that time.

[durl]

Great info. Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty impressed at the level of control that they have over the signals.

I just get a little perplexed when I watch baseball and the picture is so compressed that you can hardly read the pitcher's name on the back of his jersey at times. As I upgraded my system (HD satellite and Sony HD 53" RPTV) I've been able to see just how weak the picture is at times. Part of the problem is that we're sitting 10' away from a 53" screen so that makes the pixelation more pronounced, but I thought there would be a way to improve the PQ.

[BUD owner]

"but I thought there would be a way to improve the PQ"

There is it's called BUD/4DTV

[Mike123abc]

It is a system of trade offs. If you want the best picture a C-Band satellite system is the way to go, but then you sacrifice a lot of convience as you have to wait for your dish to move from satellite to satellite. Plus you only get one reciever.

DBS compresses 10+ satellites worth of programming onto roughly 1.5 satellites (3 satellite slots shared by 2 companies).

The compression technology keeps getting better, but they also keep adding more channels (mostly locals now). So, the quality keeps going up and down.

[waydwolf]

    It would take very little for a modern microwave electronics company to design and build sectional flat phased array antennas which would be mounted as tiles across the southern exposure of one's roof and auto-track with minimal delay. It could be made to work for DBS and C-Band both. Has it been done? No. Will it? Unlikely without major financial backing from the satellite companies urging a manufacturer to plow in on the idea that if they sell enough, the demand will increase to move from red ink to black. Can they? They can't afford it right now, sadly.

[Jacob S]

This is what I would like to see, this type of technology. Would it cost more to do something such as this than to launch some of these satellites they are launching or to buy more spectrum? Wouldnt they save enough not having to buy some of that space or new satellites for it to pay for itself?

[DotCrawler]

Why don't they launch more satellites in the 110 119 orbital positions..... Astra in Europe has 6 satellites in the 19.2 orbital position... Space is the same for everybody isn't it? So what's the deal here... (just venting) ;-)

[Geronimo]

There are only so amny transponder frequencies at each slot. YOu can launch sats till the cows come home and you wont increase capacity.