Slow Channel Changing?

[finniganps]

A guy I work with said he was hesitant to go to satellite because of the slowness you experience when changing channels. When I had analog cable the channel changed immediately, with digital there is a slight delay. I had to think about it, but I do remember that this bothered me for about 4-6 weeks when I first got E* and than I got used to it.

Any ideas if this can be corrected or if there are any plans to speed things up?

[larrystotler]

The problem comes down to the fact that the box has to swich freqs, and then decode and decrypt the signal. If you watch a cable TV and a sat box side by side, the sat box is also slightly behind for this reason and for the fact that the signal has to go so far to get to the box. Not really much they can do except use faster processors, but they have never really used top of the line parts due to cost, so I doubt it is something that will change anytime soon. Most people gte used to it and don't even realize it anymore.

[finniganps]

Yea, like I said it took me a little while to get used to it and now I don't even think about it. I wonder if it's just a faster processor though?...My 7100 from 1999 MUST have been a slower processor than my 508 and 721 and the speed for channel changing is no better on these newer receivers.

[TNGTony]

The other issue is that with MPEG, the receiver has to wait for a reference frame. Some digital cable boxes I've seen "fool" you into thinking they are fast because the put in the pieces being sent up on the screen as they get them, but it still takes about 2-3 seconds to assemble the picture.

The other part is the sound synchronization. Early on Dish had a problem with the "frog voice". When you tuned to a channel, the picture and sound showed up within a second, but it would take about 3 seconds or sometimes more for the sound to synchronize to the picture. While the sound was shifting to catch up with the picture, you got what many people labeled the "frog voice".

So I guess the answer to your question is yes it does take longer to change channels in a "surfing" mode than analog does (since everything is already there and decoded in analog). And yes, they have been addressing it. Some of the newer receivers are pretty fast (about a second or so). But there is only so much that can be done with the signal itself.

It initially irritated me too. But I have changed my viewing habbits. I now surf the EPG or "browse" the current or upcoming programs while watching a program I'm mildly interested in.

And if he gets a DVR unit, within a month, he'll have no need to surf live TV. The way he watches TV will change for ever!

See ya
Tony

See ya
Tony

[Tyralak]

The problem comes down to the fact that the box has to swich freqs, and then decode and decrypt the signal. If you watch a cable TV and a sat box side by side, the sat box is also slightly behind for this reason and for the fact that the signal has to go so far to get to the box. Not really much they can do except use faster processors, but they have never really used top of the line parts due to cost, so I doubt it is something that will change anytime soon. Most people gte used to it and don't even realize it anymore.

The exact same thing happens with digital cable boxes too.

[SAEMike]

It's only a couple of seconds. My digital cable box took much longer to change channels than does my 510 or my 311.