More recording time with MPEG4?

[nextime]

Can you record more hours of MPEG4 programming on your hard drive since it has a more efficient compression scheme then MPEG2?

[Ron Barry]

In theory yes. Going to be some time before we see the benefits. First Dish will need to get the MPEG4 streams going and optimized.

[John Ashman]

It's likely to be 2-3 times more efficient for HD channels in MPEG4. It is up to DISH. They could run MPEG4 at an equal bitrate and simply give you a better picture. But more likely, they'll give you a roughly equal picture in 30-50% of the space, yielding equal savings in hard drive usage. I hope that they can switch standard NTSC to *at least* 480p MPEG4 HD soon. That would yield a remarkable difference in quality at the same bit rate. I mean, if they don't go straight to true HD.

[Ron Barry]

I would be suprised if it got it below 50% but one never knows. Only time will tell.