Grainy MPEG-4 HD sports?

[n3ntj]

I was just watching a little of the Red Sox/Royals (go figure, I'm a Yankees fan!) and noticed that the NESN HD feed on 95 is quite grainy. I noticed this the most when they'd have a view of the pitcher from a camera near the dugout. The pitcher himself wasn't too grainy but the background crowd (kind of the perimeter of the pitcher) was all grainy. I've been watching a bit of the Extra Innings in HD this week and didn't notice it that bad until today.

Also, the Versus HD game on Monday night had terrible PQ. Worse I had ever seen in HD...it wasn't pixelation but very grainy picture (except on closeups) and almost blurry detail. I especially noted this while the camera panned up and down the ice..there were blue line blurs next to the real blue lines. Anyone else see this?

Has anyone else noticed this? It is an MPEG-4 issue, a NESN issue, or an HR20 problem?

Inquiring sports-watching minds want to know.. :lol:

[mrb]

Has anyone else noticed this? It is an MPEG-4 issue, a NESN issue, or an HR20 problem?

Inquiring sports-watching minds want to know.. :lol:

Sports in HD via D* sats are far worse looking than OTA HD sports broadcasts. But then I think the HD overall delivered from the sats is worse than OTA. If I could get OTA reliably with antennas in my condo I would...alas, mediocre HD is better than unwatchable HD anyday.

Still...that is NO excuse...

[Cobra]

yes, my ota is a lot better then dtv, especially the sports. espns racing coverage is pretty good, but there basketball, and football pq is not so good

[islesfan]

I was just watching a little of the Red Sox/Royals (go figure, I'm a Yankees fan!) and noticed that the NESN HD feed on 95 is quite grainy. I noticed this the most when they'd have a view of the pitcher from a camera near the dugout. The pitcher himself wasn't too grainy but the background crowd (kind of the perimeter of the pitcher) was all grainy. I've been watching a bit of the Extra Innings in HD this week and didn't notice it that bad until today.

Also, the Versus HD game on Monday night had terrible PQ. Worse I had ever seen in HD...it wasn't pixelation but very grainy picture (except on closeups) and almost blurry detail. I especially noted this while the camera panned up and down the ice..there were blue line blurs next to the real blue lines. Anyone else see this?

Has anyone else noticed this? It is an MPEG-4 issue, a NESN issue, or an HR20 problem?

Inquiring sports-watching minds want to know.. :lol:

HDNet is MP2, so that's not the issue. I've never seen what you are describing on HDNet, but I didn't see the game in question. Now, as to NESN, I've only seen their SD feed on NHL CI, but that is BY FAR the WORST feed on DirecTV. It looks like a thumbnail stretched to the size of a big screen TV!

[jheda]

i started a different post b4 where i thought 95 looks better than the mlbei feed of the redsox game which is confusingly on both....

[bwaldron]

HDNet is MP2, so that's not the issue. I've never seen what you are describing on HDNet, but I didn't see the game in question. Now, as to NESN, I've only seen their SD feed on NHL CI, but that is BY FAR the WORST feed on DirecTV. It looks like a thumbnail stretched to the size of a big screen TV!

95 is MPEG2 as well.

[Michael D'Angelo]

I was just watching a little of the Red Sox/Royals (go figure, I'm a Yankees fan!) and noticed that the NESN HD feed on 95 is quite grainy. I noticed this the most when they'd have a view of the pitcher from a camera near the dugout. The pitcher himself wasn't too grainy but the background crowd (kind of the perimeter of the pitcher) was all grainy. I've been watching a bit of the Extra Innings in HD this week and didn't notice it that bad until today.

Also, the Versus HD game on Monday night had terrible PQ. Worse I had ever seen in HD...it wasn't pixelation but very grainy picture (except on closeups) and almost blurry detail. I especially noted this while the camera panned up and down the ice..there were blue line blurs next to the real blue lines. Anyone else see this?

Has anyone else noticed this? It is an MPEG-4 issue, a NESN issue, or an HR20 problem?

Inquiring sports-watching minds want to know.. :lol:


I also noticed this on the Red Sox/Royals game. It was the worst when they changed cameras. Every time the did it got real bad for about 2 seconds.

[n3ntj]

Two things:
1. I noticed things get VERY grainy right after they showed the full screen 'flashy' NESN logo and then back to the game.

2. Why does D* put the same game in HD on 95 AND 731? Are there people who can get 95 and not 731 or vice versa?? To get 95, you need an HD receiver and the HD package. This week, the MLB is in a freeview. To get the 731, you need an HD receiver and HD package. Why duplicate the same game on 95 (mpeg-2) and 731 (mpeg-4) and not put an extra HD game on one of them??