Are the NY/L.A. CBS NBC ABC and Fox national feeds going to MPEG4 with the...

[cartrivision]

...expanded HD rollout in September, or are NY and LA residents going to be stuck with MPEG2 versions of their network feeds until DTV equips all of their HD customers with MPEG4 capable boxes and is ready to turn off the last of the MPEG2 HD feeds?

[Earl Bonovich]

NY/LA has had MPEG-4 local network feeds for well over a year now (if not longer).

The national feeds, will be converted to MPEG-4, when the rest of the MPEG-2 HD networks are converted...

[cartrivision]

NY/LA has had MPEG-4 local network feeds for well over a year now (if not longer).

The national feeds, will be converted to MPEG-4, when the rest of the MPEG-2 HD networks are converted...


Thanks Earl. So when I tune to channel 2 KCBS HD on my DTV tuner, that's a different feed than when I'm tuned to the channel 81 KCBS HD feed, or are they the same feed and only available to people with MPEG4 boxes?

[Sixto]

Thanks Earl. So when I tune to channel 2 KCBS HD on my DTV tuner, that's a different feed than when I'm tuned to the channel 81 KCBS HD feed, or are they the same feed and only available to people with MPEG4 boxes?I can only speak for NY ... but "2 WCBS" is MPEG4 HD, "2 NY2" is MPEG2 SD, and "80 CBSE" is MPEG2 HD.

All different feeds.

MPEG4 HD is only available on the H20/HR20 (and future iterations).

Would expect the MPEG2 HD (80's) to be shut off eventually.

Would assume similar for west coast.

[cartrivision]

I can only speak for NY ... but "2 WCBS" is MPEG4 HD, "2 NY2" is MPEG2 SD, and "80 CBSE" is MPEG2 HD.

All different feeds.

MPEG4 HD is only available on the H20/HR20 (and future iterations).

Would expect the MPEG2 HD (80's) to be shut off eventually.

Would assume similar for west coast.

Thanks. I would assume west coast is the same too. Is there an easy way to determine what's MPEG4 and what's MPEG2 (besides getting the info from an inside source at DTV)?

[Earl Bonovich]

Thanks. I would assume west coast is the same too. Is there an easy way to determine what's MPEG4 and what's MPEG2 (besides getting the info from an inside source at DTV)?

No, other then knowing which channels were which...

And the above example is the same way it is on the West Coast

[Sixto]

Thanks. I would assume west coast is the same too. Is there an easy way to determine what's MPEG4 and what's MPEG2 (besides getting the info from an inside source at DTV)?2 KCBS is on the Spaceway 1 at 103 degrees.

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa103.html

2 KCBS-TV (CBS - Los Angeles) MPEG-4/HD Los Angeles

[Stuart Sweet]

To be clear, the LA market has CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox in both MPEG2 and MPEG4, as well as the CW in MPEG4. The MPEG2 feeds are for nationwide use but we can get them anyway. I expect they'll go away eventually.

[mongo]

I am from New Jersey. I thought that channels 2, 4, 5, 7 were SD channels. How do you get them in HD?

[Steve615]

Quick question about DNS channels.If you have waivers for these and receive the east coast feeds,can you get the west coast feeds too?The reason I ask this is because ABC,CBS and FOX gave us waivers for DNS access and D* has turned the NY feeds on for us.Sorry if this is off topic for the thread,but it looked like a good place to ask the question.

[Sixto]

I am from New Jersey. I thought that channels 2, 4, 5, 7 were SD channels. How do you get them in HD?The MPEG4 HD feeds for NY metro use the same channel numbers (2-CBS, 4-NBC, 5-FOX, 7-ABC) as the MPEG2 SD feeds.

If you have an H20/HR20 HD receiver and a 5-LNB dish then you'll get the MPEG4 HD channels.

You'll see two sets of channels at 2, 4, 5, & 7. You'll also see the MPEG2 HD feeds in the 80's.

[gct]

Thanks. I would assume west coast is the same too. Is there an easy way to determine what's MPEG4 and what's MPEG2 (besides getting the info from an inside source at DTV)?

The earlier post by 'Sixto' is absolutely correct. He gave you only one example, but you can sniff through Lyngsat checking the DIRECTV Sats and make your own chart of what channels of yours come from what Sats. And look carefully - one of the Lyngsat columns will tell you if it is MPEG4 or MPEG2.

[cartrivision]

The earlier post by 'Sixto' is absolutely correct. He gave you only one example, but you can sniff through Lyngsat checking the DIRECTV Sats and make your own chart of what channels of yours come from what Sats. And look carefully - one of the Lyngsat columns will tell you if it is MPEG4 or MPEG2.

Someone in another thread gave this tip for determining if you are watching MPEG2 or MPEG4 video.

On an HR20 DVR, select fast-forward-1 mode.
If the video is smooth fast motion, it's MPEG2.
If the video is jumpy fast motion, it's MPEG4.

Someone else gave the following rule of thumb (which will change after the new HD channel rollout):
If you are watching a HD satellite channel numbered lower than 70, it's MPEG4, otherwise it's MPEG2.

[paulman182]

Quick question about DNS channels.If you have waivers for these and receive the east coast feeds,can you get the west coast feeds too?The reason I ask this is because ABC,CBS and FOX gave us waivers for DNS access and D* has turned the NY feeds on for us.Sorry if this is off topic for the thread,but it looked like a good place to ask the question.

No, sorry, D* makes you choose one coast or the other.

[Steve615]

No, sorry, D* makes you choose one coast or the other.

Thanks for the reply.So,we have a choice of east or west coast feeds,correct?

[Stuart Sweet]

I don't know how it works in TN but I'm pretty sure you get one or the other. In Tennessee I'd presume you get the east coast.

Pretty much a non-issue since waivers are very very hard to get now.

[Steve615]

I don't know how it works in TN but I'm pretty sure you get one or the other. In Tennessee I'd presume you get the east coast.

Pretty much a non-issue since waivers are very very hard to get now.

Thanks for the reply and yes,we are getting the east coast feeds.I was actually shocked that we got any waivers passed at all,considering we are also getting HD locals from Nashville.

[Chip Moody]

I can only speak for NY ... but "2 WCBS" is MPEG4 HD, "2 NY2" is MPEG2 SD, and "80 CBSE" is MPEG2 HD.

In my ignorance when I got my H20 set up, I created a favorites list that didn't include ANY of the 2 - 69 channels (I'm used to watching SD versions of east & west coast "big 4" in the 380 range and don't care about the rest of the local channels) and just put in the east coast HD's from the 80 range.

Am I assuming correctly that PQ-wise I'll be better off with the 2-7 MPEG4 channels over the ones in the 80's?

(Yes - I'm still waiting for my HDTV, so I haven't paid much attention to the HD content yet)

Thanks,
- Chip

[Lord Vader]

Thanks for the reply.So,we have a choice of east or west coast feeds,correct?

No. For the HD DNS feeds (80-89), if you live in the Eastern or Central time zones, you will get only the east coast feeds. If you live in the Mountain or Pacific time zones, you will get only the west coast feeds. This applies to those who, like myself in Chicagoland, for example, have local networks that are "O&O" (owned and operated by the national network). There's a bit more to it than this, but this is an overview.

As far as the SD DNS feeds (380-389), you can get both east and west coast, but only if you have a waiver or are grandfathered via old, existing waivers.

[Stuart Sweet]

As I said, you're not going to get a new waiver to let you get both, exception being Los Angeles, where we have the option of paying $4.99 a month (I think) and getting WNBC-SD (from New York). It's just possible because both WNBC and KNBC are both owned by, ahem, NBC.