[Guest]

I may be wrong here, but I don't see how 1080p broadcast via DirecTV(or DISH)
will be able to match Blu-ray discs. The bitrate on a Blu-ray is much higher, isn't
it? I was watchin i, Robot on Blu-ray on my 133" 1080p projector last night.
The highest peak bitrate is almost 28mbps. Does DirecTV have the capability or
bandwidth to transmit 1080p at 28mbps? As I understand it, DirecTV HD
broadcast is highly compressed MPEG-4.

Not to mention that I recently acquired several HD videos that are encoded
in high-def MPEG-2 at 80mbps(average), which plays just fine on my Sony PS3.
The picture at that level is simply breathtaking... clearer than real life... almost...

 

[Mertzen]

The 1080p content will be VOD streamed over the internet.

 

[ShawnL25]

I may be wrong here, but I don't see how 1080p broadcast via DirecTV(or DISH)
will be able to match Blu-ray discs. The bitrate on a Blu-ray is much higher, isn't
it? I was watchin i, Robot on Blu-ray on my 133" 1080p projector last night.
The highest peak bitrate is almost 28mbps. Does DirecTV have the capability or
bandwidth to transmit 1080p at 28mbps? As I understand it, DirecTV HD
broadcast is highly compressed MPEG-4.

Not to mention that I recently acquired several HD videos that are encoded
in high-def MPEG-2 at 80mbps(average), which plays just fine on my Sony PS3.
The picture at that level is simply breathtaking... clearer than real life... almost...

HD videos in MPEG-2 at 80mbps where did you find these?

 

[Guest]

HD videos at MPEG-2 at 80mbps where did you find these?

they were vacation videos shot by pro-amateurs using Sony XDCAM equipment...
I have one clip that's 780MB in size, showing just 1.5 minute of HD video.

 

[DarinC]

They never claimed it would be the same quality or bitrate as Blu-ray. Only that they'd be in the same format as Blu-ray: 1080p.

 

[cartrivision]

The 1080p content will be VOD streamed over the internet.

I don't know what you base that statement on. It will probably be delivered on PPV channels, through pushed "Movies Now" content, and downloaded VOD content. There is no reason to limit it to VOD only.

 

[flipptyfloppity]

They won't be broadcasting at 30mbps. It would consume too much bandwidth, it wouldn't be cost-effective.

Where did you find a BluRay that "peaks at almost 28mbps"? Most of the ones I watch idle at 25mpbs even when the scene is almost still and jump to 34mpbs+ when things move. And that's before you count the audio, which is another 2-5mpbs.

Honestly, if I were the BluRay consortium, I'd send a cease and desist to Dish Network for stating their content will be like BluRay. I'm sure it'll look pretty good, but it's bad news for BluRay if people see what Dish offers and think that BluRay is no better because that's what Dish told them.

All this is a bunch of excitement over nothing. 1080p at 24fps doesn't take any more bandwidth than 1080i/60. To be honest, I'm pretty sure the conversion to 1080p will be done in the receiving box (if at all) and if it is output by these boxes, it will likely be output at 1080p/30, which means it'll have just about the worst judder possible.

 

[EaglePC]

can DirecTV broadcast 1080p at 30mbps+(matching Blu-ray discs)?

NO!

 

[machavez00]

ads for both Dish and DirecTV say it will be VOD

 

[RobertE]

They can certainly show programs with a data rate of 30mbps or more.

However, that content will either have to be downloaded via DoD or be pushed content via the sats.

"But they don't have the bandwidth for 30mbps video". Sure they do, they just don't need to stream the content at 30mpbs. They can take that video and stream it at say 10mbps and it will take 3 times as long for it to be pushed to your DVR. They could show a video at 100mpbs if they wanted to, it would just take a long time (and hard drive space) for it to download.

I don't believe that any 1080p content from either provider will be real time. The above example/reasoning can be applied to either provider.

 

[cartrivision]

ads for both Dish and DirecTV say it will be VOD

There are no ads for DirecTV 1080p programming, so that can't be the source.

 

[DarinC]

I don't believe that any 1080p content from either provider will be real time. The above example/reasoning can be applied to either provider.

Why not? 1080p can take less bandwidth than 1080i. I thought it was already confirmed that 1080p via DirecTV would be both VOD and PPV streams.

 

[Mike728]

1080p can take less bandwidth than 1080i.

Only if they cut the frame rate to less than half of 1080i's.

 

[PaulieORF]

If DirecTV were going to give you 1080p via VOD with equal quality to a Blu-Ray movie, you're talking a movie that is at least 20 gigabytes. Not gonna happen. Blu-Ray will not suffer a single sale loss because of the 1080p moves from DirecTV.

 

[Kansas Zephyr]

Only if they cut the frame rate to less than half of 1080i's.

The poster is most likely referring to 1080p/24, compared to 1080i/60.

So, yes the frame rate is less than half.

 

[DarinC]

Only if they cut the frame rate to less than half of 1080i's.

It's not an issue of framerate. We are talking about film based content, so the source is 24 fps, whether it's transmitted at 1080i or 1080p. Either way, you have the same amount of data. But progressive frames are typically encoded more efficiently than interlaced frames.

People keep acting like 1080p will require a huge amount of bandwidth. that would only be true if we were talking about 1080p/60. But there's not a lot of 1080p/60 content out there. Both DirecTV and Dish have been talking about 1080p movies, most of which are sourced from 24fps film.

 

[machavez00]

There are no ads for DirecTV 1080p programming, so that can't be the source.

I can't find the ad yet, but here is the press release
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P4800004

DIRECTV will also transmit all of its HD programming in the MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding standard, by the end of this month - the first to do so in the industry. All HD programming will also be available in the Dolby Digital audio format, and later this year, DIRECTV will begin offering movies in 1080p, the highest resolution format available for HD video enthusiasts and the same format used by Blu-Ray HD DVDs.

 

[sdk009]

This may be off topic, but which would have better PQ, 1080i directly from the satellite or 1080i downloaded via VOD?

 

[DarinC]

All other things being equal, they'd be exactly the same. Doesn't matter how it's delivered. BUT, VOD does have the advantage of making better use of multi-pass encoding with variable bit rates. "Live" streams are generally re-encoded on the fly, which can cause an extra step of degradation.