[1948GG]

Just in case anyone forgot, DirecTV promised the interactive features that are available on the SD broadcasts of ExInn (you know, the scores and such) on the HD/Mpeg4 channels and have been occasionally used on the HD/Mpeg2 feeds of Golf and Tennis throughout this past year.

Several months ago, at the start of the Baseball season, DirecTV promised that those features, plus undefined others, would be working by the middle of the season. Obviously, that's come and gone.

So here we are at the start of the Football/SundayTicket season, and the commercials with Jimmy Kimmel hint toward all kinds of interactive features with the ST/Superfan level; not very specific, however.

Any ideas out there? Or are we once again going to get zero..? The programmers have had the entire baseball season to wack away trying things, and I guess at this point it will be a minor miracle if they get something working for the last month of the season.

Then again, we could be surprised come Sunday AM. Unless I missed something, I haven't seen any CE activity on this particular issue, but I don't participate in it and might have missed something that 'flew' by.

Any ideas as to what is in store, if anything?

 

[joed32]

What features are you looking for? I don't watch baseball so I don't know what was promised.

 

[bonscott87]

Very good question and hopefully Satracer has an answer. All I can say is that they better work or else I'll be asking for some compensation.

 

[digger16309]

They worked for the Universal-owned channels during the Olympics so there is no (good) reason for them not to be working Sunday.

 

[1948GG]

They worked for the Universal-owned channels during the Olympics so there is no (good) reason for them not to be working Sunday.

As noted in the original posting (although I didn't specifically mention them) those channels during the Olympics were ALL Mpeg2/HD, NOT Mpeg4/HD. Folks particularly with the HR20-700 can tell when the HD channels tuned is Mpeg2 vrs. Mpeg4. I have the HR20-100 and H20-100 as well, and one really can't tell with those units. Unknown as to the capability of the HR21/22 types, though.

 

[1948GG]

What features are you looking for? I don't watch baseball so I don't know what was promised.

The SD Baseball channels all have real-time game scores as well as box scores; the ST/Superfan stuff is supposed to have settable game alerts and other neat things.

Exactly what, going by what was promised (but never delivered) last year, as well as whatever the Jimmy Kimmel commercials are talking about, basically one would think the basics are the type of interactive features as has been on the Mpeg2/HD channels for a very long time. The nicest 'feature' that was promised last year but never actually done, was RedZone alerts. If I remember correctly, the SD feature worked, but there was never any HD feature.

It's all programming, has nothing to do with 'bandwidth' or anything like that, takes maybe a couple of Kb/s per channel to work.

 

[Doug Brott]

As noted in the original posting (although I didn't specifically mention them) those channels during the Olympics were ALL Mpeg2/HD, NOT Mpeg4/HD. Folks particularly with the HR20-700 can tell when the HD channels tuned is Mpeg2 vrs. Mpeg4. I have the HR20-100 and H20-100 as well, and one really can't tell with those units. Unknown as to the capability of the HR21/22 types, though.

Uh? How can you tell on an HR20-700 but not on an HR20-100 or H20-100? ... and are you talking about what DIRECTV gets from the source or what DIRECTV delivers to you? MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 is basically channel-based at this point and we know by having been told.

 

[Tom Robertson]

Uh? How can you tell on an HR20-700 but not on an HR20-100 or H20-100? ... and are you talking about what DIRECTV gets from the source or what DIRECTV delivers to you? MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 is basically channel-based at this point and we know by having been told.

Sounds like his method doesn't work so good.

 

[1948GG]

Sounds like his method doesn't work so good.

Why do people automatically assume one can't, when from the beginning of the release of the HR20-700 virtually EVERYONE who has had those sets knows that when tuning the Mpeg2/HD channels vrs. the Mpeg4/HD channels, the broadcom decoders have a 'hiccup' that is VERY noticeable and lets one know right away which type of stream it is?

For those who have perhaps simply 'forgotten', the 'hiccup' that the HR20-700 unit exhibit when tuning the streams, is the 'flash' of either a black screen (when tuning the Mpeg2/HD stream) vrs. the grey screen (when tuning the Mpeg4 stream). This 100% repeatable, and particularly now when we have several channels (HDNet and ESPN among others) which are simulcast on Mpeg2/HD and Mpeg4/HD, easily repeatable.

This 'effect' has been well known by, what I thought, was everyone who has had these units, virtually from the beginning. When the first Mpeg4/HD channels appeared, there were tons of threads noting the difference between how the decoder (in the HR20-700) reacted Mpeg2/HD vrs. Mpeg4/HD.

Nothing has changed, except perhaps the humans who want to 'forget' how things work, in order to 'make a point'. Not going to work. Not to start an argument, but you ought to know better :nono2:

So, to repeat, all the interactive features that have EVER been on any DirecTV HD channels, have been on Mpeg2/HD channels, NEVER on any Mpeg4/HD channel unless I missed something, and I doubt it (I have tuned all the golf, tennis, Olympics, you name it interactive channels). This has always been knowable and repeatable by the way the decoder works in the HR20-700. Period.

 

[bonscott87]

Why do people automatically assume one can't, when from the beginning of the release of the HR20-700 virtually EVERYONE who has had those sets knows that when tuning the Mpeg2/HD channels vrs. the Mpeg4/HD channels, the broadcom decoders have a 'hiccup' that is VERY noticeable and lets one know right away which type of stream it is?

For those who have perhaps simply 'forgotten', the 'hiccup' that the HR20-700 unit exhibit when tuning the streams, is the 'flash' of either a black screen (when tuning the Mpeg2/HD stream) vrs. the grey screen (when tuning the Mpeg4 stream). This 100% repeatable, and particularly now when we have several channels (HDNet and ESPN among others) which are simulcast on Mpeg2/HD and Mpeg4/HD, easily repeatable.

This 'effect' has been well known by, what I thought, was everyone who has had these units, virtually from the beginning. When the first Mpeg4/HD channels appeared, there were tons of threads noting the difference between how the decoder (in the HR20-700) reacted Mpeg2/HD vrs. Mpeg4/HD.

Nothing has changed, except perhaps the humans who want to 'forget' how things work, in order to 'make a point'. Not going to work. Not to start an argument, but you ought to know better :nono2:

So, to repeat, all the interactive features that have EVER been on any DirecTV HD channels, have been on Mpeg2/HD channels, NEVER on any Mpeg4/HD channel unless I missed something, and I doubt it (I have tuned all the golf, tennis, Olympics, you name it interactive channels). This has always been knowable and repeatable by the way the decoder works in the HR20-700. Period.

Hmmm, I've had an HR20-700 for 2 years now and have never seen this well known effect you're talking about.

 

[joed32]

The SD Baseball channels all have real-time game scores as well as box scores; the ST/Superfan stuff is supposed to have settable game alerts and other neat things.

Exactly what, going by what was promised (but never delivered) last year, as well as whatever the Jimmy Kimmel commercials are talking about, basically one would think the basics are the type of interactive features as has been on the Mpeg2/HD channels for a very long time. The nicest 'feature' that was promised last year but never actually done, was RedZone alerts. If I remember correctly, the SD feature worked, but there was never any HD feature.

It's all programming, has nothing to do with 'bandwidth' or anything like that, takes maybe a couple of Kb/s per channel to work.

Thanks!

 

[1948GG]

Hmmm, I've had an HR20-700 for 2 years now and have never seen this well known effect you're talking about.

You've gotta be kidding me. I'd list all the threads noting this effect from way back, but it was simply so obvious to everyone at the time...

So, have you tried it out today? See the effect? Go to ESPN-HD/73, then tune EPSN-HD/206. When going to 73, the 'flash'' screen that comes up first is BLACK, then the actual picture. When going to 206, it's GREY then the picture. Go back and forth. Try it out on 72/209 (ESPN2). If you have the 'HD Extras', try HDNetMovies on 78/552. Same thing.

I'm flabbergasted that folks who (supposedly?) have had these systems for years haven't noted such things; I guess that maybe you haven't really been paying close attention, eh?

Now, I don't know if the effect is the same when using the HDMI outputs, as the professional displays I have are component only, and I've never had my HR20-700 hooked to the one HDMI set I do have. But I don't think so...

But I guess the original question will be answered 24hours from now, as all the ST/Superfan/HD is in Mpeg4/Ka this year.

 

[James Long]

I'm flabbergasted that folks who (supposedly?) have had these systems for years haven't noted such things; I guess that maybe you haven't really been paying close attention, eh?

Some people watch the channels not the channel changes.

Now, I don't know if the effect is the same when using the HDMI outputs, as the professional displays I have are component only, and I've never had my HR20-700 hooked to the one HDMI set I do have. But I don't think so...

That could account for a difference in what people see. There needs to be a better way than a guess based on tea leaves. (Did it flash black or grey? Was the flash based on the channel left or the channel joined? Etc.)

 

[dcowboy7]

Go to ESPN-HD/73, then tune EPSN-HD/206. When going to 73, the 'flash'' screen that comes up first is BLACK, then the actual picture. When going to 206, it's GREY then the picture. Go back and forth.

Now, I don't know if the effect is the same when using the HDMI outputs, as the professional displays I have are component only

nope doesnt work with hdmi....when i go back n forth from 73 to 206 its always black.

 

[1948GG]

That could account for a difference in what people see. There needs to be a better way than a guess based on tea leaves.

No, simply that engineering types keep their eyeballs on little 'minor' things like this, that are the hints of how the circuits (in this case the broadcom chipset) actually works (or doesn't). Since I helped develop the original Mpeg2 encode/decode circuits well before the super-integrated version we have today (circa 1987-1992), it's always of interest as to the smaller variances some x generations into the future (today).

As to the HDMI not seeing the decoder 'kick in' Mpeg2 vrs Mpeg4, that's interesting. Shows that perhaps the HDCP handshaking is 'masking' the decoder 'lock in', so one can't tell what kind of signal it's actually locking in on. I don't really have the test equipment to really dig into a lot of the wackiness going on with that interface, although Samsung offered a couple years ago to set me up with some to beat on some problems they had with a lot of their HDMI interfacing. But their engineering dept. is on the east coast and I'm on the west, and I'm not really interested in bi-coastal troubleshooting at this point in my career (retired).

But you might try the component outputs to see what I'm talking about. Or not. But to get back again to the original question, there have been no interactive Mpeg4/HD channels as of yet, and I (along with many others) eagerly await thumbs up or down on ST/Superfan/HD come 24hours from now.

 

[alexjb12]

satracer told me this in a private message a couple of months back

Interactivity doesn't work yet with all MPEG4 channels and all the new HD channels are in MPEG4. I know they're working on MLB HD interactivity along with a few others but haven't heard the time frame yet. The first fully functional MPEG4 interactivity will be NFL Sunday Ticket for September and they've been working on that for awhile

 

[alexjb12]

nope doesnt work with hdmi....when i go back n forth from 73 to 206 its always black.

+1

 

[bonscott87]

You've gotta be kidding me. I'd list all the threads noting this effect from way back, but it was simply so obvious to everyone at the time...

So, have you tried it out today? See the effect? Go to ESPN-HD/73, then tune EPSN-HD/206. When going to 73, the 'flash'' screen that comes up first is BLACK, then the actual picture. When going to 206, it's GREY then the picture. Go back and forth. Try it out on 72/209 (ESPN2). If you have the 'HD Extras', try HDNetMovies on 78/552. Same thing.

I'm flabbergasted that folks who (supposedly?) have had these systems for years haven't noted such things; I guess that maybe you haven't really been paying close attention, eh?

Now, I don't know if the effect is the same when using the HDMI outputs, as the professional displays I have are component only, and I've never had my HR20-700 hooked to the one HDMI set I do have. But I don't think so...

But I guess the original question will be answered 24hours from now, as all the ST/Superfan/HD is in Mpeg4/Ka this year.

Don't know what to tell you. Hooked up via component since my TV is so old it doesn't even have a DVI connection let alone HDMI. If there is such a think like you're talking about I don't notice it. What do I care what "flashes" between channel changes. I'm changing the stupid channel, not looking for grey vs. black.

 

[alexjb12]

The MPEG4 Interactive Features are active right now.... and the new HD Gamemix looks great!

 

[teebeebee1]

i wish i could turn these off, i hate having them pop up and it slows down surfing quickly between 2 games