[almccm]

Can anyone tell me how to find which stations come from which satellite? Also, which HD stations are MPEG-4 and which are MPEG-2?

 

[Jables]

I think this thread is up your alley:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=134450

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but every HD station is in MPEG4 now. Some legacy MPEG2 channels remain, but they are mirrored in MPEG4.

 

[MudMover]

Lyngsat Website is a good resource.

 

[harsh]

Lyngsat Website is a good resource.

As one of the only resources, it is what you have, but it is far from "good".

A better resource may be this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=134450

along with this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1191863&postcount=2

 

[almccm]

I think this thread is up your alley:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=134450

Thanks for the information. Regarding MPEG-2, it seems that my local NBC affilliate is (San Francisco) is broadcasting the Olympics in MPEG-2. I say that because if I record a 2 hour movie from STARZ, HBO, etc. it takes up about 2% of my DVR. If I record a 4 hour Olympic broadcast it takes up about 12-13%. instead of the 8% I was expecting.

 

[carl6]

There are many variables that effect recording capacity. One is live versus non-live. With a movie, the compression can be done in multiple passes providing much better compression. Live doesn't get that opportunity. Also sports (high amounts of activity) tend to take more space than talking heads.

Carl

 

[almccm]

Both of those threads will help a lot. I have had my dish tweaked once already and I have the tech telling me I only need a high signal on one transponder on any given satellite. That just doesn't make sense. He says if one in 90 or so it doesn't matter if the others are in the 50s or 60s. I thought different transponders delivered different signals. Since the last tweaking I get a poor picture from TNT. It's noticeably degraded over the pre-tweaked picture. I've had D* for 5 years with no problems, not even rain fade. I don't want to have my HD signal disappear when we go into winter weather here.

 

[Jables]

Thanks for the information. Regarding MPEG-2, it seems that my local NBC affilliate is (San Francisco) is broadcasting the Olympics in MPEG-2.

Are you tuning this station over the air, or via DirecTV? In the case of the former it would be MPEG-2, but if it's the LiL feed it's MPEG-4. The only networks that D* has ever provided in MPEG-2 HD are LA and NY locals.

 

[almccm]

Are you tuning this station over the air, or via DirecTV?

I'm getting them via DirecTV. I'm assuming the larger sizes of the recordings are due to the fact they are live broadcasts of sports events and not as highly compressed as movies and other pre-recorded broadcasts.

 

[inkahauts]

I'm getting them via DirecTV. I'm assuming the larger sizes of the recordings are due to the fact they are live broadcasts of sports events and not as highly compressed as movies and other pre-recorded broadcasts.

What is the actual channel number? Does the channel number have a - in it? if so, your recording the OTA feed... If not, then it should be using about the same amount of space as any other MPEG-4 channel...

 

[BattleZone]

What is the actual channel number? Does the channel number have a - in it? if so, your recording the OTA feed... If not, then it should be using about the same amount of space as any other MPEG-4 channel...

Not true.

Pre-recorded items, like movies, can be compressed with multi-pass compression, using a ton of processing power and days of rendering time, and come out looking great at a much smaller file size. HBO and MGM are doing this for their content, and you can expect to see that more and more.

Live events only get a real-time, one-pass encode, so they should be expected to be larger. Also, movies are virtually all 24-frame/second, needing less data per second than 30 fps (60i) live video.

 

[inkahauts]

Not true.

Pre-recorded items, like movies, can be compressed with multi-pass compression, using a ton of processing power and days of rendering time, and come out looking great at a much smaller file size. HBO and MGM are doing this for their content, and you can expect to see that more and more.

Live events only get a real-time, one-pass encode, so they should be expected to be larger. Also, movies are virtually all 24-frame/second, needing less data per second than 30 fps (60i) live video.

That's quite true, different programs will take different amounts of space, however, 50% more seems a bit high to me.... That's more like MPEG-2 compression.. and MPEG-4 even live should be better than that...

Also, I haven't seen anything saying that any channels is broadcasting in 24fps for directv other than the 1080p vod program. Therefore, that particular stat shouldn't affect the size. Have you seen that noted somewhere? If so, that would be a big deal when it comes to saving my HD space...