[sheridan1952]

I was talking with a D* CSR about another issue and asked about the new HD DVR. He told me that I had to get the the 5LNB dish or the receiver wouldn't work.

Now, I've tried to keep up with everything here and my first instinct was to call him a liar. But I bit my tongue. I have the 3 LNB dish. I don't need their HD locals feeds as I can pull them off the air. So I don't really see the need right now to change the dish. And if it is truly required for the HR20, then I don't need it.

So, what is the real story?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

As of today... you are correct, you only need the phase III dish.
But as DirecTV continues to convert their SAT-HD to MPEG-4 and move it to the two new sats next year, you will NEED the 5LNB.

Also the HR20 doesn't have OTA enabled.
So if you want LOCALS today... you need the 5LNB

 

[Twosted]

I was talking with a D* CSR about another issue and asked about the new HD DVR. He told me that I had to get the the 5LNB dish or the receiver wouldn't work.

Now, I've tried to keep up with everything here and my first instinct was to call him a liar. But I bit my tongue. I have the 3 LNB dish. I don't need their HD locals feeds as I can pull them off the air. So I don't really see the need right now to change the dish. And if it is truly required for the HR20, then I don't need it.

So, what is the real story?

My understanding is that the 5LNB is required for the HD locals. You can't pull the locals off the air right now with the HR20 because the OTA input is not enabled yet.

Edit: Earl beat me to it

 

[sheridan1952]

Are you saying that their HD content (not locals) will eventually be MPEG4, and sooner than later?

 

[cybrsurfer]

My understanding is that the 5LNB is required for the HD locals. You can't pull the locals off the air right now with the HR20 because the OTA input is not enabled yet.

Currently OTA is not enabled. It should be by year end, and when it is available it will be MPEG2. In order to get your local HD MPEG4 thru satellite, you need the AT-9 or Slimline Dish which gets's the 103 and 99 satellites.

 

[sheridan1952]

Well, I can get the Locals OTA with the HD300.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Are you saying that their HD content (not locals) will eventually be MPEG4, and sooner than later?

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.

All SAT based HD will be converted to MPEG-4

 

[sheridan1952]

Does anyone have a realistic timeframe or is that like predicting when the R15 will be reliable?

 

[PoitNarf]

Does anyone have a realistic timeframe or is that like predicting when the R15 will be reliable?

I think most people here are more concerned about the reliability of the HR20 and not the R15

 

[911medic]

Currently OTA is not enabled. It should be by year end, and when it is available it will be MPEG2.

OTA is MPEG2?

 

[sheridan1952]

I think most people here are more concerned about the reliability of the HR20 and not the R15

Geez, I was only using it to make a point in my question. I KNOW where I am. I'm sure EARL understood.

 

[PoitNarf]

OTA is MPEG2?

Yes, all OTA HD broadcasts are MPEG2.

 

[PoitNarf]

Geez, I was only using it to make a point in my question. I KNOW where I am. I'm sure EARL understood.

My apologies, I misread your question.

 

[sheridan1952]

My apologies, I misread your question.

No problem. I was probably a little touchy. I was still a bit steamed from my conversation with a CSR.

I'm still sorting out my options.

 

[rifleman69]

OTA is MPEG2?

OTA is going to be mpeg2 for a very long time. Those same channels via the 5LNB dish would be mpeg4, assuming you receive them and all that jazz.

 

[911medic]

Yes, all OTA HD broadcasts are MPEG2.

I did not know that. Learn something new every day. When people state that the OTA HD is "less compressed" and provides a better imgage than satellite HD (that is MPEG2), I just assumed it wasn't MPEG2.

 

[hasan]

I did not know that. Learn something new every day. When people state that the OTA HD is "less compressed" and provides a better imgage than satellite HD (that is MPEG2), I just assumed it wasn't MPEG2.

There's a LOT more to quality of picture than the encoding scheme...like bit-rate...and that is where D* really degrades the pix. This is one of the reasons that OTA is superior to D* (and is likely to remain so for a VERY long time).

Suffice it to say, those clamoring for OTA (like me) have several other reasons for wanting it, but PQ is most certainly better.

Compression isn't just MPEG-4 vs. MPEG-2, it's the dreaded bit-rate business. D* doesn't have the bandwidth to give us adeauate bit rates at this time. OTA does, and that's one of th reasons you see so much talk about OTA being a big deal.

D* is HD-Lite, except in rare circumstances. It is FAR SUPERIOR to standard channels (SD), which can vary from outright horrid to marginally acceptable PQ. For example, NFL Sunday Ticket in SD is an unwatchable blurry mess. If I were cynical, I would say they want us to purchase SuperFan (the extra HD package for NFL Sunday Ticket). They have good leverage on us...we put a couple grand in a display device...to watch blurry football...nah, pop for the extra money and increase the wow factor (but it's still not nearly as good as OTA HD football)

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Does anyone have a realistic timeframe or is that like predicting when the R15 will be reliable?

We should see significant improvements after the next software release.