Hi Kate, Welcome to DBSTalk.
Could be true, I'm not sure.
Dish Network, does not have a DVD quality picture.
Dish Network and DirectTV have about the same quality.

 

I don't have the exact specs but yes, that is true. DBS in recent times has become very much compressed to the point that sometimes it looks like a streaming feed from the internet.

DVD's have actually become less compressed ever since dual layered technology has become common place. Now some DVD's average 10 MBs or more!

 

I dont really now about E* but I checked out a few DVDs I own, all the movies I tested average 7-10MBPS. Gladiator was constantly at 9-10MBPS.

 

People with PVRs can easily tell the Mbps for dish channels(except for HD channels). All you have to do is have a 1 hour program stored on your PVR, and then look at how many megabits that one hour program took up. Then you divide that number by 3600 to get the Mbps of the show. Many people on the dbsforums regularly do this, and I heard that the Superbowl had BY FAR like the highest bitrate of program/show on dish network.
Some of the people reported that The Superbowl was in the neighborhood of 4.0 Mbps. You can also do the same thing with 30 minute shows, but for 30 minute shows, divide the number by 1800 instead of dividing it by 3600.

I don't have a pvr so I don't know if it shows the stored programs in Megabits or Megabytes.
BTW, just in case, 1 Megabyte equals 8 Megabits.
Mbps always means Megabits per second.

 

As far as I know my 501 doesn't show me a file size. Do any other PVR's supply this info?

 

Both DVDs and Satellite has a variable data rate. DVDs generally run somewhere from 6-8. DBS is 2-3, sometimes nearly 4 in rare cases. That's why DVDs look so much better

 

BTW, according to the DVD FAQ, the maximum bitrate for DVDs is 10.08 Mbps.
That's 4 times the bitrate that most dbs regular definition channels have.
So it really is safe to say that dbs regular definition channels really are closer to streaming video on the net quality than they are to dvd quality.

 

Remember, there are differences between DBS and DVDs.

The DBS is encoded "on the fly", and may include two audio tracks. Usually, they have to encode a stereo sound.

DVD has, in addition to the picture (which is often prepared for 16:9 televisions), you've got a 5.1 English track, you get also time code, additional audio tracks for foreign language or director's commentary, and subtitle tracks. In addition, the DVD producers have the luxury of spending more time for compression.