Direct tv vs. cable vs. ota picture quality

[B3RACER1a]

Hello all...I'm in need of some help from fellow OC's. I know there are some knowledgable folks out there.

Right now I am getting my HD service through Comcast. Recently I've noticed a slight reduction in picture quality and more 'digital artifacts' in the picture...especially in movement. I recently went out and purchased a cheapo RCA powered antenna just to see if it was just me. I can tell a big difference between the two. The over-the-air broadcast is just so much more natural looking and contains a lot less artifacts. This leads me to believe that sometime recently Comcast has decided to compress there HD streams.

So, this brings me to possibly doing Direct tv or Dish for my HD service. It sounds like they all compress there signals and there are even some cases in court over this.

So, I guess what I am asking is what service would I get the most true HD from? I've even looked at services like U-Verse and Verizon's new service but I dont know much about them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[dando]

Hello all...I'm in need of some help from fellow OC's. I know there are some knowledgable folks out there.

Right now I am getting my HD service through Comcast. Recently I've noticed a slight reduction in picture quality and more 'digital artifacts' in the picture...especially in movement. I recently went out and purchased a cheapo RCA powered antenna just to see if it was just me. I can tell a big difference between the two. The over-the-air broadcast is just so much more natural looking and contains a lot less artifacts. This leads me to believe that sometime recently Comcast has decided to compress there HD streams.

So, this brings me to possibly doing Direct tv or Dish for my HD service. It sounds like they all compress there signals and there are even some cases in court over this.

So, I guess what I am asking is what service would I get the most true HD from? I've even looked at services like U-Verse and Verizon's new service but I dont know much about them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Verizon's FIOS is tits from what I've heard/read. Everything else has issues one way or another. Sadly we have a local Verizon office (former CompuServe/Worldcom/UUNet/MCI building), but no FIOS here. U-Verse is $pending mega $$$ marketing here, but their coverage is limited, plus they only allow one HD stream per domicile (supposedly being upgraded). OTA is problematic due to location (my personal experience).

-Kevin

[Al Czervik]

I'm DirecTV / OTA network HD. Very satisfied with both. If you want to get the low down from many different perspectives, try dbstalk.com & avsforum.com. Be prepared, though. Some of the discussions can make CART/IRL seem like a Sunday picnic.

[extramundane]

Verizon's FIOS is tits from what I've heard/read.

I must've missed the tits promotion. But the picture rawks. :thumbup:

[Ankf00]

I don't even have HD and comcast has **** tons of artifacts for me

[cameraman]

You can't beat OTA if you have a big honking antenna pointed right at the transmitter on a nearby mountain. I have seen differences in the quality of the broadcasts though. We have two PBS stations here, KBYU and KUED, the Bob the Builder shows on KBYU are far higher quality than the KUED ones. The exact same episode, the exact same format but one will be ~750 MB for the 27 minutes and the other will be ~1.1 GB. There is a noticeable quality difference. Oddly enough the quality of the audio tracks are reversed, the small file has better sound:saywhat:

[Stu]

ota > fios > most cable/directv/dish network > uverse

[Insomniac]

I have DirecTV and OTA. OTA is going to be the least compressed of anything. But obviously, that's only broadcast channels. DirecTV has a decent bitrate, but they downsample the resolution to compensate. I think it results in less artifacts, but it isn't the maximum resolution. (I can't really tell, which is probably the most important part.)

On a side note, football in 1080i on everything seems blocky with high motion. 720p is winning the sports battle for now.

[KLang]

I've been happy with Dish HD since I got it in 2001. It has gotten to the point pretty much everything I care to watch is now in HD. :)

[Stu]

I have DirecTV and OTA. OTA is going to be the least compressed of anything. But obviously, that's only broadcast channels. DirecTV has a decent bitrate, but they downsample the resolution to compensate. I think it results in less artifacts, but it isn't the maximum resolution. (I can't really tell, which is probably the most important part.)

On a side note, football in 1080i on everything seems blocky with high motion. 720p is winning the sports battle for now.

since implementing the MPEG-4 satellites, they have been transmitting at full 1080i and 720p resolutions.

[rosawendel]

I don't mind the pictu-brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbbrbrbrbrbbrb-uality i get with _able. Actually, I kin-_ ike it. now the VOLUME LEVEL CHANGES WHEN YOU go fr. . . . .om channel to channel, now that is annoying.

[oddlycalm]

If you are in an area where you can get Verizon's FIOS service, that's what you want. We had it for a brief time before we moved out of their service area and it was the single negative factor in the move.

FIOS fiber optical connection has the bandwidth to run HDTV without a lot of compression and it actually costs less than Comcast. :irked: It's also the best internet connection out there. I was paying $42 for a 15mbs connection that tested right at 15mbs any time of day or night I checked it. That's enough bandwidth to saturate the bus on most computers. :cool:

oc

[Insomniac]

since implementing the MPEG-4 satellites, they have been transmitting at full 1080i and 720p resolutions.

Where did you get this information? (I assume you mean 1920x1080i and 1280x720p.)