It's even worse on DirecTV and Dish. Were talking 5-8 Mbps. Yes, even those MPEG-4 channels look like crap. Just because it's MPEG-4 doesn't mean it automatically looks good. They use MPEG-4 as an excuse for EVEN lower bitrates than the MPEG-2 channels. Like 4-6 Mbps low. 4-6 Mbps MPEG-4 is equal to like 8-12 Mbps MPEG-2... still crap.
That's a bunch of BS. SciFi on DirecTV is absolutely gorgeous.
There is no telling what bit rate they are using for MPEG4. Nobody knows but DirecTV. However, there is no reason for them to drop quality as low as you are saying. None. They have the satellites. They have the bandwidth. More than Comcast, it would seem.
Besides, I can see for myself that the video quality of the new HD channels is awesome.
HD audio skipping is very bad on several of DirectTV's HD channels, including local stations, HDNet, HBOHD and ShowtimeHD. Sci-FiHD is thankfully clear of skipping.
Don't turn to DirectTV if you want to be free of audio skipping problems - I find most of their HD channels unwatchable because of sound corruption.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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It's even worse on DirecTV and Dish. Were talking 5-8 Mbps. Yes, even those MPEG-4 channels look like crap. Just because it's MPEG-4 doesn't mean it automatically looks good. They use MPEG-4 as an excuse for EVEN lower bitrates than the MPEG-2 channels. Like 4-6 Mbps low. 4-6 Mbps MPEG-4 is equal to like 8-12 Mbps MPEG-2... still crap.
So, what cable company do you work for?
That's a bunch of BS. SciFi on DirecTV is absolutely gorgeous.
There is no telling what bit rate they are using for MPEG4. Nobody knows but DirecTV. However, there is no reason for them to drop quality as low as you are saying. None. They have the satellites. They have the bandwidth. More than Comcast, it would seem.
Besides, I can see for myself that the video quality of the new HD channels is awesome.
HD audio skipping is very bad on several of DirectTV's HD channels, including local stations, HDNet, HBOHD and ShowtimeHD. Sci-FiHD is thankfully clear of skipping.
Don't turn to DirectTV if you want to be free of audio skipping problems - I find most of their HD channels unwatchable because of sound corruption.