Future of SD channels?

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:00:29 -0800, Peter Newman wrote:

So DirecTV is going to provide an SD feed forever, even after channels are
broadcasting in HD? I'd love to believe you're right but I can't believe
that DTV is going to want to expend bandwidth on SD.

SD/HD feed doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the ouput of the
cable box. And yes, it's likely it will have a 480i output at least for
the next 10 years.

--
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In article , "Peter Newman" wrote:
I've got a Hughes series I TiVO with a lifetime subscription and DirecTV
service. I can take or leave HD. At some point will I be forced into an HD
package because they'll shut down the standard def channels? At what point
is this just not a disguised price increase once everyone is migrated to HD?
And what good would my "lifetime" TiVo subscription be if the only channels
left are HD and I can't pick them up? Will they give me a "one-time"
transfer of my subscription to a new box?

Any clues anyone?

Peter


If you have lifetime and DirecTV, the lifetime is tied to your account so if
you do upgrade to a HD DVR with direcTV you should be lifetime on your
account.

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 07:11:01 GMT, Wes Newell
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:00:29 -0800, Peter Newman wrote:

So DirecTV is going to provide an SD feed forever, even after channels are
broadcasting in HD? I'd love to believe you're right but I can't believe
that DTV is going to want to expend bandwidth on SD.

SD/HD feed doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the ouput of the
cable box. And yes, it's likely it will have a 480i output at least for
the next 10 years.

I suppose you mean NTSC, which is only a subset of 480i. 480i can
provide much better quality than that. It's not HD, but it's a lot
closer to HD than to NTSC.

My first exposure (at home) to the newer video systems was with a DVD
player (480i only) with YPbPr output. The picture was MUCH better than
with the NTSC output (and S-video does very little better). Later I
saw true HD and it was better, but not nearly as dramatic as that
first change (NTSC to 480i/YPbPr).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"How could you ask be to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:27:43 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 07:11:01 GMT, Wes Newell
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:00:29 -0800, Peter Newman wrote:

So DirecTV is going to provide an SD feed forever, even after channels are
broadcasting in HD? I'd love to believe you're right but I can't believe
that DTV is going to want to expend bandwidth on SD.

SD/HD feed doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the ouput of the
cable box. And yes, it's likely it will have a 480i output at least for
the next 10 years.

I suppose you mean NTSC, which is only a subset of 480i. 480i can
provide much better quality than that. It's not HD, but it's a lot
closer to HD than to NTSC.

No, I mean 480i, not NTSC, although NTSC is also 480i. The output just has
to match an input the Tivo has. IIRC, my S1 had RF (NTSC) and Composite
(A/V). It also had component, but don't recall if it had both an input and
output.

My first exposure (at home) to the newer video systems was with a DVD
player (480i only) with YPbPr output. The picture was MUCH better than
with the NTSC output (and S-video does very little better). Later I
saw true HD and it was better, but not nearly as dramatic as that
first change (NTSC to 480i/YPbPr).

Shouldn't have been that great a difference between the DVD out on RF
channel 3/4 (NTSC) and component (YPbPr). they're both 480i. Component
will definately give you better color saturation but the actual pixel
clarity shouldn't have been noticable unless there was some other problem.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Peter Newman wrote:
At some point will I be forced into an HD
package because they'll shut down the standard def channels?

Analog SD channel broadcasts are going away.
Analog SD over cable and digital SD over any media will be around forever.

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:28:57 GMT, Wes Newell
wrote:

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:27:43 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 07:11:01 GMT, Wes Newell
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:00:29 -0800, Peter Newman wrote:

So DirecTV is going to provide an SD feed forever, even after channels are
broadcasting in HD? I'd love to believe you're right but I can't believe
that DTV is going to want to expend bandwidth on SD.

SD/HD feed doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the ouput of the
cable box. And yes, it's likely it will have a 480i output at least for
the next 10 years.

I suppose you mean NTSC, which is only a subset of 480i. 480i can
provide much better quality than that. It's not HD, but it's a lot
closer to HD than to NTSC.

No, I mean 480i, not NTSC, although NTSC is also 480i. The output just has
to match an input the Tivo has. IIRC, my S1 had RF (NTSC) and Composite
(A/V).

Which is NTSC, if you're in North America.

It also had component, but don't recall if it had both an input and
output.


Almost nothing (except TVs) has Component inputs.

My first exposure (at home) to the newer video systems was with a DVD
player (480i only) with YPbPr output. The picture was MUCH better than
with the NTSC output (and S-video does very little better). Later I
saw true HD and it was better, but not nearly as dramatic as that
first change (NTSC to 480i/YPbPr).

Shouldn't have been that great a difference between the DVD out on RF
channel 3/4 (NTSC)

(leaving out composite)

and component (YPbPr). they're both 480i.
Component
will definately give you better color saturation

and much less color blurring. The NTSC composite vide signal format
allows very little bandwidth for the color signals (probably for
compatibility with the older B/W).

but the actual pixel
clarity shouldn't have been noticable unless there was some other problem.

And you didn't mention picture stability, which is improved too. It
should cause less eyestrain when the picture isn't jumping around all
the time. I could look at that (component 480i) picture from less that
a foot away and it was completely steady. Very different from an NTSC
signal.

I used to have both (composite and component 480i) connected to my
projector and could switch between them at any time.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"How could you ask be to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:34:20 -0800, Joe Smith wrote:

Peter Newman wrote:
At some point will I be forced into an HD
package because they'll shut down the standard def channels?

Analog SD channel broadcasts are going away.
Analog SD over cable and digital SD over any media will be around forever.

Maybe not FOREVER, but a long time. At some point the equipment for
digital may become no more expensive, and existing analog equipment
won't last forever.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"How could you ask be to believe in God when there's
absolutely no evidence that I can see?" -- Jodie Foster

On Mar 3, 11:19 am, "Peter Newman" wrote:
I've got a Hughes series ITiVOwith a lifetime subscription and DirecTV
service. I can take or leave HD. At some point will I be forced into an HD
package because they'll shut down the standard def channels?

Analog terrestrial broadcast TV (NTSC) is being shutdown. Any stations
left have to broadcast in Digital. They can choose to use HD, ED, or
SD, or combinations of the three (there are 18 ATSC formats). No one
said anything about SD going away, it is one of the 18, and broadcast
stations can have up to 4 SD channels under DTV, and not exceed the
bandwidth of their 6MHz channel.

Cable and Satellite will still receive SD channels, just not from
analog OTA sources. That doesn't mean the cable channels (like CNN)
have to convert to HD, they can can continue to send SD.

At what point
is this just not a disguised price increase once everyone is migrated to HD?

I don't think everyone will migrate as long as there are a limited
numbers of channels that can fit in a cable or satellite feed.

And what good would my "lifetime"TiVosubscription be if the only channels
left are HD and I can't pick them up? Will they give me a "one-time"
transfer of my subscription to a new box?

Not likely to happen.


Any clues anyone?

Peter

shaped the electrons to say:
On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:00:29 -0800, Peter Newman wrote:
So DirecTV is going to provide an SD feed forever, even after channels are
broadcasting in HD? I'd love to believe you're right but I can't believe
that DTV is going to want to expend bandwidth on SD.
SD/HD feed doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the ouput of the
cable box. And yes, it's likely it will have a 480i output at least for
the next 10 years.

1. What does a cable box have to do with DirecTV?
2. The originally question as able the integrated DirecTiVo.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

Analog terrestrial broadcast TV (NTSC) is being shutdown. Any stations
left have to broadcast in Digital. They can choose to use HD, ED, or
SD, or combinations of the three (there are 18 ATSC formats). No one
said anything about SD going away, it is one of the 18, and broadcast
stations can have up to 4 SD channels under DTV, and not exceed the
bandwidth of their 6MHz channel.

Some stations seem to have more than 4 subchannels. Is that because they
are using sub-SD bandwidth for some of the channels? Continuous weather
radar probably doesn't use much bandwidth compared to a regular SD program.