Superbowl - OTA vs. DTV PQ

During the superbowl, I was able to compare the direct (OTA) signal
from KCBS-DTV to HD rebroadcast of that same station via DirecTV (Ch
81). My impression was that while they were pretty close, OTA was
slightly better. The fine detail was just a little sharper. There
was just a touch more noise (graininess) in solid shiney colors like
the helmets. Overall, the OTA color seemed just a bit more saturated
(although I'm not positive about this last point).

The difference was not large. If someone changed the channel while I
was out of the room, I had a hard time identifing which one I was
seeing. Given all the negative things I've read about compression, I
expected to see more difference, so this was good news. The DTV HD
is very watchable; since I'm stuck with an indoor antenna, the
absence of dropouts due to walking around the room with DTV is a
plus. Hopefully they will get the other major networks going.

Was anybody else able to compare OTA to either Sat or Cable HD?

/Chris, AA6SQ

First never live where you can not put up an outside ant, NBC, ABC, FOX may
never have a DH sat feed
"Chris Thomas" wrote in message
m...
During the superbowl, I was able to compare the direct (OTA) signal
from KCBS-DTV to HD rebroadcast of that same station via DirecTV (Ch
81). My impression was that while they were pretty close, OTA was
slightly better. The fine detail was just a little sharper. There
was just a touch more noise (graininess) in solid shiney colors like
the helmets. Overall, the OTA color seemed just a bit more saturated
(although I'm not positive about this last point).

The difference was not large. If someone changed the channel while I
was out of the room, I had a hard time identifing which one I was
seeing. Given all the negative things I've read about compression, I
expected to see more difference, so this was good news. The DTV HD
is very watchable; since I'm stuck with an indoor antenna, the
absence of dropouts due to walking around the room with DTV is a
plus. Hopefully they will get the other major networks going.

Was anybody else able to compare OTA to either Sat or Cable HD?

/Chris, AA6SQ

I also saw little - if any - difference. When things were bad on D*, they
were also bad on OTA. (Sound dropouts, pixelization, etc.)

"Chris Thomas" wrote in message
m...
During the superbowl, I was able to compare the direct (OTA) signal
from KCBS-DTV to HD rebroadcast of that same station via DirecTV (Ch
81). My impression was that while they were pretty close, OTA was
slightly better. The fine detail was just a little sharper. There
was just a touch more noise (graininess) in solid shiney colors like
the helmets. Overall, the OTA color seemed just a bit more saturated
(although I'm not positive about this last point).

The difference was not large. If someone changed the channel while I
was out of the room, I had a hard time identifing which one I was
seeing. Given all the negative things I've read about compression, I
expected to see more difference, so this was good news. The DTV HD
is very watchable; since I'm stuck with an indoor antenna, the
absence of dropouts due to walking around the room with DTV is a
plus. Hopefully they will get the other major networks going.

Was anybody else able to compare OTA to either Sat or Cable HD?

/Chris, AA6SQ

Chris Thomas wrote:
During the superbowl, I was able to compare the direct (OTA) signal
from KCBS-DTV to HD rebroadcast of that same station via DirecTV (Ch
81). My impression was that while they were pretty close, OTA was
slightly better. The fine detail was just a little sharper. There
was just a touch more noise (graininess) in solid shiney colors like
the helmets. Overall, the OTA color seemed just a bit more saturated
(although I'm not positive about this last point).

If it makes any difference to you, KCBS's 1080i broadcast uses the
*full* 19Mbps ATSC bitrate. Many other stations multicast, or
'reserve' part of their channel for unknown purposes.

Bitrate is just 1 of many factors that influence picture-quality.
It is not the only factor -- a 'new generation' broadcast encoder
could probably outperform an older unit running at a higher-bitrate.

(HBO-HD and SHO-HD broadcast at about 15Mbps, and their movie
presentations consistently match or exceed any 19Mbps OTA broadcast I
have seen.)

Chris Thomas wrote in
m:

Was anybody else able to compare OTA to either Sat or Cable HD?

Yes and I agree with what you said. Though I have no problems with
dropouts with my OTA signal.



Barney

My OTA signal was cleary sharper with more punch than the DirecTV signal