On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:18:46 -0500, George M. Middius cmndr
[underscore] george [at] comcast [dot] net wrote:



dave weil said:

I'm pretty convinced that it's mostly a storage issue. NBC seems to
use a particularly bad compression scheme. You seem to support Mr.
Pierce's contention that there's a bandwidth issue as well in terms of
the actual broadcast. Now this is just speculation on my part, because
I don't have cable any more and I can't watch NBC to see if cable
treats it any better (maybe I'll just ask a cable-equipped friend to
switch to NBC during network prime time the next time I'm over).

The cause of your compression might not be NBC per se. On my cable feed,
the NBC station is about the same as CBS. ABC and HBO might be a hair
better, but it's not an obvious difference. However, I get more
artifacts and freeze-ups on ABC shows than any other network. Also,
sometimes on NBC shows, the widescreen HD version disappears for part of
the show, and all you get is the standard 4x3 version. Then it'll
randomly switch back to the HD version. Do you have that problem with
Dish? I'm sure it emanates from the source, i.e. the local broadcast
station.

I don't do HD.

I'm not willing to guess about HD because I don't have it. The reason
that I guess it's NBC is because I get the same sort of "smearing"
when I watch reruns of West Wing on Bravo as when I watch the new
shows on NBC. The artifacts are quite similar. That's why I guess that
it's a storage issue. Plus, I don't get that level of smearing on many
of the other channels on Dish. Also, when I watch the news on the NBC
affiliate, the quality is much better in terms of artifacts (but you
can still see some compression being used). I haven't watched in a
while, but it seems to me that the NBC late night shows aren't
*nearly* as bad either, although they *are* worse than, say ESPN. So
there might be some problems converting and storing filmed programming
as opposed to video, but other network's programs being broadcast on
3rd party channels don't seem to be affected so badly. for instance,
right now, Spin City's on FX. It's not NEARLY as bad, although there
*is* some compression visible.

It's probably a combination of the DVR, the transmission *and* the
storage means since presumably there's compression being used in each
case.

What's funny is the importance that I now attach to DVR. It has really
changed the way I watch TV. Sometimes I even time shift when I don't
have to, just so that I can watch *live* and zip through the
commercials in about 5 seconds. I no longer have to worry about
missing something because the phone rings, or when I have to go run
errands. I just let it run and come back and rewind to the point where
I stopped watching. Or, when I'm doing oher things in other parts of
the house, I can set up an autotune to a program that's going to start
in a couple of hours and I don't have to worry about getting back to
the TV to change the channel, PLUS, I don't even have to worry about
getting back to the TV at the start of the program (or, if I decide
not to watch the program live, I just record it. I can be 20 minutes
late back to the program and just rewind. and it makes it very easy to
record live music on the late night shows. I don't have to be captive
at the start of the perfromance. I can miss it by almost an hour and
still go back and record it (although this means that I'll miss
everything after that until "real time" because once you stop the
recording, it sends you back to current time, at least on my
receiver).

It's so pervasive in its influence that I sometimes wish I had it in
my car when I'm listening to NPR on my way to work and I realize that
I missed a name or a reference and I almost catch myself reaching for
the rewind putton g. I would rather give up a little visual quality
than to lose DVR at this point. I guess I need to turn in my Arnold
Krueger-issued Luddites Unite membership card.

Well, KIng of the Hill is on, so I suppose I should go now. Oh wait, I
don't have to. I can just rewind. In fact, I think I'll do that so
that I can skip the commercials