 | | Size does not matter.. I want my CNN to be HDTV! | |
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 | Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| Re: Size does not matter.. I want that and decent quality. Dishnetworks HD looks better then Directv's , and Comcasts looks as good as Dishnetworks , but they lack good channels.
Directv's HD on a nice screen looks like up scanned dvd's to me. Good but not great.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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| | | | Re: Size does not matter.. Funny...how the survey didn't include FiOS.... | |
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| | | cacoPremium
join:2005-03-10
Whittier, AK | Re: Size does not matter.. Fios doesn't have enough video subs yet alone HD subs to be a factor. Maybe by 2020!
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www.seabee.org | |
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| | | | | | Re: Size does not matter.. What does the size of the install base have too do about anything? The survey and subsequent Comcast claims is simply their HD feed is the best. The survey was conducted by a third party and they simply compared Comcast to SAT TV and then proclaim they have the best HD period. Despite a small install base due to the fact that FIOS is still a very new offering...Comcast should have included FIOS in the comparison. To simply ignore the FTTH segment altogether is very suspect to me. | |
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| | | | | | | Re: Size does not matter.. Lets see it compared to over the air which isn't compressed. In addition, all of these sat and cable providers change the compression and bit stream rate for their channels. So one channel that may look great one day may not look so good the next, but then look good the following. | |
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 ·Frontier Communi..
 ·US Cellular
| Re: Size does not matter.. They're all compressed - uncompressed 1080i at around 29.97 frames per second is around 1.45 Gigabits per second - it never gets transmitted that way!
DTV channels are allocated around 19 Megabits per second. DTV stations usually look better than satellite or cable because they generally have more bandwidth.
Direct and Dish compress HD to around 6 Mbits with Dish generally looking a little better.
Cable is all over the place and looks good or bad depending on what they've done to the signal. | |
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| | | | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | said by patmondor:What does the size of the install base have too do about anything? The survey and subsequent Comcast claims is simply their HD feed is the best. .. it's called a "sample rate." I'm assuming you don't know much about survey samples and ratings and how they are assembled, right? To sample from a based on 30 million vs a few thousand, and your survey sample is flawed and your stats mean nothing - unless your are a politician, then that's another conversation.
There's nothing suspect at all.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." | |
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4 edits | Re: Size does not matter.. fibreguy....you assume to much. I do know about sample rates and sample sizes, of and let me impress...margin of error. C'mon! I also know the biases inherent in surveys as well. First, even though Comcast didn't conduct the survey it still might have been sponsored by Comcast....hummmm. Second, it was a side-by-side comparison...the article states they had a setup with three feeds and said...which one is best? We don't know the size of their sample (they didn't put the number in there), but with a side-by-side comparison...it can't be too large. My initial disagreement was based on another comment is that the reason FIOS was not included in this comparison is because the install base for the technology was "too small." My answer to that was so what! This is simply an opinion based survey...of "which HD picture looks best." Not a "what HD picture looks best with an install base of said technology exceeding 1 million." Even though there are a limited number of FIOS TV customers...it seems a large number of those users, who are former Comcast and SAT customers say that FIOS is a better HD picture than the other providers. The survey seems to have samples from not only cable or sat users...but anyone in general. Thus, the whole population of the US could have been used as the sample size. What I'm simply saying is that FIOS is a technology that could have been part of the comparison, but it was ignored. So let's recap....Comcast is pushing the results of a survey where competing HD technology is left out...and then crowns itself as the best HD provider. You don't see anything suspect in that? | |
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| | | | | | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: Size does not matter.. You assume that I assume, so how can you know what I'm "assuming?" (Not looking for an answer to that, ok?) ... let's not go there please. I have a degree in marketing, so I do have back ground in where I'm coming from.
But, you're talking about two different things. One is based on customer satisfaction, the other is on a rating of a product.
I know you want FIOS to be included, but it's still a percentage of what makes up the service today. By all means, the numbers would not pan out in the industry in any "customer survey" based on the numbers available to pool from.
You can remove comcast, who did the survey, and many of the other things you are talking about.. at this point, when you are out reaching to a base of people, there isn't enough in the Fios market to make the survey work..
.. however, keep in mind, you can make anything look the way you want. This is why I'm stripping out any variable and looking at the pool. In any qualified survey, Fios would be considered too small to rate at this point.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." | |
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| | | | | | | | lbsand
join:2001-10-13
North East, MD | Re: Size does not matter.. based on this quote, the sample was pretty small. How many have HD cable and Sat to respond. They state side by side comparison so they had a small pool or set up a studio and had folks look at both pictures, which can be influenced either way.
Among customers of both satellite and cable, Comcast was selected as providing a better HD picture than DirecTV by 60% of respondents with a preference. | |
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| | | | Derfel
join:2004-06-06
Winnipeg, MB | IPTV will be catching or exceeding cable/sat in terms of HD channels by 2009, mark my words. | |
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| | | | | | Or whenever they want to wipe cable under the rug. FIOS could crush cable at the flick of a switch. | |
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| | | | | cacoPremium
join:2005-03-10
Whittier, AK | Re: Size does not matter.. Actually I've heard Fios Kills cable techs by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he'd consume Comcast with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.
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www.seabee.org | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: Size does not matter.. Fios will hit Cable with his level 98 + 200 Cryogenic Staff and deal 90000000 hit point damage to cable !
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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| | | | | | | said by SquareSlinky:Or whenever they want to wipe cable under the rug. FIOS could crush cable at the flick of a switch. Really? Do we just take your word or...?
Do you really think Cable can't compete? | |
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| |  PlaceboPremium
join:2005-12-14
Huntley, IL | I was a Comcast HD customer from 2003 to 2006. I've had DishNetwork for about 8 months now--I think the picture quality of the two is similar. I love that I have more than twice as many HD channels, though Comcast has Golf Channel HD and DishNetwork doesn't...
More important to me is the fact that that DishNetwork's HD DVR (Vip 622) is vastly superior to the Comcast offering (though I did pay $200 for it!).
I miss my cable internet--I bundled the Dish with ATT DSL. I'm paying $40 less per month--sadly, I'm contemplating an internet-only account with Comcast.
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If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
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| |  reub2000Premium
join:2001-12-28
Evanston, IL | but they lack good channels. Good quality is no good without good content.
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| | |  kyler13Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD | Re: Size does not matter.. Likewise, what good is content if the quality is poor. | |
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1 edit | CNN is due out in September in HD.
Neal | |
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| KenAF
join:2006-01-23
Arlington, VA | Stolen from AVS Forum...
February '07 Comparison from the D*HD-Lite vs E*HD Screenshot thread. said by Clarence :
Robots HD Comcast: quote:
File Size Processed: 7.09 GB, Play Time: 01h:30m:42s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.93 fps Telecine), 25.00 Mbps (10.46 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 51.23 KB/Frame, 0.20 Bits/Pixel.
Robots HD DirecTV: quote:
File Size Processed: 6.10 GB, Play Time: 01h:29m:57s
1280 x 1088, 29.97 fps (24.68 fps Telecine), 65.00 Mbps (9.02 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 44.60 KB/Frame, 0.26 Bits/Pixel.
So how much difference does that really make?
said by Clarence :
For comparison, I found the same frame from my HD cable:
Here's an unresized 256x256 PNG crop from each of the sources...
Comcast:
DirecTV:
If you can't see the difference, you need your eyes checked. 
As of end 2006, Comcast said 90% of its cable systems were modern 750-860Mhz systems. If live in an area served by the other 10%, you may be stuck with less quality+quantity. Comcast is now working to upgrade those service areas, though. | |
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| |  en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Size does not matter.. Interesting to note that the DirecTv HD has a higher bitrate than Comcast HD.
0.26 Bits/Pixel vs. 0.20 Bits/Pixel | |
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| | | KenAF
join:2006-01-23
Arlington, VA | Re: Size does not matter.. said by en102:Interesting to note that the DirecTv HD has a higher bitrate than Comcast HD. 0.26 Bits/Pixel vs. 0.20 Bits/Pixel Of course, that's only because DirecTV downconverts their high-definition from 1920x1080 to 1280x1080. | |
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|  rawWar EaglePremium
join:2001-01-17
Madison, AL | Not until after I get the Weather Channel in HD.
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[BBR]raw
America's Army
BBR Enemy Territory clan founder | |
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| | ricep5Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL | Re: Size does not matter.. said by raw:Not until after I get the Weather Channel in HD. Just so you can see Jim Cantore's razor burn on his shaved head? | |
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| | | rawWar EaglePremium
join:2001-01-17
Madison, AL | Re: Size does not matter.. said by ricep5:said by raw:Not until after I get the Weather Channel in HD. Just so you can see Jim Cantore's razor burn on his shaved head? Absolutely.
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[BBR]raw
America's Army
BBR Enemy Territory clan founder | |
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|  dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | ANYTHING beats satellites "HD-LITE". both in mbps# and rez. | |
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 FiLPremium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD | Were the Best in the World, I tell ya! When you've gotta poll to tell your paying customers your the "bestest" at anything, I think its shady and very patronizing.
Aside from being the only ones around to provide, why else would they be picked by the customer? | |
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| | | Re: Were the Best in the World, I tell ya! said by FiL:When you've gotta poll to tell your paying customers your the "bestest" at anything, I think its shady and very patronizing. Aside from being the only ones around to provide, why else would they be picked by the customer? Did you read the piece? Comcast did not conduct the survey.  | |
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| | | Comcast is kind of like AT&T/Cingular saying they have the best wireless network with the fewest dropped calls.
Yeah, right.......... | |
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|  cjh404
join:2002-01-12
Littleton, CO | They had to do something, DirecTV advertises all over the place that they have the best picture quality, and we all know that DirecTVs HD channels are crapola. Honestly I am surprised Comcast didn't do this earlier. | |
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xbbdc
join:2005-06-30
Hollywood, FL | wth wth does nonny nonny mean? | |
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See 7 replies to this post |
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| | Compression The best HD quality is transmission w/out compression. Except for over-the-air, the providers all compress from what I understand. But frankly, I'd rather have more HD channels than true uncompressed HD. | |
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See 17 replies to this post |
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 Titus PulloI came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
kudos:1 | What with fuzzy analog channels and their techs come out and say "mine looks that way too; that's just the way it is."
I'm supposed to believe a word from these people?
Yeah.
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|  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: What with fuzzy analog channels said by Titus Pullo:and their techs come out and say "mine looks that way too; that's just the way it is." I think the TV has a lot to do with it too. My first HDTV is a Mitsubishi 48" rear projection TV which supported 1080i. The analog channels looked like crap on that one.
I recently bought a 47" Westinghouse 720p LCD flat panel TV. The analog channels look great on that one.
On a related note, many of the Comcast technicians do not know how to properly set the resolution of the set top box output. For the silver Motorola boxes, you power off the box and press the "Menu" button. When my first TV was hooked to such a box, the tech had left it set to 480p when it was supposed to be set at 1080i and the resulting picture looked like garbage.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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| | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: What with fuzzy analog channels said by pnh102:said by Titus Pullo:and their techs come out and say "mine looks that way too; that's just the way it is." On a related note, many of the Comcast technicians do not know how to properly set the resolution of the set top box output. For the silver Motorola boxes, you power off the box and press the "Menu" button. When my first TV was hooked to such a box, the tech had left it set to 480p when it was supposed to be set at 1080i and the resulting picture looked like garbage. ... curious, so you're saying that because it happened to you, that "many" of the technicians do not know how to set the resolution? That's a pretty broad statement to make.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." | |
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| | | | | Re: What with fuzzy analog channels Don't know how versus don't bother to ? | |
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| | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by fiberguy:... curious, so you're saying that because it happened to you, that "many" of the technicians do not know how to set the resolution? That's a pretty broad statement to make. Ok, I've had 3 different Comcast accounts in 2 states. Each of these 3 situations required 3 installations. In 2 of these installations, the technician did not know how to set the box. In the first instance of this, I had to call Comcast to get another set of techs out to show me the trick for setting the resolution. The second time this happened, I showed the technician how to do it.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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 JonPremium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL
1 edit | okay. Now rank your down time compared to the sat services.
And don't give me any of that "every time it rains" garbage.
It's not true. | |
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See 6 replies to this post |
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| | also remember #'s can be adjusted Comcast is pushing a survey that says users think their HD picture quality exceeds that of both the major satellite TV competitors:
=====================================
how many were in the survey,10,100,1,000, just the east or west coast ect ect | |
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| | | Re: also remember #'s can be adjusted It's easy...
Just setup a couple of TV's in one of your call centers, connect one to sat and one to your own system and poll the staff when they are on break.
(After first telling them they have to do it in their own time)
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| | | | Re: also remember #'s can be adjusted But, remember to wait til it rains. Then do the survey. | |
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 intellerSociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | cant speak for Comcast, but cable is generally better. I know Cox looks better than the highly compressed sat hd around here. | |
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 ColorBASIC8-bit FunPremium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA | I'm surprised That the cable industry hasn't pulled the DBS HD-Lite card sooner to counter the DirecTV ads. | |
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| mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX | Re: I'm surprised Haha, when's the last time a cable company did anything "sooner"? | |
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| | ColorBASIC8-bit FunPremium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA | Re: I'm surprised They last time my bill went up. | |
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 tender
join:2000-11-01
Rockville, MD | Comcast never saw my picture quality This is soooo funny. Comcast should have seen the picture quality on my two HD TV sets. When I could get a picture, it was not good...almost always pixelated. I have FIOS now and never new my HD TVs could look so nice. Bye bye Comcast, Hello FIOS. | |
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| | What HD Channels? In Seattle, you get locals + ESPN 1&2, TNT, Discovery, InHD and occasionally a game on FSN.
I work for a small cable company and we have lots more channels in HD. Comcast is a joke when it comes to the actual HD channel lineup. | |
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|  MikePremium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA | Re: What HD Channels? In Pittsburgh we get locals + ESPN, Discovery, and FSN.
I'm not seeing why that alone with worth a $700 TV and $85 a month cable package? | |
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| | HD and accidental porn Combine the HD with the accidental porn that they recently showed toddlers and you have quite the combo!
»timesunion.com/AspStories/story.···5/3/2007
(My son actually watches Handy Manny. I've seen quite a few episodes with him, but don't remember Manny being handy in quite that way! ) | |
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| Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: HD and accidental porn Well , reading the article made me laugh ! "It was disgusting !" what you never had sex in your life ? How the hell did you have 3 kids. I hate people who mask themselves with the due gooder mind set.
The guy prolly told the kids go out side and send mom in , I need to show her something, oh and here is $10 go to the store for a little while. "Quick honey lock the doors"
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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|  Bink63Tweet THISPremium
join:2002-10-06
Everywhere
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| said by Jason Levine:Combine the HD with the accidental porn that they recently showed toddlers and you have quite the combo! » timesunion.com/AspStories/story.···5/3/2007(My son actually watches Handy Manny. I've seen quite a few episodes with him, but don't remember Manny being handy in quite that way! ) Damn,
and Comcast won't put "that" episode on OnDemand???
shame on them!
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| | | "It was two people doing their thing; it was full-on and it was disgusting," the father of three told The New York Daily News.
"I was so upset, I sent Junior to his room, cracked a beer and six hours later I called the cable company to complain". | |
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 LokroPremium
join:2002-12-28
Loveland, CO | Add more HD! Comcast: "Our four HD channels looks awesome! You may find something interesting to watch twice a Month."
Yes I am exaggerating about the lack of channels, but it is pretty disappointing. | |
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| | | Re: Add more HD! said by Lokro:Comcast: "Our four HD channels looks awesome! You may find something interesting to watch twice a Month." Yes I am exaggerating about the lack of channels, but it is pretty disappointing. Most(not all) HD channels only run actual HD content about 10% of the time anyway. | |
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| | | | Re: Add more HD! said by HyPeRbAnD:said by Lokro:Comcast: "Our four HD channels looks awesome! You may find something interesting to watch twice a Month." Yes I am exaggerating about the lack of channels, but it is pretty disappointing. Most(not all) HD channels only run actual HD content about 10% of the time anyway. Which channels would those be?
Neal | |
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| | Reliability Observations:
1. When the weather gets bad then my antenna signal fades like satellite, major pixalation and then the signal comes back.
2. On cable in Houston when the weather gets bad, water gets into the system and you can be down for a while.
3. Best quality, assuming you are within 50 miles of transmission tower is by antenna. Only better signal is HD DVD.
4. Amps do not seem to muck up the signal with digital as it can with analog TV. | |
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| intellerSociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | Re: Reliability man, quit touting an antenna. That works great for like maybe 5 channels. And the networks aren't exactly showing the best shows on TV. | |
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| | | | Re: Reliability In Houston: Channel 2 NBC, 8 PBS, 11 CBS, 13 ABC, 14 Trinity Broadcast, 20 IND, 26 FOX, 39 UPN, 48 Spanish, 51, 55, etc. In addition most have subchannels. The subchannel on 39 (39.2) is a very good music station similar to MTV in it's glory days.
I live within 50 miles of the major transmission towers so I get an excellent signal. You may not. If I could ala carte I might get cable or satellite. Most of the stuff on cable and satellite is as bad or worst than network TV. I have cable connected to the house and use RoadRunner so I know when it is down due to weather. | |
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| | Where's my FIOS! Seriously... I am tired of giving ComCrud any more money. Yo' Verizon.... hurry up with that FiOS TV rollout, darnit! | |
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hurfyPremium
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA | damn statistics Nowhere was how many people (not many probably with 7% error)
And it is all noted by "of the people who expressed a preference"
They surveyed 100 people and 2 liked comcast best while 1 liked satelite best and the other 97 didn't give a damn. Where is the 1st stat....Out of xxxx people yyyy expressed a preference...and then continue the article With this so blatently avoided i would guess that most didn't have a preference. Anything giving you only half the survey info should be a good clue as to the other half of it
Or...Maybe it was a double blind test to get those results...
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 Rob AJets AFC ChampionshipPremium
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ | Not! FiosTV or DTV FTW! | |
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Cogdis
join:2007-03-26
Floral Park, NY | Bias? "I know you want FIOS to be included, but it's still a percentage of what makes up the service today. By all means, the numbers would not pan out in the industry in any "customer survey" based on the numbers available to pool from. " - Fiberguy
It wasn't a customer survey though; it was a side by side comparison. I don't know if comcast sponsored it, but it's interesting that the latest and greatest technology was left out. Now comcast can say "...Comcast has the best HD picture," (said Dave Watson, Executive Vice President). They have better HD than satelite because they have more bandwidth, but they don't have more bandwidth than Fiber.
Also, I don't know much about the way fios works, but somebody was telling me they actually compress less than cable because only one channel is delivered at a time (not including the basic analog channels that are always present). When you change a channel with your STB it communicates with the system and tells it to send a different channel. Anyway, good stuff - and I like it better than cablevision  | |
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 Fr0zen
join:2002-10-22
Chicago, IL | I can vouch for it I can vouch for Comcast's HD quality. I had Dish network before and the difference was very visible. | |
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walboPremium
join:2000-07-07
Bellevue, WA | 1080I is 1.4 gig uncompressed and nobody broadcasts that!!! You can't receive "true" HD anywhere! | |
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