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rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames to Farchord

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Re: [Niagara] Cogeco 'Contract'

All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by rodjames:

All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard.

Neither of you are correct.

Shaw Direct's HD is 1080i for the vast majority of their channels, though The Score HD for some reason is 720p. Set your receiver's resolution to "Native" and you can see for yourself.

720p is also not "broadcast standard" by any means. Fox, ABC, CBC (inc. Newsworld), The Score and A&E broadcast in 720p. Everyone else - NBC, CBS, Global, CTV, TSN, CNN, Sportsnet, etc etc etc - broadcast in 1080i. I am watching WUTV off-air right now in 720p. If I switch over to WGRZ or WIVB the signal coming in is 1080i. WKBW is 720p, being an ABC affil and all.

If you have a newer receiver (that is - not a DCT6xxx) on Cogeco you can set the output resolution to native. If you do this, you'll receive the native resolution each channel is sending. For the most part, it'll be exactly what I described above - ABC, Fox, CBC, The Score and A&E will be 720p, the rest will be 1080i.

Having said that, Bell TV does - and this is specific to Bell TV - broadcast exclusively in 720p. This was done years ago back when their boxes couldn't switch resolutions or something silly like that. As a result, they take an HD source (regardless of the resolution) and recompress it into 720p before sending it back out. You end up with a lot less macroblocking on Bell, but the image looks a lot softer and lacking obvious definition that you'll see on Shaw Direct. Overall PQ is a lot better on Shaw Direct than on Bell as a result so long as you aren't sitting two feet in front of the TV.

Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far.
got_milk2
join:2007-08-22
Georgetown, ON

got_milk2

Member

said by Gone:

Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far.

Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by got_milk2:

Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming.

It's going to be tough for them to do that as they lack transponder space to do an easy switchover.

rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames to Gone

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lol, 1080i give me a break. If you're still that over 720p I don't want to talk to you anyways.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by rodjames:

lol, NO ONE broadcasts in 1080i, you are upscaling. Nice try.

Bzzt, wrong.
said by »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i :
Most UK HD channels on satellite, cable, and terrestrial platforms including BBC One HD and ITV1 HD broadcast in this format. In the United States, 1080i is the preferred format for CBS, NBC, The CW, PBS, and My Network TV though some affiliates (especially those that broadcast two digital subchannels in HD) do broadcast in 720p. FOX, MyNetworkTV, and ABC/ESPN broadcast in 720p; many ABC affiliates owned by Hearst Television and Belo Corporation, along with some individual affiliates of those three networks, air their signals in 1080i and upscale network programming for master control and transmission purposes, as most syndicated programming and advertising is produced and distributed in 1080i and must be additionally downscaled to 720p.
Network content from NBC and CBS is 1080i. Network content from ABC and Fox is 720p. The only upscaling that occurs are stations that broadcast in 1080i when network content is 720p.

Educate yourself, then you try again. Or are you confusing 1080i with 1080p? Either way, education is recommended.

Edit - Nice edit, but too late. Either way, 1080i upscaled on 1080p native display - in other words, any 1080p LCD or plasma - still looks far better than 720p on all but the most fast-moving content.

rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames

Premium Member

So provide reference or your opinion is no better than mine. I know for a fact that Bell TV broadcasts in 720p, so does Shaw and Dish.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

Bell has always been 720p across the board, I've never said otherwise (in fact, I think I've mentioned that is the case on more than one occasion)

Shaw Direct most definitely doesn't, you're completely wrong on that. Know how I know? Because if I go into the settings of my DSR600 or DSR605 and change the default resolution from 720p to "Native" it sends a 1080i signal on most - but not all - HD channels, not 720p. There are a few that are 720p. Try it yourself if you don't believe me, or do I need to take pictures of my two televisions with the box set to native and the resolution bar across displaying 1080i? Dish Network is the exact same way, so that's some more education you need.

Cogeco does the exact same thing. The source resolution received by them is what is sent out to the subscriber. The newer boxes (like the DCX700 and the Pace boxes) have a 'Native' resolution option like the Shaw Direct boxes that will send whatever resolution Cogeco's receiving directly to your TV. If you flip between Fox Detroit and CBS Detroit you'll see your TV change resolution between. If you have an older box like the DCT6200 or 6416 you don't have a "Native" option and you're stuck scaling to either 1080i or 720p for everything.
cablesmurfet
join:2012-05-28
Burlington, ON

cablesmurfet to Gone

Member

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I have noticed that the Buffalo Channels are broadcasting in 1080i. We have Shaw Direct and an antenna. The antenna receives most of the Buffalo channels. When I press the info button on my TV remote, when I'm watching OTA, it tells me that the resolution is 1080i, for HD. Our TV is a 720. Shaw Direct carries Detroit and Rochester in the east.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

WUTV, WKBW, WBBZ (if I remember correctly) and WNYO are 720p. WIVB, WGRZ, WNLO and WNYB are 1080i. Both my main TVs are 1080p and it will switch resolution when I flip between those stations when using the antenna, and those resolutions are also consistent with the network feed resolutions.

In Toronto/Hamilton CBLT is 720p, the rest are 1080i.