Topic 'Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!' in forum 'Verizon FIOS TV' - dslreports.com

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:01:12 EDT

bushleaguer posted :

Just for kicks what QAM frequency was sacrificed for the 5 new Spanish HD channels.

I don't know - but it's 10 new Spanish HD channels, not 5.

I know it is ten channels that were added I was mentioning the second set of 5 HD channels as they were added in two waves.

Sorry, I wasn't aware of that.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:51:47 EDT

JeepMatt posted : Moto-
Check the post from 6/6/12 in this thread for where the second batch of 5 went.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!"

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:40:55 EDT

motorola870 posted :

said by bushleaguer:

said by motorola870:

Just for kicks what QAM frequency was sacrificed for the 5 new Spanish HD channels.

I don't know - but it's 10 new Spanish HD channels, not 5.

I know it is ten channels that were added I was mentioning the second set of 5 HD channels as they were added in two waves.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:33:54 EDT

Rattler posted :

said by knarf829:

Learn Spanish to enjoy FiOS. Problem solved. ;)

I already understand two additional languages (neither of which is represented, to any meaningful extent, on FiOS). I'm too old to learn another and, if I were to, it would not be Spanish...
--
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected. -- Red Buttons

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 07:04:25 EDT

bushleaguer posted :

said by motorola870:

Just for kicks what QAM frequency was sacrificed for the 5 new Spanish HD channels.

I don't know - but it's 10 new Spanish HD channels, not 5.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 13:53:52 EDT

Ike1 posted :

said by amarryat:

They should place all of these special interest channels on IP, like VOD.

Do they have the technical capability to do this with linear (i.e. regular) channels? And can all of the STBs and DVRs handle this? I thought not. Otherwise they would be doing it already (if they had any sense), right?

(Wasn't there a whole thread about IPTV vs. MPEG4 before the big DSLReports crash? I thought people were saying that Verizon is too sluggish to ever finish wrangling with their experiments in getting IPTV working properly, but maybe I'm remembering incorrectly...?)

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 14:11:47 EDT

PJL posted : If the program guide information is the same for both channels, then the "C" shows up in the center of the top of the information bar that indicates pressing "C" will switch to the HD channel. I do not have the Spanish programming package so I cannot check if it works for the Spanish programming package channels. Channels 1511 and 1516 look to be the same programming at the same time in SD and HD respectively, so this might be a channel for someone to test to specifically answer your question.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:58:55 EDT

Greg2600 posted :

said by PJL:

It does have this function already.

For Spanish? Which button? Just wondering.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:57:14 EDT

PJL posted : It does have this function already.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:37:49 EDT

Greg2600 posted : Perhaps Verizon should have a button like the C that switches you to an HD version of same SD channel?

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 09:01:00 EDT

matcarl posted : They are in with the rest of the Spanish channels in the 1500's

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:56:04 EDT

amarryat posted : They should place all of these special interest channels on IP, like VOD.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:05:00 EDT

Acct101 posted : Are these channels going to be away from the regular channels are our we going to have to flip through them to get to the ENGLISH SPEAKING channels?

It wouldn't be so bad if they put all these channels above 1500 on the dial.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:54:23 EDT

dcowboy posted : It is known.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:29:51 EDT

URFloorMatt posted :

said by JeepMatt:

I did subscribe to the Spanish package for a day when they added the first 5. The PQ wasn't HD Net quality, but, it was better than SD.

Heh. Well, that narrows things down not at all.

With channels like these, I wouldn't put much stock into how they look at all. The source is probably crap, like the .TV channels or AMC.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:56:31 EDT

tnsprin posted :

said by sbernstein5:

said by Greg2600:

Imagine the CS calls from people returning 6000 boxes cause they can't watch *.TV's!

You're kidding, right? Nobody watches those channels. NOBODY

Just enough to cause trouble. They thought not enough people watched Funamation to complain loudly, and look what happed.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:44:46 EDT

knarf829 posted :

said by sbernstein5:

said by Greg2600:

Imagine the CS calls from people returning 6000 boxes cause they can't watch *.TV's!

You're kidding, right? Nobody watches those channels. NOBODY

I believe that was what's known, in technical terms, as sarcasm.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:34:54 EDT

sbernstein5 posted :

said by Greg2600:

Imagine the CS calls from people returning 6000 boxes cause they can't watch *.TV's!

You're kidding, right? Nobody watches those channels. NOBODY

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:22:23 EDT

tnsprin posted : yes. But don't count on it being the one you want or even heard of before. :D

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:13:00 EDT

Acct101 posted : Enough with all this tech stuff, I am only an accountant. :-)

All I want to know is if we are getting anymore english speaking HD channels.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:07:18 EDT

nysports4evr posted : We are nowhere even remotely close to STBs using H265. Right now it's an early draft and nothing more...

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:02:32 EDT

Greg2600 posted :

said by aaronwt:

Too bad they didn't start broadcasting them in MPEG4 to free up even more sapce.

Imagine the CS calls from people returning 6000 boxes cause they can't watch *.TV's!

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:01:54 EDT

BosstonesOwn posted : its a form of h.264/avc supposedly it compresses better then mpeg4 without losing as much quality. I was reading it awhile ago how most stb manufacturers are looking into using it on stbs soon.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:42:50 EDT

aaronwt posted :

said by matcarl:

said by Betamax76:

Verizon made room for the two "new" QAM carriers by:

1) Removing the content of QAM Cable Channel 19, 153 MHz (Fios Ch. 558 ES.TV HD and Fios Ch. 674 My Destination.TV HD) and combining them with the two remaining .TV QAM carriers resulting in a 3 to 1 statmux for the much maligned Byron Allen channels. The new mapping is:

* 651 MHz: Ch. 558 (ES.TV HD), Ch. 599 (Cars.TV HD), Ch. 695 (Comedy.TV HD)
* 657 MHz: Ch. 674 (My Destination.TV HD), Ch. 633 (Pets.TV HD), Ch. 676 (Recipe.TV HD)

Thanks for that info. It was said they would combine the .TV's, now we know it was done. That's good investigative work Betamax!

Too bad they didn't start broadcasting them in MPEG4 to free up even more sapce.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:32:49 EDT

matcarl posted :

said by Betamax76:

Thanks for that info. It was said they would combine the .TV's, now we know it was done. That's good investigative work Betamax!

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:20:20 EDT

Thinkdiff posted : Either he's crazy or the content on the spanish channels is just poor quality to begin with.

I re-encode baseball games from FiOS's ~18Mbps MPEG2 stream to 3.5Mbps MPEG4 (one pass) and it looks better than a few channels on Time Warner Cable - not even exaggerating. Sure, a fast camera pan will send it into pixelation hell, but the same thing happens frequently on TWC. A properly hardware encoded MPEG4 stream at 7+Mbps should look amazing.
--
University of Southern California - Fight On!

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:54:07 EDT

Betamax76 posted : Verizon made room for the two "new" QAM carriers by:

1) Removing the content of QAM Cable Channel 19, 153 MHz (Fios Ch. 558 ES.TV HD and Fios Ch. 674 My Destination.TV HD) and combining them with the two remaining .TV QAM carriers resulting in a 3 to 1 statmux for the much maligned Byron Allen channels. The new mapping is:

* 651 MHz: Ch. 558 (ES.TV HD), Ch. 599 (Cars.TV HD), Ch. 695 (Comedy.TV HD)
* 657 MHz: Ch. 674 (My Destination.TV HD), Ch. 633 (Pets.TV HD), Ch. 676 (Recipe.TV HD)

I would have preferred these .TV channels were moved to cable QAM 95, 96, and 97, all in the noisy FM band. If QAM-64 were applied instead of QAM-256, two channels per QAM carrier would yield roughly the same bandwidth as three channels per QAM carrier using QAM-256. Verizon has never tried QAM-64 on these FM frequencies. QAM-64 decodes with SNR as low as 24 db while QAM-256 requires at least 32 db. And since the Byron Allen channels are low viewership on the highest package, it would make sense to test them out using QAM-64. Cable companies have been using these FM frequencies for years while generating the signal 2000 feet from the home. QAM-64 is the easy solution because all 6000 series boxes can decode it. If QAM-64 can't be decoded at the premises, there are almost certainly QAM-256 carriers that wouldn't work, such as QAM Cable Channel 20 (159 MHz). In the analog cable days, cable channels 19 through 21 were notorious for having herringbone interference patterns.

2) Removing the content of QAM Cable Channel 125, 801 MHz. This was previously used for SD content only. The channels that used to be here were scattered throughout the remaining QAM standard definition carriers. These include: Bloomberg TV, Military History Channel, Crime and Investigation, GSN, PBS Kids Sprout, Nuvo TV, Tennis Channel, and a few others.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:48:09 EDT

MeatChicken posted :

said by celticpride :

whrn i checked my tivo the other day i noticed all the new spanish hd channels were only 720p not one of those was 1080i.

That is the way the broadcaster intends ...
Same as NatGeo, ABC, FOX, A&E, Disney, ESPN & others.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:32:38 EDT

aaronwt posted :

said by celticpride :

whrn i checked my tivo the other day i noticed all the new spanish hd channels were only 720p not one of those was 1080i.

What is wrong with that? All Disney owned channels are also 720P. And those are some very popular and expensive channels.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:27:41 EDT

anon posted : whrn i checked my tivo the other day i noticed all the new spanish hd channels were only 720p not one of those was 1080i.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:56:08 EDT

sbernstein5 posted :

said by nowayout:

I'll take "this year" over TJ's silly "in the queue" and other non-answers anyday. So at least it's a step.

I actually don't think I put any more stock in "this year" than "in the queue". There is no accountability so this year could slip to next and then the following just as easily!

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:42:39 EDT

amarryat posted :

said by tennisman94:

What newer codecs are you referring to? MPEG 4 Part 10 (H.264) is the most efficient codec around at the moment. H.265 hasn't even been standardized yet, which means that hardware encoders and decoders are at least a few years out.

That's what I thought. I wonder if he meant mpeg2

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:08:26 EDT

tennisman94 posted :

said by BosstonesOwn:

mpeg4 is a small step, I think they are waiting for a new compression scheme before pulling the trigger, mpeg4 is inefficient compared to some of the newer schemes, however it's going to cost them in the long term if they fail to move to the newer schemes region by region.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:04:27 EDT

necochino posted : I have the Spanish package. I checked the channels. The PQ is just ok. However, I think this is mostly because the channels don't appear to be broadcasting HD (some of the shows are in 4:3 format). I too wish they had added Cartoon, BBC or GolTV first. I'm hoping that they are using these channels as guinea pigs for the MP4 introduction. If they did it with Cartoon or any of the other nationals we are awaiting a lot of people would post angry comments or maybe even leave Verizon while they iron out the implementation bugs (when the first few Spanish channels went on, the picture pixelated a lot).

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:59:12 EDT

BosstonesOwn posted : mpeg4 is a small step, I think they are waiting for a new compression scheme before pulling the trigger, mpeg4 is inefficient compared to some of the newer schemes, however it's going to cost them in the long term if they fail to move to the newer schemes region by region.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:56:01 EDT

BosstonesOwn posted : Yes , why yes it is !

Hence the cutbacks on the roll outs :) The HD channels from any station in SA or CA are almost double the sd costs, but they are available on satellite feeds in mpeg4 and HD, if Im verizon I use the set tops to scale down to sd and just use one stream but I guess that is really a lot to ask.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:45:32 EDT

nowayout posted : I'll take "this year" over TJ's silly "in the queue" and other non-answers anyday. So at least it's a step.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:12:46 EDT

motorola870 posted : Just for kicks what QAM frequency was sacrificed for the 5 new Spanish HD channels.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:02:47 EDT

TitusTroy posted :

said by JeepMatt:

I did subscribe to the Spanish package for a day when they added the first 5. The PQ wasn't HD Net quality, but, it was better than SD.

huh?...I thought MPEG-4 was this holy grail of efficiency and amazing picture quality due to no re-encoding of MPEG-2?...if it only looks better then SD then that's not saying much...I want every program to look as good as Bikini Destination on HDNET :D

and yes I know MPEG-4 is mainly meant to add space for more HD channels but who's to say that Verizon will actually do this even if they had plenty of space?

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:58:27 EDT

anon posted :

said by matcarl:

Over on the Verizon Forums they posted the press release yesterday about this. Many people complained. Scroll down through the comments. A Verizon employee said BBC America HD & Cartoon Network HD are both slated for this year

»forums.verizon.com/t5/Verizon-at···p/445439

They've been "next on deck", "soon", "top priority" for almost two years now. It's embarrassing. These are two very popular and much watched cable channels that nearly every other provider has by now.

It's sad that the last HD add I really cared about was the group where they added Comedy Central HD. That was nearly 3 years ago (Jul of 2009).

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:33:13 EDT

Zero posted :

said by Greg2600:

Yes poor Heather jumped in with the piranhas on that post!

She sure did, but she and the others over at Verizon's FiOS TV don't deserve any slack. They've had more than enough time to at least add a few of the most demanded English HD channels. It's just angering customers to add anything but these must-have channels now - even if it's good business for them to diversify.

Another angle on why the new HD channels are Spanish and not Cartoon Network HD or any other of the most popular channels is because they are MPEG-4. Only a small percentage of overall FiOS TV customers subscribe to the Spanish package, just like with MLB Extra Innings, so that's a tiny amount of older equipment for them to replace. The moment they add a popular HD channel the amount of non-MPEG-4 equipment replacements is going to skyrocket.

Obviously, VZ is trying to milk these 6 series STBs by delaying new popular HD adds for as long as they can without angering the majority of their customers (this forum doesn't count as the majority). I think it's pretty safe to say from here on out, and probably for a while now, VZ's preferred format for new channels is going to be MPEG-4 to conserve space. Otherwise we would have seen more popular HD channels launched in the past as MPEG-2.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:35:06 EDT

wmcbrine posted :

said by Ike1:

Is this the Spanish-language equivalent of adding Wealth TV HD and crappy Byron Allen .tv channels in HD while NOT adding BBCA HD and Cartoon Network HD?

That's kind of my impression. Mostly because, as with the .TV channels, these show up in my TiVo's guide as "Local Origination", running "Local Programming"; i.e., there is no real guide data for them. I got nowhere with TiVo or Tribune when trying to fix that for the .TVs -- and they blamed Verizon. Are these new Spanish channels even carried on any other system?
--
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:03:32 EDT

Greg2600 posted :

said by matcarl:

Yes poor Heather jumped in with the piranhas on that post!

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:30:47 EDT

Nezmo posted : And 1.9 was going to be fully deployed by a certain December. It took just slightly longer...

Information from VZ is worthless.
--
My Gallery
Formerly Nezmo ;-)

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:23:43 EDT

FiosTV1080I posted : I'll believe when I see it on the guide and on the channel lineup, proabably won't see new adds till atleast October if were lucky.

Re: [HD] Another QAM Bites the Dust - More Spanish MPEG-4 HD!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:53:31 EDT

matcarl posted : Haha, Jeep & Tennisman, good points!!!