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Greg2600
join:2008-05-20
Belleville, NJ

Greg2600 to jodhak

Member

to jodhak

Re: October is here.. Are those dozen HD channels coming?!?!

It's either MPEG-4 or IPTV, there's no other choices. Given Verizon's absurdly slow roll out of their 26-channel IPTV solution for Xbox and we assume iPad, I'm not confident it's a solution they can use in the home.
JPL
Premium Member
join:2007-04-04
Downingtown, PA

JPL

Premium Member

said by Greg2600:

It's either MPEG-4 or IPTV, there's no other choices. Given Verizon's absurdly slow roll out of their 26-channel IPTV solution for Xbox and we assume iPad, I'm not confident it's a solution they can use in the home.

Again, I'm aware of that. I was simply answering the question that was asked: if we have iptv, then why do we need mpeg-4? That's all. I threw out a list of hypotheticals to back it up, as in: if we shelve IP, what else is there for expanding bandwidth? I thought I was pretty clear in making the case that those other options weren't in the cards for Verizon (e.g. I talked about the cost of 1GHz QAM, and how if you're going to go through the exercise of replacing equipment anyway... why not go with mpeg-4, and I also mentioned that the mpeg-2 compression was tried and rejected).

I don't mean to pound on this, but I get it. I do.

BTW, as for the slow rollout of their IPTV solution, I think the reason for that is their new home media DVR (or whatever its called). Because that's basically what that is - IP distribution of video throughout your home network. I would like to see Verizon pick up the pace on this as well, but I can also see the point of putting it all together under a single architecture.
Betamax76
join:2008-10-16
Canonsburg, PA

1 recommendation

Betamax76

Member

Additional MPEG-2 compression is NOT being rejected. In the last year, all HBO and Cinemax HD channels have been transitioned from 2 channels per QAM to 3 channels per QAM using MPEG-2 encoding. In addition, the .TV HD channels have been switched from 2:1 to 3:1 MPEG-2 compression. And most recently, in order to make room for the temporary Olympic HD channels, BBC America HD, and the Spanish HD channels which require MPEG-4 Fios 7000 series boxes, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, QVC HD, MavTV HD and several others have been switched to 3:1 MPEG-2 statmuxing.

The initial batch of channels that were switched to 3:1 statmuxing such as HBO and Cinemax are sent as MPEG-4 from the provider and had to be re-encoded to MPEG-2 anyway. Reported MPEG-4 bit rates were on the order of 6 MB/sec. Placing only 2 of these channels on an MPEG-2 QAM carrier was wasteful. With more channels switching to an MPEG-4 delivery system, look for additional 3 to 1 MPEG-2 channel loading.

If half of the existing HD channels are switched from 2:1 to 3:1 statmuxing, this opens up another another 6 QAM slots, providing between 12 to 18 additional MPEG-2 HD channels. The key is to select the right channel for 3:1 MPEG-2 statmuxing. Shopping channels such as HSN and news channels tend to feature talking heads and less quick action scenes.