| 4K & mpeg 4 availability Anyone know when either might be available? |
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Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| 4K: not any time soon, as there are no 4K programming providers as yet. Undoubtedly, they will come, but it may be a number of years.
MPEG4: sooner....but VZ will need to swap out boxes for those in Ultimate tier (the thinking being it makes more sense to convert top tier channels -- or not convert them to MEG2 as currently happens in some cases -- to MPEG4 as a first phase to open up channel bandwidth). My guess, 18 to 24 months.
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I do local news. My top site: www.unionvilletimes.com |
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 wmcbrine213 251 145 96
join:2002-12-30
Laurel, MD
kudos:1 | reply to Ken7
There are a handful of MPEG-4 channels running now, in semi-obscure packages like La Connexion or NHL Center Ice.
I wouldn't hold my breath for 4K.
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| Thanks guys. With several channels now in mpeg4, how is this done when the boxes aren't yet capable of decoding mpeg4? Not sure what good that does to have these channels at this point. |
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PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| said by Ken7 :Thanks guys. With several channels now in mpeg4, how is this done when the boxes aren't yet capable of decoding mpeg4? Not sure what good that does to have these channels at this point.
If you do not already have an 7xxx STB, when you subscribe to a package that requires MPEG4 Verizon swaps your STB for 7xxx STB. |
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 DrDrewSo that others may surf.
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
kudos:8 | reply to Ken7
said by Ken7 :Thanks guys. With several channels now in mpeg4, how is this done when the boxes aren't yet capable of decoding mpeg4? Not sure what good that does to have these channels at this point.
The newest generation of boxes can decode MPEG4... so the people with channels that are MPEG4 get MPEG4 boxes. Obviously the more channels there are in MPEG4 will require more customers to have new boxes.
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Two is one, one is none. If it's important, back it up... Somethimes 99.999% availability isn't even good enough. |
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| Somehow the mpeg4 capability of the 7xxx boxes has eluded me. I do have those boxes.  |
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 aaronwtPremium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA | reply to Ken7
The MPEG4 channels also work with the TiVo Premiere. |
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Markie
join:2003-07-26
Kalispell, MT | reply to Ken7
4K is a long time in the future. There is hardly any 4K content even, and no 4K channels.
As for MPEG-4, why? It's no benefit to you at all. It's not like they're going to use MPEG-4 at the same bitrate. They'll use MPEG-4 to get away with a lower bitrate at the same quality, you won't notice any difference at all. |
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PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| said by Markie:...
As for MPEG-4, why? It's no benefit to you at all. ... The benefit is greater capacity for additional (HD) channels. Or am I missing something? That seems a benefit to me.
I didn't realize they had FiOS in Montana... |
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Markie
join:2003-07-26
Kalispell, MT | Doesn't mean I don't want it and was poking in the forums. The topic applies to ALL providers. There's no 4K content for anyone to provide and MPEG-4 has no benefit to anyone. Heck, FiOS has LESS need for MPEG-4 since your cable system bandwidth is ONLY for TV. Most of us would get more internet channels from a switch to MPEG-4. |
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PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| said by Markie:Doesn't mean I don't want it and was poking in the forums. The topic applies to ALL providers. There's no 4K content for anyone to provide and MPEG-4 has no benefit to anyone. Heck, FiOS has LESS need for MPEG-4 since your cable system bandwidth is ONLY for TV. Most of us would get more internet channels from a switch to MPEG-4.
Perhaps you're not up to date on the fact that FiOS is fairly maxed out on the use of available QAM channels. They currently use mostly MPEG2 (except for some MPEG4 used for certain packages). Thus, to add more HD channels FiOS needs to use available QAM space more efficiently; hence the need to move to using more MPEG4. This is the same limitation other cable systems that use QAM have. Others mitigate limitations by recompressing signals to lower bandwidth (and less quality) or use more MPEG4. FiOS does not recompress so the only alternative is to begin using more MPEG4 -- or IPTV. |
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tnsprin
join:2003-07-23
Bradenton, FL
kudos:1 | Also reasons for MPEG-4
Mpeg-4 can deliver a picture without some of the artifects that showup in Mpeg-2.
Many channels are actually delivered to Verizon (and other providers) as mpeg-4. They currently have to take these and decode then reencode the to mpeg-2, introducing a slightly inferior picture because of this process. |
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| reply to Ken7
It's amazing they can get the kind of HD quality they can out of MPEG-2. It requires so much bitrate to do it though, hence the vast benefit of MPEG-4. Again I think if Verizon were to stop giving out the free OLD boxes, they could easily move to MPEG-4 large scale and be fine. |
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PJL
join:2008-07-24
Long Beach, CA
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| said by Greg2600:It's amazing they can get the kind of HD quality they can out of MPEG-2. It requires so much bitrate to do it though, hence the vast benefit of MPEG-4. Again I think if Verizon were to stop giving out the free OLD boxes, they could easily move to MPEG-4 large scale and be fine.
An option they could be considering is using MPEG4 for new added HD channels and "allowing" subscribers to upgrade to a 7XXX STB, with the normal charge of course. Or moving all premium channels to MPEG4 and upgrade them for free (like Center Ice) so they can add non-premium channels as MPEG2. Just a thought or two. We'll see what happens. |
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| said by PJL:said by Greg2600:It's amazing they can get the kind of HD quality they can out of MPEG-2. It requires so much bitrate to do it though, hence the vast benefit of MPEG-4. Again I think if Verizon were to stop giving out the free OLD boxes, they could easily move to MPEG-4 large scale and be fine.
An option they could be considering is using MPEG4 for new added HD channels and "allowing" subscribers to upgrade to a 7XXX STB, with the normal charge of course. Or moving all premium channels to MPEG4 and upgrade them for free (like Center Ice) so they can add non-premium channels as MPEG2. Just a thought or two. We'll see what happens. I think the easiest route is to move as many Ultimate package only HD channels to MPEG-4, and then require those subscribers to get the compatible STB's. I agree doing premiums would be another option I could see. Many years ago, this was commonplace. Comcast did this all the time, as they went to newer boxes with better security/encryption, they would force you to get a new one to receive premium channels. Beyond VZ having to finally eat the archaic 6000's, there is no reason they shouldn't do this. |
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 MikePremium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
kudos:1 | reply to Ken7
We're not Japan. US probably won't use 4K for a few years. |
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| reply to Ken7
Re: 4K & mpeg 4 availability My idea would be to have HBO and Cinemax Mpeg4 only AND HD ONLY as well! |
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| reply to Ken7
4K channels?
Are there even any full 1080p channels yet?
Most HD channels are still 1080i and 720p. Might be some VOD at 1080p, possibly. |
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