[mythtv-users] OT: Why 1080p?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 11/07/2006 03:22 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:
> It really pisses me
> off to watch NFL in HD on the 65" just to get annoyed with the huge
> amount of compression artifacts. Its not as bad on my friends 50", but
> its really noticeable at 65", then on top of that they do things like
> CBS does with the overlays that seem like they just put them there to
> make the MPEG compression chip go crazy.
>
> ARGH.
>
> Even ESPN does it. InHD and Discovery HD look pretty darn good though,
> I'd love to get Discovery HD in 1080p

No joke.  Everyone talks about the resolution as the determining factor 
of video quality, but as any Myth user knows, the right resolution with 
the wrong bitrate is worse than a lower resolution at the same bitrate...

I'm also amazed at how poorly they encode some of the video--often 
commercials such as local spots or "on location" news segments.  In 
addition to compression artifacts, they have deinterlacing and scaling 
issues.  At least on those issues, I have hope they'll go away as the 
broadcasters gain experience and as technology hides the need for 
experience.  ;)  The bitrate issue, though, is not likely to get better 
(probably worse as broadcasters try to put more channels in the same 
bandwidth) unless the spec switches to a higher-compression format (but, 
considering that none of the HDTV sets purchased so far in the US have 
support for H.264 or whatever, I doubt the FCC will be doing that 
anytime soon).

Mike