05-12-2015, 02:17 PM
We do everything in 1080i, every channel is now mandated by the government to do so (some cheap ass channels will just upconvert to 1080i leaving the station, though). But then the cable company (or other provider) steps on it and compresses it for transport to homes. They need to squeeze all of those channels into a limited amount of bandwidth. So instead of making the pipe bigger, providers compress the signal because it is the much cheaper option. And as providers have increased bandwidth over time, instead of making the channels look better they instead say "fuck it, lets add MORE channels!" So even though bandwidth and compression tech have improved, they still just jam as much as possible into the pipe as they can.
So you may be watching a movie on HBO in 1080i, but it still looks compressed (especially black areas) because the provider is stepping on it. Compare a movie you watch on HBO through a provider, and then watch the same movie on Blu Ray. Blu Ray will look a lot better. Yet they are both 1080 (granted cable is 1080i and bluray is 1080p but that's not much of a difference at all)We are a high end graphics channel that looks beautiful leaving our facility, and it looks like crap on my TV set at home.
What providers will do is give priority to live sport events that are guaranteed to have eyeballs on them. So say for the Superbowl, they will send it uncompressed and step all the other channels down. Most will generally not step down the major networks and ESPN.
But it's all about bandwidth at the end of the day. Maybe...maybe I think within the next 5-10 years there is going to be an implosion in the content market and cable/satellite are going to finally stop paying the content creators money per subscriber and you'll see all of those useless channels no one watches disappear. And then there will be less need for compression. But I'm sure they'll figure out a way to throw something else in there. How about the death of consoles and you play high end video games through the bandwidth provider?
So you may be watching a movie on HBO in 1080i, but it still looks compressed (especially black areas) because the provider is stepping on it. Compare a movie you watch on HBO through a provider, and then watch the same movie on Blu Ray. Blu Ray will look a lot better. Yet they are both 1080 (granted cable is 1080i and bluray is 1080p but that's not much of a difference at all)We are a high end graphics channel that looks beautiful leaving our facility, and it looks like crap on my TV set at home.
What providers will do is give priority to live sport events that are guaranteed to have eyeballs on them. So say for the Superbowl, they will send it uncompressed and step all the other channels down. Most will generally not step down the major networks and ESPN.
But it's all about bandwidth at the end of the day. Maybe...maybe I think within the next 5-10 years there is going to be an implosion in the content market and cable/satellite are going to finally stop paying the content creators money per subscriber and you'll see all of those useless channels no one watches disappear. And then there will be less need for compression. But I'm sure they'll figure out a way to throw something else in there. How about the death of consoles and you play high end video games through the bandwidth provider?