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Originally Posted by CurtJ
I have a 100" screen, with a Sim2 Domino front projector that is being put in my new dedicated HT. I am trying to get opinions on what is the best source for HDTV. Dish, DTV or cable. I want the best picture quality for HD and SD.
Thanks,
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Curt:
The consensus on this forum and also at several others is as follows:
If it is picture quality alone, the worst is DirecTV. This is because they are overly compressing their high definition channels, and also their standard definition ones, to try to cram more and more programming onto their limited bandwidth on the satellites. They have launched two new satellites, and plan on two more, but they seem to be only interested in adding new channels (local channels in high definition for almost every major market, which requires a TON of bandwidth -- and do not seem concerned at all about the degrading quality of the image. For further reading, do a search on the term -- HDLITE. or HD Lite, or HD-Lite. They are also now downconverting the resolution so that most purists have noted that it is no longer even "true high definition" by the ATSC and FCC designations.
Dish Network is doing some of the same stuff, quietly, but not yet so drastically. They are using a bit too much compression. The amount varies from channel to channel. However, it is definitely not as dramatic in the amount of compression. Thus, it is (as a general rule) an improvement over DirecTV in pure image quality.
Finally, we look at cable TV. A bit more complicated, so read carefully...
-In MOST of the locales across the country, the image quality is the winner.
-However, there are exceptions. If you live in the wrong town, or the wrong neighborhood, you may find that your cable company is doing the same sort of thing as described above, and sending out an overly-compressed signal. However, those are the exceptions, and most cable companies are providing less compression, and I know of none that are actually lowering the resolution.
You specifically asked about image quality, and the above only addresses this. Obviously, some people also factor in other measures -- which one offers more sports, or which one offers more high definition channels...
Too much compression tends to look like this:
-Some pixellization occurs during very fast action scenes, with quick camera moves such as pans, or fast cuts.
-A generally softer image.
-Loss of detail.
Hope that helps with YOUR question.
-Bruce
