Disappointing Satellite Quality

[Capmaster]

My wife and I really enjoyed the Planet Earth series published by the BBC. The photography is stunning, and it's recorded using HD cameras.

We have the SD DVDs and they're superb, even being upscaled by our HDTV. They're 1.77:1 and look great!

We also have DirecTV HD and last night I noticed they were showing the Planet Earth Deep Oceans segment on Discovery HD channel, so I turned it on to compare it with our DVD picture quality. And it was horrible!! The resolution was there (1080i), but probably to save bandwidth, the color palette was reduced

I knew what they did because in an underwater shot with subtle shades of blue, there was glaring color banding all over the place. It looked like they were running the show using an 8-bit color palette. Inexcusable!!

Needless to say, the satellite broadcast was ruined. Judging by what I've seen on just the SD DVDs we have, the problem is not in the original material, but in the satellite company. Can't these people see how they're ruining an otherwise perfect presentation? Or do they only care about bandwidth? Morons!

Has anyone else noticed something similar with your satellite company?

So when we get started with Blu-ray, we'll be ordering the entire set. I have no doubts it'll knock our socks off

[jermwhl]

Good 'ol DirecTV and their superb compression!!!

[Weez_Dawg]

Originally Posted by Capmaster

My wife and I really enjoyed the Planet Earth series published by the BBC. The photography is stunning, and it's recorded using HD cameras.

We have the SD DVDs and they're superb, even being upscaled by our HDTV. They're 1.77:1 and look great!

We also have DirecTV HD and last night I noticed they were showing the Planet Earth Deep Oceans segment on Discovery HD channel, so I turned it on to compare it with our DVD picture quality. And it was horrible!! The resolution was there (1080i), but probably to save bandwidth, the color palette was reduced

I knew what they did because in an underwater shot with subtle shades of blue, there was glaring color banding all over the place. It looked like they were running the show using an 8-bit color palette. Inexcusable!!

Needless to say, the satellite broadcast was ruined. Judging by what I've seen on just the SD DVDs we have, the problem is not in the original material, but in the satellite company. Can't these people see how they're ruining an otherwise perfect presentation? Or do they only care about bandwidth? Morons!

Has anyone else noticed something similar with your satellite company?

So when we get started with Blu-ray, we'll be ordering the entire set. I have no doubts it'll knock our socks off

Well, I have never seen planet earth other than on blu-ray. Not all of PE was filmed in HD. There are quite a few parts that are very disappointing, but far more parts that are breath taking. Deep Oceans was very disappointing on BD for me.

[Blu-Light]

DirecTV has got the worse HD quality.

[calcajun]

I certainly see good and bad HD on direct tv also.
My experience with the Planet Earth was the exact opposite. They looked awesome. I also own the BBC BD's
SHRUG

[GarettP]

I have been watching Planet Earth on DirecTV HD and haven't been disappointed with any of the pictures, heck I saved Shallow Seas to show people who ask about HD!

[Josh]

Direct TV uses what many refer to as "HDLite". They filter the image from 1920x1080 to 1440x1080. Very poor quality.

[RichiPuppy]

It looked much better on my cable then on upscaled dvd's, but not as good as blu ray.

[Manco]

There have been complaints about D*TV's HD service. Two new satellites are going up to address this including the allocation of more bandwidth for additional HD programming and additional HD national/local channels.

The first sat D*TV-10 went up on July 7 and will come online for consumers in Sept. The second sat D*TV-11 will go up in early 2008. Expect HD programming to improve in coming months.

I would recommend you join the D*TV forums. Lot's of good advice from the "Tech Know Guide" gurus over there. They can answer almost any complex D*TV issue you may be having. Far better than any advise you'll get from Customer Service.

http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp

[TBoneCapone]

Originally Posted by Blu-Light

DirecTV has got the worse HD quality.

Consider that they will have the MOST HD channels. Good thing I am already with them. Oh and the NFL Sunday Ticket Fanpack HD is off ths hook!