Blu Ray vs HD DISH

[fox]

Question: Could one receive the same picture/sound quality from DISH HD channels using an HDMI connection as one would from a BR disc? I'm just wondering if it would make as much sense to upgrade my DISH receiver as opposed to getting a new BR player at some point.

 

[aberkowitz]

Question: Could one receive the same picture/sound quality from DISH HD channels using an HDMI connection as one would from a BR disc? I'm just wondering if it would make as much sense to upgrade my DISH receiver as opposed to getting a new BR player at some point.

I cannot comment accurately on the PQ, but the AQ would not be the same. Most BDs include Dolby True HD or DTS MA lossless audio codecs (or at least basic lossless PCM). Television shows are not broadcast with these codecs, at least not yet, so the AQ of anything you watch on television should not be as good as watching a BD.

That said, I think these two upgrades are mutually exclusive of each other. If most of what you watch is on television then I would upgrade your dish box first. If you're mainly watching movies and look to build up a BD collection, or use Netflix/Blockbuster, then I would get a BD player first. I would personally do the BD player first (I've had a PS3 for a year now), but it's all about personal preference.

 

[fox]

This is what I needed to confirm. Thank you for the info..

 

[FatStrat85]

Blu-Ray will likely always be of higher quality than any broadcasted content (Antenna, Cable, or Satellite) because broadcasted video will always be compressed to a higher extent than Blu-Ray. There is limited bandwidth, so heavier compression is used to fit more channels. Blu-Ray content is compressed, but to a far lesser extent. This means that what you see on Blu-Ray will have fewer visible compression artifacts than broadcasted video.

 

[allargon]

The DD audio will generally be inferior to what you get even on a SD DVD. The video quality is perfectly capable of equaling Blu-Ray even in realtime if Dish wanted. Satellite and just like Blu-Ray and HD(DVD and -VMD) is capable of using AVC/H.264/MPEG4. A single Ku band transponder can transmit from 36Mbps to 72Mbps. That is for real time. Dish's OnDemand queues up onto the hard drive of a DVR, so the transmission limitation doesn't apply. A SATA (or even an IDE) hard drive will pretty much blow away an optical disc in terms of speed. Now, currently Dish isn't putting the bitrate up there necessary to compete. It can easily compete with AppleTV, Xbox360 and any of the download services in terms of PQ. However, most people with larger displays will notice the difference.

Dish isn't targeting the enthusiast that has a nice high end HDMI receiver and 3 chip DLP projector with a 110" screen. They're targeting Joe6Pack with his uncalibrated 42" Vizio and his Bose 3*2*1 setup. For him, the 1080p HD VOD is on par with Blu in terms of visual quality and a lot cheaper. (VOD is more convenient, too.)

 

[fox]

When the time seems more right, a Blu Ray will be coming.

 

[mtrycrafts]

The DD audio will generally be inferior to what you get even on a SD DVD. The video quality is perfectly capable of equaling Blu-Ray even in realtime if Dish wanted. Satellite and just like Blu-Ray and HD(DVD and -VMD) is capable of using AVC/H.264/MPEG4. A single Ku band transponder can transmit from 36Mbps to 72Mbps. That is for real time. Dish's OnDemand queues up onto the hard drive of a DVR, so the transmission limitation doesn't apply. A SATA (or even an IDE) hard drive will pretty much blow away an optical disc in terms of speed. Now, currently Dish isn't putting the bitrate up there necessary to compete. It can easily compete with AppleTV, Xbox360 and any of the download services in terms of PQ. However, most people with larger displays will notice the difference.
.)

Is there an individual transponder for each channel in a satellite?

 

[allargon]

Is there an individual transponder for each channel in a satellite?

There could be but since Dish believes in packing 6-7 in per MPEG4 transponder rather than 3-4 or even 2... However, for VOD, that doesn't matter since the information isn't streamed in realtime but rather stored on a hard drive. The limiting factor is dedicated hard drive space rather than bandwidth.