HDTV Channels: How Much Is Enough?
I am sure that most of you are aware of the fact that I am a big fan of Verizon’s FiOS service. What really got me excited about the service was its picture quality which is the best I have seen of any of the various cable and DBS providers.
I am also thrilled at the HD wars where the providers are rushing to get as many HD channels on their systems as they can. Nothing like some competition. I look at all the competition as a boon for us HT enthusiasts. I am thrilled to see ads from Directv claiming that they have over 100 HD channels even if they really don’t. It is great see that FiOS has over 100 HD channels now in the New York City area and that the Mass/RI market now has about 87. I am kind of jealous there as the Philadelphia market has yet to share in the HD expansion. We are scheduled to have at least 22 new HD channels added on September 11th, bringing our total to over 54. It is my guess that we will be having a few more added at that time if the experience of the expansions in the other markets is the same here. Here’s hoping for at least 60! I am even thrilled that Comcast has seen the light and is adding new HD channels although I am disappointed that they are still heralding their HD “choices” which I view as very misleading. I hate their ads. But I digress.
With the rapid expansion of HD channels across many providers, it got me wondering how much HD is enough? How many channels do we really need and at what cost? How about the effect on picture quality in adding so many channels in bandwidth constrained systems? The 3:1 compression used by Comcast certainly hasn’t gone as well as they had planned resulting in a noticeably inferior picture, numerous complaints and some bad press. How about HD channels that really aren’t HD channels at all in that they show very little in the way of true HD content? Channels like Food Network HD come to mind which basically show stretched 4x3 standard definition content 90 plus percent of the time.
Personally, I want as many HD channels as are available and would even love to see some of the standard definition channels that have HD counterparts eliminated. Why have two channels with the same content? Those without HD sets can still watch the HD channels on their sets as the output of the cable box can be set to standard definition resolution. I would also like to see the elimination of all but the most basic analog service across all cable providers as it will free up tons of bandwidth for not only more HD channels, but better broadband speeds which will be necessary for the delivery of even more HD content, either via IPTV or HD downloads.
The elimination of analog cable service and duplicate SD channels, along with infrastructure upgrades, will certainly go a long way to making more and more HD channels as well as “choices” available to us all. Of course, I would hate to see hundreds of new HD channels offered with a trade off of lesser picture quality, which is why the bandwidth really needs to be freed up. That is the beauty of Verizon’s FiOS service, which has the infrastructure to offer almost unlimited bandwidth for all the HD channels you could possibly want, with 1000’s of VOD offerings in HD as well as faster and faster internet speeds. I would like to see this type of quality offered by all cable and DBS providers at reasonable costs and with the option for people to pick and choose the channels they want so that they can keep their costs down given today’s shaky economic outlook. Am I asking for too much? Probably. But why not shoot for the stars?
By all means, let me know what you think. How much HD do you want and at what costs? What compromises in terms of quality, options and services are you willing to accept? It should prove to be a lively debate.
For more high-def news, please click: TVPredictions.com.
posted by webmaster @ 7:56 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
At this time, I just hope that Fios comes to town(Iselin, section of Woodbridge, NJ) sooner rather than later, as I have no LOS and Comcast HD channel lineup here is very, very poor, with somewhere between 25 and 30 HD channels and lots of compression on them - MHD's been almost unwatchable since they started the 3:1 schema.
Do you have any estimate of what % of Verizon's nationwide service areas actually have access to FiOS?
Verizon seems to have ignored the Midwest (old General Telephone areas) for FiOS, except for Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I agree with everything you said!!!
I also would like to see all of the networks distributing only HD content to their local channels and down convert them to Analog for local broadcast on their old channel until next February. If the content is Widescreen then crop the left and right edges to produce the 4:3 format. This would most likely insure more content in HD and less in Analog/SD.
CBS will be doing just that in September. They are eliminting their analog downlink entirely. They will only distribute an HD feed to their affliates who will then have to do a 4x3 centercut for their analog channel until the cutoff.
This is one of those things that opinions can vary widely BECAUSE we each face such different situations. My opinion is 100% informed by the fact my system, despite knowing a dozen years ago they had to start eliminating the analog channels, has clung onto them like a death grip (we have something over 70 analog channels STILL running). So we have about 24 HD channels that are part of the overall package. AND I'm not only in the same city, but a scant 2 miles from Crime Warner's "world headquarters."
And the last 4 HD channels added resulted in a hit on quality. AND we got not one, but 2 rate increases JUST in 2008.
Yes FIOS finally got a city-wide license, but some areas will be waiting until possibly 2017 (the license specifies the build out has to be completed by 2014, BUT there are 3 one year extensions also allowed).
There will never be enough HD, and Comcast's "choices" are slim. Recently that added an MGM movie channel that they ridiculously call "Impact" - a chunk of it in HD. The categories, All-Star Action, Hi Impact, Karate Kicks, and Underachievers, gives a flavor of how bad these movies are. Now I may be wrong about the average television viewer and specifically Comcast on demand users, but I don't think too many of us were holding our breath waiting for a repository of the best movies Brian Bosworth ever made. While this on-demand grouping in its initial offerings did include the original Terminator, the Clint Eastwood-Jeff Bridges film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and the Bridges-Tommy Lee Jones film Blown Away, the remainder of the so-called "channel" consists of a variety of MGM films that they could neither rent, sell or apparently, give away.
Where I live, satellite, which one way or another is more expensive than Comcast, is the only competition and they are in no hurry to give us more HD. Please send Verison our way.
theVillageVideot.blogspot.com
I'm just amused that in the era of iPods we're still focused on "channels." I want my shows in a pool to pick what I want, not at 2 a.m. when I'm not watching TV.
Moreover, saying the 'on demand' options don't count is like saying iTunes (to use one example for illustrative purposes) doesn't really have music choices becuase they're not running consecutively on a radio station.
If enough is good, too much must be just right.
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