Major announcement expected from Directv on June 15, regarding HD !!!

[hdtvtechno]

Major announcement expected from Directv on June 15, regarding HD !!!

http://hdtvtechno.netfirms.com/#Directv

[Gregg Lengling]

Probably going to announce that they are getting ready to offer HD locals in the top 10 markets...the down side being all viewers will need new boxes to accomodate the MPEG4 encoding.......

[hdtvtechno]

Probably going to announce that they are getting ready to offer HD locals in the top 10 markets...the down side being all viewers will need new boxes to accomodate the MPEG4 encoding.......
and directv will provide the new boxes free or at a reduced reasonable price. :)

but other people are saying that its not the local channels announcement.

so this might be another thing. :) ;)

[Tom Snyder]

directv will provide the new boxes free or at a reduced reasonable price.
For yet another annual commitment for a premium programming package...so they potentially break even on their cost of the quipment, and are guaranteed another $1000 per customer in annual revenue.

[sp44again]

I've been with D* for 8 years why do I care that I commit to another year? I've had RR since it was introduced, no contract, but if they did I wouldn't care. With good service I don't mind. Nobody is trumping each other big enough to switch and get out of a contract.

[AndrewP]

I've been with D* for 8 years why do I care that I commit to another year? I've had RR since it was introduced, no contract, but if they did I wouldn't care. With good service I don't mind. Nobody is trumping each other big enough to switch and get out of a contract.

That is very true. There is nothing wrong with contract if you like a service and plan to keep it anyway. I also have RR since August 2000 and like it, just switched from RR to Earthlink cable and now back to RR. But bills always are coming from TWC. Had TWC TV for year. Did not like it. Sign a contract with Dish, liked it at the begging, then switched to Voom without contract. Like it a lot, had it until the end, returned to Dish with new contract. And actually like it, especially 942 receiver. It is very good thing, fast, beatiful PQ even in SD. So am I bothered with new Dish contract. No, not at all.

[picopir8]

Most people argue that contracts dont bother them because they are happy with the service. However, they still have a cost. I dont know anyone who would enter into a contract in which they were unappy with. You enter into contracts as happy customers then something happens along the way. And the odd of that something happening is obviously substantial, otherwise they would not require contracts in the first place. Experience has shown that when a contract is not existant, the company you are dealing with is much more willing to meet your needs. If you are under contract they know your options are limited and are less likely to accomodate your requests.

Last Sept. I signed a 1 yr contract with my cell provider to save $5/mo. A few months ago I got fed up with my present career. I had been planning on a new career but did not expect to act make the move for a few more years. However, I have since decided to quit my job (next week) to focus on my schoolwork so that Ill be ready to start my new career as early as this January. However, it may take up to 6 months to find a job. TV and cellphone are no longer that important and probably wont be utilized that much. These are some of the first things on my the chopping block. However Im now stuck with the cell phone since I signed the contract before I decided to push up my career change.

[Paul S.]

I'm suprised the big announcement isnt the huge price jack of the NFL package.

[mhz40]

[bump]
So what was the big big deal? Was it the announcement that they dropped the price of the HD Sunday ticket?

[hdtvtechno]

[bump]
So what was the big big deal? Was it the announcement that they dropped the price of the HD Sunday ticket?

SLOW SLOW SLOW Down Buddy.

We still have 24 hours from now, u know, ;) :D

[Bluto]

SLOW SLOW SLOW Down Buddy.

We still have 24 hours from now, u know, ;) :D

Bummer, I was really hoping for an announcement about more national HD channels. But nothing was announced yesterday, as far as I know. Nothing.

[borghe]

to be fair, nothing was nnounced because arianne's rockets were bad. it had nothing to do with DirecTV. it is now up to Arianne to either get Spaceway 2 launched within a certain window (likely not more than a month or two) or get Spaceway 2's launch arranged with another launch provider.

this has nothing to do with directv. the satellite is ready to be launched, they just don't have anyone to launch it with arianne's rockets down.

[mhz40]

to be fair, nothing was nnounced because arianne's rockets were bad. it had nothing to do with DirecTV. it is now up to Arianne to either get Spaceway 2 launched within a certain window (likely not more than a month or two) or get Spaceway 2's launch arranged with another launch provider.

this has nothing to do with directv. the satellite is ready to be launched, they just don't have anyone to launch it with arianne's rockets down.

So that's it!!? They were going to announce a new satellite was launched? :confused:
Gee, that ranks right up there with Tom Cruise's hype regarding the latest love of his life. :mad:

[hdtvtechno]

So that's it!!? They were going to announce a new satellite was launched? :confused:
Gee, that ranks right up there with Tom Cruise's hype regarding the latest love of his life. :mad:

NO that wasn't it, it was some thing else,

but Not allowed to post until its announced :)

[gparris]

Thanks for the replies, mhz40 and hdtvtechno, but it seems there is a well-deserved frustration amongst all HDTV owners for more HD channel options, lately.

Directv subs have not had anything but talk, ads about 1500 channels and press releases that come and go without anything coming on their HDTV screens.
It is like Directv subs look up at their dishes, (if so mounted on their roofs) and "pray" for any news that "soon" more HD channels will arrive...and when (some one) who says they know something and nothing happens, it comes back to all as a deception and the hope and faith - for more HD - has escaped them all. :(

Unless something really concrete is about to happen for Directv HD subs, leave it alone, already, IMHO.

[Matt Heebner]

A far as I am concerned....any announcement by Directv has been voided and nullified by it's decision to jack the Sunday Ticket rate for HD viewers. I cruise the various forums and NO ONE seems to know what this great announcement is going to be. For every HD channel they have added, I have always heard prior to launch what is was going to be. I've heard nada...zip on this which leads me to believe that it is either:
The local HD rollout (again in my opinion absolutely boring)
Or the launch of the new satellite that actually wont launch till sometime this fall now.

Directv used to call themselves the leader in HD programming. They are behind everyone now and growing more stagnant as I type this.........

Matt

[hdtvtechno]

Major News Ahead
Stay Tuned.

It will blow the socks off, the other Service providers :)

[gparris]

Major News Ahead
Stay Tuned.

It will blow the socks off, the other Service providers :)

And the high-priestess of Directv said this, standing next to her Directv Dish and asked all her followers to "believe" (that more Directv HD national channels were coming very soon)
... and they laughed and walked away (from Directv, "the HD Leader"). :rofl:

Matt Heebner and mhz40 are right, the sky is not falling and it certainly isn't "raining"
Directv HD national channels, either...oh pleazzzz!

[Bluto]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting. It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now. but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?

[AndrewP]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting. It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now. but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?

You are just in denial. like a lot of D* fans.
TWC has all locals in HD (except WB).
Dish has 10 Voom HD originals.
D* is not a leader in HD.
Never was.
Voom was, now TWC and Dish are.
:)

[Bluto]

I never said D* is a leader, Andrew. But neither is their competition right now.

I get all the locals over-the-air. So, TWC has nothing over D* for me.

And, one dish on the house is enough. So, DishVoom's patchwork HD solution is doing nothing for me.

I see three pigs slopping around in the mud right now. I'm waiting for one of them to come out. Until then, I'm sitting tight with what I have.

[qawsed]

So, TWC has nothing over D* for me.


You might be surprised. For me, TWC has better HD picture quality, INHD1 and 2, TNT-HD, and a HDDVR that isn't insanely priced and soon to be obsolete. That's why I switched.

[hdtvtechno]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting. It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now. but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?


Problem with the Sateliite,/ satellite launching Company, launching the satellite.

[sp44again]

You might be surprised. For me, TWC has better HD picture quality, INHD1 and 2, TNT-HD, and a HDDVR that isn't insanely priced and soon to be obsolete. That's why I switched.

It might be insanely priced but it's well worth it. TWC people don't know what they are missing and that's probably good. You'll save some money. But for people that can afford the $699 it's sweet! It's also not soon to be obsolete. If they delay satellite launches you think it will soon be obsolete?

[Bluto]

Problem with the Sateliite,/ satellite launching Company, launching the satellite.

Thanks for the info. So does that mean we're looking at August now, based on what I've heard about launch delays?

[sp44again]

Yep, but it's not D* fault.

[hdtvtechno]

Yes, thanks sp44again for jumping ahead of me, :D :)

[borghe]

to clarify slightly for those in this thread who are not aware

directv was supposed to launch spaceway2 on wednesday. it was delayed because the company that was responsible for the launch, arianne, had boosters go bad on them. all of their launches (a lot more than just directv) are currently indefinitely delayed as they get new boosters manufactured and delivered.

no, the launch was NOT the big announcement. the technical stats of both spaceway 1 and 2 in operation together is around 500 HD channels (as in not theoretical, but as in there is more than enough to carry 500 HD channels with mPEG4 compression between the two). the big announcement was in direct relation to that 500 channel capacity. from what I heard it was not only most existing HD channels but also specialty HD channels a la Voom (oinly more value added). It would have made DirecTV the HD leader by a pretty far margin (especially taking into the Home Media Center which will be launching in a few months).

of course now all of that is on hold as arianne rushes trying to figure how to reschedule DirecTV and the other clients affected by the delay.

as to why DirecTV can’t go ahead with some of those plans with Spaceway 1 up, the spaceway satellites are all spot beam, no CONUS. this is the way they were configured from day one when News Corp (before buying DirecTV) was going to use them for satellite broadband service. With both sats being spot beam, they needed both of them up to cover the entire country with spots. There are rumors of some testing that will still go on with just Spaceway 1 up, but all national plans are on hold until later this year when they can get the second sat up.

needless to say, DirecTV WILL be the HD leader as soon as they can get Spaceway 2 up. As far as anyone knows, no other provider has any sort of plans similar to the one DirecTV has ready. It is just a matter of getting that second satellite up first.

Anywho, I don’t expect this to change any minds. Just a little clarification (beyond what I already posted) about what’s going on. This isn’t some sort of DirecTV delay tactic. Trust me, I guarantee if they could have spaceway 2 launched already , they would. they have to wait for arianne to either get the booster and get them launched, or wait for arianne to arrange for another launch with another company. even if the arrangement was made tomorrow, there is still delivery time on moving the satellite to the new launch facility. and it won’t be tomorrow. for those who haven’t given up on directv, the special announcement is coming. hopefully spaceway 2 will finally be launched within the next two months and this minor delay will mean nothing.

and to you time warner guys.. can you stop with the “ALL LOCAL CHANNELS” already. last time I checked, you didn’t have WB. and last time I checked, I CAN get all local channels with my satellite box…

so why hasn’t anyone sued TWC yet for false advertising on those stupid radio commercials? you still need extra equipment with TWC (a different box) and do NOT get all local channels in HD.

[Talos4]

and to you time warner guys.. can you stop with the “ALL LOCAL CHANNELS” already. last time I checked, you didn’t have WB. and last time I checked, I CAN get all local channels with my satellite box…

Thanks I needed that. I stay out of the debate over SAT vs Cable. :bang:

I have the patience to wait out payload delivery problems. The pay off will be worth it.

Patience Grasshopper! :Smash:

[Matt Heebner]

Sure...just make sure your wallet is ready too because Directv's grand HD plans will not come with out a price.........


Matt

[mhz40]

and to you time warner guys.. can you stop with the “ALL LOCAL CHANNELS” already. last time I checked, you didn’t have WB. and last time I checked, I CAN get all local channels with my satellite box…

so why hasn’t anyone sued TWC yet for false advertising on those stupid radio commercials? you still need extra equipment with TWC (a different box) and do NOT get all local channels in HD.

Your great post had me until 'anywho'... then it fell back into the same old cable/sat debate.

I agree with your 'all local channel' point, but the issue about 'need extra equipment' is a huge stretch... some customers need only a cable card plugged into their newer TV's. Yes, you need a different box, but it's the same cost per month as the SD box. This is in contrast to the DirecTV approach where your existing receiver becomes a good doorstop.

It looks like DirecTV is moving in the right direction. But, IMO... as with many products I see every month from various vendors... right now its still 'vaporware' until we see it and touch it... prompting the accurate title of this thread. It's very, very unlikely; but launches do go badly sometimes.

Don't think competition has nothing to do with it however... DirecTV (like any business) isn't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Isn't competition great?

Thanks for the interesting details though. I learned a lot.

[gparris]

borghe, thanks for the information, you have made a "believer" out of me, for now.
If all it was is a satellite/rocket thing problem, I DO understand that (you have no idea how well).
So IF that is all it is, the competition for more HD locals hits the fan with the lack of TWC HD channel additions, so they have to add more to remain competitive. :)

Satelliteguys has a member that says Directv will add enough HD channels with that second launch to double whatever Dish has currently with Voom for about $5 more that the current Directv HD package price, a great value, IMO.
Further, TNT-HD and ESPN HD2 will be added even sooner to that HD package at no additional cost.
This forum member is usually right about his inputs and seems as though he either works for them or has a family member in the business.
Either way, I hope he/she is right about it...launch that satellite, baby! :cool:

[SRW1000]

While it's not programming related, Satelliteguys.us is also reporting that DirecTV will be giving away new HD DVR MPEG4 units with a two-year commitment. If this turns out to be true, their subscription numbers are really going to shoot up. As a Dish subscriber, this news is enough to make me jump.

Scott

[borghe]

mhz40, I'll give cablecard credit. I would love to go back to not needing any boxes (and hopefully a dual tuner cablecard HD DVR is coming soon. that would be a HUGE step).

but if you don't have cablecard, you are in IDENTICAL positions with cable and directv. your old SD box won't cut it, so you need a new HD box. Now sure cable will lease you the box in an even exchange, and DirecTV will cost you $300, but two years ago DirecTV would have cost you $500-600 and three years ago was $700-1000. So prices are coming down. but still, beyond that you need “additional equipment” either way. either a tech to come out and install a cablecard, or to replace your existing SD box with an HD one. Of course there is also an antenna with DirecTV, but hopefully (by mandate of the FCC) in 10 days an indoor antenna will do just fine in most metro areas.

anywho ;) , my point with the cable rant was that there is some serious misinformation in the local TWC radio spots that stops just short of blatantly lying (though in the case of ALL local channels it is a lie). I personally haven’t seen any horrible satellite advertising recently, so I just wonder why cable, instead of just making it known what they have and what they offer, has focused so much on attacking, literally attacking going by some of the commercials, satellite as a means to get customers… I don’t stay up at night about it, but I definitely groan everytime one of those silly commercials comes on.

as for vaporware, DirecTV never said they were making an announcement. An insider (who now regrets it) leaked on a board that they were going to after Spaceway 2 was launched. another poster interpreted this as June 15th (Spaceway 2’s original launch date), and thus the rumored date got started. it should be noted though the the original insider was still not wrong and still backs up what he said. After spaceway 2 is launched, DirecTV will make a huge announcement. we just have to wait for it to be launched now.

srw1000 - DirecTV will be trading out existing HD boxes (non-DVR) for free to customers who are in local HD markets that will be launched later this year (all locals will be MPEG4). The new HD DVR (MPEG4) likely, according to DirecTV, will not be out until early 2006, and at this time only the Home Media Center is scheduled. a standalone MPEG4 DVR probably wouldn't come out until mid-2006 at the earliest. the releases are all speculation based on known info, but at this time no one at DirecTV or NDS knows or an HD DVR. Just the SD DVR that will launch this fall (which will probably very shortly become the standard receiver), and the HMC setup.

update - lyngsat (http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/index.html) has Spaceway 2 currently listed for August now, and another "source" has said Arianne is shooting for 8/22. Also, DirecTV just made another announcement for August that I'll make a separate post about.

[gparris]

borghe is absolutely right about the "all local channels" lie, as WB18 and UPN24 HD/digital channels are NOT carried by TWC...you still need an OTA arrangement and if you have to do that to get these, it negates a reason you have cable to begin with, but TWC just doesn't "get it".
Comcast Cable, the nation's largest cable provider, decided enough was enough and thought of its subscribers first and does offer the Sinclair HD channels now.
Directv signed with Sinclair, too, so when the local HD channels start arriving to the Milwaukee area, WB18 and UPN24 HD will be available to all who want it with just the dish.

Don't lie to us, TWC, you DON'T offer all locals (especially the ones that count , IMO).

[Scott]

Cablecard is pointless for power users IMO. I have a relative who bought a set with cable card and is always excited about the fact they don't have to "pay" TWC for a box. Well, because the cable companies want that control and revenue, the cable card box can't display any programming info other than the "channel."

TWC and others aren't sending any program info in a format that the cablecard box can read. So, if you want what are now normal channel surfing features, you must still get the box.

[bradsmainsite]

TWC must feel extremely threatened to continue their ad assault also not to mention the $ their spending. I don't know about the other TWC areas, but
up here if you call and complain you will get the latest "special" of the month
, so what I would like to know is if they are such a great company and time is on
your side why don't they advertise these great specials for everyone because
they are giving away what normally costs $47.00 per month for $29.95 for even up to a year and in some cases I know of someone they gave it to for 3 years!

Whats up where is the ad for this! :cool:

I'm tempted to take out a local ad to tip people off to the great deals everyone
should get and see what happens because why should one person get this and not everyone that is if Time is on YOUR side! :D

[bradsmainsite]

Ok I'm off my soap box now I had to get that off my chest!

Having Dish and the voom channels gives me around 25 possible channels
(including locals) in HD. Having said that however I would have to say that
almost all the voom channels to me are pretty worthless even for $5.00 per
month! :bang:

I to am still waiting in the wings for whoever decides that HD is here to stay
and really do something with it! After all it really is what people want when they
have seen it! :eek:

Its all about picture quality and having had TWC it doesn't come even close to
what an off air and dish combo can do! :bow:

Hang in their fellow HD lovers better days are coming and it will probably not even
be delivered via cable or dish, but by something better!

Good ridence? to both :wave:

[borghe]

scott - I said cable card was a step in the right direction. the next direction for cablcard is to have bidirectional cablecard and the step after that (I believe) is to have multistream cable cards. As for no programming guide, if everything was as it should be, this doesn't matter. Time Warner's programming guide is just a basic guide with data fed from (I believe) Tribune Media Services, same as DirecTV and Dish (as well as zap2it.com and many local papers). If you had a service like Gemstar Plus or Tivo providing their own guide data for their own devices, the lack of cable's actual IPG would be pretty insignificant. Like I said, cablecard is a step in the right direction. In the end, cablecard will be the next thing to separate cable from dishes, because dishes are pretty much caught up to or ahead of cable in most areas currently. getting rid of the box again will give cable a new distinct advantage.

bradsmainsite - don't even get me started on TWC's advertising. Now this morning I heard one with them attacking SBC, saying about how to get SBC's $19.95 package it will cost somethinglike $89... nevermind SBC has a $27/month no hidden charges package that is 1.5Mb down and is $18/month cheaper than TWC's cheapest package without getting cable... note this isn't a rant on TWC's service, and neither have been my other posts been recently. this is solely related to their marketing. what the hell is going on with them that they feel a need to attack all of their competitors in ads recently? are they experiencing higher than normal churn? are new subscribers at a low? just getting annoying.

[gparris]

Quoting borghe: "note this isn't a rant on TWC's service, and neither have been my other posts been recently. this is solely related to their marketing. what the hell is going on with them that they feel a need to attack all of their competitors in ads recently? are they experiencing higher than normal churn? are new subscribers at a low? just getting annoying."

I think TWC is running scared since it hasn't added any new HD channels ( I don't consider that PPV an addition, just an insult), it still fights with Sinclair (lies about locals, we miss two HD ones from them, here) and has no new anything on its "shelf" for delivery to its customers. Directv and Dish are getting stronger and SBC and Verizon are doing FIOS in some areas TWC exists, nationally.

When you are worried about adding new subs, losing them in turn (probably)
you end up getting a little nasty and perhaps, in the examples you mentioned, a little on the deceptive side...just my opinion and observation, though.

[950ash]

I guess I see the Mpeg4 announcement as a negative. Which Mpeg4 codec are we talking about first? Second is will there really be a good enough CPU to handle the load of decompresing it? Oh and sync issues?

[foxeng]

Which Mpeg4 codec are we talking about first?

(DVB-S2) and the implementation of guidelines for MPEG-4 AVC

They must have CPUs that will do it since the boxes are slated to start going out the door in 30 days.

[950ash]

(DVB-S2) and the implementation of guidelines for MPEG-4 AVC

They must have CPUs that will do it since the boxes are slated to start going out the door in 30 days.


AVC just means Audio Video Codec. Mpeg4 started out as a hacked codec and has branched out in many directions by many people. So still I wonder whos codec will they use?

The more CPU usage ussually equals a slow reacting box.

[Bebop]

AVC just means Audio Video Codec. Mpeg4 started out as a hacked codec and has branched out in many directions by many people. So still I wonder whos codec will they use?

The more CPU usage ussually equals a slow reacting box.


They will use the standard H.264. If the box has a dedicated Mpeg4 chip, you don't have to worry about a slow box.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=11369

http://www.tandbergtv.com/public/site/Primary/productdocs68/EN5990_v2.pdf

[borghe]

AVC just means Audio Video Codec. Mpeg4 started out as a hacked codec and has branched out in many directions by many people. So still I wonder whos codec will they use?

The more CPU usage ussually equals a slow reacting box.
this is incorrect. DivX started out life as a hacked version of MS' then abandoned MPEG4 implementation in WMV. The MPEG4 AVC standard itself was never hacked however. It was always a legitimate standard. Also, currently while there are many standards (WMV, DivX, XviD, Real, Quicktime etc), all of them are based on MPEG4 AVC and in theory (and in practice most of the time) you can extract the m4v type video stream from each of those files and stick it in an mp4 container just fine and play it on anything that can handle .mp4.

I believe there are two main MPEG4 standards. The older H.263 which was typical of early MPEG4 codecs and was the first version of MPEG4 AVC to be legitimized. The current and most widely used version though is H.264, which is what pretty much all codec developers are using. It offers much better performance than H.263, particularly in higher resolution content (including HD content).

My more interesting question is if/when DirecTV will switch SD to MPEG4. Currently they are sending out MPEG2 at around 2-3Mbps.. with MPEG4 they could realistically take that down to 800-900Kbps and still increase their picture quality from where it is.

[950ash]

this is incorrect. DivX started out life as a hacked version of MS' then abandoned MPEG4 implementation in WMV. The MPEG4 AVC standard itself was never hacked however. It was always a legitimate standard. Also, currently while there are many standards (WMV, DivX, XviD, Real, Quicktime etc), all of them are based on MPEG4 AVC and in theory (and in practice most of the time) you can extract the m4v type video stream from each of those files and stick it in an mp4 container just fine and play it on anything that can handle .mp4.


NO its not incorrect, I just think that MPEG4 AVC is a general shortened name and right now saying there is a standard for MPEG4 would be wrong. Open source Codecs keep changing, forcing MS, Quicktime and Real to redo to keep up.

An open source video codec project which was launched in 2001 to continue Project Mayo's open source DivX codec.

Basically a short piece of history is required in here to understand this fully.

Original DivX ;-) codec was not developed from the scratch, but was just a hacked version of Microsoft's WMV video codec. This version, best known as DivX ;-) v3.11 alpha (which was the last official version of the hacked codec), quickly became ridiculously popular among videofreaks all over the world.

After its success, group of people, most notably the hacker behind the DivX ;-) codec, started developing a legal version of the codec which would be a real codec instead of basic hack of existing Microsoft codec.

They launched an open source project, dubbed as Project Mayo (also known as OpenDivX) to develop this codec. After a while the codec matured, but the original developers wanted to push it further and started a company called DivXNetworks which started developing its own closed source version, based on the work of the Project Mayo. Eventually this closed source codec was released as DivX 4 (since then, we've seen this closed source version to develop further and currently, 07/2004, the latest version of the codec is called DivX 5.2).

Now, open source guys didn't want to abandon the work of the Project Mayo and they continued to develop the codec further and the XviD was born.

[borghe]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpeg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_10
http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-4/mpeg-4.htm

I highly recomend reading up on some or all of those pages, or doing google searches for more. You are really 100% wrong. Heck, even I found out I was a little wrong.

DivX, as the pages plainly state, was a hacked version of Microsoft's MPEG4 version 2 implementation. I was wrong in that it was built for delivery in ASF, not WMV. DivX ;) extracted the codec so it could be used in other file containers such as (and most famously) AVI. However, it was still Microsoft's MPEG4 codec. MPEG4, as you can see from the links above, isn't just a term that they applied to the codec they were using. MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group. Yes, it is actually a committee that is part of ISO/SEC (the standards organization that has laid out standards from your CDROM file system to the way our plants have to operate and be maintained), that came up with MPEG1, MPEG1 Layer 2 (MP2), MPEG1 Layer 3 (MP3), etc. The video coding we are talking about here, as linked to above, is MPEG4 Layer 10, or H.264. (actually the AVC portion of MPEG4 was jointly developed by MPEG and ITU-T, who for reference was the committee that in its original inception put together many of the standards for today's phone networks).

As I also said earlier, you can in general take any compliant MPEG4 video stream, in ANY container (Real, AVI, Quicktime, DivX, XviD, OGM, etc) and stick it into any other container and it will work fine. This is because they HAVE to work fine with each other if they want their stream MPEG4 compliant. The only difference between compressors is how they get the video to that point. How good their psychoacoustic visualization is, GMC, how effectively they are doing scene detection for keyframes, etc. but the resultant video stream nowadays is generally 100% MPEG4 compliant no matter which "codec" you are using.

The other thing to realize today is that Real or DivX or whoever isn't selling you their codec today, they are selling you their containers. Real has their own DRM in place, Qicktime has their own DRM in place, DivX also. Though Quicktime and I believe DivX can both write to an MPEG4 Layer 12 file format meaning which product you use is largely irrelevant as it is just an MPEG video stream inside an MPEG file container.

Hopefully soon, all of the proprietary containers will go away and we will just be left with a standard MP4 container that can be ported anywhere. Though with DivX just releasing version 6 and with it an update to their container for menu and subtitle functions, I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. by the way, those functions are features of their container, not thier codec which is still MPEG4. Which is why you can take a "divx" video stream and stick it in an MP4 file and play it in XviD, Quicktime, DivX Player, and Real just fine.

And for the record, MS uses MPEG4 also. However the license on WMV specifically states that it may not be reencoded or have any of its streams processed, so "legally" there is no way to get the video out of a WMV container. There are some tools out there though that can do it, but because of the license you'll never see mainstream apps like Nero Encode, DivX, or whatever be able to work with WMV files, even though they are just MPEG4 AVC and AAC stuck inside a WMV container.

And this isn't even touching the AAC stuff , both of which are also part of the MPEG4 standard Part 3 to be exact).

And to bring this back on topic, hopefully all of this explains a little better why there is no "version" of MPEG4 that we have to worry about DirecTV using. As long as they are using MPEG4 encoders (which they are) and have hardware MPEG4 decoders in the boxes (which they do), the stream will play just fine and look fantastic.

My real question is how tightly will they have the files DRM'ed on the upcoming DVRs... being able to pull the HD MPEG4 files off the box like we can pull the HD MPEG2 files off of the HD Tivo would be amazing. Depending on what kind of compression rate they use it could be possible to get an hour of HD on a DVD (hopefully they don't compress it too much more than that).

[gparris]

Thanks for the information, borghe, but it seems as though there was a malfunction of the Spaceway 1 while D* was trying to get it into a geostationary orbit at 101 and though D* got it back, it will delay the Spaceway 2.

This means longer and aggravating wait for those desiring the information
about the new national HD channel rollouts and of course, the HD LiLs. :(

MPEG4 info and new boxes, etc. info is great, but the sats have got to work, first.

Any information on how LONG the delay will be in regards to the info about those tons of new HD nationals, now? :rolleyes:

[borghe]

the spaceway 1 situation was unfortunate, however it should have no bearing in spaceway 2. and hopefully it won't have much of a bearing on the entire HD project. If they can still get the spaceway 1 stuff going before spaceway 2 launches it shouldn't be held up any more than expected..

hopefully.

if spaceway2 still ends up being the longest delay, it looks like August is still a possibility for launch, meaning we should still see stuff before the end of the year.

[borghe]

well, Ariane has officially rescheduled Spaceway 2's launch for October

http://www.orbireport.com/Logs/Log05/Log2005-10.html

This is in line with DirecTV starting testing of HD locals in the top 12 markets late October for an official rollout in November.

In other DirecTV HD news, HDNet is once again again at 1920x1080, though it is now only at about 15-16Mbps. For us locals, this is about on par with the data rate we get from WDJT-DT (though I would imagine different encoders are being used). The 1280x1080 was actually preferable IMHO. The descreased resolution isn't noticeable on any but the largest of displays, while the increased bits per pixel arenoticeable on vitrtually every display. But it does go to show that DirecTV is trying to come up with the best solution for their bandwidth problem.

Though with the MPEG4 launch imminent and the number of potential additional HD subscribers capable of watching MPEG4 (thanks to locals), I would imagine any actual national HD launches from now on to be MPEG4 only. Though it's just a guess.

[hdtvtechno]

as of 08-10-05 HDNET is back to 1280x1080i


http://www.widemovies.com/dfwbitrate.html