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Comcast stomping HDTV signals to fit three channels into the space of two
No sooner had Comcast relented on its BitTorrent spoofing scandal than we see the cable company cutting corners elsewhere, now compressing HDTV shows so much that blocky noise is plainly visible on most of its HDTV channels. Trying to compete against rival services with more channels, Comcast is doing this to shoehorn three HD channels into a space occupied by two just a few weeks ago.
The eagle eyes at AV Science Forum compared Comcast HDTV images with the same frames received over competing video service Verizon FiOS, and demonstrated a readily apparent drop in quality of the Comcast signal over the past few weeks. Apparently Comcast hopes none of its viewers will notice the reduced picture quality, and will be more impressed with the increased quantity of HD channels.
We’re wondering if Time Warner isn’t compressing its signals a bit more, too, because when watching the CBS coverage of March Madness basketball last weekend, we noticed a lot of suspiciously grainy-looking HDTV. So is HDTV picture quality going the way of cell phone sound — with cheapskate companies stomping down the quality as much as they can get away with? Anyone else notice this? Follow the link below for more damning evidence.
via AV Science Forum
By murray at 3:02 PM ON 03/31/08
Just like SD cable. Just like cell phones, and just like landline phones ever since they went digital. Providers are constantly sacrificing quality for profits. In this case it seems particularly ironic, since the whole point of HD channels is the high resolution that they're destroying with compression.
By aveeguy at 4:18 PM ON 03/31/08
My weekend of hd basketball viewing was from a pristine uncompressed over the air signal.
By spuffler at 8:00 PM ON 03/31/08
No matter who offers the service, no matter how the data gets delivered on a certain day or through a certain pipe, one service provider trend will always be to get more revenues from existing pipes. Right now, Comcast is the poster child for setting the limits too low and having a majority of customers in an upheaval. 5 years from now, you can bet that FiOS will get squeezed for more revenues. Right now, FiOS is the poster child for goodness and light. We can see a ripoff years before it happens? Yup, we consumers are WELL trained. Mark our words, something that costs this much will not be paid off for more than a decade and the quality will be decreased after there are no alternatives that can keep prices lowered. This is known as SOP... I meant 'ROI', sorry for the typo.
By spuffler at 8:02 PM ON 03/31/08
Sorry for the dp - your website told me it had an error loading.
By murc at 9:00 PM ON 03/31/08
There should be a way to check it....ya know, Like I can go to a bunch of random sites to check my internet bandwidth speed. there needs to be the same thing from HD channels.
By IsoTek at 10:57 PM ON 03/31/08
Comcast, the bastion of corporate cablevision greed. Bastards! I don't even have HD cable and I am pissed. Here is hoping that the consumers that are getting shafted in this manner complain once again to the FCC. I hear they already were fined for poor service in Maryland, I hope it happens again and again until they realize how important we consumers are to their enterprise.
By Traveler at 12:08 PM ON 04/01/08
Cabel sucks so bad compared to DirecTV.
By nilus at 9:34 PM ON 05/06/08
I have Comcast HD and I haven't noticed a quality loss. Of course I never noticed my bit torrents being throttled either. I honestly bet that this is just a Satellite provider plant making Comcast look bad, The cable companies and Satellite companies seem to be going at it like politicians lately.
By Soulraver at 5:40 PM ON 11/05/09
Yes it is true, i switched from satellite to comcast to watch sports net but the quality difference very noticeable.
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Yes it is true, i switched from satellite to comcast to watch sports net but the quality difference very noticeable...More »