[opendtv] Re: [Fwd: RE: [oldvtrs] So Much for HDTV]

At 3:29 AM -0400 8/19/08, Cliff Benham wrote:




An appropriate compression expression might be: /Just because you can
doesn't mean you should./



......



This is precisely why I have always said, 'Compression is evil'.

Tim Stoffel
Yes compression can be evil, but this is placing the blame on the wrong issue. You can send an analog signal down 1000 feet of coax and still see the video at the other end. But if you want that video to be pristine you need an equalizing DA to compensate for the cable.
There was a time that the TV industry was driven by quality - but those days are gone, both in terms of the quality of the content AND the quality of the pictures. Now it is about quantity and controlling costs. And did I mention cramming in more commercials in any given time period?
Like any other technology video compression works well if it is used properly. As John Turner noted, 18.4 Mbps is barely adequate to deliver a high quality picture ON AVERAGE - when the peak bit rate requirements hit there will be visible artifacts.
I'd like to think that this situation will improve as compression technology improves. Unfortunatley each new advancement is being used to cram in more stuff, rather than delivering higher quality in the same bits. I heard once that DirecTV kept turning down the quality until the phones started ringing off the hook.
Then again, we may be too critical. The AVERAGE CONSUMER probably does not care, or even see some of this crap. In the past we lived with snow, ghosts (multipath) and interlace artifacts. Now we have a new set of issues.
One might conjecture that the time may be approaching where people will pay a bit more for good video quality. This is certainly the main promotional thrust for Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, it appears that the videophile market is rather small.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are content to accept the commercial arrogance of the video-defilers... 

Regards
Craig



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