JCM

I think jergenf nailed it in a reply to a different post. He says cable and satellite broadcast at 400X480 lines and OTA digital at 640X480 (or sometimes even 704X480) -- while DVD is at 720X480. So the reason for the better DVD picture quality lies with the horizontal resolution. I didn't know that. Thanks, jergenf!

Considering the investment that Dish must have in SD equipment, I doubt that we'll see an improvement in their SD signal quality anytime soon. If they follow this forum -- and I'll bet they do -- they should be aware that there is considerable customer interest in better SD. And I'm sure they know it's possible. It's just a matter of spending the money.

Here's the full quote of jergenf's post (hope he doesn't mind):

>The quality of digital OTA in SD is likely to be better than a typical sat >SD channel for two reasons.

>One the bit stream is genarally smaller for sat and cable channels >than for the average OTA channel. For example in a 6 Mhz >bandwidth of analog station the entire bandwidth is used, with digital >OTA station about 4 SD channels fit in that same space. And with >satellite and cable 6 SD channels fit in that same bandwidth. >Obviously sat and cable want to compress more to maximize the >number of channels where OTA doesn't need to. You get the full >640x480 (or even 704x480) pixels with OTA digital. Cable and sat >are arround 400x480 because they just need to compete with >analog quality levels. Now that people have HD sets they are now >noticing the difference in quality.
>FYI: OTA analog would equate to 320x480 (color TVs not B&W) in >quality so cable and sat are still quite an improvement. Also DVD is >720x480 same as broadcast quality in the studio.

>Two some stations are sending HD 24 by 7 so when they show SD >quality programs it up converted to HD. This means smaller pixel >sizes and more pixels in all are displayed which ensures that SD >remains at studio quality levels.