HD Lite On Dish Network?

I apologize if this has been discussed before. As I've stated in other posts I'm about to pull the trigger and switch to dish network from cable for various reasons. And of course the MPEG4 HD programming on the horizon helps. However, tonight I'm online and run into some banter about how all of Direct TV and some of Dish Network HD programming is HD Lite. What is HD Lite? The HD Lite stuff + some posts in the cable forums where people are amazed about the HD PQ on cable after they left a satellite provider has now left me scratching my head. Also, if Dish Network does use the HD Lite stuff does it make a big difference in the PQ? How does it work? Will they continue to use it with the new MPEG4 programming? Big thanks for your input in advance.

Dish Network is not broadcasting the voom channels in their full bit capacity.When Voom was a company be itself they broadcasted the channels to their full capacity.Yes we are getting cheated on the quality.Those of us that remember the old Voom the way it used to be knows what Im talking about. :(

Oh yea ,Im afraid theres no guarantee that Dish after MPEG 4 is in place have any plans to have those channels FULL HD.Your guess is as good as mine.

All the Voom channels are being transmitted at 1280x1080i. Voom used to transmit them at full resolution at 1920x1080i. The other HD channels in Dish Network are being transmitted at 1920x1080i except for ESPN which is at 1280x720p.

No one knows if the Voom channels will go back to the original resolution even with the MPEG4 roll out. Looks like UniversalHD will be launched at 1920x1080i on Feb. 1st and ESPN2HD will be at 1280x720p.

Ya when I talked to a DNtech she told me not to worry because my television couldn't even utilize 1920x1080i. I guess I have a weird 1080p Samsung that can't show 1080i reselution!!! LOL
I'll assume thats what the higher up at Dish told them to say. Just tell everyone that most televisions can't utilize the higher res pics. I for one can deffinatly tell a differance. What is TNTHD bradcast in? It looks like crap most of the time also.

This topic has generated a lot of discussion on other forums, as well. There even appears to be a grass roots effort to lobby the FCC and FTC against E* and D*, among others, for claiming that they provide HD, when what they are really broadcasting is the so-called "HD Lite."

Because 1280x1080i is not one of the "generally accepted" resolution standards of HD, as defined by the FCC, many people believe that corporations like E* are guilty of fraud, for advertising their product as such.

This is somewhat removed from what I think consumers might perceive as the primary issue, PQ. Do your eyes recognize the difference between 1920x1080i and 1280x1080i? How about the source material? That is, was a program recorded in HD or SD and upconverted? How is the broadcast of each type of source material impacted by the bitrates and resolution used? There are often obvious variations in PQ between HD channels and sometimes HD programs on the same channel, that beg the questions.

I'm a dedicated fan of HD and find the PQ of "HD-Lite" preferable to SD, on Dish. I'm dissapointed that I might not be getting the full potential of what Dish can offer and my monitor can reproduce, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go to Washington over degrees of PQ.

Because 1280x1080i is not one of the "generally accepted" resolution standards of HD, as defined by the FCC, many people believe that corporations like E* are guilty of fraud, for advertising their product as such.
That never ceases to amuse me, especially when you have someone on a message board blowing his stack over "false advertising" and "fraud", and claiming how someone who's a friend of a friend whose third cousin removed is an attorney says that he has a good case for a lawsuit. :D :D :D

Yeah, why don't you go ahead and file that lawsuit, Skippy, and let us all know how it turns out.

This is somewhat removed from what I think consumers might perceive as the primary issue, PQ. Do your eyes recognize the difference between 1920x1080i and 1280x1080i......
I'm dissapointed that I might not be getting the full potential of what Dish can offer and my monitor can reproduce, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go to Washington over degrees of PQ.
And I think that's the most important thing: What do your eyes tell you? On some channels, I find the difference in PQ blatantly obvious, on others, like Monsters-HD and RAVE-HD, I'd be lying if I said I see any difference.

I remember there was a thread on the AVS Forum where they did a side-by-side comparison of screenshots from the same programs on Voom channels, a 1920X1080i presentation vs. a 1280X1080i presentation. Aside from proving that they REALLY need to find female companions to spend some quality time with, the worst difference between the pictures that I could see was a little bit of blurring on someone's face. Mind you, this someone was in a distant shot, and the face was blurred to begin with, but the way these characters were arguing so passionately about how utterly horrible the PQ was made me feel awkward. I mean, I looked at the two screenshots and really couldn't see any difference. Where my eyes that bad that I could not see what, according to them, was so plainly obvious? God forbid I post a message saying that I couldn't really see a difference; I would have to deal with the collective wraths of fanboys chastising my pathetic eyes for not being able to see the evils of Voom's HD-Lite.

So the truth of the matter is that there are people who will swear up and down that there is a huge difference; there are people who will look at it and not be able to see a difference; and then there are the people who will complain about it even though they don't really care, just because they have nothing better to do but complain about anything under the sun. The bottom line is: Let your eyes be the judge.

BTW that "I'm not ready to go to Washington over degrees of PQ" line was brilliant. :D :D :D

Thanks for the infromation guys. I've visited other forums and found some threads very similar to what GRN described. I came away feeling about the same way he did. On that note I must say that I truly respect peoples opions here more than anywere.

1280x1080i can't look all that bad. Of course I'd rather have 1920x1080i or 1920x720p but I agree with the thought that the PQ depends a lot on the original source material.

I still think I'm going to switch to E* soon. I'd rather have more HD programming of which some is broadcast in 1280x1080i than only a few HD stations in full HD. Besides, how do I know that my cable company doesn't braodcast some stations in HD Lite.

"I'm dissapointed that I might not be getting the full potential of what Dish can offer and my monitor can reproduce, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go to Washington over degrees of PQ."

Exactly my feeling about this.

Yeah, why don't you go ahead and file that lawsuit, Skippy, and let us all know how it turns out.
:yippee:
Aside from proving that they REALLY need to find female companions to spend some quality time with, the worst difference between the pictures that I could see was a little bit of blurring on someone's face.Hillarious! I had the same reaction when I saw the comparisons.:D BTW that "I'm not ready to go to Washington over degrees of PQ" line was brilliant.Thanks, but don't get me wrong... if those legislators even think about diminishing my right to sit in a dimly lit smoke-filled room and watch scantily-clad women dancing around fire poles... well, my bags will be packed and my ass in D.C. faster than you can say higher definition! I think it's all a matter of priorities.

hmmm, on second thought... maybe that wasn't the most appropriate example ;)

What is TNTHD bradcast in? It looks like crap most of the time also.
1920X1080i if I'm not mistaken. Keep in mind, a lot of the shows that are broadcast on TNT-HD are upconverted from SD, with a few exceptions, like the more recent episodes of shows like Law & Order, Without a Trace, Las Vegas and Cold Case. Those are in true HD.

Additionally, NBA telecasts and original dramas likeThe Closer and Wanted, as well as movies like The Lord of The Rings are in true HD.

Thanks for the info. I just know that when I watch TNT it looks pretty bad compaired to others. One thing I have noticed about upconverted movies is that when I watch them on HDMV net they look great on the other channels like KUGF, Monsters and TNTHD they look pretty lame. I was watching Quigley down under last week on HDMV and was impressed by the PQ for an older movie.

Thanks for the info. I just know that when I watch TNT it looks pretty bad compaired to others. One thing I have noticed about upconverted movies is that when I watch them on HDMV net they look great on the other channels like KUGF, Monsters and TNTHD they look pretty lame. I was watching Quigley down under last week on HDMV and was impressed by the PQ for an older movie.

Now you have ruined for me, I thought the quality on TNT was very good, of course, usually all I watch on there was NBA and sometimes movies. Like some the other guys said, my eyes must be going bad, damn and I thought the Lasix surgery was going to work :)

I never saw a sporting event on TNTHD yet so maybe I will be happy with them in the future. I was just stating that IMHO I don't think the TNTHD channel shows the quality of HDMVN even when showing older upconverted material.