Seriously done with the utterly expensive DStv

rakabos3 said:
You CANNOT watch sport online. Not in any possible way is that a permanent option. I also would have cancelled my DSTV if i had another place to watch sport.
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Actually you can. And it costs less depending with whom did you register as a provider. Pirated transmissions are there too but this is not the right platform to discuss that. However, rugby matches can not be viewed online with any reliability or consistency.
 
Roman4604 said:
Not for a while, the overwhelming majority of HDTV broadcasts (incl MC) are at 1080i

Then in my option you have something misconfigured on the HDPVR->HDTV side.

With movies for example, only time downloads approach the quality of that on a DSTV HD channel is if they are very large i.e. > 10GB thus with a bitrate approaching DSTV HD channels which run at an avg of 16Mbps.
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Not even close to been right :D Is fine with me if you are confused, as long as you don't confuse others.
The second part of your post is ok, however you forgot to mention that the 10-16mbit per second data rate does NOT use the latest and best tweak codec! Big difference in signal quality! A properly encoded, 1980x1080p @ 60fps, can only be downloaded from the net. Not even blueray standards support that! (BD only purports 24fps at true Hd resolution)
 
I do think that as a method of attaining larger premiums from customers Multichoice limits their boutique options, however, I do think this is going to turn around and bite them right in the ass. It is hard for large corporates to adapt to the fact that people have less money, you cant charge what you want anymore and people will pay up. Same with Eskom, they think they discovered a gold mine, "hell we can increase our prices forever" attitude.

*Random rant: It boils down to investors, if they don't see growth, they pull out. And this has been a destructive force to humans the last 60 years. People receiving money without putting anything back.
 
intel8080 said:
Actually you can. And it costs less depending with whom did you register as a provider. Pirated transmissions are there too but this is not the right platform to discuss that. However, rugby matches can not be viewed online with any reliability or consistency.
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You know you just contradicted yourself right??
 
intel8080 said:
Actually you are wrong :D Your memory does not serve you 'correctly'. DSTV does NOT broadcast in 1080i nowadays. Sorry for the bad news.
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Actually it does seem to be broadcast at 1080i, at least that's the broadcast quality my TV is now receiving. Where are you getting your facts from?

However there are some arguments that 720p is better than 1080i.

Quote from Multichoice:

" Today, the two HD resolutions available for broadcast are :

720 x 1280, progressive scanning, 50 frames per second (720p50) 1080 x 1920, interlaced scanning, 25 frames per second (1080i25).

The standard for the MultiChoice broadcast of HD content is 720p50, however, MultiChoice may from time to time broadcast in 1080i25. "
 
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intel8080 said:
Actually you are wrong :D Your memory does not serve you 'correctly'. DSTV does NOT broadcast in 1080i nowadays. Sorry for the bad news.
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Only bad news is how blatantly you believe your own ignorance.

Never mind that I've had dealings with senior MC technical staff, here is a selection of posts from the DSTV forum indicating source content & transmission formats ...

http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=98509&postcount=32
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=93034&postcount=12
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=68856&postcount=84
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=91035&postcount=16
 
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intel8080 said:
Not even close to been right :D Is fine with me if you are confused, as long as you don't confuse others.
The second part of your post is ok, however you forgot to mention that the 10-16mbit per second data rate does NOT use the latest and best tweak codec! Big difference in signal quality! A properly encoded, 1980x1080p @ 60fps, can only be downloaded from the net. Not even blueray standards support that! (BD only purports 24fps at true Hd resolution)
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What material are you getting that is 1080p60?... Pretty much everything is shot at 24fps, so are your "sources" just creating 36 extra frames so you can have bragging rights?
 
I am not even going to bother responding to some people in here. One tip though. If you want to know more facts (and not guesses) about the DSTV hidef signal quality, codec used, material broadcast, video upscaling etc etc, please visit the DSTV forum. There you'll see and hopefully understand why people complain and what is all about.
@Phaktza You are correct. BD was a very good video standard - 10 years ago. Even my cellphone records video at a better frame rate now (Full Hd @60fps p) WTF That's why I can not recommend BD for home video archiving. Even if you record at full Hd and 60p, after you compile the BD the fps will be dropped to 24p in order to play in older BD players as per BD standard :( You can go around that but then is not standard anymore. Actually you can save true 1920x1080@60p on a dvd disc in 264 format. The thing is, just like the BD, it can not be used in a player. However it will play in a computer. I hope this helps. (hint: blueray standard - wikipedia is your friend)
 
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I did an analysis of what DSTV really costs me per month by comparing it to costs if I didn't have DSTV:

DSTV premium: R590x12=R7080
PVR access: R65x12=R780
Decoder care: R40x12=R480
PVR electricity: 35W x24h x 365 days = 306 kWh ~ R330
-------------------------------------------------------
Total: R8670 or R722 per month


No DSTV, but still want some sport, news and entertainment (the legal way)
Drifta: R49x12=R588
Easyview: R20x12=R240
Bluray's rent: R100x12=R1200
Petrol to get dvd’s: R50x12= R600
-------------------------------------------------------
Total: R2628


Difference (what DSTV actually costs me): R6042 or ~R500 per month
 
ajax said:
I did an analysis of what DSTV really costs me per month by comparing it to costs if I didn't have DSTV:

DSTV premium: R590x12=R7080
PVR access: R65x12=R780
Decoder care: R40x12=R480
PVR electricity: 35W x24h x 365 days = 306 kWh ~ R330
-------------------------------------------------------
Total: R8670 or R722 per month


No DSTV, but still want some sport, news and entertainment (the legal way)
Drifta: R49x12=R588
Easyview: R20x12=R240
Bluray's rent: R100x12=R1200
Petrol to get dvd’s: R50x12= R600
-------------------------------------------------------
Total: R2628


Difference (what DSTV actually costs me): R6042 or ~R500 per month
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Uh... so your DSTV is on 24 hr's a day but you only going to watch 4 or so blu-rays a month. Hardly comparing apples to apples.
 
doobyscoo said:
Uh... so your DSTV is on 24 hr's a day but you only going to watch 4 or so blu-rays a month. Hardly comparing apples to apples.
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The PVR is on 24 hours a day yes, doesn't mean I'm watching it. The electricity consumption hardly changes between standby and active.
 
Penquin said:
Yes, retail movies that is shot in 24p in a standard player. As a storage medium, I'll write a 2440p@120 video on there and I'll play it back on my PC with the correct codec used.
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On a PC you can, but not on a home Blu-Ray player (or at the very least they will not be capable of decoding 1080p60). As such it is not a standard for providing optical HD content. As this discussion involves commercial content, you will not purchase or rent a 1080p DVD that supports more than 24 fps.
 
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phaktza said:
On a PC you can, but not on a home Blu-Ray player (or at the very least they will not be capable of decoding 1080p60). As such it is not a standard for providing optical HD content. As this discussion involves commercial content, you will not purchase or rent a 1080p DVD that supports more than 24 fps.
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Yes, you are correct. Most Blu-ray players only have chips than can decode up to x264 level 4.1 which is 1080p24, but some new players are starting to support level 4.2, which supports 1080p60. It's all up to the player/decoder. Blu-ray disc still have some legs as optical storage media though, players justs need to be updated. Personally I prefer that we do away with optical media all together as it's becoming rather redundant with fast internet and low cost flash memory be it SD or flash disk.
 
Can the human eye differentiate between 1080p24 and 1080p60?
 
Penquin said:
Yes, you are correct. Most Blu-ray players only have chips than can decode up to x264 level 4.1 which is 1080p24, but some new players are starting to support level 4.2, which supports 1080p60. It's all up to the player/decoder. Blu-ray disc still have some legs as optical storage media though, players justs need to be updated. Personally I prefer that we do away with optical media all together as it's becoming rather redundant with fast internet and low cost flash memory be it SD or flash disk.
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Thing is, regardless of whether new players support decoding of 1080p60, the discs will always be released for the lowest common denominator. A bit of an exercise in futility then. We hopefully our bandwidth will soon catch up to our TVs and we will have streaming 1080p60.
 
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