Cable IPTV disappointing compared to VDSL

[ColinTaylor]

Yes, levels of compression. OTA is the least compressed.

Ah, OK. So they're not uncompressed. That make more sense.

In the UK only the pubic service broadcasters have OTA (aka DTT) HD channels, the rest are SD. The bitrates for HD channels are broadly the same for OTA and cable:

With streaming services, they can test 'live' how bad of a signal most consumers won't notice. And there are many, many people that don't see it (we have a few here).

I assume by "streaming" you're referring to internet services like Netflix and Amazon Prime delivered over a normal internet connection? They have the advantage of being able to deliver UHD (4k) which OTA can't (at least that's the situation in the UK).

 

[L&LD]

Yes, 'broadly the same' is not the same.

UHD, highly compressed, is worse than (less) compressed HD/1080p. Lots of variables that streaming services like to abuse when marketing their products. Same for the music streaming services. Yes, their best may sound better initially, but compared to even a CD (let alone vinyl on a good turntable), their best sounds like crap when played over a music system.

 

[tipstir]

OTA been using that since 2012 build dual ANT 40 miles = 80 miles range with outdoor AMP J-CLAP and 8-way distributor amp POC system. ANT 1 is pointed to SE and ANT 2 is pointed to NW. I get over 137 channels then I using two 4K UHD, two LCD 1080i/P and 1 LED 1080i/P that seems to be able to do 4K UHD odd but it does work when used with ONN 2023 4K Streamer. I had the Business Tier 4 tech from Comcast out there to replace the line from the Modem to the Module box they have there stuff housed in. He use the Coax Orange he called sticky one. I had shown him what I got over the air with my setup here. He said look like better than what they were offering over CableTV. Sure it would be better. My point is that everyone setup is different and what I've seen that for years ABC was using 720p some of the other networks were using 480p they have improved. Dolby Digital Plus kicks on when they do broadcast with it. Now with the promise of TrueHD 7.1 or Dolby Atmos still and 4K over the air. Right now as long as they don't want use to use a ATC 3.0 box which I am not too keen on using. OTA signal I getting seems to be very good. don't see much micro blocks like when I first started doing this. Thanks to the Cable company for installing all brand new lines for me was the best thing. I can make my own lines myself but it was easy to use theirs.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes, 'broadly the same' is not the same.

I was only commenting on the situation in the UK. You can see from the two images I posted that the bitrates per channel between OTA and cable were nearly identical. Obviously it's difficult to state categorically whether one is better than the other as they use variable bitrates and have multiple channels multiplexed together. Some channels on different multiplexes are allocated more or less bandwidth than others on the same multiplex. I have no idea what the situation is in the US or Canada.

 

[drinkingbird]

OTA been using that since 2012 build dual ANT 40 miles = 80 miles range with outdoor AMP J-CLAP and 8-way distributor amp POC system. ANT 1 is pointed to SE and ANT 2 is pointed to NW. I get over 137 channels then I using two 4K UHD, two LCD 1080i/P and 1 LED 1080i/P that seems to be able to do 4K UHD odd but it does work when used with ONN 2023 4K Streamer. I had the Business Tier 4 tech from Comcast out there to replace the line from the Modem to the Module box they have there stuff housed in. He use the Coax Orange he called sticky one. I had shown him what I got over the air with my setup here. He said look like better than what they were offering over CableTV. Sure it would be better. My point is that everyone setup is different and what I've seen that for years ABC was using 720p some of the other networks were using 480p they have improved. Dolby Digital Plus kicks on when they do broadcast with it. Now with the promise of TrueHD 7.1 or Dolby Atmos still and 4K over the air. Right now as long as they don't want use to use a ATC 3.0 box which I am not too keen on using. OTA signal I getting seems to be very good. don't see much micro blocks like when I first started doing this. Thanks to the Cable company for installing all brand new lines for me was the best thing. I can make my own lines myself but it was easy to use theirs.

Wow, that's the biggest ramble I've seen in a long time.

The only thing I can decipher is that you can get 137 OTA channels. Of course only probably 20 are unique, the rest are just duplicates.....

 

[sfx2000]

With streaming services, they can test 'live' how bad of a signal most consumers won't notice. And there are many, many people that don't see it (we have a few here).

Also we need to keep in mind the upstream sources - going back to OP, switching from Provider A to Provider B, there are dependencies on what is happening upstream, and what middleboxes do for the content streams...

transcoding is a reality - and in my experience, there is a quality hit when it's done...