DTV around the World - Why Argentina selected ISDB-T after testing US’s ATSC (Part 2) — Community

#1 Sep 9, 2010 at 3:07 pm

This series of articles is about how terrestrial broadcast digital TV is being implemented around the world.

Part 1 offered an overall view. This part 2 covers an interview with a colleague TV engineer that is currently testing the new DTV system in Argentina (ISDB-T), with whom I collaborated over the past few years regarding how the standard was selected. Parts 3 and 4 will cover the technical aspects of that system, a better choice for Argentina and several other countries that use systems that differ from the US system, although the selection was not technically guided.

Mr. Victor Acuña...

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#2 May 19, 2011 at 11:12 pm

Just like to point somerthing out, the article says DirecTV has 130+ HD Channels, that is not true, it has only 8 afaik, Cablevision, which is the biggest cable provider has about 16 HD channels right now and growing everyday

The first local HD channel also went live, Canal 13 (Channel 13)

#3 May 20, 2011 at 3:54 pm

Just like to point somerthing out, the article says DirecTV has 130+ HD Channels, that is not true, it has only 8 afaik, Cablevision, which is the biggest cable provider has about 16 HD channels right now and growing everyday :)

The first local HD channel also went live, Canal 13 (Channel 13)

The actual statement on the article was:

"Satellite services such as DirecTV already have HDTV within their subscription of approximately 170 channels."

You misinterpreted it by assumimng that the whole subscription was of HD channels when the word "within" conveys the idea that only a portion of those are actually HD.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

#4 May 20, 2011 at 6:20 pm

Oh yes, well, I'm just a huge cablevision defender.

#5 May 20, 2011 at 11:55 pm

I would appreciate if could please give your opinion regarding HD image quality and compression on either DirecTV or cable as you have actually experienced with your system in Buenos Aires, and how that compares to the quality of over-the-air channel 13 that I suppose you are receiving as well.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

#6 May 21, 2011 at 9:07 pm

Well, i have a 720p LCD tv that was one of the first advertised LCD Tv's advertised here, a RCA Scenium

I tried HD for a week or so, but gave it up after getting annoyed by the lack of HD channels and the worse quality (compared to normal digital cable) of SD channels, I can blame it on the TV though, since i've seen a few Samsung LED's on the same service that look amazing

From the test I had, it looked good, but not sharp enough, it felt like widescreen SD with a little bit more of quality

The best channel was ESPN HD, which actually felt HD, but yeah, they removed many of the compression with the years, so you get an idea, I tried the service a month after it was released.

Here's a few pics of my experience.

The box

The old SD device with it's cables

The HD device

National Geographic, I accidently moved the camera, my bad

The national geographic HD logo, you can clearly see the pixels

So we have 3 companies in Buenos Aires that offer HD service, Telecentro, Cablevisión and DirecTV.

Cablevision has 17 HD channels (Not including Premium channels)

DirecTV has 10 (Including Premium ones like moviecity and HBO)

Telecentro has 16 (Including premium channels)

I'd also like to point out that Cablevision was the first one to have a 3D channel, temporarely (Playboy 3D)

If you have any exact questions, feel free to ask me

#7 Jun 6, 2011 at 9:26 pm

Just like to give a little bump, I just called Cablevisión and ordered HD, they're coming to install it on saturday.

They have also added TN HD at this time, which has an amazing quality from what I heard, it is a news channel that has some amazing HD content

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO5EpAVJmiQ