9200 Hard Drive Space

[dm_4u]

Has anyone noticed, that since Bell has started heavy compression of the HD signals, that when recording a one hour HD program, it takes up only 48-50 minutes of Hard Drive space?

Unfortunately the picture seems to suffer a major hit unless it's a live telecast.

[rsambuca]

I haven't taken the time to figure out which ones for sure yet, but I have actually noticed that a few of my 1 hour HD recordings only free up about 30 min of Hard Drive space after deletion. I think NBC West was one of them, but I have yet to confirm.

Maybe we can all compile our findings here so we can avoid the compressed channels.

[bret3d]

I can verify that TSN-HD, NBC West-HD and CBS East-HD have started the new compression. CBS and NBC are downrezzed to 720 as well. TSN is native at 720.

I don't think that is cool to change the resolution.

[dosborne]

Yes, I've noticed that too. We finally got all the shows cleared off the 9200 and when it started recording new shows it was noticably different comparing the time recorded against available capacity for HD shows.

example 5 HD 1 hour shows on disk and it still had over 21 hours left.

[GumbyDan]

I can't say that I've noticed visually a reduction in quality. That said, it is difficult to compare if not done side by side on the same content.
Why am I getting that sneaking suspicion that I'm yet again being screwed over.

[VuMax]

Obviously you all missed EVu's new promotional press release.


Now, with your HD PVR from Bell ExpressVu, enjoy increased recording capability! That's right, you can now fit 5 extra hours of HD entertainment on your 9200 HD PVR - 6 extra hours on your 9242 !!!

And you don't have to do a thing to receive this enhanced benefit. No upgrade necessary! No settings to change! Just record and enjoy!

Please ignore the specs in your manual and enjoy the now 30 hours of HD recording space on your 9200 (36 hours on your 9242) !


Sincerely,
The Innovative Team at Bell ExpressVu

[dm_4u]

Good one

[rsambuca]

OK, I put both tuners to SD channels, and cleared the buffers by changing channels. I then deleted some HD programs that I had watched.

CBS West (822): Deleted last Thursday's CSI and Without a Trace one-hour programs. They freed up 48 and 49 minutes respectively.

WGN (825): Deleted the one-hour Smallville. It freed up only 30 minutes!

[Huff]

Last night, I watched 2 HD shows I recorded last week - "Cane" from Nov/6 and "Greys Anatomy" from Nov/8. Both shows had disgustingly poor video quality. I've watched 100's of hours of HD (Panny plasmas will "make" you do that! ) and can easily tell the difference between HD and SD. Both these shows appeared to me to be somewhere in between. Definitely NOT full HD.

When I deleted the shows, Cane (60 min.) freed up 37 mins. of HD time left while Greys (1 hr. 7 mins.) freed up just 35 minutes!

I also noticed that the quick audio/video freeze/resume glitches lasted a fraction longer than usual and chopped off more of the audio/video than usual. I found myself skipping back and replaying to catch the words that were cut off. That makes sense if, in fact, the show is "compressed".

The quality of the HD feed means more to me than the features of the PVR. For the first time since I bought the 9200 over 18 months ago I'm seriously considering dumping it (and BEV) and switching providers.

[57]

Originally Posted by bret3d

TSN is native at 720.

Clarification - TSN is 1080i native, but may supply BEV with 720P like Global does.

See: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17721

[rsambuca]

Huff - What specific channels were they recorded from?

[Huff]

Originally Posted by rsambuca

Huff - What specific channels were they recorded from?

Cane was from CBS West, Greys from ABC West. I record mainly on the West feeds later at night so I'm not recording while I'm watching. I've found that trying to watch a recorded HD program while another HD show is recording causes more frequent playback "freeze/resume" problems.

I've been wondering whether the recent apparent downgrade in HD video feed quality has anything to do with the launch of the HD SuperChannels in preview mode.

[rsambuca]

Originally Posted by Huff

Cane was from CBS West, Greys from ABC West. I record mainly on the West feeds later at night so I'm not recording while I'm watching. I've found that trying to watch a recorded HD program while another HD show is recording causes more frequent playback "freeze/resume" problems.

I've been wondering whether the recent apparent downgrade in HD video feed quality has anything to do with the launch of the HD SuperChannels in preview mode.

In a round-about way it is related. To make room for all of the HD channels, I believe Bell is putting 3 channels on some transponders instead of the usual 2 channels. Since each transponder has a limited bandwith, well, the results are obvious.

[bret3d]

Originally Posted by 57

Clarification - TSN is 1080i native, but may supply BEV with 720P like Global does.

See: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17721

Thanks for that information. I didn't know that. I (wrongly) assumed that since ESPN was 720p native, that TSN was as well. AFAIK, BEV has always sent out TSN as 720p.

But I'm pretty sure (also assuming) they are not getting the NBC and CBS feeds as 720p but are changing them themselves to save bandwidth. This just happened within the last few weeks.

[omneon]

Originally Posted by 57
Clarification - TSN is 1080i native, but may supply BEV with 720P like Global does.

See: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17721

I have no idea where this information came from, but to set the record straight Global supplies 1080I to BEV, it is also far from the compressed crap they dish out to the customer. The feed at this point is above 20mbps and soon will be supplied with an uncompressed HD-SDI signal 1.3gbps, lets seee what they do with that..