[Paulo]

Yesterday, I was flipping between Can/US channels that were airing the exact same show ("Minute to Win it" & "America got talent") at the same time, just to see if I could see any PQ difference. I was hard pressed trying to tell which transmision was better. I was wondering if the rest of you feel the same or was this just an anomaly?

PS I was comparing CityTV HD 57-1 with NBC HD 2-1 (both with solid signals 90%+)
Honestly I couldn't tell them apart, also goes for other US/Can channels airing the same program at the same time.

Paul

 

[vjose78]

Are you sure the CityTV feed wasn't simulcast on the NBC feed? That could explain a lot.

 

[rmcdumb]

It is impossible to simsub ota channels.

 

[james039]

Depends on which channels. City-HD is very good for preserving HD content. OMNI on the other hand, you would probably notice a substantial difference because it's showing upscaled content rather than true HD. Check the Letterman show tonight and compare CBS to OMNI.

 

[stampeder]

rmcdumb, he said simulcast, not simsub. They're entirely different things.

 

[Jase88]

This debate has carried on for some time--with varying opinions.

My own impressions are that PQ is generally the same, with the exception of OMNI (as mentioned). Though I wouldn't call OMNI's PQ terrible...but there is a difference no doubt.

 

[PPL4GOLF]

OMNI1's picture is terrible when showing Letterman. It's a good 480p at best LOL

Why they do that I have no idea. I suppose OMNI1 HD on cable/sat is the same way.

Apart from this exception, the quality is similar. The most interesting comparison is on Buffalo 720p stations and Toronto 1080i stations.

I rather watch 1080i to avoid overscans. The 720p channels generally looks good though.

 

[recneps77]

It depends entirely on the channel.
CITY's quite good at giving full quality feeds, as said.
Others.. not so much.
Sometimes, though, the Canadian stations are actually better than the US ones.
like, WUTV has horrendous picture quality for many shows. Always grainy looking. The equivalent cdn station often beats it without effort.
Though, if that station is global, i'd rather watch it on fox than be subjected to popup and shrinking credit ads all the time.

 

[99gecko]

I can't comment on the OMNI's since I rarely watch them. I do however find the Canadian OTA's to be generally better than the US stations showing the same show in terms of PQ. Whether they get the simulcast correct is a discussion for other threads.

I have always figured this was due to net sum effect of the Cdn stations providing a stronger signal (proximity) and some US stations providing a lower bitrate (due to multicasting).

Generally, if I am to record a show, I choose the Cdn OTA station first. If it is a show that is on an American station that has a weaker signal (for me) I might choose the sat. signal to record. It is interesting to record the show via sat. and OTA at the same time - generally the sat. feed consume about 2/3 the space on the harddrive as the OTA version, which is an indicator of bitrate. I acknowledge that not everyone has/needs/wants these options however.

cheers.

 

[Paulo]

Thanks guys for all the feed back.... I am still a little "green" here when it comes to OTA stuff, as I have only had my setup running for the last 4 weeks or so.
I have just recently integrated my PVR so I can record the OTA. I will see as time goes on which channels I will choose to record certain shows (US vs Can counterpart). As for Omni and some of the other OTA channels I get, I really don't watch anything else except whats on CTV, CBC, Global, CityTV and the 4 major US networks.

Paul