OTA HD quality vs. QAM HD quality

[nlt499]

I've heard the HD broadcasts sent through cable or satelite are greatly compressed compared to OTA broadcats. And that the best HD picture comes through the OTA signal. The only HD i have coming into the house is OTA HD, I don't have a QAM tuner, so I can't compare myself.

Have any of you noticed a difference in quality between OTA HD and QAM HD?

[bits]

Originally Posted by nlt499

I've heard the HD broadcasts sent through cable or satelite are greatly compressed compared to OTA broadcats. And that the best HD picture comes through the OTA signal. The only HD i have coming into the house is OTA HD, I don't have a QAM tuner, so I can't compare myself.

Have any of you noticed a difference in quality between OTA HD and QAM HD?

I believe it really depends on how good the OTA signal is. I have not done a lot of comparison between OTA and QAM HD but my impression is that for my area and my particular situation OTA PQ is better. Lots of variables to take into account though.....

[queonda]

I'm not an expert but may also depend on signal quality. You can get alot of pixelations if your signal is not good enough. But I've also heard of Cable or sat downgrading to get more channels in (ie 1080i to 720p)

[cfaslave]

My Picture Quality with QAM & the HDHR tuner is pretty darn good. I personally don't see a difference in picture quality between QAM and OTA. I do get a much better signal quality with the QAM compared to OTA so that could be affecting my results.

[nanook105]

I see no differences in overall PQ between the two (for the few times that I actually got a decent OTA signal to compare it to)

[cat6man]

sometimes cable (and often satellite) systems steal bandwidth from HD signals to make room for other stuff...whether or not you can see it is an individual thing.

want to compare: download (free) GSpot, then open an OTA file and a cable or satellite version of the same show.

look at the bits/pixel to see if they match up or not

also, check out SD QAM channels and see which ones get more bits/pixel (and look better)

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by nlt499

I've heard the HD broadcasts sent through cable or satelite are greatly compressed compared to OTA broadcats.

First of all, it is true with DirectTV and their HDLite... It is also true for the non-HD channels on cable. But I think that so far it is not happening as much for the HD channels on cable, as they tend to send you the same OTA signal (just keep in mind that the lower bandwidth might be due to the original station using sub-channels and thus eating its bandwidth with those).

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

First of all, it is true with DirectTV and their HDLite... It is also true for the non-HD channels on cable. But I think that so far it is not happening as much for the HD channels on cable, as they tend to send you the same OTA signal (just keep in mind that the lower bandwidth might be due to the original station using sub-channels and thus eating its bandwidth with those).

i believe the cable companies do steal pixels, and it is not just the other subchannels

guess i'll have to go do a comparison now..................scheduled 'cold case' for 15 minutes on ota and qam at 10 tonight