Video its all myth that with MPEG 4 picture quality improves but fact is its not.

N

neo001

Disciple
For the last couple of days their is lots of talks about MPEG2 and MPEG 4, i have read some of the articles in other forums as well where every body talks about MPEG 4 and say its a better technology.

I have done some research on that and read some articles on MPEG4 on the net itself and found that :

-- Their is no difference in Audio and video quality in both the technologies and that the reason most of the DTH players in the world (more then 80%) are using mpeg2.

-- New DTH players are using MPEG 4 technology to accomodate more no of channels on their platform as it takes less bandwith and it only helps broadcasters not to general consumer......because with MPEG 4 BOX the total cost of the box increase very much and at the end, it effects to normal customers by end up paying more money for the same quality as they were getting with MPEG 2.

reading taken from wikipedia.
 
one on one, mpeg4 beats mpeg2

i.e.

--- say a 2 hr video compressed to mpeg2 to a size of 1000 mb or say a mpeg2 stream compressed to a badwidth of 1mbps at 25fps

vs (At the same resolution e.g 640X480)

--- The same say 2 hr video compressed to mpeg4 to same size of 1000 mb or say a mpeg4 stream compressed to a bandwidth of 1mbps at the same 25fps

The latter would give you a far superior video with less compression artifacts

On the flip side, the mpeg4 decompression algorithm needs more processing power than the mpeg2 (which is one of the reasons why mpeg4 boxes are more expensive)

Having said that, a DTH provider with a limited satellite bandwidth can either choose to

  • Offer the same number of channels on mpeg4 as on mpeg2 using the same bandwidth
  • Offer a higher number of channels on mpeg4 as on mpeg2 using the same bandwidth
  • Offer the same number of channels on mpeg4 as on mpeg2 using less bandwidth (= less satellite transponder leasing costs for the DTH provider)

The fact that a DTH provider decides to opt for the latter two choices does not mean what you quoted above
"Their is no difference in Audio and video quality in both the technologies and that the reason most of the DTH players in the world (more then 80%) are using mpeg2."
Click to expand...
 
Mpeg4= higher compression..
With limited bandwith, Higher compression maybe equal to higher number of channels, or better quality of the channels(HD)..
Mpeg4 in the end is a compression technology, they are judged on the basis of the compression percentage on same quality, rather than just quality alone..

EDIT:- SuperC beat me to it..
 
i use tatasky and have no complaints about it...happy with the quality.....is it worth changing over to reliance which is offering mpeg4 and more channels or stay with tatasky...if reliance if planning to offer more channels with mpeg4 what will be the channels....
 
neo001 said:
-- New DTH players are using MPEG 4 technology to accomodate more no of channels on their platform as it takes less bandwith and it only helps broadcasters not to general consumer......because with MPEG 4 BOX the total cost of the box increase very much and at the end, it effects to normal customers by end up paying more money for the same quality as they were getting with MPEG 2.
Click to expand...

I don't think there will be a marked increase in quality in going to MPEG4 for the reasons you mentioned above. When i say marked i mean going from say VCD to DVD, the resolution has nearly doubled. There might be perceptible difference but it will be very hard to quantify it and therfore categorically state it is better.

That's why all the hot air, if they could point to concrete figures then most debate on this subject will be over :)

However, nobody is forcing you to avail of this. These are private companies offereing their wares in a way that is profitable to them.
neo001 said:
as well where every body talks about MPEG 4 and say its a better technology.
Click to expand...

This is the perception they trying to promote to justify the shift.

And technically MPEG4 is better, but this also assumes you will be getting the full quality, i for one do not believe this will be the case.

They want it to squeeze more into a limited pipe. More will benefit the customer as it increases choice, but its a secondary benefit and for people that are not interested in 'more' it seems unfair to have to pay more for less perceptible improvement. In the end the market will decide whether this was a move worth taking.

I'm guessing they can't offer the same variety in MPEG2 as abroad as the pipe here is not as big as over there (yet). That they are proceeding to MPEG4 now tells me it isn't expected to get bigger for some time to come yet ;)
 
neo001 said:
For the last couple of days their is lots of talks about MPEG2 and MPEG 4, i have read some of the articles in other forums as well where every body talks about MPEG 4 and say its a better technology.

I have done some research on that and read some articles on MPEG4 on the net itself and found that :

-- Their is no difference in Audio and video quality in both the technologies and that the reason most of the DTH players in the world (more then 80%) are using mpeg2.

-- New DTH players are using MPEG 4 technology to accomodate more no of channels on their platform as it takes less bandwith and it only helps broadcasters not to general consumer......because with MPEG 4 BOX the total cost of the box increase very much and at the end, it effects to normal customers by end up paying more money for the same quality as they were getting with MPEG 2.

reading taken from wikipedia.
Click to expand...

Mate you research is incomplete. Have you tried coding/decoding yourself? I have been doing it for last 4 years (same time when I got my handycam) and can tell you it all about tweaking parameters. If you aren't using the right parameters you can't blame the technology to be wrong. Get your facts right.

~LT
 
See what i am trying to say here is both mpeg 2 and mpeg4 have almost same picture quality .....no difference in that. and also with MPEG 4 customer is not gonna benefit of any kind.

Further HD channels can also be transmitted on mpeg 2 as well.
 
neo001 said:
See what i am trying to say here is both mpeg 2 and mpeg4 have almost same picture quality .....no difference in that. and also with MPEG 4 customer is not gonna benefit of any kind.

Further HD channels can also be transmitted on mpeg 2 as well.
Click to expand...

wrong

a blanket statement like that cannot be made.

i can even show you samples of mpeg2 video with better quality than mpeg4 video :bleh::bleh:

the thing is.. for the same file size; mpeg4 will have better quality.
 
sTALKEr said:
the thing is.. for the same file size; mpeg4 will have better quality.
Click to expand...

Correct... and similarly, for similar quality MPEG4 with produce smaller file size. So smaller file size = lesser bandwidth requirement = more channels... how doesn't that really benefit customer?
 
ohh bother..

we'r all wasting our time here on this thread.

this neo chap is that pseudo DishTV marketing rep..

he's not gonna listen to us.. just read his old posts.
 
sTALKEr said:
this neo chap is that pseudo DishTV marketing rep..

he's not gonna listen to us.. just read his old posts.
Click to expand...

Damn... is that so. Gotta check his history.... or maybe you're right. Cause I get the general idea by his posts in this thread alone... :D
 
I have sun dth from start of this year. I must say , sky or dish tv cannot come near to the quality which sun dth is giving with mpeg4 system(they give free Homecast or Coship MPEG4 receiver).

OT: sun dth gives 107 channels(all south and UTV channels etc) for Rs1999/- including free 1 year subscription. from next year onwards , have to pay Rs75/pm for these channels.I am sure BIG dth cant beat this!also ,I have taken Venus Plus subscription for 3 months.it includes HBO,star movies,zee movie channels,NGC,cartoon etc.

SUN DTH
 
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