HD Signal Compression Gives Antennas The Edge Over Cable And Satellite
Matt weighed in on the subject when our site first launched and it looks like his thoery holds up true. People are not going to take compressed HD garbage if they don't have to. Broadcast HDTV is very common place now a days and can be had for a lot cheaper. Simply put up the antenna and enjoy!
From the article:
All signals transmitted via cable or satellite are compressed. HD signals in
their purest form are much too large to fit the bandwidth available via cable or
satellite. A recent article in Multichannel News suggests that a single pure HD
stream at the highest resolution specification in wide commercial use consumes
about 36 times the bandwidth available via one channel in a modern cable
network.
So cable and satellite providers compress the signal remarkably
to conserve space and add programming. And according to Terrestrial Digital
President Richard Schneider, the problem is only getting worse.
“As
cable and satellite providers begin adding more channels, each signal will have
to be compressed a little more to accommodate,” Schneider said. “The result will
be increasingly less impressive HD pictures and an upset customer base.”