Quote:
Originally Posted by HOOT
I think this brings Bell up to about 69 HD Channels...They are launching a new satellite sometime in April of this year which is suppose to allow 100's of HD channels once its set. Shaw will never be able to catch up with their concentration on Phone & Internet thats why I would never switch, I know, I know Shaw's customer service is better but with all the self-serve options by phone/internet I can't remember the last time I spoke to a ExVu rep since setting up my account.
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There's a flip side to adding new HD channels on Bell. Each satellite only has 32 transponders and each transponder at full HD bandwidth can only carry one HD channel at MPeg 2 with some room left over for SD channels. Bell has only one HD satellite and so they are currently compressing two or now three HD channels onto one transponder which some are now calling HDLite. They are also sending 720p signals for all their HD channels except for CBC which is 1080i. Despite all of this, in my area their picture and choice is still better than Shaw's.
Sometime in the future they will be changing over to MPeg4 [the new capable receivers 9242 and 6141] and adding another satellite at 72 degrees which will improve bandwidth and number of HD stations.
Here's a thread on Bell's compression problems and you can find other threads on MPEG4 and Bell's new satellite on this site.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=72525