I have Dish Network HD. When you rent with the On Demand it seems like the picture quality is poor compared with some of the other "regular" HD. I was just wondering if that was more compressed than the other channels or not. The movie happened to be Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past. By the way, stay clear of this movie, waste of money.

I have Verizon, but I've noticed the same thing. I think they do compress the on-demand. Also, many of them only have 2 channel sound, where the movie channels more often have 5.1 sound.

Doug

It seems that, with cable-based VOD viewing, the PQ could worsen beyond the extra VOD compression as VOD use goes up daily. AIUI, a certain number of QAM cable slots are assigned to VOD and maybe replay features as well. Peak VOD use might squeeze limited bandwidth. HD-VOD for my NYC TWC setup does seem slightly less crisp than normally scheduled delivery, but so far haven't run into programs I can't access at all, or blocking artifacts. But don't use VOD extensively. -- John

Good, I am glad I am not the only one to notice a difference. I just couldn't believe how bad the picture (and the movie for that fact) was. Even my wife, who usually doesn't notice differences, said the picture was horrible. The Lumagen was struggling to make it a good picture.

I have Comcast on my HD on Demand is no better than my upconverting DVD player. HD movies on HD channels are above and beyond better.

I have Comcast on my HD on Demand is no better than my upconverting DVD player. HD movies on HD channels are above and beyond better.

So, I guess, the only thing we are paying for is the convenience to watch it now. I will wait until the regularly scheduled rented ones.

So, I guess, the only thing we are paying for is the convenience to watch it now. I will wait until the regularly scheduled rented ones.

...and it is convenient. I rent blu-rays from Netflix, but my wife never wants to watch those (despite specifically requesting them). However, she watches VOD. It's very nice to have, but as I'm watching, I'm always thinking, "this sure would look and sound great on blu-ray!"

Doug

I have Verizon, but I've noticed the same thing. I think they do compress the on-demand. Also, many of them only have 2 channel sound, where the movie channels more often have 5.1 sound.

Doug

I also have Verizon but haven't noticed any real difference. And if the movie or show is in 5.1, I've found it to also be 5.1 OnDemand (even something like WEEDS is in 5.1 On Demand.)