Hi All:

Finally found a local store that actually receives the new D* channels (over half the stores were unfortunately clueless, and either didn't know about the need to upgrade their D* equipment or didn't think it was much of a necessity in order to sell HDTVs). Anyway, upon going through the various new MPEG-4 channels, the picture quality seemed better than the MPEG-2 I'd seen plenty of times before, but it wasn't as striking as I expected. Problem is, the store is using a single D* receiver with the output (via component) split up to about 30 different tvs. No idea what kind of splitting/amplifying system they're using.

I'd like to assume that a direct connection from the D* receiver to a single tv would yield much better results. I've suggested to the salesman at this store that I'd like to see an HDMI cable hooked up directly from the D* receiver to the tv right next to the receiver, to toggle the inputs and compare the picture quality. Perhaps they'll do this at some point.

I'd appreciate any opinions/direct experience on this. Thanks in advance...

I can see a substantial difference. Especially when the MLB playoffs were on TBS.

The TBS (mpeg4) feed was loads better than the channel 95 (mpeg2) feed.

What you'll see at home will always look better then the massively split signal at a store...

Store PQ is almost always going to be terrible. Besides all the multiple splitting of the signal you have lots of interference from things like the lights and the fact that the TVs are rarely calibrated and are usually setup in "torch" mode so they appear to look better on a bright sales floor.

Anyway, upon going through the various new MPEG-4 channels, the picture quality seemed better than the MPEG-2 I'd seen plenty of times before, but it wasn't as striking as I expected.Probably because (a) the difference isn't striking, especially on low-motion scenes; (b) the MPEG 4 channels are soft compared to, say, HD Theater; and (c) the MPEG 4 channels collectively have very little true HD content, so you may not have been watching HD at all.

Although I scrolled through some of the channels, I had to be careful because I was switching all 30 tvs in the store at the same time, and other salesmen were showing tvs to other people. Yes, many of the channels weren't showing HD content, but we did linger for a few minutes on Big Ten Network, HGTV and Discovery. All were in 16x9, none were stretched, and I was mostly going up through the 200s on the D* remote, so I'm pretty sure I was seeing the new MPEG-4 HD content on at least some of these channels.

All the tvs were clearly in torch mode - I played around with the settings on one tv for a while. Aside from the blazing color and contrast from being in torch mode, "soft" is a good word to use for what the picture quality itself looked like. Not that they were bad - they were better than what I have seen through MPEG-2. But it wasn't as good as some Comcast cable I saw recently. Since I really want to believe that the new MPEG-4 HD channels are close to cable quality (which apparently can't add any more channels), I'll keep checking around for some more definitive proof...

The new HD channels are NOT soft....just what are you guys comparing it to? The stuff on Smithsonian and History is as sharp as I've ever seen OTA, and that's as good as broadcast HD gets.