AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Cable, Digital Cable - Non-HDTV › Who has the best VOD picture quality in Massachusetts?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Who has the best VOD picture quality in Massachusetts?

post #1 of 5
6/6/07 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
I'm moving to Cambridge, MA this summer. At this point, I can pick where I want to live (rent).

Who provides the best picture quality on it's VOD service? I am thinking Verizon FIOS, but they are only available in a few municipalities near Cambridge, so it would be a pain to have to commute just for good VOD picture quality. Does RCN or anyone else come close?

If it matters, the VOD service I am interested in is WWE 24/7. Now that you are done laughing, could you help me out?
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 5
6/6/07 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Estrada View Post

I'm moving to Cambridge, MA this summer. At this point, I can pick where I want to live (rent).

Who provides the best picture quality on it's VOD service? I am thinking Verizon FIOS, but they are only available in a few municipalities near Cambridge, so it would be a pain to have to commute just for good VOD picture quality. Does RCN or anyone else come close?

If it matters, the VOD service I am interested in is WWE 24/7. Now that you are done laughing, could you help me out?

I would look into Comcast as they have it
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 5
6/6/07 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 
Ok but how is Comcast picture quality on their VOD compared with Verizon FIOS or RCN?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 5
6/8/07 at 1:00pm
Comcast has a larger VOD library. They also have a nice selection of HD VOD. I don't think Verizon has HD VOD yet, but I'm sure they'll eventually add it to their service. Since VOD is pre-processed and optimized it tends to look a little better than regular digital channels. Regular channels can only be processed and compressed in real time. VOD clips are files which can have multiple passes to create a great image in a small bitrate. (Like a 4x pass, instead of 1x live pass). This is the case on any VOD provider.

Verizon's VOD travels down via IP using your internet bandwidth (although its a tiny fraction). Comcast's VOD travels down a standard digital QAM channel which can pack as many as 16 SD VOD streams or 3 HD VOD streams per frequency at the maximum compression rate. Most providers don't compress that much (more like 12 SD or 2 HD) and they have multiple frequencies for video on demand so there's room for you to start a session.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 5
6/8/07 at 3:41pm
Thread Starter 
Ok thanks. Basically, I was looking for a VOD provider in the Massachusetts area that simply passes through the standard defintion VOD content, without further compression. There's some stuff I'd like to archive from the VOD (that's not available anywhere else) and I'd like the highest quality possible.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if any of the Massachusetts provider allow firewire recording of their VOD content?
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cable, Digital Cable - Non-HDTV

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Cable, Digital Cable - Non-HDTV › Who has the best VOD picture quality in Massachusetts?