There's been talk about cable and satellite providers over compressing video streams to jam more channels onto their cables and dishes, but I had subconsciously chalked that up to videophile whining and hadn't noticed it too much myself.
But today's running of Star Trek on KBCW channel 44 (Bay Area, 3pm on Sunday 5/11/08) was ABSURD. They've got the compression set WAY TOO HIGH. I'm on an analog / standard def setup with an RCA tuner, but other channels look fine.
GIANT compression bands danced around any flat surface, looking sort of like off-color Moire patterns. And the SOUND was even ringing a bit in places for over compression.
So it's Mother's day, and this isn't sports, so I guess it got flagged as a lower priority (eligible for high compression), but I'm paying for this signal and this is the show I chose to watch. Though these compression artifacts look different than the old pre-cable pre-satallite analog interference, they were on a par with bad rabbit ears today, which is unacceptable for a paid service.
I wouldn't think channel 44 would have originated the programming with this high of a compression, as they have fixed slots allocated. This also seems to be a fairly new problem, I haven't noticed it for Star Trek in weeks past. I did call Direct TV, the person I got wasn't sure about what I was talking about, but she did listen and did check with her supervisor; she took notes and said she would pass it on.
DirecTV should not compress signals to the point where they look worse than the old free rabbit ears days, not for paid service.
