My understanding was that the cable companies received their signals from the C-band satellite system. If this is true, why was the Super Bowl broadcast in HDTV buy some cable companies & C-band did not broadcast the Super Bowl in HDTV? Also if cable companies do not receive their signals from C-Band where do they get it?
Cable companies use all kinds of means to get their signals. They use large dishes to get some off satellites - not sure if it's C-Band. They use "Hard wire" or "optical" connections to get some channels (I believe that's what Rogers Toronto uses to get the Detroit HD stations). They also use antennae (yes antennae) to get some nearby stations. The antennae are like big rabbit ears.
Some smaller cable companies also use regular antennae - you may have driven past such an installation - large tower, one antenna designed for each channel they pick up. The smaller guys also use satellite dishes.
Satellite companies sometimes get their feeds from the networks. If they're small, they may not have a Dolby E decoder (what the networks send surround sound in) then the signal you get may not be DD5.1. The affiliates usually convert Dolby E to DD5.1, so if the satellite or cable company get the signal from the affiliate, they'll get DD5.1... If the affiliate is small and doesn't have a Dolby E decoder, then you don't get DD5.1. Lots of stuff to think about...
I'm sure there are people in the "biz" who know more. I hope I haven't made too many errors...
Southern_Spy
05-29-2003, 09:13 AM
"If this is true, why was the Super Bowl broadcast in HDTV buy some cable companies & C-band did not broadcast the Super Bowl in HDTV?"
ABC used Megapipe DCII for the feed. 4DTV receivers are not capable of receiving the 41 MBPS rate of Megapipe
