Have a Super Sunday

[SleepGuy]

Yeah, that's why I'll never switch from cable. When it rains, satellite doesn't work. They double send their HDTV signal, so the resolution is actually only half as good as they claim. I know DirecTV has the NFL package, but they really have a poor picture quality and their HD is even rougher. Especially since they also upconvert every signal to 1080i, which sacrifices quality.

EJD

I just switched from cable back to DishNetwork and got most of the game ok--except for a few blackouts. Turns out I didn't miss much after all . . . . certainly not a Superbowl that will go down in history as a great game (nothing against the Colts--they earned it!)

[ejdischer]

Well, what I loved about the game was the rain. I wish the Super Bowl was played in more "football" climates rather than places like Miami where it's all warm and fuzzy. Hey, if you have the best record, you should host the Super Bowl. That rain was top notch. Perhaps God should've turned down his heated humidifier tonight.

[Slinky]

Well, "I" feel asleep at half time. I take it the Colts won. Bummer. I was hoping the Bears. Ah well. Now all I need to know is the score for the 3rd & 4th quarters.

I have to say the super touted super bowl commercials STUNK big time - at least the ones I was awake to watch. They seem to get worse each year. At one time they had some really good ones. At least the ones I saw weren't as offensive and in as poor taste as one of the last couple of years, I forget which one.

There seemed to be that one great year of super bowl commercials and then they felt flat on their face. Some really confusing, dumb commercials you weren't even sure what they were advertising, like all the writers were on drugs! Then the year of really poor taste, even offensive commercials. This year ... mediocre to poor except for ONE Bud commercial. At least up to the end of the first half. And that wasn't Bud's usual level of quality either. Couldn't quite figure out what that sheep was up to. It went right over my head.

Frankly, just from the first half that I did see, I've seen better play in blizzards than these teams were doing in the Miami rain. Peyton Manning "ain't" no Johnny Unitas or even Tom Brady.

[dsm]

The superbowl sure travels

I was just down in our company reception area (noon today Monday while it is Sunday evening in US) where there is a TV & around it were about 5 Aussies & 2 Americans on contract here - when I wandered over to see what had them glued to the TV it was one wet superbowl game

Just got there in time to see a pass caught magnificently by a guy who did the most elegant roll off over the sideline - consensus was it was a good catch & the point won.

DSM

[blarg]

When it rains, satellite doesn't work. They double send their HDTV signal, so the resolution is actually only half as good as they claim. I know DirecTV has the NFL package, but they really have a poor picture quality and their HD is even rougher. Especially since they also upconvert every signal to 1080i, which sacrifices quality.

Ok. I worked for DirecTV. It's clouds that block the signal, not rain. If you live in San Fran, I would say don't get DirecTV, but mine worked just fine through snow storms in Klamath Falls. It's about how much cloud cover you get, not rain/snow. The entire 3 years I had DirecTV, I didn't have my signal cut out once. That's because Klamath Falls is a high altitude dry town. Blanket statements like "When it rains, satellite doesn't work" are untrue. Seattle would be an example of a place where you probably shouldn't get DirecTV.

I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say they "double send" their signal. When you're tuned into a channel, you're receiving a single signal from a single transponder on a single satellite. There are 3 DirecTV satellites, hence 3 LNBs on the dish. DirecTV polarizes their signal in a spiral, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Dish uses vertical or horizontal polarization.

Also, the NFL package was in 720p when I worked for them, so they aren't upconverting _every_ signal to 1080i. You have some valid points, but are exaggerating.

To answer the other questions, I worked tech support for DirecTV, and until I was on their spanish line, Superbowl sunday was the worst day to work, just because nobody was reasonable. At all.

[Sleepless in St. Louis]

Sleepless, this is why you should be a hockey fan. Football is a frustrating sport. Kickoff, commercial. Timeout, commercial. Turnover, commercial. Touchdown, extra point, commercial. Kickoff three seconds later, another commercial.

Let's not also forget that football is mostly a waiting sport. Six second play, thirty-five second wait. Six second play, another thirty five second wait. It's pretty annoying.

Oh, and lest we forget all the in-game "coming up on (insert network here), a riveting episode of." And my place of biz isn't free of guilt either. Anyone who watched Monday Night Football this year had to be frustrated when they had celebrities in the booth every Monday Night to talk about stuff other than football.

The NFL has sold out its sport. While they're very rich because of it, as someone who works on the inside, I'll tell you they're the WORST pro-league as far as how they treat their fans and those who cover the game. They stopped a bunch of churches from showing the game because it would "hurt" super bowl ratings. Could you imagine being told that even though you're not charging to watch it, you can't have a super bowl party? Anyway, i'm getting off of my high-horse now.

EJD

I am a hockey fan first. I've been following the STL Blues since about '68. Even though hockey is my favorite sport, it's not that much fun to watch on TV compared to being at the game. Not even close. I'd almost rather watch football at home because I can at least do something else besides sit there during the frequent breaks. I like baseball live it seems those games are taking forever now. Why can't the pitch just get the ball and throw it. They do all this hemming and hawing, kicking the dirt and walking around the mound. Give me Bob Gibson any time. Sports is a business first and the sooner you come to that conclusion, if you are a fan, the better off you'll be.

[Sleepless in St. Louis]

When it rains, satellite doesn't work. They double send their HDTV signal, so the resolution is actually only half as good as they claim. I know DirecTV has the NFL package, but they really have a poor picture quality and their HD is even rougher. Especially since they also upconvert every signal to 1080i, which sacrifices quality.

Ok. I worked for DirecTV. It's clouds that block the signal, not rain. If you live in San Fran, I would say don't get DirecTV, but mine worked just fine through snow storms in Klamath Falls. It's about how much cloud cover you get, not rain/snow. The entire 3 years I had DirecTV, I didn't have my signal cut out once. That's because Klamath Falls is a high altitude dry town. Blanket statements like "When it rains, satellite doesn't work" are untrue. Seattle would be an example of a place where you probably shouldn't get DirecTV.

I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say they "double send" their signal. When you're tuned into a channel, you're receiving a single signal from a single transponder on a single satellite. There are 3 DirecTV satellites, hence 3 LNBs on the dish. DirecTV polarizes their signal in a spiral, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Dish uses vertical or horizontal polarization.

Also, the NFL package was in 720p when I worked for them, so they aren't upconverting _every_ signal to 1080i. You have some valid points, but are exaggerating.

To answer the other questions, I worked tech support for DirecTV, and until I was on their spanish line, Superbowl sunday was the worst day to work, just because nobody was reasonable. At all.

Agreed. I have dish and it works fine most of the time when it's raining. It's only during extremely severe electrical storms that I have any problems getting a signal. It happens so infrequently that I don't stress to much about it. I still find it hilarious that I have 100 channels or whatever and I still can't find anything worth watching most of the time. That goodness for NetFlix!!

[ejdischer]

The double sending signal point comes from a meeting I sat in on earlier this year to address issues customers had with their Monday Night Football picture quality. The DirecTV rep that we spoke with said that the DirecTV signal, standard and HD, are double sent to the satellite from different head-ends to ensure a constant signal. Therefore, when the sat sends the signal down, it's only sending a picture half the quality it could be. I can see why they do this. If you send from Dallas and it's very cloudy, you could have a picture issue for all subscribers. So why not send from say Dallas, and St Paul and make sure there's never a lost of signal from ground to sat.

He also told us that all HD channels are sent in 1080i, much to our chagrin because we send our signal in 720p. You could argue for days about which is better(I say 720p), but the bottom line is that both signals are meant to be shown in their native resolution and not converted in any way.

While you're correct in your statement that clouds and not rain cause signal blockage, you could see where most make the connection. You can't have rain without clouds. And most of the time when the directv signal dies on a customer, it's during weather that they'd rather not be out in. Hence they're at home watching TV.

EJD

[blarg]

The double sending signal point comes from a meeting I sat in on earlier this year to address issues customers had with their Monday Night Football picture quality. The DirecTV rep that we spoke with said that the DirecTV signal, standard and HD, are double sent to the satellite from different head-ends to ensure a constant signal. Therefore, when the sat sends the signal down, it's only sending a picture half the quality it could be.

That's the leap I can't make with you. If they're double sending the signal to the satellite, they'd be double sending the signal. Not sending half from one place and half from the other, and ignoring half of it.

I can see why they do this. If you send from Dallas and it's very cloudy, you could have a picture issue for all subscribers. So why not send from say Dallas, and St Paul and make sure there's never a lost of signal from ground to sat.

Exactly. The satellite is smart enough to know which one is stronger. It's not going to be getting half the picture from one and half from the other, ignoring half. It'd be a LOT more work to produce a half quality signal than to just double send the full signal.

We did have an interesting issue with local channels in New York for a while though. There was one that would just cut out intermittantly throughout the day time only. Turns out there was a crane that would swing through the transmission to the satellite due to local construction. Obviously not all of our signals are double broadcast.

He also told us that all HD channels are sent in 1080i, much to our chagrin because we send our signal in 720p. You could argue for days about which is better(I say 720p), but the bottom line is that both signals are meant to be shown in their native resolution and not converted in any way.

Agreed. They shouldn't be converted. The DirecTV rep was wrong. Here are actual recorded bit rates from DirecTV signals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. You can see many come down in 720p.

While you're correct in your statement that clouds and not rain cause signal blockage, you could see where most make the connection.

So why not correct their misconceptions instead of feeding them by saying, "Whenever it rains the signal cuts out"?

[annie123]

I wore a Packers shirt to the party at my house tonight. My hubby is a Bears fan and I do feel bad for him, but not too bad.

[linda b]

Way to go Colts!!!!

Both of my daughters went to Univ. of TN with Peyton Manning and they say he is really the nice, clean-cut guy he appears to be. He is so popular here that people would prefer to watch the Colts over our own Tennessee Titans!!. He really won our hearts when he decided to stay for his senior year. And he graduated with high honors, either magna or suma cum laude, I think.

Anyway, I'm delighted the Colts won.

[roster]

An oft-repeated truism:

"NFL football is good,
College football is better,
High school football is the best."

Doubt is cast on that first line by last night's performances (poor football). The CBS announcers were poor but then they did not have good material to work with.

The NFL needs to change some rules. Like the game should be played in the home stadium of the team with the best record. Also at the beginning of the season, every ticket holder at each team's first home game should be given an option to purchase Super Bowl tickets which could be exercised if that team becomes the Super Bowl home team.

These changes will never be made as long as the economics for the NFL are as good as they have been in recent years.

[oldgearhead]

I think last night's Super Bowl was a good example of how the "little guy"
can dominate a game. If last night would have been P.Mannings's first game,
Bob Sanders, at 5'8" would have been MVP. Interception, forced fumbles,
"jacking up" running backs, and all around hustle.

Note: In my area, of Indy, FOX has the best-looking digital off air network HD. Anyone know why?

[lvwildcat]

I usually love the commercials-none to talk about this year. There was one for heart disease and it was in very poor taste. After seeing it I just thought to myself HUH??? I thought for a split second I was experiencing the long gone brain fog. But it wasn't me

[roster]

I usually love the commercials-none to talk about this year. There was one for heart disease and it was in very poor taste. After seeing it I just thought to myself HUH??? I thought for a split second I was experiencing the long gone brain fog. But it wasn't me

That stupid commercial left out the biggest villain in heart disease - sleep apnea. Of course if everyone with sleep apnea got it diagnosed and properly treated, the demand for King Pharmeceutical's blood pressure medication would drop precipitously.