HD - Best HD Picture Quality - Expressvu or Rogers

[sixer]

I'm going nuts trying to figure out who I should go with for HD, Expressvu or Rogers.
I was going to go Rogers, because of On demand and local channels, but have been reading that the quality of the signal with Expressvu for the HD channels is better than Rogers.

Can anyone who's had both services let me know your opinion. I want the best HD quality, and will choice either one based on this.

You decide. Thanks.

ps. If you have another reason why I should choose another one, please let me know. I've been searching the forums for a while but can find the answers I'd like to help me decide.

[hightech]

I've had the chance to see BOTH Expressvu and Rogers HD.

Here is what I found:

Rogers:

- Provides full screen HD image (will discuss this further)
- Image quality varies by the number of splits in the line
- Bad weather does not have much effect on the image (depending on how nicely sealed the outside box is)
- More cost effective if you have multiple TV's

Bell Expressvu:

- Nicer image quality then Rogers (better color renditions and less likely to pixelate)
- HD images shows up non full screen. You need to press the ZOOM feature to give you full screen and it causes the image to get distorted
- I suspect image quality will get bad if you have a number of splits, but most satellite users who do a proper install, this is not an issue
- Bad weather can cause the signal to break up or be lost
- Not cost effective if you have a number of TV's

I currently own 2 Rogers SD digital boxes and the image quality is acceptable. I have a few TV's so Rogers is more cost effective as I can use the regular TV channels on some TV's, and digital cable on the other.

My suggestion is to go to places that show the Rogers feeds (Sony Store) and the Bell feeds (Bell Store and other satellite dealers) to get an idea. I evaluated the feeds on Sony Tube TV's so that differences in TV types (LCD, Plasma, rear projection) does not affect my image evaluation and reduces the number of variables in the test.

Hope this helps.

[goldenegg]

HD images shows up non full screen. You need to press the ZOOM feature to give you full screen and it causes the image to get distorted

Not sure where you saw this setup, but it was definitely configured wrong. The only reason an HD channel wouldn't be full screen is if it was broadcasting non-HD material.

[hightech]

Hmm interesting.. the channel was showing as HD but what you say makes sense.

I didn't do the setups as my friends have the Rogers and Bell HD service, I was just checking it out.

[sixer]

Hightech, thanks for the info, I'll stop by a store that shows both feeds.

[WalnutCrunch]

I won't vote because I've only tried HD on BEV. I will tell you what I think about it though.

The HD signal on BEV looks great. Being in BC, we don't have the best view of the satellites but the signal strength has been good. They have recently boosted the signal from the HD satellite (might have something to do with the new satellite they acquired), I have had next to zero signal breakups in the last few weeks, even when it was windy or raining.

BEV also has a very good HD PVR in the 9200. It has dual tuners and also a third ATSC tuner if you want to receive OTA signals. It also has the ability to feed 2 TVs independently (1 HD and the other in 480i); it comes with an IR remote for the first TV and a UHF for the second TV in another room. Each TV behaves separately and can watch live TV or recorded programs; so you effectively have 2 PVRs for the price of one. They share the same HDD so you have access to the same shows on both TV's

The 9200 can record in HD on all 3 tuners and watch 2 recorded shows on the TVs at the same time. The interface is great but some people have run into bugs in the firmware; BEV will be releasing a fix pretty soon (but they said this 2 months ago).

A disadvantage of satellite is that you're likely going to have to run new wires. In the case of a dual tuner PVR, you're looking at 2 wires to the PVR, and a 3rd wire if you want to output to a second TV in another room. There is also the possibility of rain/snow fade, but I don't experience any of that. You'll also need a receiver for each TV (except for the above scenario).

BEV does claim to have the most HD channels. Although more channels doesn't necessarily mean more content. Some of them are east/west feeds, and stations like CTV and Global just rebroadcast the US network's shows.

I think it's pretty hard to compare quality. You may want to check the digitalhomecanada forums as some people might have bitrate data for the 2 providers. You'll also find lots more BEV vs Rogers vs Shaw vs ... threads on there.

[Oversized Rooster]

I've watched HD at one of my neighbor's place up at the cottage. Here at home though I use Rogers HD.

Rogers gets my vote. They looked the same to me, but I just cannot get past the iffy signal as soon as you get foul weather at the cottage.

This is not TV - this reminds me of socialist times back in my country. You'd have the 2-stick antenna that you would need to adjust for each channel to avoid static. Bell ExpressVu is similar, sadly.

[ah802]

This poll should be modified to include OTA 'Over The Air' HD, which is far superior to cable and sat.. and shhhsh 'It's free', not to mention commercial free BT downloading.

[goldenegg]

From my experience on both, there isn't a huge difference between either. Where you will see a difference is in the stand definition channels. Bell has a noticibly cleaner picture than Rogers.

Regarding weather and satelites, get a larger dish if you have the space. When I used to have satelite (I can't in the building I moved to), I had a large dish and never had problems due to weather. Clouds and rain don't block the signal, they only make it weaker. The larger dish helps a lot with this.

[bembol]

Unless you are comparing the Two with Identical Components/Set Up...it just wouldn't be a fair Comparison...!!!

[Oversized Rooster]

Unless you are comparing the Two with Identical Components/Set Up...it just wouldn't be a fair Comparison...!!!

Maybe so, but questionable reception will be evident on the cheapest and most expensive of hardware.

[WalnutCrunch]

I think the reception problems in satellite are a bit overblown. If you have a clean line of site to the satellites, and the dish is installed properly, you should have almost no problems with weather. A lot of DIY'ers install the dish at unstable locations that are susceptable to wind shake. And a some pro installers are too lazy to fine-tune the dish so that it gets the best possible signal from both satellites.

There has been some debate about SD picture quality between cable and BEV (the OP is only asking about HD anyway). Not all would agree that BEV is better (myself included). BEV's signal is digital, but they overcompress some of the channels that they look worse than analog cable. I had cable before I switched to BEV, and I think you'll find some channels to look better than cable, while some are the same or worse. It really depends on what you watch.

[rf134a]

Not sure where you saw this setup, but it was definitely configured wrong. The only reason an HD channel wouldn't be full screen is if it was broadcasting non-HD material.
No, it's mostly the station is not upscaling and zooming in on the processed picture. CTV is often the culprit for this. They will show Crossing Jordan or something in a 16x9 picture that only takes up 70% or so of the screen. Then, you need to do a full zoom to get the picture to fill up the whole screen. or you can just turn to the NBC station and it's upscaled and zoomed in. It's really quite annoying.

CTV also has a really bad habit of putting a black CTV logo over the FOXHD logo. As if most people don't know what channel F-X HD is... :rolleyes:

[sixer]

Thanks for the help guys. I ended up getting Expressvu HD as better overall deal then Rogers even though I have two TV sets, one HD other normal.

I'll let you know how things go. Thanks.