VideoHelp Forum - DVB / IPTV https://forum.videohelp.com/ Everything about IPTV, Digital Video Broadcasting(DVB), ATSC, High Definition TV(HDTV) and other Digital TV standards. DVB, HDTV computer cards. Capturing and processing digital video broadcasts. Also TV, LCD, Plasma discussions. en Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:34:42 GMT vBulletin 60 https://forum.videohelp.com/images/misc/rss.png VideoHelp Forum - DVB / IPTV https://forum.videohelp.com/ SDTV (480i/p, 576i/p) Satellite TV in the 90s vs today: width conventions https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420672-SDTV-%28480i-p-576i-p%29-Satellite-TV-in-the-90s-vs-today-width-conventions?goto=newpost Mon, 08 Jun 2026 02:29:37 GMT Hello world! This thread is published to this forum, with the purpose of asking the following question: Did satellite TV providers like DISH Network(R) or DIRECTV(R), during the 90's, use the 3/4 D1 (544x480 NTSC) format for their broadcasts just to save bandwidth, or did they always use the Full D1 resolution (720x480 NTSC) at a lower bitrate? If I'm not wrong, I know they used to encode (and decode via their receivers) them in MPEG-2 format.

In order to prove this is true, I decided to play with some video files. Here are the commands I used for such task:
3/4 D1 (544-width, NTSC), MPEG-2, SDTV (although it's EDTV rather, because the actual files are in 480p format, I mean, they aren't interlaced):
ffmpeg -i (input) -vf "scale=720:540:force_original_aspect_ratio=decreas e:flags=bilinear,pad=720:540:-1:-1,scale=720:480:flags=bilinear,pad=720:480:0:-1,crop=704:480:8:0,pad=720:480:-1:0,scale=544:480:flags=bilinear,crop=528:480:8:0, pad=544:480:-1:0" -r 29.97 -c:v mpeg2video -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 2127.6444k -minrate 0 -maxrate 2659.5555k -qmin 2 -qmax 31 -colorspace smpte170m -color_primaries smpte170m -color_trc smpte170m -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 (output in .ts)
Full D1 (720-width, NTSC), MPEG-2, SDTV (although it's EDTV rather, because the actual files are in 480p format, I mean, they aren't interlaced):
ffmpeg -i (input) -vf "scale=720:540:force_original_aspect_ratio=decreas e:flags=bilinear,pad=720:540:-1:-1,scale=720:480:flags=bilinear,pad=720:480:0:-1,crop=704:480:8:0,pad=720:480:-1:0" -r 29.97 -c:v mpeg2video -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 2816k -minrate 0 -maxrate 3520k -qmin 2 -qmax 31 -colorspace smpte170m -color_primaries smpte170m -color_trc smpte170m -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 (output in .ts)
3/4 D1 (544-width, NTSC), MPEG-2, SDTV (although it's EDTV rather, because the actual files are in 480p format, I mean, they aren't interlaced), suited for 4:3 TVs:
ffmpeg -i (input) -vf "scale=720:540:force_original_aspect_ratio=decreas e:flags=bilinear,pad=720:540:-1:-1,scale=720:480:flags=bilinear,pad=720:480:0:-1,crop=704:480:8:0,pad=720:480:-1:0,scale=544:480:flags=bilinear,crop=528:480:8:0, pad=544:480:-1:0" -r 29.97 -c:v mpeg2video -aspect 4:3 -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 2127.6444k -minrate 0 -maxrate 2659.5555k -qmin 2 -qmax 31 -colorspace smpte170m -color_primaries smpte170m -color_trc smpte170m -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 (output in .ts)
Full D1 (720-width, NTSC), MPEG-2, SDTV (although it's EDTV rather, because the actual files are in 480p format, I mean, they aren't interlaced), suited for 4:3 TVs:
ffmpeg -i (input) -vf "scale=720:540:force_original_aspect_ratio=decreas e:flags=bilinear,pad=720:540:-1:-1,scale=720:480:flags=bilinear,pad=720:480:0:-1,crop=704:480:8:0,pad=720:480:-1:0" -r 29.97 -c:v mpeg2video -aspect 4:3 -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 2816k -minrate 0 -maxrate 3520k -qmin 2 -qmax 31 -colorspace smpte170m -color_primaries smpte170m -color_trc smpte170m -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 (output in .ts)

One of the threads published in the forum tells me about the actual LaserDisc resolution and the 544-width situation, as well as the DVB situation, especially in Europe and other countries that use the PAL (Phase Alternating by Line) standard:
Quote:
Originally Posted by SatStorm View Post
[...]
The Officially Laserdisc resolution is 528 X 576/480, but many titles in US, after 1990, are using the 544 X 480 resolution.
The DVB transmissions became mainstream in Europe in 1996 and today are mainstream in US too. The last five years, the European Union (E.U.), force all television and radio providers of E.U. Members, to turn their services digital, for various reasons. So, except Germany and partly France (which the interest for analogue satellite TV still is huge), anything today is digital, on most cases not with the best possible results...
Technically speaking, DVB is based on mpeg 2 (like DVD) and support resolutions from full CCIR - 601 (top quality) to CIF (lowest quality). Almost any resolution between those limits can be a DVB picture resolution, with any bitrate up to 15000Kb/s. The correct output picture aspect is succeeded (if needed), by the use of the pan and scan method, which take place between the Digital/Analogue conversion, before the final picture signal goes to our TV/Videoprojector.
[...]
Some DVB examples:
The Holland channels Canal+ Rood and Canal+Blauw (Astra 1G - 19.2 East), are transmitting in full CCIR 601 resolution with VBR bitrate up to 15000kb/s (!). That is BETTER a standard DVD video.
TMF for Belgium and MTV Italy, both on Eutelsat W2 (16 East) are transmitting in full D1 resolution and bitrates up to 7500kb/s
The MTV/VH1 Channels on Astra 1G, are using 544 X 576.
Viva TV on Astra 1G and Onyx TV on Hotbird 3, are using 480 X 576.
352 X 576 is very common at almost all the Italian Free To Air music channels on Hotbird satellite series.
An example of very low picture resolution, is the Cnes channel (Hotbird 5, 13 east, Freq: 12558, S.R. 27500, F.E.C. 3/4). This channel transmits 352 X 288 with CBR bitrate up to?. 700kb/s!!!).

The known DVB resolutions till today in Europe are: 720 X 576, 704 X 576, 544 X 576, 528 X 576, 480 X 576, 352 X 576 and 352 X 288.
[...]
Apart, if such TV providers used 544x480/576 during the 90s, then it could be true that such quality loss wasn't really noticeable on most CRT TVs.

Back to the experiment, I also decided to take a snapshot of the files (those that start with "IMG_4245-ldish...") and upscale them to 832x624px, in order to compare their quality.
Image
[Attachment 92622 - Click to enlarge]
I also did so with the other two .ts files, and here are the results, separated in figures:
Image
[Attachment 92623 - Click to enlarge]
Figure a: master-544-vs-720-ldish-express.ts at duration 0:02.30
Figure b: master-544-vs-720-ldish.ts at duration 0:02.30
Figure c: master-544-vs-720-ldish-express.ts at duration 0:32.30
Figure d: master-544-vs-720-ldish.ts at duration 0:32.30
Note: these 2 .ts videos are actually well suited for 4:3 TVs via the -aspect 4:3 flag in FFmpeg. The second image's samples are also upscaled.

I'll thank you very much for your answer(s), and if you find one or some mistake(s), I gladly welcome your corrections.
Attached Files
]]> DVB / IPTV Cedr00m4kv1x https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420672-SDTV-%28480i-p-576i-p%29-Satellite-TV-in-the-90s-vs-today-width-conventions Satellite Dish Installation https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420599-Satellite-Dish-Installation?goto=newpost Mon, 25 May 2026 16:43:46 GMT A friend has an apartment on 6th floor in a building of 10 floors.
He wants to install a dish pointing to HotBird 13E in the apartment terrace, which is adjacent to the living room and the TV,
but he doesn't want the coaxial cable to run all the way from the terrace to the living room.
Is it possible to do this, perhaps have the satellite receiver in the terrace with the coaxial cable connected to it and somehow stream the channels to the TV, using WiFi?
What kind of receiver should he use? DVB-S2 Enigma 2 is preferred.
I can stream TV channels to my PC monitor using OpenWebIf but how can this work with a TV? ]]> DVB / IPTV Subtitles https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420599-Satellite-Dish-Installation