How do satellite & cable company's play HD movies

[neworldman]

This might seam like a dumb question. But how do satellite and cable company's get movies that aren't yet available in HD yet like The Blues Brothers and Trains Planes & Automobiles in HD on there HD channels. I have these movies plus many more recorded on my DVR that look really good compared to my DVD's of the same movie. Do they somehow upstream them to 1080i or 720p? How is this done? Do they have the films...then play them through a upstream-mer or something? They don't look as good as full Blu-Ray but alot better then DVD.

[Case]

How do satellite and cable company's get movies, that aren't yet available in HD, in HD on there HD channels.

Would you be surprised if they payed premium (to the movie studios) for the privilege to be able to show these first in HD?

[olyteddy]

Would you be surprised if they were really just upscaled versions?

[neworldman]

Yes I am surprised at both. If they are upscaled how do they do it? Do they have a special DVD player or do they have the film with a player? My PS3 upscales my DVD and they look nothing like what they are on my satellite HD channels.

[lordsmurf]

It's complete file servers to broadcast specs. For example, MXF files with Dolby E masters, which get transformed into DVB/MPEG-TS upon transmit. They don't use DVD players or anything else you've ever likely considered. I have a decent grasp of some of this stuff, but there are a few here that know more than I do on this topic: edDV, BJ_M, Cornucopia.

The reason it's less quality than Blu-ray is due to transmission compression (bitrates) and 1080p HD vs 720p/1080i HD.

It takes some decent comprehension of video + networking to wrap your head around some of this stuff.

[neworldman]

It's complete file servers to broadcast specs. For example, MXF files with Dolby E masters, which get transformed into DVB/MPEG-TS upon transmit. They don't use DVD players or anything else you've ever likely considered. I have a decent grasp of some of this stuff, but there are a few here that know more than I do on this topic: edDV, BJ_M, Cornucopia.

The reason it's less quality than Blu-ray is due to transmission compression (bitrates) and 1080p HD vs 720p/1080i HD.

It takes some decent comprehension of video + networking to wrap your head around some of this stuff.

Thanks for the info....Very interesting

So do satellite and cable company's pay premium (to the movie studios) for the privileges to be able to show these first in HD? It seams weird that movies like The Blues Brother and Trains Plains and Automobiles and many others are in HD but yet to be released and may never be on blu-ray.

[lordsmurf]

There are many licensing arrangements out there.
It's almost like asking "what kind of food do people eat?" -- so many answers to be given.

I can only name maybe a dozen, and I don't fully understand all of them at that. Very complex. The corporate ownership structure makes it quite murky. Some of it is regulated by various laws and regulations, too.