I keep hearing that sat hd and cable hd are compressed a fair amount, so I wondered if anyone has a decent opinion as to whether an upconverted DVD (from a decent player) is better or worse than your typical HBO broadcast of a movie in HD.

Thanks.

I still find most HBO HD, StarzHD and definitely HDnet broadcasts look better than upconverted DVD's from my Oppo.

When I record something in HD that I own on DVD, I generally compare the two to see if it's worth taking up space on my DVR. More often than not the HD is more than a little bit better. Some of Sony's older DVD's are EE city, and definitely look better in HD.

I think it depends on what HBO is using as the source.

Some movies look fantastic on HBO HD and others look worse than your standard DVD upconverted.

So I say it is on a case by case basis.

edit: and obviously I think it also depends on your own DVD transfer, as well as the player doing the upconversion.

In other words, "it depends."

Closing thread.

I always find Starz HD (plus Encore) to have a very good HD picture...HBO, not so much. Showtime isn't bad either.

I prefer DVD. Maybe it is just Dish starving the bitrate, but I tend to see a lot of breakups/pixellation during fast moving scenes, which drives me crazy.

I had similar issues with U-Verse. They choke the bitrate so bad that having it in HD is not worth it due to all the artifacts. I'll stick to discs or OTA for my HD.