In an interesting experiment conducted by the people at Sound & Vision magazine, they set up a test to directly compare a movie on Blu-ray disc to the same movie playing on a DISH Network ViP722 DVR using the 1080p HD format.
Currently, 1080p is being offered by DISH on a limited basis and only for video-on-demand programming. However, the proof that they are able 
to deliver 1080p content that is almost as good as a Blu-ray disc may be a sign of good things to come.
In the article, Sound & Vision had this to say: “Flipping back and forth between the two sources while sitting at a normal viewing distance, I could detect only subtle differences. In fact, I couldn’t be sure I was seeing any difference at all, since the movie’s frantic action made it hard to judge picture quality. Even if I was seeing a difference, I wasn’t sure which source was better.”
DISH is clearly ahead of the pack with this development. Their top competitor, DirecTV has no specific plans in place to offer any 1080p content, other than to say they plan to do it sometime later this year.
The top three cable companies, in true clueless cable industry form, said they would offer 1080p when their customers demanded it and when it was available. As the Sound & Vision author pointed out, all major movies are now mastered in 1080p, but I suppose we cannot expect cable TV executives or marketing people to be aware of anything like that. After all, they aren’t involved in any way with video, right?
DISH Network Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Tags: 1080p, Blu-ray, Compare, dish network, Sound & Vision