Will DIRECTV ever upgrade to the next video compression standard?

The world’s changed a lot since 2006. The RAZR phone was king of the hill, the top song of the year was Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” and you definitely knew some guy with hair over his face who called himself “emo.” Luckily (at least for two of those facts) the world has moved on. Although, I still think the original RAZR was a slick piece of kit.

Not everything from 2006 has moved on, though. In 2006 DIRECTV introduced MPEG-4 video capability into its receivers and DVRs. At the time this was very advanced technology and was part of the then-new Blu-ray Disc standard. MPEG-4 meant better quality and lower bandwidth for the HD signals that were promised for later that year and beyond.

In 2022, DIRECTV still uses MPEG-4, specifically the H.264 variant. Believe it or not, even their 4K broadcasts use it, although they use the more advanced H.265 version. In the years since, a number of more modern technologies have come out and they’re being used right now for Netflix 4K, YouTube 4K, and other providers as well. These new “codecs” (the term for the compression and decompression software) don’t necessarily promise better quality, but they can give you the same quality and take up less space. That’s really what it’s all about.

And yet, DIRECTV sticks to that MPEG-4 standard. Why?

Millions of reasons, and they’re all receivers

Netflix and YouTube don’t have to upgrade every single computer or device when they change their codecs. They can just upgrade their apps. There are going to be older devices that eventually get left out, but these tend to get turned off anyway due to people trading in their phones or getting new streaming boxes. DIRECTV, on the other hand, has tons of receivers out in the field and they would need to be changed out.

DIRECTV, like other makers of cable and satellite boxes, uses chips that do all the work rather than software. This makes the boxes more reliable and cheaper at the same time, but it limits the ability to upgrade. Some of DIRECTV’s newest boxes can actually handle modern codecs, but that still leaves the matter of, well, pretty much every box made since 2006. Put it this way. DIRECTV published its plans in 2016 to phase out the MPEG-2 technology they’ve used since 1994. Six years later they’re still not done.

Still plenty of capacity

DIRECTV has some of the largest communications satellites ever built. Since they launched DIRECTV10 well over a decade ago, they’ve added more capacity than there are channels. Much more capacity, in fact.

I’m sure that there exists somewhere a document detailing DIRECTV’s plans to deal with the hundreds or thousands of 4K channels that could be coming. For now, though, DIRECTV has tons of satellite capacity. Literally tons. There are whole sections of the current satellites that aren’t even lit up. And of course, there are only four live 4K channels in the world and DIRECTV already broadcasts all of them. Yes, it’s true. It might be good futureproofing to look at improving compression. But, DIRECTV satellite doesn’t need it, at least not in the way that streaming apps do. In fact, DIRECTV recently undertook an initiative to make sure that their video feeds look better than ever. They have plenty of bandwidth to do it.

I do think that DIRECTV will move to something more modern when they have to. As I said the current generation boxes are very powerful and very capable, and in several years, there will be a lot more of them. Maybe at that time DIRECTV will look at doing some more advanced compression, but for now, it’s not needed.

Meantime…

DIRECTV may not be upgrading their tech, but what if you want to upgrade yours? Solid Signal is here for you! We have tens of thousands of hard-to-find parts. This includes the very same receivers and accessories the pros use. You won’t find them anywhere else. You won’t even find some of this stuff on the largest e-commerce site in the world. So shop at Solid Signal for everything you need! If you’re not sure what you need, call us! We’re here to help during East Coast business hours. The number is 888-233-7563. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you. It usually takes one business day or less.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.