This post might be better suited for the SiliconDust forum. But the Channels crowd is way better! 
I have an HDHR Prime (cable card) as well as a Connect (over the air). I have read that OTA quality is generally much better because it is not compressed like cable. So I would expect the stream rate to be higher for OTA. However, I have noticed that my OTA streams are regularly 6-8 Mbps while my cable streams are closer to 16 Mbps. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
It can vary based on cable provider, which channel your watching, local affiliate OTA data rates, and for those of us using TVE the compression used for the webstream. You can download and install a free program called MediaInfo and check any of your recordings for data rates.
That’s wrong and mostly false. Ota has always been compressed, there has never been uncompressed ota, it’s impossible. Ota used to have better bitrate than cable years ago, but that has changed with the introduction of sub channels and channel sharing.
It is true, depending on the OTA and what cable that you get. I live in Baltimore and am currently streaming CBS at 14mbps. NBC the same. But it depends on the program. If it is live sports, like a Raven's game during football season, it often goes above 18mbps.
Most cable is usually around 4-6mbps.
My nbc station, the nbc flagship station in nyc, DMA #1 broadcasts at 3 or 4 mbps because it shares the same frequency with 4 or 5 other stations. It looks like shit.
I'm not sure why NYC did that. It is unusual. I think they are cramming multiple 1080i signals on the same frequency. I guess they have some kind of agreement to fit more stations on there that makes them more money than having one 1080 station at good quality.
My XFINITY Cable bitrate so low as they have converted everything to H264 mostly 720P. Mostly less than 2 mbps.
They are channel sharing with Telemundo, which nbc owns and it’s been like that for a few years now.
All depends on your OTA station and cable provider.
Most of my Xfinity HD channels are bit starved H.264, while some SD channels are still MPEG2.
You can get the same quality from H.264 with a lower bitrate than MPEG2.
The OTA stations and Cable co's aren't trying to give you better picture quality, they're trying to cram more channels and ads in the available bandwidth.
I wonder if NYC is using all of UHF due to the crazy amount of OTA channels there. I notice NBC has broadcast towers for the same station on the same UHF frequency in both Manhattan and in Linden, NJ (close by), both serving roughly the same coverage area. I wonder why they don't move one of those to VHF or some other part of the spectrum where there is some open airspace. Really, NYC is like the capital of the world. They should fix their OTA rates.
I guess it all depends. I typically get 3.35 mb/s for video, 4.14 mb/s overall from Xfinity using HDHomeRun Prime:
Clearly it varies dramatically. My local ABC affiliate is about 15 Mbps OTA, and about 15 Mbps via Spectrum cablecard.
Some nyc stations sold their frequencies in the reverse auction to free up spectrum for cell providers. Others moved frequencies or started channel sharing due to the spectrum repack.
The #1 DMA is very congested because of nearby Connecticut, philly, nj and others.
Thank you all for your input! It sounds like the consensus is there is no consensus. It just depends on where you live and what cable provider you use!
