# Distant HD channels



## wcswett (Jan 7, 2003)

I'm kinda dreading this call to Dish, but I have LA analog distants and now that the digital distants are up I want to get them as soon as I have an MPEG4 receiver. I just know I'm going to spend a prolonged period on hold only to be told that the computer won't let them do it. Oh well... all in the name of science...

--- WCS


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

wcswett said:


> I'm kinda dreading this call to Dish, but I have LA analog distants and now that the digital distants are up I want to get them as soon as I have an MPEG4 receiver. I just know I'm going to spend a prolonged period on hold only to be told that the computer won't let them do it. Oh well... all in the name of science...
> 
> --- WCS


Good luck on that !!! I inquired last week and was told distant HD's would not be available; you would have to live in the area where the HD station is being broadcast. I'll be curious to hear if they give you a different answer...

Ken


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

If you use the 'Local Channel' address qualifer on the Dishnetwork website, they now list any local HD channels you will get. Also the channels should appear as soon as you activate your mpeg 4 receiver (providing of course that they are up and you are looking at the correct obital location.)


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## ckinninger (Jul 23, 2005)

garys said:


> If you use the 'Local Channel' address qualifer on the Dishnetwork website, they now list any local HD channels you will get. Also the channels should appear as soon as you activate your mpeg 4 receiver (providing of course that they are up and you are looking at the correct obital location.)


hello, i put in a distant network address (all available in sd) and no word on that page about hd. if you put in an la address and click to see what channels are included then they do show hd in that long list. i don't see why you can't get the hd dns if you have the sd. i hope they get it straight. ck


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## cohagen (Oct 27, 2005)

Hello,

I've read the announcement of Dish offering locals in HD. I am currently getting distant locals from New York. Would I be able to get my distant locals in HD now?

Are these new distant locals in mpeg-4 or mpeg-2?


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

cohagen said:


> Hello,
> 
> I've read the announcement of Dish offering locals in HD. I am currently getting distant locals from New York. Would I be able to get my distant locals in HD now?
> 
> Are these new distant locals in mpeg-4 or mpeg-2?


They are in MPEG-4 and require a dish at 61.5 to receive them.


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

once dish figures out that they are allowed to they will turn the distants back on again. And they will only be available with the new MPEG4 receivers


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## Rogueone (Jan 29, 2004)

I think they wont have distant HD locals until may or june. charlie mentioned something about a new fcc ruling or something going into effect then or ending or some such thing. and I thought it had something to do with HD distants


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

but they're wrong.

It's been pointed out several times that the FCC has made it legal for DBS to provide HD DNS where Analog DNS is offered, DirecTV is already doing this.


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## hankmack (Feb 8, 2006)

I'm confused. I subscribe to our locals--the Sacramento Ca stations. They are starting to broadcast in HDTV. Will I be able to get those stations in HDTV with the VIP622 "scheduled" for installation on Feb 28?. I can not get those stations over the air since we are in the mountains 70 miles from the towers.

Thanks, Hank


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## jcm.oo (Jan 24, 2005)

hankmack said:


> I'm confused. I subscribe to our locals--the Sacramento Ca stations. They are starting to broadcast in HDTV. Will I be able to get those stations in HDTV with the VIP622 "scheduled" for installation on Feb 28?. I can not get those stations over the air since we are in the mountains 70 miles from the towers.
> 
> Thanks, Hank


Unless you live in LA or NYC the only way (with Dish) you can get HD channels is over the air. Dish is going to launch up to 50 markets by the end of the year. HD distants are not offered yet, but should be in the near future, according to somebody from the Executive Office of Dish Network.

So basically if you can't get ota and you dont live in la or nyc then your SOL, it doesn't seem like dish really cares either.


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## wcswett (Jan 7, 2003)

khearrean said:


> Good luck on that !!! I inquired last week and was told distant HD's would not be available; you would have to live in the area where the HD station is being broadcast. I'll be curious to hear if they give you a different answer...


Well, I'm fortunate in that I'm in the Atlanta DMA and that Atlanta is one of the DMAs that should be in the first rollout of local HD by DISH, but I'd like to have the LA distant HD channels as well since I have some experience with my HD DVR's failing to record. I'd like to have a second shot at recording a given program.

I'm grandfathered on the SD distant channels and wouldn't be able to get them if I tried to do so today. I should legally be able to add the HD ones for the same DMA, though.

--- WCS


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## Rogueone (Jan 29, 2004)

hank, it's just a matter of waiting for Dish to announce the areas that will get HD and when. Also, you can't get OTA even with a good outdoor antenna? put an antenna on the top of the highest hill around ya and run a cable down to your TV !!! haha

they used to call that community TV back in the 60's and 70's. put up a master antenna to receive the UHF/RF signals, and pass those down to all the people in the valley


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

hankmack said:


> I'm confused. I subscribe to our locals--the Sacramento Ca stations. They are starting to broadcast in HDTV. Will I be able to get those stations in HDTV with the VIP622 "scheduled" for installation on Feb 28?. I can not get those stations over the air since we are in the mountains 70 miles from the towers.
> 
> Thanks, Hank


There is no date for when the Sacto HD locals will be broadcast via sat. We did show up on a chart of the cities likely to get HD networks in 2006.

The Sacto locals are NOT starting to broadcast in HDTV, they've been doing it for a LONG time. They had been doing so long before I bought an HD TV in 2004. Even if you could get them OTA, would wouldn't have accurate EPG information for the locals for PBS. KOVR is HD on 13.1 but DISH puts guide info on 13.2 so you can't record local CBS stuff in HD using the guide - manual timers only. That SHOULD be correct when DISH puts Sacto locals on the Sat. You WON'T get them Feb 28th - my GUESS would be summer at the earliest, and fall more likely. You will only see a single subchannel of 3, 6, 10, 13. I don't know if DISH will supply any other locals in HD via sat. Maybe the new combo of UPN and WB later in the year??

I'm over 40 miles from the Sacto towers and get 99-100 strength for them. On SOME days, I can lock on the SF OTA digitals and that is about 95 miles. If you have an outdoor antenna, you have a CHANCE to get something OTA. Not a good chance in a basin or valley that blocks everything, but you won't know until you get the 622 and try.


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## hankmack (Feb 8, 2006)

jcm.oo said:


> Unless you live in LA or NYC the only way (with Dish) you can get HD channels is over the air. Dish is going to launch up to 50 markets by the end of the year. HD distants are not offered yet, but should be in the near future, according to somebody from the Executive Office of Dish Network.
> 
> So basically if you can't get ota and you dont live in la or nyc then your SOL, it doesn't seem like dish really cares either.


 I hope the distant locals will be available "soon".


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## hankmack (Feb 8, 2006)

Rogueone said:


> hank, it's just a matter of waiting for Dish to announce the areas that will get HD and when. Also, you can't get OTA even with a good outdoor antenna? put an antenna on the top of the highest hill around ya and run a cable down to your TV !!! haha
> 
> they used to call that community TV back in the 60's and 70's. put up a master antenna to receive the UHF/RF signals, and pass those down to all the people in the valley


Our trees are about 150 feet high but the mountains are over 7,000 feet!:lol:


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## hankmack (Feb 8, 2006)

Thanks for the info. No way we can get Sacto over the air. Without Dish we would get nothing. Living in the mountains has it challenges,


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## jcm.oo (Jan 24, 2005)

hankmack said:


> Living in the mountains has it challenges,


chincoteague island is no better. no mountains for me, tallest thing within 50 miles is a 3 or 4 story building. and still cant get any nbc or fox, closest is 100+ miles


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## LUNASDUDE (Feb 2, 2006)

jcm.oo said:


> chincoteague island is no better. no mountains for me, tallest thing within 50 miles is a 3 or 4 story building. and still cant get any nbc or fox, closest is 100+ miles


WOW:eek2: and I thought living 30miles from Albuquerque NM was in the middle of no where!
At least now I don't feel so isolated but we still have to get all of our HD locals from OTA since DN has announced no plans for our market, but some have said on this forum that DishN is "testing" the local channels 
Oh well OTA works fairly well for me, so I guess I will just shut up and deal with it!


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## jcm.oo (Jan 24, 2005)

LUNASDUDE said:


> WOW:eek2: and I thought living 30miles from Albuquerque NM was in the middle of no where!
> At least now I don't feel so isolated but we still have to get all of our HD locals from OTA since DN has announced no plans for our market, but some have said on this forum that DishN is "testing" the local channels
> Oh well OTA works fairly well for me, so I guess I will just shut up and deal with it!


Although there isnt very many tall buildings around here there are a lot of buildings. Chincoteague has about 4300 people on it, the island is about 7 miles long and about 1 mile wide in some areas. You may have heard about it, it is the place they have the "pony swim," brings in about 50,000, 60,000 people here in the last week of july every year, there was a book and a movie about Misty of Chincoteague. The county has about 35000 people in it, so its not to bad. Salisbury md is only about 40 miles, which is where i get cbs and abc, but there is not fox or nbc station there. The closest is in Norfolk/New Port news area, but they are about 100 miles away.


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## LUNASDUDE (Feb 2, 2006)

jcm.oo said:


> Although there isnt very many tall buildings around here there are a lot of buildings. Chincoteague has about 4300 people on it, the island is about 7 miles long and about 1 mile wide in some areas. You may have heard about it, it is the place they have the "pony swim," brings in about 50,000, 60,000 people here in the last week of july every year, there was a book and a movie about Misty of Chincoteague. The county has about 35000 people in it, so its not to bad. Salisbury md is only about 40 miles, which is where i get cbs and abc, but there is not fox or nbc station there. The closest is in Norfolk/New Port news area, but they are about 100 miles away.


Now that you mention the Pony swim I remember where it's at!
Not much to remember us for maybe the international balloon festival that brings in about a million people to Albuquerque (you know the one bugs bunny was always forgetting to take that right turn at!) and maybe Roswell where all the UFO's land! (Dam UFO's blocking my satt signals!)
Oh yeah and for Bill Richardson our absent Governor flying to North Korea every other week to talk to KIM (wackjob) Ill? 
But I get the local OTA channels fairly well now that I have a UFO parked over my house to bounce the signal off of!:nono:


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## jcm.oo (Jan 24, 2005)

LUNASDUDE said:


> Now that you mention the Pony swim I remember where it's at!
> Not much to remember us for maybe the international balloon festival that brings in about a million people to Albuquerque (you know the one bugs bunny was always forgetting to take that right turn at!) and maybe Roswell where all the UFO's land! (Dam UFO's blocking my satt signals!)
> Oh yeah and for Bill Richardson our absent Governor flying to North Korea every other week to talk to KIM (wackjob) Ill?
> But I get the local OTA channels fairly well now that I have a UFO parked over my house to bounce the signal off of!:nono:


Send that ufo over here so I can get signal. :lol:
Actually we do have a nasa base thing out here too. Not but a few miles away from the island. Wallaps Flight Facility I think it is called. They launch some rockets every once and a while.


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## Rogueone (Jan 29, 2004)

yeah jcm, you are in the BOOOOONNNIEES!! I drove out to ***** a couple years ago. Damn that place is out of the way (being from Prince William county). But it is pretty, I'm sure it is a very nice place to live other than the lack of TV reception  

Why in the world doesn't the Fox and NBC from DC or Baltimore or Norfolk just put a transmitter out there somewhere? sheesh. Thinking about it, Norfolk/Hampton would make sense. But put a tower about 20 miles up from the Bridge, at least you'd have a shot at reception  

Hmm, you know how you could get some Fox and NBC don'tcha? Get a friend from a normal area to install a sling box and pull the video off the net thru the sling!!  hhaha


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## jcm.oo (Jan 24, 2005)

Rogueone said:


> yeah jcm, you are in the BOOOOONNNIEES!! I drove out to ***** a couple years ago. Damn that place is out of the way (being from Prince William county). But it is pretty, I'm sure it is a very nice place to live other than the lack of TV reception
> 
> Why in the world doesn't the Fox and NBC from DC or Baltimore or Norfolk just put a transmitter out there somewhere? sheesh. Thinking about it, Norfolk/Hampton would make sense. But put a tower about 20 miles up from the Bridge, at least you'd have a shot at reception
> 
> Hmm, you know how you could get some Fox and NBC don'tcha? Get a friend from a normal area to install a sling box and pull the video off the net thru the sling!!  hhaha


It is not that bad of a place to live, summers are really busy, there is not enough room for all of the people on this little island. But it is really quite on here now though.

Accomack County has a couple repeater towers for ABC, CBS, and NBC from Norfolk, just analog though. I don't think they will ever go digital in 2009, they will just turn them off I think. They threatened to turn them off a year ago but the got so many compaints that they didn't do it, plus Chincoteague uses them for the cable company.

I think we switch dma's every couple years or something. dish has us locked in the Norfolk market, so we can get sd locals now. Norfolk is also on the list to get hd locals too. Can't get sd locals from direct so I had to go with dish.


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## LUNASDUDE (Feb 2, 2006)

jcm.oo said:


> Send that ufo over here so I can get signal. :lol:
> Actually we do have a nasa base thing out here too. Not but a few miles away from the island. Wallaps Flight Facility I think it is called. They launch some rockets every once and a while.


Ok I will try but those little green people don't take orders to well:nono2: 
An I feel you pain about being in TMONW we were like that for a long, long time.
You would think that being only 35miles from the biggest City in the state would guarantee we would have all the cool stuff but NOOO.
I was on dialup internet until last year when Comcast put in HS internet:hurah: 
And when I moved in 10yrs ago we had phone & electric service and that it!
We still have a septic tank & propane.
Sound familar?:eek2:


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## bear paws (Jan 11, 2006)

LUNASDUDE said:


> Ok I will try but those little green people don't take orders to wellI
> And when I moved in 10yrs ago we had phone & electric service and that it!
> We still have a septic tank & propane.
> Sound familar?:eek2:


Did your phones have a crank on the side?

Bear!


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## LUNASDUDE (Feb 2, 2006)

bear paws said:


> Did your phones have a crank on the side?
> 
> Bear!


yeah and so did my first satt receiver:lol:


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