# Lack of HD content is growing OLD!



## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

I had high expectation at the beginning of the year that we were going to see some more HD content. But nothing has changed  . I bought a 921 in anticipation of this and the ability to time shift HD. I went to my local cable companys website (TWC) and I see that they now have 9 channels (2 of which are network channels-CBS and Fox) in my area and I understand that they are working on getting more up and running. They are also going to be coming out with a HD DVR sometime in the near future. If Dish doesn't get their sh*t together by the time their HD DVR comes out and depending on HD content they offer at that time, this 921 is going to be on the auction block!!
I want to send a email to the CEO at dish but can't remember what the email address is. Is it "[email protected]"? Gerry ps: I DO NOT expect to pay extra for any additional HD than I am paying now!


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Yes, I believe it's [email protected].

I got VOOM for HD... they give you an antenna to pull in locals, then the picture quality is excellent.

I'm getting NBC, CBS, PBS, and soon ABC in digital, There are about 34 or 35 other HD channels if you get the full package, and they're working on a DVR for end of the year or before.


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## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

Capmeister said:


> Yes, I believe it's [email protected].
> 
> I got VOOM for HD... they give you an antenna to pull in locals, then the picture quality is excellent.
> 
> I'm getting NBC, CBS, PBS, and soon ABC in digital, There are about 34 or 35 other HD channels if you get the full package, and they're working on a DVR for end of the year or before.


I have been looking at VOOM a little bit. But in looking at quality of programming I am not impressed with their 21 exclusives. Where I live there is no locals available by antenna. Even if there was I would not be able to get them because of the hill between me and the antennas 20 miles away  . Oh well, I will keep researching things and find something that suits my viewing habits....


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## Roger Tee (Feb 22, 2004)

Actually the same situation occurred when Color Television was the latest toy.

I still remember the NBC Peacock and the In Living Color before a show. The first TV I owned, passed on from a neighbor had a 10inch round B&W piture tube. It was great I could watch TV! Maybe that's why I can't get excited over HDTV?

Oops just gave away my age.

Cheers


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Roger Tee said:


> Actually the same situation occurred when Color Television was the latest toy.
> 
> I still remember the NBC Peacock and the In Living Color before a show. The first TV I owned, passed on from a neighbor had a 10inch round B&W piture tube. It was great I could watch TV! Maybe that's why I can't get excited over HDTV?
> 
> ...


See HD in someone's home, not a store. You'll be blown away.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

ggw2000 said:


> I have been looking at VOOM a little bit. But in looking at quality of programming I am not impressed with their 21 exclusives. Where I live there is no locals available by antenna. Even if there was I would not be able to get them because of the hill between me and the antennas 20 miles away  . Oh well, I will keep researching things and find something that suits my viewing habits....


That's a bumber. Antennaweb.org might still tell you what you need, if it will work. Try it and put in your exact address.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Capmeister said:


> See HD in someone's home, not a store. You'll be blown away.


Couldn't agree more with you. While our Sammy looked good at the local A/V store, nothin's better than some fresh buttered popcorn and an HD program while you sit back on the comfortable old sofa. Ahhhhh!!


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

ggw2000 said:


> I have been looking at VOOM a little bit. But in looking at quality of programming I am not impressed with their 21 exclusives. Where I live there is no locals available by antenna. Even if there was I would not be able to get them because of the hill between me and the antennas 20 miles away  . Oh well, I will keep researching things and find something that suits my viewing habits....


IF you expect HD locals, they won't be there.

What channels are your cable given that Dish is not? That would be a good email to Charlie.

I too would like more HD, but with a 921, HBO, Discovery, and HDNet I would have a decent amount of HD content lock and loaded to watch.

Then again, I also have locals through OTA to supliment.


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

Comcast in the Chicago area HD content is pretty good with local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and WB HD channels available plus HBO, Showtime, Discovery, ESPN, HDnet, HD Movies.


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## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

Capmeister said:


> That's a bumber. Antennaweb.org might still tell you what you need, if it will work. Try it and put in your exact address.


Capmeister, went to antennaweb and there are a whopping 2 stations broadcasting on digital in our area (abc/fox). Given the color of the antenna required (violet) and the hill behind me I would expect maybe a 200 foot antenna ought to do the trick :hurah: . NOT


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

If my HD set blew up today, I would replace it with a 36" SD set. HD is impressive, but its just not worth the extra cost yet. 5-10 years from now it will probably be a different story.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Link said:


> Comcast in the Chicago area HD content is pretty good with local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and WB HD channels available plus HBO, Showtime, Discovery, ESPN, HDnet, HD Movies.


You forgot Starz-HD and Cinemax-HS on many Chicagoarea Comcast system

PS:They have the INHD and INHD2 channels, not HDNet (at least on all the Comcast systems that I've seen.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

ggw2000 said:


> Capmeister, went to antennaweb and there are a whopping 2 stations broadcasting on digital in our area (abc/fox). Given the color of the antenna required (violet) and the hill behind me I would expect maybe a 200 foot antenna ought to do the trick :hurah: . NOT


 That sucks.

I guess I'm lucky to live beween 2 cities with TV stations. Once everything goes digital, I should get 2 ABC, 2 NBC, 2 CBS, 2 FOX, maybe a WB and a UPN even, if I get a bigger antenna.


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

It is getting old, I can't believe they charge $9.99 for 4 lousy channels of HD and market HD811 receivers for very few HD channels. The only good thing is that the 811 can pick up local HD signals if a market even has them operating in full power.


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## tm22721 (Nov 8, 2002)

You came close to hitting the nail on the head, but no cigar. What is wrong with TV is not resolution. 

It is content.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

ypsiguy said:


> If my HD set blew up today, I would replace it with a 36" SD set. HD is impressive, but its just not worth the extra cost yet. 5-10 years from now it will probably be a different story.


5-10 years from now - you won't be able to find a 36" set thsat doesn't have an ATSC (digital TV) tuner - shoots, that should come to pass in the next 2 years.

Now, whether or not that is a true HDTV set is an open question - the market may break into "HDTV sets with tuners" and "non-HDTV sets with digital tuners" with a significant price difference between the 2.


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## finniganps (Jan 23, 2004)

I'm still extremely pleased with how much BETTER digital is than the old analog cable that I came from in 1999 when I switched to E*. Now you get digital through cable, but it costs extra over analog and a lot of them charge you by the room (similar to satellite - this was free for analog). I can wait on the HD...in a couple years there will be a lot more channels and the TV's will be a lot cheaper.....that's when I'll move.


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## Guest (May 4, 2004)

Link said:


> It is getting old, I can't believe they charge $9.99 for 4 lousy channels of HD and market HD811 receivers for very few HD channels. The only good thing is that the 811 can pick up local HD signals if a market even has them operating in full power.


Hmm.... 
- cinemax package has 5 channels for $11.99/mo (~$2.40/chan, or $2.99/chan if you take out the west feed)
- HBO package has 8 channels for $13.99/mo (~$1.75/chan, $2.33/chan if you dont include the e/w feeds)

And the HD pack offers $2.50/chan. Pretty much in line with the above. Actually, even better when you consider hbo/max offer count one of those channels twice for east and west feeds (same content on 2 channels). I dont think e/w feeds should count as new channels- its the same content delayed. Otherwise E* could provide e/w feeds for each of the 4 HD channels and say that they have a whopping 8 channels of hd for $10 a month.

Yet people complain about the "expensive" HD pack- why no complaints about the "expensive HBO package"??!?!?!?


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

I don't know, maybe because ESPN-HD is effectively never broadcast in HD? So that leaves us with HD-Net, Discovery HD and HD-Net Movies. I love the content on HD-Net and Discovery HD, don't get me wrong, but it's not the same as full time (recent) Hollywood movies.

Besides, a lot of people get Cinemax and HBO and such through value packages (or the America's Everything Package) which winds up discounting the rate. Why can't we get the "HD Package" bundled with our crappy 921 PVR fee for, say, $12/month total?


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## fjerina (Dec 20, 2003)

With the lack of new HD programming from Dish and with the buggy PVR 921 (which I have), I am monitoring the release and reviews of the new Direct TV HD PVR. If that unit is more stable than Dish's I will defect to "the other side" and go with Direct TV.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Just wait 6 months and see how the VOOM DVR does.


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## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

fjerina said:


> With the lack of new HD programming from Dish and with the buggy PVR 921 (which I have), I am monitoring the release and reviews of the new Direct TV HD PVR. If that unit is more stable than Dish's I will defect to "the other side" and go with Direct TV.


Is there more HD content on the other side of the fence? The problem here is that Charlie needs to get his ass in gear and quit jerking people (subscribers) around! To say that there is no new and decent hd content out there is bull.
What about Starz HD, etc.? 
Also can someone answer a question for me. I cannot get any OTA HD channels, I do get CBSHD on 61.5. Why aren't the rest of the network HD (abc,fox,nbc) channels available to us from dish? Is this an FCC thing or a Charlie thing? Thanks, Gerry


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## jmbrooks (Jan 11, 2004)

I don't know about you guys, but the service costs are whats keeping me from getting on-board. I am on my second big screen HDTV (1st 55" 4x3, now 65" 16x9) and still have yet to get an HDTV receiver.

Even if I had a full blown HDTV package I would still mostly watch SDTV because of content (which still is awesome on that big TV). I have a DVR-501 and don't want to spend the money on a HD receiver without DVR. That means $1000 plus the monthly:

E*
AE - 78.00
HD - 11.00
DVR - 5.00
2nd - 5.00
Locals 6.00
Insurance 3.00
tax ??

D* is a little more and adding VOOM is just as expensive.

That's $108 p/mo, more than double what I am paying now. I'm not sure I would get that much increase in the enjoyment factor. Add to that $25 p/mo movie pass at my local Blockbuster. I like TV, movies, sports and such but that's alot. Especially since all my other bills are going up but because of the economic downturn, my income isn't.

Guess I'll just have to continue waiting for HD to become more mainstream and cost competitive.


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## oyving (Sep 16, 2003)

jmbrooks said:


> AE - 78.00
> HD - 11.00
> DVR - 5.00
> 2nd - 5.00
> ...


It's Only $103 since the DVR is $0.00 on the AE plan. ;-)


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## skaeight (Jan 15, 2004)

ypsiguy said:


> If my HD set blew up today, I would replace it with a 36" SD set. HD is impressive, but its just not worth the extra cost yet. 5-10 years from now it will probably be a different story.


I couldn't agree more. I am not excited about HD at all. I worked in an electronics store for a few months last year, so believe me I saw plenty of HD in action, but it just doesn't impress me all that much.

I'm extremely happy with the SD picture I'm getting via d*. At this point it just is not worth the extra cost of the programming and equipment.

It actually kind of makes me angry that with in the next few years the gov't is going to force everyone to at the very least buy a digital set top box to be able to view TV. All so they can make an a$$ load of money auctioning off the analog spectrum.


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## DarrellP (Apr 24, 2002)

You guys *****ing about HD costs, listen to this: A coworker bought a fancy, shmancy Sony Wega 36" SD tube TV 3 years ago and paid $1700 for it. How many of you would do the same for the absolute best SD picture there is? Many of you would, admit it. Crap, I paid $1200 for my first stereo VCR!

Now, I bought a front projector the first of January and paid a measly $1900 for it and it displays native 720P HD onto a self-made 110" diagonal screen that cost me another whopping total of $40. For $1940 I have a 110" HDTV that has a picture that will blow the pants of a "tiny" little 65" rear projection TV that costs 5 times the money.

I have Voom and it cost me $0 to get it. It cost me close to $500 to buy my Dish 6000 with all the extra modules so I can receive 4 stinking channels from them. Anyone who is not impressed with the content of the Voom 21 exclusives has not actually sat down to watch them. Between Voom, OTA HD and the Dish HD Pack, there is no way I could watch everything I want to in a 24 hour period, there is just way too much good stuff on all the time, and Voom has good looking SD to boot. Just the MonsterHD channel will keep me tuned in most of the day, they have new content daily.

As soon as (if) Voom gets HDNET, Dish is history. I gave you a chance Charlie and you blew it.


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## skaeight (Jan 15, 2004)

DarrellP said:


> You guys *****ing about HD costs, listen to this: A coworker bought a fancy, shmancy Sony Wega 36" SD tube TV 3 years ago and paid $1700 for it. How many of you would do the same for the absolute best SD picture there is? Many of you would, admit it. Crap, I paid $1200 for my first stereo VCR!
> 
> Now, I bought a front projector the first of January and paid a measly $1900 for it and it displays native 720P HD onto a self-made 110" diagonal screen that cost me another whopping total of $40. For $1940 I have a 110" HDTV that has a picture that will blow the pants of a "tiny" little 65" rear projection TV that costs 5 times the money.
> 
> ...


I guess since I just graduated college, there is no "measly" $1900 for me. You may have gotten a projector for that "measly" $1900 this year, but what would have that projector cost 3 years ago, when your buddy paid $1700 for a standard def 36" tv? I believe my uncle paid around 5 grand for his high def projector a few years back.

Also, what would that standard def tv cost today? A lot less, around $999 to be exact http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...25319&productCategoryId=cat03002&type=product

Technology gets cheaper, its a given. I'm sorry but your comparison doesn't hold up.


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## jmbrooks (Jan 11, 2004)

DarrellP said:


> You guys *****ing about HD costs, listen to this: A coworker bought a fancy, shmancy Sony Wega 36" SD tube TV 3 years ago and paid $1700 for it. How many of you would do the same for the absolute best SD picture there is? Many of you would, admit it. Crap, I paid $1200 for my first stereo VCR!.


Wrongo, I paid $1800 for my first TOTL Tosh 55" and $2500 for my current TOTL 65" ($1500 after selling the 55" for $1000). I would never have paid that much for an SDTV. In fact I wasn't even interested in big screen TV's until the HD models. Even SD content looks better than on any old analog sets.



DarrellP said:


> Now, I bought a front projector the first of January and paid a measly $1900 for it and it displays native 720P HD onto a self-made 110" diagonal screen that cost me another whopping total of $40. For $1940 I have a 110" HDTV that has a picture that will blow the pants of a "tiny" little 65" rear projection TV that costs 5 times the money.


I thought about front projectors, but I would have had to put it in my basement because it wouldn't work in my living room. I decided on the RPTV for practicality AND 65" is hardly "tiny". The only real advantage to front projection is size. I have a friend with a HD projector, yes the theater size screen is impressive but the picture quality does not "blow the pants off" my set. Because it's in his basement, he does't use it as much as his "tiny" Tv in the living room. See above, my TV was no where near 5 times the money.



DarrellP said:


> I have Voom and it cost me $0 to get it. It cost me close to $500 to buy my Dish 6000 with all the extra modules so I can receive 4 stinking channels from them. Anyone who is not impressed with the content of the Voom 21 exclusives has not actually sat down to watch them. Between Voom, OTA HD and the Dish HD Pack, there is no way I could watch everything I want to in a 24 hour period, there is just way too much good stuff on all the time, and Voom has good looking SD to boot. Just the MonsterHD channel will keep me tuned in most of the day, they have new content daily.
> 
> As soon as (if) Voom gets HDNET, Dish is history. I gave you a chance Charlie and you blew it.


Well, how great for you. My budget doesn't allow for two sat TV subscriptions and I don't live in range of OTA. As I said, I'm not interested in any receiver without DVR. That leaves out Voom for now. I mostly watch locals, some SciFi, sports, and little else. That also leaves out Voom, HD E* and HD D*. Voom is still "somewhat" interesting but, in my mind, thier future is in doubt. I look at whats on Voom and don't think it's worth the roughly $50 p/mo for me.

You shouldn't assume that what works for you, works for everyone. Or that everyone should like what you like.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I would not expect much HD content to be added by Dish Network for a good while seeing how they will have to put all locals on the same dish, unless they put some of the markets on the wings or 105/121.


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