# Not getting games in HD on FSSW (416)



## crashbowman (Apr 19, 2011)

I honestly do not know if this is the place to go for help or not, but at this point I am just hoping for help or clarity from someone. I have been with Dish Network for a little over a week. I mainly subscribed to watch Texas Rangers games on FSSW (416). There is an HD 416 and a 5416 in HD. Most of the time you go to that channel it just says “Check back to see if your local team is broadcasting in HD.” 

The first week all, but one game was in HD on the 416HD and 5416. Last night’s game was not in HD and the next 10 games only have 2 games showing in my guide as available in HD. My friend right next door on DirecTV is getting games in HD and the FSSW website says the games are broadcast in HD. TVguide says they are in HD on dish. Dish even told me last night that all games are broadcast in HD and I should be receiving them in HD. She said she was turning in a technical request, but I am not having any luck. I tried calling again today and the guy kept trying something and said my guide should now show the games available in HD, but they do not. Any experience or ideas? I am in North Texas and live about 60 miles from 75 miles from Arlington.


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## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

....


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## crashbowman (Apr 19, 2011)

I honestly do not understand why I got that reply. I am not a troll in any form. I was hoping to get some honest help from someone and apparently this was not the place. Could someone possibly point me to a place that can offer some help?


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

The short answer is bandwidth restrictions. The games may be produced in HD, but due to limited bandwidth that we can use, not all games/channels will be broadcast in HD (HD takes up more bandwidth than SD, so cuts are made to make sure we stay within our limits).


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## crashbowman (Apr 19, 2011)

[email protected] Network said:


> The short answer is bandwidth restrictions. The games may be produced in HD, but due to limited bandwidth that we can use, not all games/channels will be broadcast in HD (HD takes up more bandwidth than SD, so cuts are made to make sure we stay within our limits).


Matthew,

Thank you very much for the answer. At least someone took the time. I must say I am still confused and beyond frustrated. I have been with dish for 8 days and it has been nothing short of horrible. I was with dish years ago and would even take up for Charlie on some of the stuff that other people got fighting mad about. Now I guess I am becoming one of those people that will get fighting mad. I signed up for dish, because this channel was offered in HD. I have so many questions and so much confusion I don't even know where to start.

1) Am I definitely out of luck and the straight only answer is bandwidth? Otherwise is there anything else it could be?

2) If it is bandwidth, when will it be fixed?

3) Why are there many games offered in HD that I don't have access to, yet the game in my own area is not offered? It seems like it would make sense to offer the games in HD that are in that area and help save bandwidth that way.

I am sure I have more questions, but maybe those questions will help me narrow them down.


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

1) It's bandwidth limitations. Or we simply do not have the channel in HD (a couple RSN's we don't).

2) Once everyone is moved over to MPEG-4 equipment, a lot of bandwidth should be freed up.

3) I don't know how they determine what HD broadcasts need to be cut. It makes more sense to me that not broadcasting a game in HD saves more bandwidth than broadcasting some of it in HD regardless of the area.


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## crashbowman (Apr 19, 2011)

[email protected] Network said:


> 1) It's bandwidth limitations. Or we simply do not have the channel in HD (a couple RSN's we don't).
> 
> 2) Once everyone is moved over to MPEG-4 equipment, a lot of bandwidth should be freed up.
> 
> 3) I don't know how they determine what HD broadcasts need to be cut. It makes more sense to me that not broadcasting a game in HD saves more bandwidth than broadcasting some of it in HD regardless of the area.


Your #3 honestly made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I don't see how broadcasting 5 games in my area in HD that I don't have access to, which is taking up bandwidth is helping the situation.

I have been on the phone with dish 5 times tonight and been nothing, but polite and have been hung up on three times. The last time, when I asked to talk to her supervisor I got a muffled "try it", before 5 minutes later being hung up on. I have never felt like a company could care less about a customer as I do Dish tonight. I made a big mistake 8 days ago and it looks like I have no options.

Once again I am not a troll. I am honestly someone who made a mistake a few days ago and signed up for dish.


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

The answer I gave is the truth. I didn't understand your #3 either for that matter (at first). You're saying to localize RSN's to broadcast only in the area that qualifies for them, correct? What about people who subscribe to the multi sports package specifically to get collegiate games out of their area (most pro sports are blacked out)?


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

crashbowman said:


> Your #3 honestly made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I don't see how broadcasting 5 games in my area in HD that I don't have access to, which is taking up bandwidth is helping the situation.


Your area doesn't have a personal satellite hovering over it only broadcasting to a few people. It's broadcasting these RSNs nationally, and the number of channels that can be broadcast is finite. HD broadcasts take up more bandwidth than SD, and that's the way it is.

It may change when everybody is moved to MPEG4 receivers instead of MPEG2, but that won't be for a while.


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## wreck (Oct 27, 2007)

All I know is I have been a Dish customer for 3 years and we used to get most ALL the Rangers games on FSSW in HD (albeit some were JIP). We just went through *3* straight games in standard def -- not acceptable!

For that matter, the other LOCAL channel that carries the Rangers, Stars, and Mavs is channel 21 ...................... Dish carries only the SD feed -- DirectTV caries it HD -- Full-time.
Direct TV shows ALL games in HD for FSSW *AND* Channel 21.



Another thought .................... there are NO college football, basketball or NBA games on currently. There should be PLENTY of bandwidth.


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## EntropyByDesign (Apr 24, 2010)

We don't get Rockies game in HD on Root Sports full time either. And Dish is based near Denver! Charlie is not a baseball fan...


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## pistolpete52 (Sep 3, 2010)

crashbowman said:


> Matthew,
> 
> Thank you very much for the answer. At least someone took the time. I must say I am still confused and beyond frustrated. I have been with dish for 8 days and it has been nothing short of horrible. I was with dish years ago and would even take up for Charlie on some of the stuff that other people got fighting mad about. Now I guess I am becoming one of those people that will get fighting mad. I signed up for dish, because this channel was offered in HD. I have so many questions and so much confusion I don't even know where to start.
> 
> ...


You're going through what I'm going through. I live in the Tampa, FL area, and it's just luck if I get the games in HD. This is major problem for Dish, although they probably won't acknowledge that statement. I don't think that they care very much about sports. I'm a fairly new customer also, and I've had my problems with Dish, as far as sports go. I bought the NBA League Pass, and you'd think that when you pay a premium price to get premium channels, the games would be broadcast in HD. But, it's just a crapshoot. I also bought the extra $7 sports package because the guide on the website listed the RSN's in HD.....but, they're not.

When I signed up (I came over from Directv) I specifically asked the CSR if the NBALP broadcasted in HD on Dish and the answer was yes. Same with the extra RSN sports pack. I signed up, and now I'm stuck in a 2 year commitment that I can't get out of because I listened to what the CSR told me.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

They are in HD, but not full time HD and not all games. Dish doesn't focus on sports like DirecTV and uses their limited bandwidth for more national cable networks that DIRECTV doesn't carry. That isn't likely to ever change.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Just perusing the Dish Game Finder and it appears that Dish is allotting VERY little bandwidth to MLB games on HD RSN broadcasts, like today only 4 games all day listed as HD:

3:00pm EDT Redsox @ Angels - FOXW 417
7:30pm EDT Royals @ Rangers - HDALT 444
7:30pm EDT Reds @ Cardinals - FOXCN 427
10:00pm EDT Redsox @ Angels - FOXW 417

Saturday is even worse:

12:30pm EDT Dodgers @ Cubs - HDALT 444
6:30pm EDT Astros @ Brewers - HDALT 445
9:00pm EDT Red Sox @ Angels - FOXW 417

So if Dish's own website is correct, they are allotting at most 2 TP at a time to HD MLB broadcasts - PITIFUL!


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## levibluewa (Aug 13, 2005)

Maybe its just the local rsn (RSNW 426), but the HD feeds are coming thru better / more often and sooner (JIP) than last year.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Well tonight we had both the Rangers and Astros in HD, looks like maybe tomorrow, too.

Yep! Both Rangers and Astros in HD on Dish 416 and 444.


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## PhantomOG (Feb 7, 2007)

don't watch baseball, but for college football this past year many games on Fox Sports SW were not on channel 416 this year. However, in every case I came across I could find the game I was looking for buried in the HDALT channels. Just the other night, the Spurs playoff game was also not on 416, but I found it a few pages down on HDALT something or other.

It seems silly to me to "hide" this programming in such a way.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

They are not hiding them, they have conflicts and have to place them on an alternate channel, they have ot cover Astros, Rangers, plus Dallas Stars, plus 3 NBA teams, often one channel can't handle all 6.

College football is even more complicated.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

Every year people complain about this and every year people complain about the complainers. The short solution is move to directv if getting all games in HD is absolutely your top priority. If you want more national HD channels and *some* or a *majority* of your RSN games in HD, Dish can still satisfy that. I think some markets might get near 100% but mine didn't and still doesn't.


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## sbdjs (May 15, 2007)

I think what is frustrating for a lot of DishNetwork subs is the fact that CSRs routinely lie to them. Just minutes ago I spoke to someone in customer retention and they said if it's broadcast in HDTV we broadcast it in HDTV. That may be true for most channels, but not regional sports networks which was the specific channel of the conversation. The fact that I was outright lied to will probably push me to DirecTv soon. Why there hasn't been a class action lawsuit over this issue is amazing to me.


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## CopyChief (Jan 17, 2005)

"CoolGui" said:


> Every year people complain about this and every year people complain about the complainers. The short solution is move to directv if getting all games in HD is absolutely your top priority. If you want more national HD channels and *some* or a *majority* of your RSN games in HD, Dish can still satisfy that. I think some markets might get near 100% but mine didn't and still doesn't.


This is not particularly constructive, is it? Yes, people complain every year. But this year is particularly bad so far. This is not a matter of most games bring in HD. This is like going back several years when only a game or so a week was broadcast in HD. Over the next 10 days, of the 8 Cardinals games scheduled on FSNMW, only two are scheduled in HD. This is the continuation of a trend that I've seen all month. Last year, only one game a week or so would end up in SD, which is perfectly acceptable to me.

They have set expectations over the past few seasons, and this year are falling far short. I think that gives us plenty of room to complain.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

I have been watching this closely this past week.

Most of the time the Ranger games that are indicated to be broadcast in SD have been carried in HD, it appears that the Dish Game Finder page is woefully inadequate or lags far behind reality.

My confidence in its information as far as HD vs SD is dropping.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

CopyChief said:


> This is not particularly constructive, is it?


lol, no, I don't think it is particularly constructive. But I've complained myself several times, here, to dish, to anyone who would listen. Dish brushes it off, and so do the people here generally. See some of the others posts about this in previous years:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=170226

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=175114

Generally things get a little better after the first round of NBA playoffs when those games are no longer on RSNs. But I am not against you, as you can see in those threads. I just had to switch, i would still be with Dish if they would have just carried the dang HD games.



CopyChief said:


> But this year is particularly bad so far. This is not a matter of most games bring in HD.


Maybe it's worse for you this year, but maybe Dish saw the Cards started out slow and you got the sort of treatment others who weren't always leading their divisions get?


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## pistolpete52 (Sep 3, 2010)

sbdjs said:


> I think what is frustrating for a lot of DishNetwork subs is the fact that CSRs routinely lie to them. Just minutes ago I spoke to someone in customer retention and they said if it's broadcast in HDTV we broadcast it in HDTV. That may be true for most channels, but not regional sports networks which was the specific channel of the conversation. The fact that I was outright lied to will probably push me to DirecTv soon. Why there hasn't been a class action lawsuit over this issue is amazing to me.


That is exactly what happened to me. I was a Directv sub for years, and pretty much happy. But, my bill got to a point where I had to make some changes. I checked the Dish Network website. There were 3 things that I was looking for: more HD cable channels, the NBA League Pass in HD, and RSN's in HD. I was able to see that 2 of my needs appeared on the websites TV guide....more HD channels, and RSN's in HD.

I called, spoke to a CSR about switching, but I wanted to make sure that the 3 things that I wanted were in HD. She assured me that they were including the NBALP. What she didn't tell me is that a lot of the HD channels were "part time" in HD. The website never shows anything about part-time HD channels. Not one single RSN is full time HD. Some RSN's that are designated as HD on the website guide (434 & 435) are not in HD at all. As for the NBA League Pass, it was luck if the game that I wanted to watch was in HD. Even my local RSN's don't televise in HD full time.

Had I been told this by the CSR, I would have stayed with Directv and sucked up the increases, or just changed my package. I'm not going to say that I was lied to, but I wasn't told the "real deal".

Sports channels in HD may not be for everyone. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who could care less about it. But, I watch a lot of sports, and watching them in SD is just not the same after having watched them in HD. I'm in a contract now that I probably can't get out of. I guess that my ideal TV provider would have the Dish HD lineup with Directv's sports channels.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

pistolpete52 said:


> ...I guess that my ideal TV provider would have the Dish HD lineup with Directv's sports channels.


Yeah, I'll agree with you there. Honestly I'd rather have the local cable version of my RSN because they carry not only the games but all the local teams news shows in HD. And I don't care about the out of market packages. Actually if I had to mix I would take Dish's National HD selection and equipment, DirecTV local HD, sports HD, and picture quality, then the only thing I'd really want Comcast for is the cheaper bundle bill, full time RSN in HD and no rain fade.


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## hoophead (Feb 10, 2008)

Jim5506 said:


> I have been watching this closely this past week.
> 
> Most of the time the Ranger games that are indicated to be broadcast in SD have been carried in HD, it appears that the Dish Game Finder page is woefully inadequate or lags far behind reality.
> 
> My confidence in its information as far as HD vs SD is dropping.


In a different thread, recently I was pointed towards DISH GAME FINDER to help me find out in advance what games will be in HD as I have noticed already this season that there are more games than usual not being passed on by DISH. And, Jim is spot on. Using said game finder it is actually inaccuarate for the lilttle time I've used it.

Also, I have heard over the past year that there will be more bandwith once 
everyone is moved over to MPEG-4 equipment, a lot of bandwidth should be freed up....

Anyone have knowledge when this will happen??


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## wolfjc (Oct 4, 2006)

Well I am in Cincinnati and my FOX sports is on 427 and a few days ago Dish only had the SD version of the REDS game on.
But when I looked at the ALT channels I found FOUR ALT HD channels that I could receive and TWO more that I could not.
So what is it do we have a band width problem or not?
It would not seem to a problem just an excuse.


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## camo (Apr 15, 2010)

I switched from Dish to Direct for full time HD on fox sports Az. Unfortunately Dish does not advertise we only show 30-40% of the baseball games in HD. And for me the SD was so compressed you could not clearly see the scores. Once you get locked into the contract all you can do is wait it out or pay it off and change over to someone with full time service. 
The other option if you have the bandwidth is subscribe to MLBTV for 120 dollars year includes HD games. Test your bandwidth during game time because it varies. Remember HD 720i feed will use around 1.28 gigabytes per hour so check with your ISP what your monthly or daily allotment is prior to signing up.

http://mlb.mlb.com/tools/bandwidthdetect/index.html


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## hoophead (Feb 10, 2008)

camo - 
Thanks for your input!
We recently spent the whole month of March in Litchfield Park to go to Brewers' games,etc.
Cox cable is what we had there. Other than MLBN I did not like it at all; especially the way it was set up....anyway, if I sign up for MLBTV I will not be able to watch my home team: Milwaukee. So, that is not a viable option. (Unless, of course, you know something about MLBTV that I don't) 

Thanks again for your input!


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