# D* gets a move on HD



## projectorguru (Mar 5, 2007)

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=96552

20-40 HD channels in the next month on D*. whats E* next move?


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## madisonjar (Aug 6, 2007)

I would suspect let directv catch up to them at this point  remember we have history HD coming soon, and according to a advertisment on dishnetwork.com should have 38 channels soon.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

projectorguru said:


> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=96552
> 
> 20-40 HD channels in the next month on D*. whats E* next move?


I keep wondering how long it will take D* to raise the price of their HD package, they have been running their typical marketing BS commercials on local radio here about how they will soon have "way more HD bandwidth than Dish" but never mention that they CURRENTLY have much less actual HD content on the air. I'll be glad when they finally get it all going so my buddy, who has D* but is too lazy to come here and check for himself, will stop asking me when the channels are really going to be added. :icon_lame


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

bobukcat said:


> I keep wondering how long it will take D* to raise the price of their HD package, they have been running their typical marketing BS commercials on local radio here about how they will soon have "way more HD bandwidth than Dish" but never mention that they CURRENTLY have much less actual HD content on the air. I'll be glad when they finally get it all going so my buddy, who has D* but is too lazy to come here and check for himself, will stop asking me when the channels are really going to be added. :icon_lame


How many people apply logic to that statement, "way more HD bandwidth than Dish" way more bandwidth is not equal to more content.

Example, you call customer support and hear your call may be recorded for blah, blah, blah reasons. It is being recorded. If you say nothing on the call that requires them to keep the recording then most likely it is dumped. Otherwise it is kept.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

For that matter... Dish has more bandwidth than many people seem to think. Thus far, Dish has been adding new HD channels this year, for the most part as they come online. Yes, there are a handful of existing HD channels that Dish does not yet have... but nobody has all the HD channels that exist right now.

Maybe, just maybe, if DirecTV adds 20-30 HD channels this month they will almost have as many as Dish has had for the last year! 

And then Dish will add some more... and so will DirecTV... and ultimately everybody will pretty much have the same HD lineup and roughly the same prices... with the exception of some things like Sunday Ticket that DirecTV always locks up exclusively.

I'm not worried about Dish and HD. They haven't steered me wrong yet.


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## DBS Commando (Apr 7, 2006)

I just read this in the D* forums:


CPanther95 said:


> List of channels up in enginnering test mode on D*10:
> 
> *Current HD Channels (MPEG 2)*
> 
> ...


That's ALOT of HD. I wish Dish would be more open with upcoming channels. I hope we get SciFi HD before the new Atlantis season starts.


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## MarcusInMD (Jan 7, 2005)

What does it matter? DirecTV HD is trash anyway. Nothing like severely compressed Hd-Lite.


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## DBS Commando (Apr 7, 2006)

MarcusInMD said:


> What does it matter? DirecTV HD is trash anyway. Nothing like severely compressed Hd-Lite.


HD-lite is still better then SD


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## grooves12 (Oct 27, 2005)

DBS Commando said:


> I just read this in the D* forums:
> 
> That's ALOT of HD. I wish Dish would be more open with upcoming channels. I hope we get SciFi HD before the new Atlantis season starts.


I don't know what "test mode" means for DirecTV, but a majority of the channels on that list do not have an HD broadcast available, so I don't know what exactly it is they are "testing." We'll see in a few months, but I still say that by the end of the year... and even into the forseeable future, DirecTV's HD offering will not be that much different than Dish Network's.


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## braven (Apr 9, 2007)

MarcusInMD said:


> What does it matter? DirecTV HD is trash anyway. Nothing like severely compressed Hd-Lite.


That is such a B.S. statement.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Guys ... remember where you are and be kind to one another.

"Test" for D* means about the same as a "not available" channel in JohnH's uplink report ... The channel is in the program tables / channel lists but is not necessarily uplinked to a satellite nor carrying the content labled.

Pointers to channels that are not yet in production would most certainly fit into the "not uplinked/wrong content" category.


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## juan ellitinez (Jan 31, 2003)

braven said:


> That is such a B.S. statement.


 actually thats a true statement for D* mpeg2 HD but not their mpeg 4 HD!!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm going to regret asking this ...

Is D* transmitting MPEG4 HD in full frame or are they downrezing to something less than 1920x1080i (or 1280x720p)? The derogatory "HD Lite" label should apply to anything less than full frame if it is going to be applied to anything. (Especially since it seems to be applied based on the numbers than on actual perceived picture quality.)


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Which is better? 
DirecTV saying We'll have more HD for quite a while? 
Dishnetwork not Saying they will have more HD sooner or later and just adding More HD?
DirecTV saying we will have more bandwidth for HD? Not that we will have more HD just room for it. 
DirecTV saying they will have 200 channels of HD? Sooner or later most everybody will have more than 200 channels of HD as long they are worth carrying.

What is the best car?
a New Hyundai?
A Used Mercedes?
A Lamborghini almost no oen can afford?
What will do what I need for a price I'm willing to pay? 
A Hybrid? 
Yup You guessed it. There is no best car.


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## MarcusInMD (Jan 7, 2005)

juan ellitinez said:


> actually thats a true statement for D* mpeg2 HD but not their mpeg 4 HD!!


What I have last seen of DirecTV HD it was terrible. This was about two months ago with a non-DVR MPEG4 receiver. DiscoveryHD was the pits compared to Dish. Not sure what the compressor was but it was pretty darn bad.


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

MarcusInMD said:


> What I have last seen of DirecTV HD it was terrible. This was about two months ago with a non-DVR MPEG4 receiver. DiscoveryHD was the pits compared to Dish. Not sure what the compressor was but it was pretty darn bad.


You were probably watching a show that was upconverted SD. I have read so many times here that E* has better HD quality than D*. I have both running into the same tv and I can't see any difference. We all want full res but nobody has that, not even Verizon fiber optic. As long as I don't have to watch non-upconverted SD I can live with the video quality of D*. In a few months probably the main difference is E* has 15 Voom channels and a true 30 second skip button, while D* will have Chiller, Big Ten Network, NFL Sunday Ticket, Baseball Extra Innings and only a 30 second slip. I predict Directv will be growing mostly from cable, not Dish Network. I've never read of an easy way to measure the horizontal resolution of 1080i video. Any suggestions?


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## MarcusInMD (Jan 7, 2005)

kikkenit2 said:


> You were probably watching a show that was upconverted SD. I have read so many times here that E* has better HD quality than D*. I have both running into the same tv and I can't see any difference. We all want full res but nobody has that, not even Verizon fiber optic. As long as I don't have to watch non-upconverted SD I can live with the video quality of D*. In a few months probably the main difference is E* has 15 Voom channels and a true 30 second skip button, while D* will have Chiller, Big Ten Network, NFL Sunday Ticket, Baseball Extra Innings and only a 30 second slip. I predict Directv will be growing mostly from cable, not Dish Network. I've never read of an easy way to measure the horizontal resolution of 1080i video. Any suggestions?


This was NOT an upconverted program. It was a severely bit limited HD program. I saw the same program on Dish and it was so much better. It had tall brown grass in a field swaying back and forth. On dish it was perfect and it looked like grass. On DirecTV it was a jumbled mess of pixelated crap. 

I came from C-band to DirecTV and watched their HD go down the crapper over the course of 1 1/2 years and dumped them and could not be happier with Dish. Well, if it looked like c-band HD I would be happier. Maybe someday  I am not sure what kind of display equipment you have but I could notice major differences between Dish and Direct HD on our 32" CRT 1080i set and our 120" SXRD projector. DirectHD on a larger projector, well, we won;t even go there.


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## archer75 (Oct 13, 2006)

Most of what Direct is adding soon Dish already has. 
And their upcoming list for the fall is interesting as scifi is on there and they are unaware that they would be broadcasting an HD channel.

Also, Dish as said more HD channels would be coming mid September but hasen't said which ones.


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## convem24 (Mar 11, 2007)

MarcusInMD said:


> What does it matter? DirecTV HD is trash anyway. Nothing like severely compressed Hd-Lite.


Hey Marcus did you know the new HD channels are Mpeg4 which will not be HD lite (the local HD channels on D* are glorious and Mpeg4 right now in Seattle). Currently the Mpeg2 lineup is HD lite but that will change in o about 11 days!


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## chriscpmtmp (May 13, 2006)

Dish is just better overall. The new D* channels will help D*, and if there is one you need, then that is the way to go. If you don't need NFL ST, then E* is the way. My brother in law was over yesterday and simply said - Wow this interface is "way better". This is from a software engineer too. Then I showed him:

The 5 groups of favorites - another wow, especially for those with kids.
How sports recordings default to and extra 60 minutes - another wow.
How the receiver in basement auto tunes to a sirrius music station and gets kicked into my audio distribution system - wow (although D* may have that now).

E* is just better. I've had D* for the ST up to this year. I just could not get the HD tivo unit to do what I wanted - period.

And finally, I do watch HD Kung Fu and Monsters on occasion, so voom is more than nothing.


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## PCampbell (Nov 18, 2006)

As we get more HD at D* then E* will add more HD as fast as they can. The change is going faster than the change to color. ( 10 years into the change 1964 color was very rare and most TVs in stors were B&W) CC and Best Buy only have HD sets now.


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

MarcusInMD said:


> What does it matter? DirecTV HD is trash anyway. Nothing like severely compressed Hd-Lite.


Nothing like someone making a bold statement about what he "heard" and has not seen.


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

MarcusInMD said:


> What I have last seen of DirecTV HD it was terrible. This was about two months ago with a non-DVR MPEG4 receiver. DiscoveryHD was the pits compared to Dish. Not sure what the compressor was but it was pretty darn bad.


Just because it was on an MPEG 4 box doesnt mean its in MPEG 4. Disc HD is still in MPEG2 and will be for a while.
Really, the PQ diff is so slight as to be non existant


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## Jon D (Oct 12, 2006)

archer75 said:


> Most of what Direct is adding soon Dish already has.
> And their upcoming list for the fall is interesting as scifi is on there and they are unaware that they would be broadcasting an HD channel.
> 
> Also, Dish as said more HD channels would be coming mid September but hasen't said which ones.


Perhaps you were unaware of the SciFi announcement that they would be launching their HD simulcast this fall and that it would launch on DirecTV. I believe the announcement is still in the DirecTV press release archives. As for the first statement.. As I look at Dish's channel lineup and DirecTVs list of CONFIRMED channel rollouts for this month and october, looks to me like most of these channels Dish does NOT have.


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## archer75 (Oct 13, 2006)

Jon D said:


> Perhaps you were unaware of the SciFi announcement that they would be launching their HD simulcast this fall and that it would launch on DirecTV. I believe the announcement is still in the DirecTV press release archives. As for the first statement.. As I look at Dish's channel lineup and DirecTVs list of CONFIRMED channel rollouts for this month and october, looks to me like most of these channels Dish does NOT have.


The last info I heard from scifi was that they had no idea they were launching HD just yet and have no idea how it ended up on Direct TV's list.

And notice how I said "soon". As in the next round of channels Direct is launching in september Dish already has most of. And dish is launching more in september but has not announced which ones yet(aside from history).


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