# Does Dish have more HD than DirecTV?



## Hoppy (Sep 25, 2005)

Sorry to ask such a dumb question, but I went to the Dish site and I own DirecTV and it appears that Dish may have a couple extra channels (NFL and HGTV?) but finally I couldn't really tell so I thought I'd just ask.

And is the PQ as good as, better, or worse generally than DirecTV. 

I'm thinking of switching if there's a significant gain in HD programming.

Hoppy

PS I thought Dish went out of business a few years ago. I guess not?


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

Hoppy said:


> Sorry to ask such a dumb question, but I went to the Dish site and I own DirecTV and it appears that Dish may have a couple extra channels (NFL and HGTV?) but finally I couldn't really tell so I thought I'd just ask.
> 
> And is the PQ as good as, better, or worse generally than DirecTV.
> 
> ...


Your joking right?

Showtime HD
Starz HDTV 
HBO HD
Animania HD
Family Room HD
GamePlay HD
Discovery HD Theater
Equator HD
National Geographic Channel HD
DISH Network PPV in HD
Film Fest HD
Food Network HD
HDNet Movies
Kung Fu HD
Monsters HD 
World Cinema HD
HDNews
Rave HD
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
NFL Network HD
Rush HD
WorldSport HD
Gallery HD
HDNet
HGTV HD
TNT HD
Treasure HD
Ultra HD
Universal HD


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Hoppy said:


> PS I thought Dish went out of business a few years ago. I guess not?


We had a DirecTV telemarketer in our area that was telling potential customers that DISH is no longer in service. DISH still IS in business but they aren't.


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## jldhawk (Apr 9, 2006)

You can add (coming soon).......................INHD and 10 RSN's (Regional Sports Networks) in HD.
Not to mention all of the LOCALS in HD that are up and running (But you better be in one of the Larger Markets to get those.

I don't qualify, I have to settle for Over the Air HD Locals, and Standard Definision locals over Dish Netwok for my other NON-HD Tv's


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## JohnL (Apr 1, 2002)

Hoppy said:


> Sorry to ask such a dumb question, but I went to the Dish site and I own DirecTV and it appears that Dish may have a couple extra channels (NFL and HGTV?) but finally I couldn't really tell so I thought I'd just ask.
> 
> And is the PQ as good as, better, or worse generally than DirecTV.
> 
> ...


Hoppy,

Voom went out of business a couple of years ago. Dish Purchased their satellite and their Satellite Transponder Licenses, in the deal Dish also got access to the VOOM Channels that are now part of the HD Packages.

Lastly if you compared Dish and DirecTV's HD services you would find that currently Dish's PQ on almost all HD as well as SD is better.

John


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## toper (Aug 19, 2006)

JohnL said:


> Lastly if you compared Dish and DirecTV's HD services you would find that currently Dish's PQ on almost all HD as well as SD is better.


Is there a thread that details why Dtv's picture quality isn't as good as Dish?? Is there a different Mpeg4 codec being used for HD compression?Just curious as to how dish is sending more hd content with less LNB's?? Dtv requires a 5 lnb sat for the new locals and "upcomming" hd content. My neighbor is getting tons of HD - as listed in the beginning of this thread - plus HD locals with a 3lnb reciever. This is why I am confused - it seems the higher bandwidth provided would allow the picture to not be as compressed via mpeg 4 (unsure which variant). Just getting into this because I currently have Dtv but they want another 2 yrs to go to the 5 lnb sat and mpeg4 reciever. Or I could cut and switch to Dish. Who is the best from DVR perspective as well - gui wise - as far as ease of use. I am sure these have been debated before so links to other threads are appreciated. Will try out the search engine now.


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## M5Guy (Jun 24, 2006)

From a former D* subscriber - Dish has better PQ on both SD & HD.


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## NurseDave (Aug 20, 2006)

I'm in the same boat. Been with D* and now have a HDTV. Looked at the lists and obviously there are more HD channels with E*, but I couldn't find an actual show line-up anywhere (waiting 2 days for a response to my email) to see if we would actually watch anything on those extra channels. I also hear that with D* new satellites that will be launching that they will also have more channels. I hate making decisions like this, it's a bit of a bummer if we switch because we currently own 2 D* SD recorder units that it would be a shame to see go. But I also want to enjoy my new TV. 

I'd like to hear from folks that know about both systems. Or does anyone know where a show line-up is?


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## sNEIRBO (Jul 23, 2006)

NurseDave said:


> . . . does anyone know where a show line-up is?


Check out this link at DISH Network's website -

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/programming_guides/index.shtml

Go to the drop down menu, then select DISH HDTV Channels and select your time zone.

This is a really nice guide - it has the HD channels split into two sets. The bottom set of channels in the guide shows the VOOM Channels which are exclusive to DISH.

I just noticed that they have not updated the guide for some of their recent additions to the HD line up. Most noteably they're missing - Food Network HD and ESPN2HD. Also keep in mind, that your market may not allow you to receive the CBS HD East and CBS HD West feeds (last 2 channels on the list).


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## NurseDave (Aug 20, 2006)

Ah, missed it right in the middle of the screen. Thanks!


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## WilliamC (Jun 18, 2006)

I switched from D* almsot two months ago and the HD PQ is better on Dish. SD is the same.


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## Adam Richey (Mar 25, 2002)

Supposedly, the HD picture quality and the quantity of channels will expand towards the beginning of next year with the launch of what I think is DirecTV's last new satellite that's supposed to take care of most of the national SD and HD additions. For now, regional sports networks and local channels are the main concern, even with the channels they currently carry that looks barely like DVD...at least on my TV.


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## lionsrule (Nov 25, 2003)

As with everything we "hear", take this with a grain of salt: A regional directv Rep. stated to a best buy store manager here in w. michigan that as of 1/1/07 direct will have over 60 HD NATIONALS, yes, nationals. I stated that 60 HD national channels do not EXIST right now. I was told that direct has signed contracts with many different "cable" channels to carry HD versions as soon as q4/q1 07. The implication was that these dozens of currently un-announced channels have plans in the works and are simply waiting for a carrier such as direct to make a BIG push for HD. I am VERY suspicous that this is misinformation, but time will tell.


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## sNEIRBO (Jul 23, 2006)

lionsrule said:


> As with everything we "hear", take this with a grain of salt: A regional directv Rep. stated to a best buy store manager here in w. michigan that as of 1/1/07 direct will have over 60 HD NATIONALS, yes, nationals. I stated that 60 HD national channels do not EXIST right now. I was told that direct has signed contracts with many different "cable" channels to carry HD versions as soon as q4/q1 07. The implication was that these dozens of currently un-announced channels have plans in the works and are simply waiting for a carrier such as direct to make a BIG push for HD. I am VERY suspicous that this is misinformation, but time will tell.


I'm very grateful for the 15 National HD Channels and my 4 local HD Networks I currently have from DISH, PLUS the exclusive VOOM Channels as a bonus. No one I know that has DirecTV HD, or Comcast HD is happy with their package compared to what I'm receiving from DISH. I am also confident that DISH will continue to add HD Channels as they become available. I would seriously doubt any new HD Channel would be foolish enough to sign an exclusive contract with either E* or D*, so the channels should be available to both providers.

Competition will keep the playing field fairly even, but the way I'm seeing it right now, the game is nearing the end of the first quarter, and DISH has a substantial lead! DirecTV is way behind, and has a lot of ground to make up!


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## wje (Mar 8, 2006)

D* has been promising vast new HD content for about 2 years now, which is why I just dumped them. I'm not at all sorry, PQ and content is much better on E*.

As for the D* rep, the 'vast new content' on the new satellites has been locals, and MPEG4-encoded at that. Since D* doesn't have an HD DVR that will handle MPEG4, that's pretty useless for most of us. (They have started rolling out the HR20, but in very limited quantities.) I was also told that same thing when I first signed up for HD on D*, almost 2 years ago.

Not to sound too much like a D* basher, but I finally got fed up with endless promises about new content, new software, new hardware, and no delivery. All that seemed to happen was more downrezzing so they could cram a few more channels into the same bandwidth. Gee, do I sound bitter?


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## Hoppy (Sep 25, 2005)

I have DirecTV and have for years, incl HD for the last year or more. Now I have a new plasma (replacing a Sony 34XBR800) and I want the best HD content and as much of it as I can get. I can only get local NBC OTA, but I have the other East feeds.

I see that Dish has many more HD channels, but is it silly stuff or quality content? Can I get Sundance and/or IFC on Dish? What is World Cinema? Is there somewhere to actually go through the Dish schedule?

Also, does Dish offer any incentive for changing to it's system from DirecTV?

Can Dish use the same wiring alredy in place for my 3 LNB oval DirecTV dish? 

Does dish offer a good Tivo-based or independent PVR with dual tuners and recorder in one box, like the HR10-250 from DirecTV. 

How is Dish software interface compared to the ridiculously slow DirecTV stuff?

I guess it comes down to--Is there any reason NOT to switch to Dish?


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## Harmeister (Jan 6, 2006)

Hoppy said:


> I see that Dish has many more HD channels, but is it silly stuff or quality content? Can I get Sundance and/or IFC on Dish? What is World Cinema? Is there somewhere to actually go through the Dish schedule?


As was posted up above, you can get the schedule by looking here: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/programming_guides/index.shtml . You said you were on eastern time, so without having to go through the combobox and clicking go, you can see the stuff here: http://dishnetwork.tvlistings.zap2it.com/dishsite/listings/gridall.asp



Hoppy said:


> Also, does Dish offer any incentive for changing to it's system from DirecTV?


You can see current offers here: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/offer/index.shtml



Hoppy said:


> Can Dish use the same wiring alredy in place for my 3 LNB oval DirecTV dish?


for the most part, yes. This is, of course, assuming that the spot where your DirectTV dish is located can see 119 and 110. They will need to take the old directtv oval down and replace it with the dish one. Depending on where you live on the east coast, you might need a second dish at 61.5 if you can't see 129. The installer will take care of all of that stuff, though.



Hoppy said:


> Does dish offer a good Tivo-based or independent PVR with dual tuners and recorder in one box, like the HR10-250 from DirecTV.


Absolutely. The 622 is a great receiver. It has two sat tuners in it and one OTA tuner. This allows you to record three things at once and watch another that was previously recorded at the same time. The menu interface is snappy, very snappy, unlike the tivo interface sported by the Direct TV box (the old one anyways, haven't seen the new one).



Hoppy said:


> How is Dish software interface compared to the ridiculously slow DirecTV stuff?


someone who has made the switch will have to answer this one. From what I hear, there are some terminology differences, but most if not all the functionality is there in the 622 (might depend a little on what you use, but like I said, someone else will have to answer this).



Hoppy said:


> I guess it comes down to--Is there any reason NOT to switch to Dish?


uh, no.


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## elbodude (Jul 13, 2006)

M5Guy said:


> From a former D* subscriber - Dish has better PQ on both SD & HD.


I second that!


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## dgordo (Aug 29, 2004)

Hoppy said:


> I guess it comes down to--Is there any reason NOT to switch to Dish?


You would lose your east HD feeds.


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## Hoppy (Sep 25, 2005)

dgordo said:


> You would lose your east HD feeds.


Yeah. That would be a loss, too, since that's the only way I get the networks in HD--can't get them locally except NBC. Fact is I think they turned my East Feeds on in error. I was thinking of trying to get them to turn on my NBC feed but when I called the agent said, "How come you've got the CBS, ABC, FOX feeds? I don't think you're supposed to have those." So I thanked him and hung up in a hurry.

Does anyone REALLY BELIEVE that D* is going to add a substantial number of channels by the end of Q1 '07? Say, 10 channels? 15?


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## hughh (Sep 22, 2006)

Hoppy said:


> I have DirecTV and have for years, incl HD for the last year or more. Now I have a new plasma (replacing a Sony 34XBR800) and I want the best HD content and as much of it as I can get. I can only get local NBC OTA, but I have the other East feeds.
> 
> How is Dish software interface compared to the ridiculously slow DirecTV stuff?
> 
> I guess it comes down to--Is there any reason NOT to switch to Dish?


I guess there is only one question that remains unanswered.

I just switched about a month ago and to our delight, the dvr 622 switches channels faster than the set-top box and the TIVO we had with D*. Also, the Program Guide is very fast and quite legible!

Some of the HD content some people may find useless and others will like. It's all a matter of personal taste. I am quite happy with most of it and delighted with the HD PVR performance.
Hugh


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## HDlover (Jul 28, 2006)

D* has HD FSNs, E* says they are getting them, still waiting.


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## Hoppy (Sep 25, 2005)

HDlover said:


> D* has HD FSNs, E* says they are getting them, still waiting.


Sorry to be dense here, but what are FSNs?


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## Harmeister (Jan 6, 2006)

I think he meant RSN's (Regional Sports Networks) FSN I think is the Fox Sports Network (the regional ones)


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Since FSNs are RSNs I suppose that's a given. 

(Yes, there are other RSNs than FSNs.)


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## Virus (Sep 22, 2005)

I switched from D* to Dish this past April. Dish's customer service is absolutely horrible in comparison to D*. However, I found D*'s SD programming to look horrible in comparison to Dish. Dish's HD also looks better. SD channels are night and day better with Dish.


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## nazz (May 4, 2006)

I switched from D* to E* in May and have no regrets so far. I have seen a decline in E* HD picture quality since I've been with them and am concerned about that trend. The way I figure it is that I have an 18 month commitment and am leasing my equipment. If at the end of that D* has gotten their act together by adding more channels and improving PQ I can switch back. If E* turns itself around and improves their PQ while continuing to offer more programming I will stay.


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## clay_w (Dec 7, 2003)

nazz said:


> I switched from D* to E* in May and have no regrets so far. I have seen a decline in E* HD picture quality since I've been with them and am concerned about that trend. The way I figure it is that I have an 18 month commitment and am leasing my equipment. If at the end of that D* has gotten their act together by adding more channels and improving PQ I can switch back. If E* turns itself around and improves their PQ while continuing to offer more programming I will stay.


If I make the jump to E* what kind of commitment will I be locked into?


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

clay_w said:


> If I make the jump to E* what kind of commitment will I be locked into?


if you lease a ViP622 or a Vip211 it is an 18 month commititment.


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

clay_w said:


> If I make the jump to E* what kind of commitment will I be locked into?


If you have never been a DISH subscriber, you can choose between an 18 month commitment, or NO commitment at all. I don't know if it is still the case, but it used to be that many (most?) retailers weren't interested in installing someone that wouldn't commit to 18 months (they lost out if the person didn't stay active). If you sign up directly with DISH, there is a choice to have no term commit. That will cost you $50 (18 month commit returns that activation fee as a credit to your account), you don't get the 18 months of free DHPP (insurance and a "go to the front of the support queue phone number").

Even if you agree to the 18 month commit, DISH does have a "30 day money back", but I don't think that would return the $199 HD DVR upgrade fee.


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## dtv757 (Jun 4, 2006)

currenty E* has more national HD ch's. D* has far more HD locals than E* and D* will be launching 2 new sat's next will which will allow D* to carry up to 150 national HD networks. 

D* has more sports in HD than E*. with D*'s RSNs (Fox Sports Net, and Comcast) in HD, and exclusive HD sports packages like NFLST SF and NCAA MMM. 

so if your dying for HD right now than E* is your choice but if you want the best HD than wait for D* or look into verizon FiOS.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Dish and DirecTV brag about the wrong things sometimes.

There is no point, for instance, in bragging about having more locals in HD than the other provider. Why? Because they will either have yours or not. Doesn't matter if they have a thousand HD locals if your market is not in there... so it is really only a local bragging point if Dish has Timbuktu locals and DirecTV doesn't.

Also no point in bragging about having the capability for 150 national HD channels... when there are not that many in existence and likely will not be for a few more years. If Dish didn't have the Vooms they would be about the same as DirecTV and that's well under 20 national HDs when you don't count the Vooms.

Sometimes the marketing folks forget that some of us pay attention beyond the smoke and mirrors!

NFL Sunday Ticket is a valid point to compare as are the RSNs right now. DirecTV has them, Dish does not... so that's a big plus to DirecTV for folks that want those channels. Dish is looking to add RSNs, but Sunday Ticket is locked up for several years exclusively again so no chance of Dish being competitive with that feature.

But so far, all the other HD channels seem to be fair game for negotiating... and usually one adds them first and then the other adds them to compete. Although, DirecTV had Universal HD for a long time before Dish added it... and Dish had TNTHD for at least a year before DirecTV had it.


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## Hunter Green (May 8, 2006)

HDMe said:


> There is no point, for instance, in bragging about having more locals in HD than the other provider. Why? Because they will either have yours or not.


Agreed.



HDMe said:


> Also no point in bragging about having the capability for 150 national HD channels... when there are not that many in existence and likely will not be for a few more years.


Don't agree there. That capacity is a possibility (or even a promise) for the future. If I'm investing in something that I expect to use for a few years, whether it'll be able to do something next year is an important factor. My locals don't exist in HD yet; I want to know that, when they do, I'll have a good chance of getting them without giving up that investment.


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## Yes616 (Sep 6, 2006)

It will be a beautiful new morning the day the last SD channel disappears and HD will rule throughout all of the land.

But right now, if you want lots of sports and in HD, choose D*

If you want movies, music and the most HD along with the best bang for the buck, E* is the choice.

Forget about all of those HD nationals. They do not exist yet and won't for some time to come. This is like living in 1963 and trying to find something in color on TV to watch. OK so maybe we are doing a little better here.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Hunter Green said:


> That capacity is a possibility (or even a promise) for the future. If I'm investing in something that I expect to use for a few years, whether it'll be able to do something next year is an important factor.


E* made the mistake of promising something they couldn't deliver ... they DID manage to deliver the _capacity_ but the _channels_ did not materialize on schedule.

E* has far more DBS capacity than D*. They have also had other ku capacity in daily use for nearly three years. The satellites are sitting there TODAY wearing out. And E* has continued to add capacity to allow their older capacity to be used for new services (or practically abandonded, in the case of 105°). And with all the capacity that E* has they have managed 30 national HD channels.

So what matters, capacity or content? "So what" fits when discussing the capacity that D* will have next year. E* has the capacity for 120 more HD channels sitting idle at 105° _TODAY_ (not next year). Capacity is nothing without content and D* can only promise national content -- they can not guarantee that it will be available to them.

It is a path that we've seen before. Cablevision/Rainbow DBS went after the niche HD market in 2003 pushing a mostly HD lineup. Eventually they adjusted and added more SD but it was an adjustment too late and their "Voom" service failed. Echostar made similar claims about the HD they were going to offer but the channels never became available TO be offered (they could have done more to offer the few channels that were available from providers at the time but there are still, today, only a fraction of the HD that they expected from providers). Is DirecTV the next to make a promise the market will not let them keep? We will see.


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## s8ist (Aug 21, 2006)

Yes. DISH has more HD than does DirecTV. Better quality HD as well. The macroblocking on D* is horrendous. They really starve the channels of their bandwidth so any action scenes are virtually unwatchable (it almost looks like higher quality streaming video but with bad artifacting). I've had experience with both being a salesperson in home theater and we were offering DTV's services in order to offer a more complete solution. Many times though, they would see the picture distortions and think that maybe it was a problem with the TV. So, it ended up being a deterrent in some sales. If we had DISH I think we would have sold more TV's with our home theater packages, and probably would have been able to sell a satellite package in addition.
DISH looks and sounds great on my system.


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## clay_w (Dec 7, 2003)

s8ist said:


> Yes. DISH has more HD than does DirecTV. Better quality HD as well. The macroblocking on D* is horrendous. They really starve the channels of their bandwidth so any action scenes are virtually unwatchable (it almost looks like higher quality streaming video but with bad artifacting). I've had experience with both being a salesperson in home theater and we were offering DTV's services in order to offer a more complete solution. Many times though, they would see the picture distortions and think that maybe it was a problem with the TV. So, it ended up being a deterrent in some sales. If we had DISH I think we would have sold more TV's with our home theater packages, and probably would have been able to sell a satellite package in addition.
> DISH looks and sounds great on my system.


I think that I am about sold on switching from Dtv to Dish, now the hard part - selling the wife on it....

Is their any discount/options to help reduce the $200 that is required for the DHDVR?


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## calgary2800 (Aug 27, 2006)

I dont think there is a way to get around that 200 hd dvr fee. I just paid for it and got HD hooked up with the Gold Package.   

Wow. what have I been missing with that SD stuff.


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

clay_w said:


> I think that I am about sold on switching from Dtv to Dish, now the hard part - selling the wife on it....
> 
> Is their any discount/options to help reduce the $200 that is required for the DHDVR?


It doesn't reduce the $200 up front cost, but a new sub gets $10/month for 10 month discount and there is another $10/month for 10 months discount when you first sign up for a DishHD package. It takes 10 months to get back the $200, but that might be what you are looking for.

There is another $50 activation fee. If you commit to 18 months, they give you back the $50 as a credit on your account. I can give you a ClubDISH code that would save paying that $50 but you would still get it back as a credit. Anybody else here can too, as well as a family member, neighbor, ... that already has DISH. They would get their own $50 over 10 months so ask family or coworkers. Now if the wife's side has someone with DISH now, that could be a selling point!


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## cornflakes (Sep 30, 2005)

James Long said:


> E* has far more DBS capacity than D*. They have also had other ku capacity in daily use for nearly three years. The satellites are sitting there TODAY wearing out. And E* has continued to add capacity to allow their older capacity to be used for new services (or practically abandonded, in the case of 105°). And with all the capacity that E* has they have managed 30 national HD channels.


This is my big question of the day about switching over to E* from D*. For now E* has more HD channels. And certainly I believe that eventually both will offer more or less the same national HD channels, just like SD channels right now. There might be one or two channels that one has that the other doesn't, but I'm sure all the big major HD channels will eventually appear on both dishes.

I don't believe in D*'s hype of 120 national HD channels because there aren't that many to begin with. And I certainly don't care about how many HD Locals they have since I'm in Los Angeles, I'm covered.

But, here's my concern with "jumping ship" to E*. How much more capacity does E* have right now to add new HD channels? How realistic is it that they will start using 105 for additional HD capacity since it requires (from what I understand) a Super Dish and may require people to upgrade their dish? I'm concerned E* will run out of capacity on their current slots and start downres-ing the picture just to compete with D* on the amount of channels they carry.

What do you guys think?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm no longer expecting 105° for HD ... although that was the big stated purpose when it was first used was HD that didn't develop. 118° would be a better place to make 100% HD but for some odd reason E* put some internationals there.

The future of 129° will include a spot beam satellite so many HD locals markets will be served by reusing capacity. R1/E12 at 61.5° also has spotbeam capacity (currently in ConUS mode) but the uplink design is odd (they would need satellite uplinks in each city they want to serve instead of combined uplink centers).

There is always the possibility that they will tweak MPEG4 to try to get more channels out of the same bandwidth - downrezzing. E* is also counting on better encoders that will allow them to transmit more in less space without signal degradation. Hopefully their capacity will be enough to carry them until excellent encoders are available.


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## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

James Long said:


> I'm no longer expecting 105° for HD ... although that was the big stated purpose when it was first used was HD that didn't develop. 118° would be a better place to make 100% HD but for some odd reason E* put some internationals there.
> 
> The future of 129° will include a spot beam satellite so many HD locals markets will be served by reusing capacity. R1/E12 at 61.5° also has spotbeam capacity (currently in ConUS mode) but the uplink design is odd (they would need satellite uplinks in each city they want to serve instead of combined uplink centers).
> 
> There is always the possibility that they will tweak MPEG4 to try to get more channels out of the same bandwidth - downrezzing. E* is also counting on better encoders that will allow them to transmit more in less space without signal degradation. Hopefully their capacity will be enough to carry them until excellent encoders are available.


Why would it be necessary to have uplinks in so many more cities? They already have 6 uplink facilites & a tracking and control center.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The way RainbowDBS had the satellite designed was to "wire" the spotbeam uplinks from one of their proposed uplink centers to the satellite to serve one or two downlink spots. For example, the spot that serves Detroit (10) potentially on transponders 1,3,7,15,17,19,23 and the spot that serves Chicago (11) potentially on transponders 5,9,11,13,21 MUST be uplinked from the Chicago area. The spot that serves Atlanta (6) potentially on transponders 1,3,7,15,17,19,23 MUST be uplinked from the Atlanta area. The spot that serves New York (3) potentially on transponders 1,3,7,15,17,19,23 MUST be uplinked from the New York area.

At the moment E* has an uplink in the Chicago area ... but not specifically in the Atlanta and New York areas. The Mt. Jackson, VA, uplink might be able to be seen as a "New York" uplink, and one or more of the transponders listed could be converted to spot ... Detroit could be served out of the Monee, IL center, near Chicago on the same transponder # (which would work if Detroit customers were converted to 61.5). To serve Atlanta a new uplink would need to be built. The satellite isn't wired to deliver a Mt. Jackson or Monee uplink to Atlanta.

E*'s satellites were designed for the uplink centers they built. E12 (R1) was designed for uplink centers RainbowDBS planned.


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## cornflakes (Sep 30, 2005)

James Long said:


> There is always the possibility that they will tweak MPEG4 to try to get more channels out of the same bandwidth - downrezzing. E* is also counting on better encoders that will allow them to transmit more in less space without signal degradation. Hopefully their capacity will be enough to carry them until excellent encoders are available.


Or maybe they'll dump some of the less popular Voom channels to make room for new ones!


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