# TurboHD and PBS



## ChrsMsra (Sep 10, 2008)

I just subscribed to TurboHD (bronze) with locals about two weeks back. I have been watching PBS shows for years OTA in analog. After looking at the locals for my address, I should get the full suite of Boston DMA channels. 

However, after trying, it appears that Turbo HD w/locals only gets you HD locals (and their SD counterparts), but no just-SD locals (e.g. PBS, etc). I was reading about the PBS-HD carriage issues, and am hoping that works itself out at some point, but I wanted to confirm here. Have others seen the same with respect to HD-only locals with new TurboHD packages? I suppose I could add one of the AT packages for all the SD crap, but I don't realy want all those SD channels.

Thanks for the help.


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## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

as far as i'm aware you should still be able to get the sd-only locals as well as the hd ones and their sd counter-parts. is your guide set on "all HD"?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Agreed ... all the SD locals should be included with TurboHD. DISH would be violating the law if they did not offer all locals within the market (unless a local refused to allow their signal to be carried - PBS is defined as must carry so it should be there).

The only reason why PBS would not be included with locals is if you're in a market with no PBS station.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

But if Dish includes SD locals, wouldn't it no longer be the only 100% HD package?

I know the HD Absolute package I'm grandfathered with does include some SD... but I really thought the TurboHD 100% HD package would not include any. IF they include none, then I say that's fine... but if they include any, then I agree you should get your SD locals to fill in the gaps... and Dish would have to stop saying "100% HD" in their commercials.


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## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

the locals aren't the package they are an add-on


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## ChrsMsra (Sep 10, 2008)

puckwithahalo said:


> as far as i'm aware you should still be able to get the sd-only locals as well as the hd ones and their sd counter-parts. is your guide set on "all HD"?


I set the guide to 'all HD', 'all Subs', and 'all Chan' and in no case do I even see the local PBS listed. I also tried manually changing to the 4 digit channel for the local PBS (from EKB channel chart) with no luck.



James Long said:


> Agreed ... all the SD locals should be included with TurboHD. DISH would be violating the law if they did not offer all locals within the market (unless a local refused to allow their signal to be carried - PBS is defined as must carry so it should be there).
> 
> The only reason why PBS would not be included with locals is if you're in a market with no PBS station.


I'm in the Boston, MA DMA, so I have a local PBS (WGBH) which is included in the Boston DMA locals, according to the dish site.

I jumped on a customer support 'chat' last night and was told that since I have a 'HD Locals' package, then I do not get the SD local channels that are not also broadcast in HD (e.g PBS). I do receive the SD counterparts to the HD locals I receive (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox). I was suspicious of the answer from customer support, thus why I asked here.

Any suggestions on how to escalate with them to get PBS (in SD for now)? Normal customer support channel wasn't effective.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

If you have the OTA set up, hook it into the receiver and scan for them. You should get the HD PBS that way.


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## Todd Nicholson (Jan 7, 2007)

I'm north of Seattle and I have Turbo HD gold (new two week old customer) and I receive the SD locals (several PBS, plus CW and MYQ2). 2,4,7 and 13 are in HD.


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## CorpITGuy (Apr 12, 2007)

Does Dish normally pick up PBS in HD when it adds locals?

In my market, DirecTV began offering locals in HD (grrr, Dish Network) but does not carry PBS in HD.


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## faiello (Mar 17, 2003)

I live in Mass and I have the Turbo HD Gold package with locals. You get all of the local channels in SD and you get ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX in HD. Tune your receiver to channel 2 and you will get PBS SD. Change you guide to "All Sub" and you will see all of the SD channels you get, there are quit a few, shopping channels, Latino channels, and paid advertisment channels. I leave mine on "All HD" and tune into PBS when I want to watch it.

Local channels currently available in this package: 
Boston, MA Locals Package - $5.99 per month 
Station Local Channel Number Dish Channel Number 
BOSTON ABC-WCVB 5 8770 
BOSTON ABC-WMUR 9 8784 
BOSTON CBS-WBZ 4 8771 
BOSTON CW-WLVI 56 8774 
BOSTON FOX-WFXT 25 8773 
BOSTON IND-WWDP 46 8785 
BOSTON MNT-WZMY 50 8777 
BOSTON NBC-WHDH 7 8772 
BOSTON PBS-WGBX 44 8782 
BOSTON PBS-WENH 11 8781 
BOSTON PBS-WGBH 2 8776 
BOSTON TELEF-WUTF 66 8780 
BOSTON TELEMUNDO-WNEU 60 8779 
BOSTON UNVSN-WUNI 27 8778 
BOSTON ABC-WCVB HD 5 6318 
BOSTON CBS-WBZ HD 4 6319 
BOSTON FOX-WFXT HD 25 6321 
BOSTON NBC-WHDH HD 7 6320 
BOSTON IND-WSBK 38 8775


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

CorpITGuy said:


> Does Dish normally pick up PBS in HD when it adds locals?
> 
> In my market, DirecTV began offering locals in HD (grrr, Dish Network) but does not carry PBS in HD.


No, in most markets Dish does not. And in most markets they don't pick up The CW.


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## faiello (Mar 17, 2003)

They do not pick up PBS-HD, CW-HD, and UPN-HD which are availible in the Boston area


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## ImBack234 (Aug 26, 2008)

faiello said:


> They do not pick up PBS-HD, CW-HD, and UPN-HD which are availible in the Boston area


No PBS or WWOR 9 (UPN affiliate) in HD in NY. They do have more SD locals then I will ever watch. But we do have WPIX-HD 11 which is the CW affiliate for NY.
I did send dish an email and they basically said they where working on it. :eek2: 
Someday!!!


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## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

faiello said:


> They do not pick up PBS-HD, CW-HD, and UPN-HD which are availible in the Boston area


UPN and the WC merger to become the CW.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

whatchel1 said:


> UPN and the WC merger to become the CW.


Yep, and in most markets the station that didn't become The CW affiliate became the MyNetwork affiliate like WWOR in Boston.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

HDMe said:


> But if Dish includes SD locals, wouldn't it no longer be the only 100% HD package?
> 
> I know the HD Absolute package I'm grandfathered with does include some SD... but I really thought the TurboHD 100% HD package would not include any. IF they include none, then I say that's fine... but if they include any, then I agree you should get your SD locals to fill in the gaps... and Dish would have to stop saying "100% HD" in their commercials.


In my DMA there are four PBS stations in SD, but I don't know if they broadcast in HD.


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## faiello (Mar 17, 2003)

Turbo HD is not 100% HD as I said before you get shopping channels, religious channels, and most of the HD channels in their twin SD channel


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

phrelin said:


> Yep, and in most markets the station that didn't become The CW affiliate became the MyNetwork affiliate like WWOR in Boston.


WWOR is in New York City buddy!


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## reddice (Feb 18, 2003)

I get the CW channel 11 in HD but I don't get channel 9 or 13. I can pull in 9 and 11 over the air, 13 forget about it. I can at most only get 2 red bars with no picture. I wish Dish Network would carry 9 and 13 in HD.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

reddice said:


> I get the CW channel 11 in HD but I don't get channel 9 or 13. I can pull in 9 and 11 over the air, 13 forget about it. I can at most only get 2 red bars with no picture. I wish Dish Network would carry 9 and 13 in HD.


i have turbo with sd channels....as stated above, they are local and shopping stuff....but i get pbs HD and CW HD fom my OTA....not through Dish


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## prm1177 (Aug 21, 2007)

One thing most people don't realize is that many PBS stations support multiple Digital TV channels. I don't believe DISH would be able to cherry pick the single main HD channel and not take the other digital offerings at this time. It will be interesting to see what happens when the analog channels go away. Hopefully, the PBS locals will agree to permit DISH (and Direct) to carry the main HD content and not the "Elmo Channels".


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

prm1177 said:


> One thing most people don't realize is that many PBS stations support multiple Digital TV channels. I don't believe DISH would be able to cherry pick the single main HD channel and not take the other digital offerings at this time. It will be interesting to see what happens when the analog channels go away. Hopefully, the PBS locals will agree to permit DISH (and Direct) to carry the main HD content and not the "Elmo Channels".


As of now the only HD local stations being carried in most DMA's *via satellite* are the "big-4" ABC, NBC, CBS, & FOX.

PBS, CW, MY Net. etc. are only carried in SD for now. You can still get these non-satelite carried stations in HD if you can get a lockable signal OTA. These OTA signals are integrated into the satellite receiver, complete with guide data in most (but not all) cases - if you subscribe to the LIL package.

Besides PBS many other local stations utilize the subchannels. While subchannels are SD, they are only seen if youhave an OTA antenna and a lockable signal. FOr example my NBC affilate has "Weather Plus" on a subchannel. My CBS affilliate also has their own weather channel that has also been used to carry programming (Men's Tennis) when they did not want to pull the syndicated programs off the main feed, and it appears that there is at least one "e/i" program listed in the guide every day on this "weather channel".


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## dennispap (Feb 1, 2007)

HDMe said:


> But if Dish includes SD locals, wouldn't it no longer be the only 100% HD package?
> 
> I know the HD Absolute package I'm grandfathered with does include some SD... but I really thought the TurboHD 100% HD package would not include any. IF they include none, then I say that's fine... but if they include any, then I agree you should get your SD locals to fill in the gaps... *and Dish would have to stop saying "100% HD" in their commercials*.


If as the poster above says " there are quite a few, shopping channels, Latino channels, and paid advertisment channels. " If these sd channels are included in the Turbo package, then i agree with you. Dish needs to quit saying 100% hd only.
If those channels are part of the "locals package" (which i dont think they are) then dish is correct.
Anyone have turbo WITHOUT locals, and still receive those sd channels?


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## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

ChrsMsra, 

do something for me, hit menu-6-1-1, and tell me what satellites you have listed in box g on that system info screen.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Those shopping and paid channels PAY to be provided to EVERY Dish customer. They won't be going away.


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## Kevin Brown (Sep 4, 2005)

I have TurboHD and the local package, but even though I get the local ABC, CBS, NBC HD channels, I do not get the local PBS stations in HD (and where I live, there are 4 of them).

What I can't figure out, is for example, I have KTEH on channel 54 and 825 (or whatever), but both are SD. I would think that high value one should be HD, but it isn't.

Someday?


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## dennispap (Feb 1, 2007)

IIP said:


> Those shopping and paid channels PAY to be provided to EVERY Dish customer. They won't be going away.


I know they pay to be on there. I want to know if they are part of the locals package or the turbo package. If some one has turbo without the locals, and they get those SD shopping/info channels. Then dish is lying about the only *100% hd package.*


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Shopping, paid channels and public interest channels are not in any package, they are in all packages regardless.

The feds require the public interest channels so no provider can have a totally HD only package in that sense.

All the entertainment channels are HD.

Get over it.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The free shopping and public interest channels are not part of either package.
They are free.

DISH does "include" them in their AT series packages (and a few in their family friendly DISH Family package) but they are simply free channels to subscribers.


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

There is some obscure deal where you can pay $1.50 a month to get a PBS feed. I believe that it's set up for folks who can't get PBS in their locals package. Does the $1.50 add-on include an HD feed of PBS? Does anyone get that add-on to their package?


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