2 Days & a wake-up - is evvvvvverybody happy?

[waltinvt]

Of the thousands of existing Dish HD customers I'd love to know how many actually have their MPEG4 receivers in place and are ready to get these new HD channels coming Wednsday.

Must be at least 75% right? No? Ok, at least half? Dish would never launch all this new HD before at least half their customers are ready - right? No? Ok lets be reasonable. 25% are ready? Ok, I give up. You tell me.

Is Dish on the brink of their biggest blunder ever or is there at least one person there, in authority, with an IQ over 75 that will stop this madness?

Personally I don't believe there any way Dish can pull this off and keep even half their HD customers happy. They have to change something. It's just a matter of whether they're going to admit it and try to fix things or spew more BS and try to lie there way out. The 3rd option is of course to go as announced with the likelyhood many / most of us won't have a working, stable, MPEG4 receiver (equlivent to our current MPEG2) for months.

I believe something will change. There was never a chance they could get more than a token amount of MPEG4 receivers out to existing customers in a reasonable time frame and even if they could, the chances of these receivers being without problems (given Dish's track record) was pretty slim. The chance of existing HD DVR owners getting a 622 in a reasonable amount of time probably won't even come close - and maybe it was never planned that it would.

We may never know because I believe Dish will make a last minute announcment to the effect that something unexpected came up in production delaying the rollout of new receivers and therefore the new channels will be "switched back" to MPEG2 temporarly. That's what I hope they've got sense enough to do. I suppose it's possible they'll hold up release of the new channels but I think they want (need) to move into the new price structure sooner than these receivers are going to be ready so they may have themselves in a box.

All this combined with:
1. "HD-Lite" issue
2. MPEG2 discuised as MPEG4
3. Loss of Lifetime channels
4. Added receiver fees and price increases
5. Providing HD Superbowl feed to only a fraction of their HD customers
6. Blaming delay of HD DNS until June on the law when for some reason
"D" has managed to provide them since last year;

All this has really diminished my warm & fuzzy about Dish Network but I must be one of only a few that feel that way though because the silence of many in this group has been defening. Maybe some of those "in the know" have information we don't have and it's not going to be as bad as it looks - we'll see I guess but to me it looks bad - real bad.

 

[Dishpointer]

Walt,

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but the way I see it is most of Dish's customers are oblivious to the new changes. My guess is probably 50-75% of the HD customers have no idea that they will need a MP4 receiver to view the new HD channels. I would have to say that there is only a small percentage that halfway know what is going on and they are the people that visit this forum. I don't think very many people watch the Charlie Chats outside of this and the other forums. What I'm trying to say is that the vast majority of Dish's HD customers do not have a clue to the new Feb 1 requirements. They are happy with HD Lite because they don't know any better.

 

[dont24]

Well stated posts. I'll assume Dish is going to advertise the new channels after Feb 1st? Up to now Dish has heard complaints from people in the know. This will surely increase when the average consumer finds out about the new channels and wants in.

 

[waltinvt]

Walt,

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but the way I see it is most of Dish's customers are oblivious to the new changes. My guess is probably 50-75% of the HD customers have no idea that they will need a MP4 receiver to view the new HD channels. I would have to say that there is only a small percentage that halfway know what is going on and they are the people that visit this forum. I don't think very many people watch the Charlie Chats outside of this and the other forums. What I'm trying to say is that the vast majority of Dish's HD customers do not have a clue to the new Feb 1 requirements. They are happy with HD Lite because they don't know any better.

I agree about Dish's regular customer but as for their HD customers, I don't know.....these people spent big $$ on HD equipment and most people that would do that are the type that tend to research stuff.

Anyone that has HD, if nothing more, want's more of it. THey're going to be looking for it and when they start searching for information, they're sooner or later going to end up here. I think there are a lot more HD viewers lurking here than you realize.

Granted, many probably don't realize all the details about the Feb 1st deal and MPEG4 but I think if Dish does actually launch the new HD for MPEG4 only it won't be long before we see a lot of people coming out of the woodwork on this forum.

 

[waltinvt]

Well stated posts. I'll assume Dish is going to advertise the new channels after Feb 1st? Up to now Dish has heard complaints from people in the know. This will surely increase when the average consumer finds out about the new channels and wants in.

And wait until they find out they can't get in because the MPEG4 receivers are either not available or not working properly.

Dish's plan from the very start of this fiasco was more about manipulating "demand" than it ever was about meeting supply. Trouble is a few "things" may have happened that they wern't counting on and this all may blow up in their face.

 

[utexex79]

i would agree that most subs have no idea about the upcoming changes -- especially not if they rely on dishnetwork.com for info... click on the equipment upgrades link and you get a choice to lease the 811, 510, 301, 522, or purchase the 942. no mention at all of the 211/611.

 

[riffjim4069]

Walt,

I don't have a warm & fuzzy for the reasons you listed, plus a few others (most notable is how they are shafting 942 owners). I was pretty happy with Dish Network service...until they were lead down this road to perdition.

Currently I most unhappy because I see all these happy FiOS TV people in my area and realize that FiOS TV is probably another 12-24 months away in my neck of the woods.:river

 

[bhenge]

I agree about Dish's regular customer but as for their HD customers, I don't know.....these people spent big $$ on HD equipment and most people that would do that are the type that tend to research stuff.

I'm not so sure about that. I can't tell you how many friends (some are Dish customers) I have who have spent big $$ on HD-ready equipment who think simply because they have a HD set and their 'widescreen' is full, that they are watching HD (still using SD Dish receivers no less!). They are shocked when I show them what real HD is and try to explain how they can get it. The HD industry as a whole is doing a horrible job of educating the masses about what HD is and what equipment it really takes to see it.

 

[Cabby]

Walt,

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but the way I see it is most of Dish's customers are oblivious to the new changes. My guess is probably 50-75% of the HD customers have no idea that they will need a MP4 receiver to view the new HD channels. I would have to say that there is only a small percentage that halfway know what is going on and they are the people that visit this forum. I don't think very many people watch the Charlie Chats outside of this and the other forums. What I'm trying to say is that the vast majority of Dish's HD customers do not have a clue to the new Feb 1 requirements. They are happy with HD Lite because they don't know any better.

No way, the percentage of Dish customers who read this forum is probably in the 2-3% range. I would say at least 90% of Dish HD customers have no idea locals in HD are even on the horizon, let alone what equipment they would need to get it.

 

[waltinvt]

I'm not so sure about that. I can't tell you how many friends (some are Dish customers) I have who have spent big $$ on HD-ready equipment who think simply because they have a HD set and their 'widescreen' is full, that they are watching HD (still using SD Dish receivers no less!). They are shocked when I show them what real HD is and try to explain how they can get it. The HD industry as a whole is doing a horrible job of educating the masses about what HD is and what equipment it really takes to see it.

I have to agree with you to some extent on that one. Heck, I've got friends and relatives with fancy tvs that still insist on using the RF hookup and wonder why their PQ isn't much better than cable. Drives me batsh*t. Especially when they see my tv and ask why it's so much better. I tell them it's because they don't have theirs hooked up right and even offer to fix it for them. I get, "no, that's ok.

But anyway, my point for this thread was more about HD subs that won't even be able to get the new channels on Feb 1st and probably not for a long time after if Dish "stays" their stupid course.

 

[NightRyder]

I'll be as happy then and I am now. There is nothing in the new HD offerings that I absolutely have to have. Certainly not worth the extra $ over the $9.99 HD-Pak. I'm mainly interested in getting the rest of the HD networks (ABC, NBC, FOX), until they are available to me I don't plan on making any programming changes.


NightRyder

 

[waltinvt]

I'll be as happy then and I am now. There is nothing in the new HD offerings that I absolutely have to have. Certainly not worth the extra $ over the $9.99 HD-Pak. I'm mainly interested in getting the rest of the HD networks (ABC, NBC, FOX), until they are available to me I don't plan on making any programming changes.


NightRyder

You are probably one of the more level-headed ones among us.

 

[RandallA]

"Dish's plan from the very start of this fiasco was more about manipulating "demand" than it ever was about meeting supply. Trouble is a few "things" may have happened that they wern't counting on and this all may blow up in their face."

Well said Walt. I can't believe that they will stick to their original plan after these few things that are happening.

 

[C5YA]

I guess only time will tell.
How long of a wait do you think you will be waiting on hold to talk to someone on Feb 1?
Due to high demand your wait time is ............?

 

[nitstalker]

I agree to a point about the current HD customers that bought their equipment this past year and now have equipment that will not pickup some of the new channels. However I do agree with what E* is doing with the new packages.

1. Only *the new* channels will be mpeg-4. you will not be losing any content. If you want *new* content is the only reason you have to upgrade

2. Knowing that Mpeg-4 was coming down the pike, you *chose* to purchase an mpeg-2 reciever anyway.

3. By E* keeping all new content mpeg-4 it gives customers a desire to upgrade to the new technology, whereby speeding up the ultimate transition to everything being mpeg-4

I (like most of us on here) knew that MPEG-4 was coming. They have been counting it down for some time now. I chose to wait out getting a mpeg-2 HD box because I knew this very thing would be happening. Now I will call them in a few days and order mpeg-4. I do feel sorry for the people that did not know about mpeg-4 coming and did get the mpeg-2 boxes. However most of those people will not even realize that this new stuff is out. I feel for your position but technology does evolve and unfortunately it does burn people.

IE: If you buy a Dell computer today, next week there is a new model for the same price with more features... should Dell send you a new computer?

I have XM. This past year they came out with a new version of their reciever... Do they send out the new recievers with the latest features?

CC & Best Buy, etc are still selling analog TV's that eveyone knows will be shut off soon... What about those people?

What about the people who buy a 2006 GM car, when the 2007 models will have better gas mileage and a lower price?

Windows Vista is coming very soon, however many, many of the new pc's being sold today dont have a chance of being able to run it....

These are all similar situations to what we have here. MPEG-4 is going to happen whether anyone likes it or not... I myself cant wait to call to order it. If you dont want to pay for the upgrade, then you dont have to watch the new channels. It is simple. Dont complain about it.

 

[waltinvt]

"Dish's plan from the very start of this fiasco was more about manipulating "demand" than it ever was about meeting supply. Trouble is a few "things" may have happened that they wern't counting on and this all may blow up in their face."

Well said Walt. I can't believe that they will stick to their original plan after these few things that are happening.

I believe this is probably the most opportune time for Dish to make a fresh new start with it's customers. They've got "D" by the bal*s and they know it but they've attempted to use that to take advantage of their customers. This is becomming much more transparent every day.

Dish needs to stop the crap right now - today. Just come out with some vague, face saving statment about MPEG4 receivers needing further testing or whatever and announce that they've decided to make some changes in the rollout of the new HD channels and MPEG4 receivers.

Say "all new HD will still be launched on Feb 1st but will in fact go out to both MPEG2 and MPEG4 receivers until such time as there are enough new receivers available to all who want them". Even if they have to say some channels will remain at slightly lower than full rez until MPEG4 is working properly, at least all channels will be available to all HD customers that want to subscribe to them.

It would be a start in Dish getting some of their trust & credability back. Ok, they tried to pull a little "marketing fast one" here. They know it but more importantly, many of us know it. Cut your losses and don't try to dig a deeper hole.

Do the right thing now Dish and all this could be forgotton in a few months.

 

[JH1949]

I'll be as happy then and I am now. There is nothing in the new HD offerings that I absolutely have to have. Certainly not worth the extra $ over the $9.99 HD-Pak. I'm mainly interested in getting the rest of the HD networks (ABC, NBC, FOX), until they are available to me I don't plan on making any programming changes.
NightRyder

Yup, that will be when I change too. I've done almost everything possible to get some OTA some of the time to tide me over in the meantime.

 

[jonesbruce91361]

I'm not siding with either camp on the availability of the Mpeg4 receivers from dish, but here is a probable truth: available or unavailable its kinds of a no win situation. If the receivers we're available in surplus and everyone had them come Feb. 1, Dish could not handle the onslaught of phone calls for the new tiers and customers could not handle their disgruntlement of listening to a busy signal (or Muzak).

In a way, it's Dish who's risking the most, don't you think--at least in terms of money. At the same time, if they were to simulcast the new programming until summer as some have suggested, this would take away a lot of the incentive for new customers to plunk down their dollars when they're already getting something for nothing.

So it's sort of no-win and win-win either way. I have my 211 up and running, but I'm not deaf to the number of complaints about operational failure by playing the test subject for those prudent customers who elected to wait till the dust settled. And given the amount of repeat programming on Dish (and most all networks) I don't think anyone's going to miss much in the future. Really this is more about the kid at Christmas morning thing than anything else. Technology always gets better and cheaper. Patience is a learned experience.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

[Nebugeater]

All this combined with:

5. Providing HD Superbowl feed to only a fraction of their HD customers

Lot of good points here but this one I do not think you can blame on Dish. If the network and other local stations would alow this Dish would turn it on for all. Dish does not have the control on this.

 

[waltinvt]

Lot of good points here but this one I do not think you can blame on Dish. If the network and other local stations would alow this Dish would turn it on for all. Dish does not have the control on this.

How do you know that? Have you heard or read anything by ABC or any of their afilliates.

This is not about providing a station that people aren't supposed to get.

They're already LEGALLY getting it.

It's simply about adding the HD feed of a station that customers already have in analog.

There is no rational way ABC or the afilliate could object to that.

If you're watching ABC then I assume ABC would rather you get the PQ they're paying so much to produce.

As for the afiliate, they've already given you up if you have their waiver. Why on earth would they care if you get a better picture?