DirecTV 11 Satellite - Tracking & Testing

[gadgtfreek]

I noticed a drop back in April when I swapped from Directv to Dish. I've only watched one thing to compare, and yes Ice Road Truckers appears sharper to me on Directv than it did on Dish. I've got a 50" tv, Im willing to be that 42" and below might not see it as much, but its evident with a bigger screen.

 

[tigerfan33]

I would say counting TEST channels and forecast different things.
We don't know why DTV pickup the channels, could be just for _testing_ purpose.
I understand all ppl itching for share own thoughts, but so far all future assignments are pure speculation with a uncertain base on the current signals, better say on APG data.

I would be willing to bet they are for test purposes and not the real thing...just yet.

Remember just before Dish lit up there last hd channels and we were seeing MOJO being tested??

Out of nowhere came Travel Channel hd.

Folks. No need to worry!!!

 

[goaliebob99]

FYI: I belive that the west coast DNS are allready mpeg 4 on D* 10

 

[atp1313]

FYI: I belive that the west coast DNS are allready mpeg 4 on D* 10

I was thinking the same thing. So unless they are simply using those channels as "filler" for testing the signal passing successfully up to and down from the sat, OR unless they are planning on moving ALL the DNS to one sat, that doesn't make much sense to have them in two place at once. So if they move the DNS to one bird, that opens up space on D10 (or wherever the West Coast DNS currently reside). So for my $0.02, I am thinking the non-new channels shown on the test channels are filler. Either way, we are in for a nice push here very soon! :

 

[goaliebob99]

Im just curious what they plann on doing with the HD space over at 110 and 119 once all these mpeg2 channels go to mpeg4. That would open some space up on those birds for new national hd in mpeg4, unless they plan on leasing those tp's back to E*

 

[rad]

Im just curious what they plann on doing with the HD space over at 110 and 119 once all these mpeg2 channels go to mpeg4. That would open some space up on those birds for new national hd in mpeg4, unless they plan on leasing those tp's back to E*

I think I've heard that the international channels at 95 might go there so they can dump the 2nd dish requirement for those folks. As for leaseing/selling the transponders to E*, IMHO never happen, why help the compition?

 

[tigerfan33]

To keep an eye on them and to make money.

I agree though, will never happen. Even though I am a sub there also, Dish has too big of a hole to get out of for now for Direct to worry about.

 

[uncrules]

FYI: I belive that the west coast DNS are allready mpeg 4 on D* 10

According to a poster at the other site (Alan Gordon) this is the current state of the west cost HD DNS.

The MPEG4 versions of the West Coast HD DNS feeds were on D10 until the day when they shut off the MPEG2 feeds. They then moved the MPEG4 feeds to 119 (or a mixture of 110 and 119?) and then added the Disney-HD, ESPNNews HD, and Toon Disney-HD to D10.

 

[atp1313]

Possibly stupid question(s):
* Does the physical transponder on each bird have any restrictions as to whether or not it can process/transmit MPEG4 signals?
* Any reason they couldn't use all of those older MPEG2 transponders as MPEG4 once the conversion is 100%?
* And if you counted every existing MPEG2 channel in place today, what amount of space would be saved/open up if they were all converted to MPEG4.

 

[rad]

Possibly stupid question(s):
* Does the physical transponder on each bird have any restrictions as to whether or not it can process/transmit MPEG4 signals?
* Any reason they couldn't use all of those older MPEG2 transponders as MPEG4 once the conversion is 100%?
* And if you counted every existing MPEG2 channel in place today, what amount of space would be saved/open up if they were all converted to MPEG4.

The transponders don't care what you send through them, it's all one's and zero's to them. So yes they could put MPEG4 on the current MPEG2 transponders, E*'s been doing that in the past and continues to convert them to by additional bandwidth.

 

[Smith P.]

New pictures.

Compare with old (7/22) shots and pay attention to left side, there are some tpns what shouldn't be there if DTV follow FCC filing.

 

[digiblur]

yeah dish is squeezing in 7 per tp declining pq because of it. i rather have D continue to put 5 per tp making the pq better. have you noticed any difference in pq elwaylite?

If I remember correctly Dish gets about 3-4 more megabits out of their turbo 8PSK TP's than DirecTV.

 

[uncrules]

If I remember correctly Dish gets about 3-4 more megabits out of their turbo 8PSK TP's than DirecTV.

I believe you are correct. I've read somewhere that E*'s transponders are 43Mbit each. So D* is running 5 channels on a 38 MB transponder for 7.6 per channel. IIRC E* is running 7 channels which on a 43 MB transponder equals 6.14 per channel. It's no wonder that people think D* has the better PQ.

 

[raoul5788]

Im just curious what they plann on doing with the HD space over at 110 and 119 once all these mpeg2 channels go to mpeg4. That would open some space up on those birds for new national hd in mpeg4, unless they plan on leasing those tp's back to E*

They could do mpeg4 from 110 or 119 since the satellite doesn't care about that, but they couldn't be ka. Those satellites can't transmit a ka signal.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I believe you are correct. I've read somewhere that E*'s transponders are 43Mbit each. So D* is running 5 channels on a 38 MB transponder for 7.6 per channel. IIRC E* is running 7 channels which on a 43 MB transponder equals 6.14 per channel. It's no wonder that people so D* has the better PQ.

Yepp, ive done that math before. In Dish's defense, its variable by what channel needs it more, but IMHO this does not make up for the gap and why D* is a little sharper. I guess E* is also still running 1440x1080 while D* has opted to send full rez 1080i.

 

[goaliebob99]

They could do mpeg4 from 110 or 119 since the satellite doesn't care about that, but they couldn't be ka. Those satellites can't transmit a ka signal.

While right now its not physically possible, if they were to launch a bird that had a ka payload, then they could.. Like 101 for instance, Directv's signal is a KU signal, but there is a KA satellilte (AMC 14) at that position that does Wild FTA feeds on both KU and KA Frequency's.

 

[Smith P.]

Sorry, took old file for processing.
Today list:

TEST, 9314,
TEST, 9316,
TEST, 9318,
TEST, 9319,
TEST, 9320,
TEST, 9321,
TEST, 9315,
TEST, 9323,
TEST, 9324,
TEST, 9325,
TEST, 9327,
TEST, 9328,
TEST, 9329,
TEST, 9330,
TEST, 9331,
TEST, 9333,
TEST, 9338,
TEST, 9339,
TEST, 9341,
TEST, 9342,
TEST, 9344,
TEST, 9346,
TEST, 9347,
TEST, 9348,
TEST, 9349,
TEST, 9350,
TEST, 9352,
TEST, 9353,
TEST, 9354,
TEST, 9355,
TEST, 9357,
TEST, 9358,
TEST, 9359,
TEST, 9360,
TEST, 9363,
TEST, 9366,
TEST, 9369,
TEST, 9370,
TEST, 9374,
TEST, 9376,

 

[DodgerKing]

Today new channes appears on 99b:
MLBHD, 732,
MLBHD, 734.

Number of test channels reduced to 24.

MLBHD? An EI channel. Aren't the EI HD channels followed with a "-1"? These channels have always existed, this just means that they have moved them from D10 to D11?

 

[Smith P.]

It's just numbers and names from system info (APG), like digi doing for Dish.

 

[DodgerKing]

It's just numbers and names from system info (APG), like digi doing for Dish.

These are actual EI channels though. I watch games on these channels all of the time. Does this mean that these channels are now coming off of D11 instead of D10?