Directv committed to HDLITE!!!!!!!!!!!

Status
Please reply by conversation.

vurbano

On Double Secret Probation
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Apr 1, 2004
23,815
104
Newport News, VA
LEM said:
I just upgraded my Directv hardware to HD, and now I've discovered that Directv won't be giving me true HD, but what has been referred to as "HD-Lite", to save bandwidth. So, I complained to Directv.
Here is their response:
----------------------------------
Thank you for writing. I am sorry to hear that you are not interested in HD-Lite. HD-Lite is considered the new industry standard for High Definition. HD-Lite carries a resolution of 1080i. Because DIRECTV is the largest High Definition provider and is signing up more High Definition customers the HD-Lite is the new standard adopted by most HD providers.
Thank you again for writing and stay tuned to DIRECTV (website address edited out) for the latest news and information about our services.
Sincerely,
Christopher A
DIRECTV Customer Service


This email has been authenticated by Cpanther!:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
??! - Since when did HD-Lite become the "industry standard"? Just because D* says so? How sad and pathetic.

Somebody up there bites it, DirecTV.
 
I still have my doubts about Direct (or any provider) calling HD-LITE an industry standard. While the mail may be authentic, the sender probably isn't speaking the official Direct company line.
 
boston area dtv said:
Im surprised that the rep..acknowledged HD lite as HD Lite.

The rep clearly knows the meaning of the words which leads me to believe its been discussed internally.
 
vurbano said:
This email has been authenticated by Cpanther!:mad: :mad: :mad:

As much as possible. He's got the D* case #, all emails back and forth, etc. He also spoke to Dr. Don @ AVS a number of times.

Very credible, and not much reason to take it to the extreme he did if it was some kind of hoax considering it came from a CSR. Now if it was an email from Chase or Bob in PR, then it would be hoax-worthy.
 
We all know it's true, it just never would be officially admitted by D*. If the sh** hit the fan for this CSR, it would be ironic that a CSR would get in trouble for being too knowledgable. :)
 
Put up an antenna, get your locals over the air. If enough people do this, maybe D* will back off of this compression stuff.

By the way I would like to introduce a new term for compression. From now on it should be known as "pixel stealing"
 
vurbano said:
Maybe some good will come from this.
You mean besides yet another negative thread???? :rolleyes:

The CSR who wrote this obviously has no real knowledge of DirecTV HD policy or planning. It's another flavor of cookie-cutter response catered to this terminology - note the reference to 1080i.

I'd bet folks are far more interested in what the management has planned (who can actually DO SOMETHING about their HD) - which of course, they do not share publically until right before they deploy or change. :cool:
 
Satmeister said:
The CSR who wrote this obviously has no real knowledge of DirecTV HD policy or planning.

Or the CSR had a long day, and decided to have some fun by being sarcastic.... :devil:

Oh dear sir, I am so sorry you aren't interested, welcome to the world we live in, blah blah blah, and by the way they've eliminated all other colors of paint so your car only comes in black....
 
Satmeister said:
You mean besides yet another negative thread???? :rolleyes:
No. CHANGE

Satmeister said:
It's another flavor of cookie-cutter response catered to this terminology - note the reference to 1080i.
There is no cookie cutter response with the words HDlite in it.
 
leww37334 said:
Put up an antenna, get your locals over the air. If enough people do this, maybe D* will back off of this compression stuff.

By the way I would like to introduce a new term for compression. From now on it should be known as "pixel stealing"
what about pixel skimming? or bandwidth skimming?
 
I'm a little confused on the HD Lite stuff. On my OTA I see progams coming in at 1080i and 720p. If D* sends stuff at 1080i thats HD right? Are you all saying that since they compress the signal ito mpeg2 or mpeg4 that it looses detail in the compression and its not truely 1080i? If this is the case then how could they ever send lossless HD since they all compress even DISH?
 
I hate to jump in this given that I am relatively new to this...but could this not be just a case of an automated email response that picked up HD-Lite instead of just HD and kept using it in the message?

My guess is they have no idea it went out and it was simply automated. Now, sending that up the food chain in D* might have some interesting consequences, but otherwise this seems much ado about nothing.
 
ejdowden said:
I'm a little confused on the HD Lite stuff. On my OTA I see progams coming in at 1080i and 720p. If D* sends stuff at 1080i thats HD right? Are you all saying that since they compress the signal ito mpeg2 or mpeg4 that it looses detail in the compression and its not truely 1080i? If this is the case then how could they ever send lossless HD since they all compress even DISH?

If I understand it, the issues are resolution and bandwidth.

Doing the math, a 16x9 screen at 1080i implies that the screen should be 1920 pixels wide, with 1080 lines. D* is delivering 1280 x 1080 (not as sharp).

The HD spec also defines a minimum bitrate. Reduce that bitrate and colors fade.

D* can call it "lossless" if they can make a case that the human eye can't tell the difference between the HD/HD-LITE resolutions and bitrates.
 
... and if very few of their subscribers have 16x9 screens, maybe it actually makes more sense for them to deliver a 4x3 resolution??

I agree with Steve, somewhat. This message was DEFINITELY not automated -- but it is, indeed, much ado about nothing.

DirecTV CSRs are barely trained and even less knowledgeable. He hit a button, looked in Doris, which didn't even mention HD-lite (only we, on the interweb, refer to it as that), and whipped up the simplest defensive message he had the intellectual capacity to put together.

Sending this up the food chain would result in, best case, this CSR getting a warning -- but there are so many levels of bureaucracy at D* that unless we can get someone like DTV TiVo Dealer to pass on our thoughts, we'll get no change, ever.

They just plain don't care what the fringe guru consumer wants. Joe America thinks he wants HD -- and then he gets hooked up with S-Video instead of Component. It says "in HD (where available)" and he thinks it's the best that can be done.

Not enough informed, savvy consumers are subscribers to the service to sway D*'s mind.
 
I can also personally guarantee that even if DirecTV is/was committed to HDLite, absolutely every CSR knows zilch about it.

Whether that's intentional or just negligent, who knows -- but it's the ultimate truth in this matter.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Directv DVR issues - PLEASE HELP

Sat Signal Strength

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)