DirecTV Communications to Customers...
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raymo721 said:
Some people need it on Sat.
I can't get HD signals OTA. I live in a bottom and too close to the antenna farms in Atlanta. I am having to constantly go out to adjust my antenna depending on where people park up the hill, the phase of the moon, the weather, etc. I have NEVER been able to get all the Atlanta major networks in HD without moving the antenna. I've tried the Silver Sensor, the square antenna, a Channel Master, and a Wingard. The latter two were attempted installs by professional A/V people and neither were able to obtain an adequate signal.
dervari said:
Maybe this will make your day, from http://phoenix.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=783972&highlight=:
Spaceway F1 began transmitting local HD signals to customers in Detroit on Oct. 20, and four markets -- Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco -- will begin receiving local HD broadcast channels this month. DIRECTV will also launch HD locals in Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and New York in December.
At the heart of this thread is a real issue. One that is difficult for companies to get right, even some of the time. How much to communicate and when and somewhat to whom.
When I buy a TV, I want to know that the investment I make will survive a reasonable amount of time. When I spent $900 on my first HR10-250, I wanted to know that it would be compatible with whats going on in the D* and HD future. Manufacturers need to communicate a sense that purchases will not be obsolete in short order.
On the other hand, content carriers like cable and dbs can't tip their hands too much or they do get burned. D* is getting eaten up by lack of VOD that cable has working very smoothly. Two years ago D* was eating up cable companies and their poor PQ. D* was hoping to be a leader in HD, but HD didn't take off as fast as VOD. Ouch!
Another way to get burned is to announce products too early and decimate sales of existing products. IBM always has stuff in the pipeline and in the R&D labs that would blow away everybody in the marketplace--including themselves. So they maintain a very rigid publicity pipeline that aligns with their production pipeline.
So where should we put D* on the 1 to 10 scale for communications? As pointed out by serveral posters, they score points for a consistent message about where they are going with HD, locals, etc. They also score points (for communication, mind you) for keeping us informed about their intent to drop the TiVo software base. The VOD product was so late that it hardly mattered so i consider that issue a neutral.
Where D* didn't score so well, IMHO, is in ensuring that my investments today will be protected tomorrow. Either by firmly stating "we will upgrade you when the time comes" , or by stating that our equipment will have a life span of so many years thereby allowing us to make educated purchases.
I fully admit that I had to make my purchases based on the D* of a few years ago when they handled the 3lnb dishes and locals very well. My older receivers and dishes were swapped out at NO cost to me. Now with the new ownership, I am less certain of how D* will handle my larger investment in D* equipment, but I am encouraged by the early reports from Detroit and the next 4. Let us hope that D* continues to value us long-term subscribers.
Sorry for this lengthy post. Somedays I just gots to ramble from my soapbox too.
Cheers,
Tom
When I buy a TV, I want to know that the investment I make will survive a reasonable amount of time. When I spent $900 on my first HR10-250, I wanted to know that it would be compatible with whats going on in the D* and HD future. Manufacturers need to communicate a sense that purchases will not be obsolete in short order.
On the other hand, content carriers like cable and dbs can't tip their hands too much or they do get burned. D* is getting eaten up by lack of VOD that cable has working very smoothly. Two years ago D* was eating up cable companies and their poor PQ. D* was hoping to be a leader in HD, but HD didn't take off as fast as VOD. Ouch!
Another way to get burned is to announce products too early and decimate sales of existing products. IBM always has stuff in the pipeline and in the R&D labs that would blow away everybody in the marketplace--including themselves. So they maintain a very rigid publicity pipeline that aligns with their production pipeline.
So where should we put D* on the 1 to 10 scale for communications? As pointed out by serveral posters, they score points for a consistent message about where they are going with HD, locals, etc. They also score points (for communication, mind you) for keeping us informed about their intent to drop the TiVo software base. The VOD product was so late that it hardly mattered so i consider that issue a neutral.
Where D* didn't score so well, IMHO, is in ensuring that my investments today will be protected tomorrow. Either by firmly stating "we will upgrade you when the time comes" , or by stating that our equipment will have a life span of so many years thereby allowing us to make educated purchases.
I fully admit that I had to make my purchases based on the D* of a few years ago when they handled the 3lnb dishes and locals very well. My older receivers and dishes were swapped out at NO cost to me. Now with the new ownership, I am less certain of how D* will handle my larger investment in D* equipment, but I am encouraged by the early reports from Detroit and the next 4. Let us hope that D* continues to value us long-term subscribers.
Sorry for this lengthy post. Somedays I just gots to ramble from my soapbox too.
Cheers,
Tom
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