DirecTV MPEG4 Rollout to begin

[adawg]

Well, I sorta got the answer...I was asking if the footprint (footprint != mast) was the same. The footprint being where the four mounting holes bolt up to the house.

What part of me saying: "the footprint of the new mount is larger, it will not accept the same mounting hole positions as the previous mount. " makes you say it sorta answers your question? I understand completely what you are asking and the answer is no. I too wish it did. Seems silly to keep poking holes in things...

 

[Happy Camper]

We have a Terk 5 x 8 multiswitch. Does anyone know if it will work with MPEG 4 and the new dish?

 

[rstokas]

WELL WHEN ARE OTHER MARKETS GETTING THIS? I AM IN CHICAGO.. next month?

 

[Tonedeaf]

We have a Terk 5 x 8 multiswitch. Does anyone know if it will work with MPEG 4 and the new dish?

No, you will need the new one. They are combining Ka/Ku and different frequencies on the cables.

Look HERE

 

[shadyB]

Question would this work?

Has anyone heard of whether D* will move all their HD to MPEG-4 on the two new satellites? If that is so, then in the future would it be possible for D* to come out with a smaller dish that will be able to receive all the necessary programming from the 99, 101, and 103 satellite? The benefits being a smaller dish with possibly a single lnb, as opposed to this behemoth I see people installing. If you already get all your SD locals on 101, then this would seem to be the way to go.

If they would mirror the existing HD programming onto the new satellite(s), then I would see no need for such a large dish. Only the major markets are being upgraded in the next two years anyway. These major markets have all their locals on the 101 satellite already. If you mirror the content, it would appear you remove the need for the 110 and 119 lnb's.

I have been looking at the new large dish, and have decided that I do not want to do an upgrade until a more reasonable sized dish is available. I already get my locals in HD with an OTA antenna, and have waivers on file for ABC, CBS, and FOX. Plus since I have an HD-Tivo, there is little motivation to me to get this large dish.

 

[hancox]

my guess - probably not. The majority of the new dish's size is not the 5 birds, it's the KA band on 99 and 103. You wouldn't shrink it that much.

BTW - Frenchies.....boooooooooo

 

[shadyB]

I see, that is too bad. I am still going to take a look and see approach with this upgrade, no compelling reason to upgrade at the moment.

VT = French???? Are you crazy. VT graduates more navy officers than anyone in America except for the Naval Academy. You must be thinking of the Wahoo's of UVA. They like to drink wine and eat cheese at tailgates, while sitting under pergolas. We are much more of a Southern, bourbon-drinking, bbq, football-crazy type of university.

 

[hancox]

No no. French as in traitorous dogs. (Hint - think about your conference affiliation)

Spoiler

And no, you're not as bad as BC.

 

[Brewer4]

Being a UConn fan too, I really dont think Virginia Tech was a Big East team. They have a great football program (kudos), but man, you gotta have a better basketball team. So I dont look at them as traitors. I think the ACC move was good for them. Now BC on the other hand....... Thats lying nasty traitorist stuff from a good ole Catholic university.

I sure dont miss the VT colors though. Or their baskeball teams. Yuck....

 

[monetnj]

I was just wondering the other day about whether we will need new dishes in 2007 when D* launches Directv 10 and 11. Seems like they are going to be going through an awful lot of trouble for the rest of this year and next converting everyone to MPEG4 receivers and the new 5 LNB dish, only to turn around the next year and swap everybody's dishes out yet again. Hope that isn't necessary.

 

[jaybertx]

Being a UConn fan too, I really dont think Virginia Tech was a Big East team. They have a great football program (kudos), but man, you gotta have a better basketball team. So I dont look at them as traitors. I think the ACC move was good for them. Now BC on the other hand....... Thats lying nasty traitorist stuff from a good ole Catholic university.

I sure dont miss the VT colors though. Or their baskeball teams. Yuck....

Or their MASCOT! GOBBLE GOBBLE!

 

[jsb_hburg]

No no. French as in traitorous dogs. (Hint - think about your conference affiliation)

Spoiler

And no, you're not as bad as BC.

As a Villanova grad ('89), the BC defection was the worst.

 

[Skyboss]

Has anyone heard of whether D* will move all their HD to MPEG-4 on the two new satellites? If that is so, then in the future would it be possible for D* to come out with a smaller dish that will be able to receive all the necessary programming from the 99, 101, and 103 satellite? The benefits being a smaller dish with possibly a single lnb, as opposed to this behemoth I see people installing. If you already get all your SD locals on 101, then this would seem to be the way to go.

If they would move all local programing in SD from 101 to 110/119 and all HD to MPEG 4 at 101 only certain markets would actually need the 110/119 attachment. My hunch is this will occur as the new satellites continue to be put up and swap outs occur. Seems wasteful to keep MPEG-2 HD up forever. Or MPEG-2 for that matter. The capacity is to great to pass up to not take the entire system to MPEG-4 at some point. The best set up for D long term is to provide local spots on spaceway and nationals from the Ku/Ka mix LNB to customers to minimize the use of the 110/119/72.5 equipment.

 

[f300v10]

I was just wondering the other day about whether we will need new dishes in 2007 when D* launches Directv 10 and 11. Seems like they are going to be going through an awful lot of trouble for the rest of this year and next converting everyone to MPEG4 receivers and the new 5 LNB dish, only to turn around the next year and swap everybody's dishes out yet again. Hope that isn't necessary.

DirecTV 10 and 11 are also set for the 99 and 103 orbital slots, so another new dish will not be needed. Once they are up D* is planning to move all HD to the 4 KA/MPEG4 sats, and the 110/119 LNB won't be needed, unless the user needs SD locals that are on one of those sats.

 

[rad]

DirecTV 10 and 11 are also set for the 99 and 103 orbital slots, so another new dish will not be needed. Once they are up D* is planning to move all HD to the 4 KA/MPEG4 sats, and the 110/119 LNB won't be needed, unless the user needs SD locals that are on one of those sats.

Or D* decides to put more MPEG4 HD on those sats on the transponders that are currently used for MPEG2 HD channels.

 

[shadyB]

No no. French as in traitorous dogs. (Hint - think about your conference affiliation)

Spoiler

And no, you're not as bad as BC.

I do not miss the Big East at all. They did not treat VT well during the time we were there, and it is much better now that the divorce is complete. Yes the divorce mas messy, but many are. Like I said we are more of a Red-state Southern school. So being in the ACC makes more sense, then for us to be in the Blue-State, North-Eastern Big East league.

A question regarding the large dish though, why is such a large dish required for only covering a 4 degree arc of the sky. Is it the difference in frequency between the Ku transmission and the new Ka transmission what requires the large surface area?

 

[shadyB]

Nevermind, I found the answer to my question. I have been told that since the higher frequency of the Ka band is more sensitive to rain-fade, that a higher gain antenna is necessary to counteract this loss. Still, I have been told to expect an uptime of only 99.90% with the Ka signal as opposed to the current uptime of 99.99% with the Ku signal. This translates to an extra downtime or around 8 hours a year for the Ka signal!! Makes me wonder how successful this Ka band rollout will ultimately be....

 

[Gojira54]

I just got mine today. It does have Native scan mode. Setting it up is a pretty straight forward process. It ask you what your tv can display an you go from there. It also has a manual button for you too on the remote. Don't like how the guide comes up. It gives you a filter screen first before you get the guide. The guy with the RCA HDTV I also have that model, they just give you a new box since they can't take the old one with them.(be sure to tell them about the TV) I just called Directv to get this no reason to wait for them to call. I called Monday an had them install it this morning. Not bad for Directv. The dish is about the same size as the Old Primestar dish. Took my installer over an hour an half to install it. He said it was his second one. He did say that rain effect is greater with this dish too, not what I wanted to hear.
All in all not the great upgrade I was expecting. Only 4 local HD Channels Missing WB & UPN plus PBS. Test market more like Lab Rats!


Todd

 

[PoitNarf]

He did say that rain effect is greater with this dish too, not what I wanted to hear.

I remember reading a few months ago that the new birds have better ways to counteract the rain fade effect than the current ones. Something about how with the spotbeaming they'll be monitoring the weather in a given location, and if it looks like rain fade is likely then they'll boost the power on that particular spotbeam. I don't know how the Ka/Ku frequencies come into play in terms of rain fade, but I imagine with the signals from the older sats a bigger dish would equal less rain fade. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[thestaton]

Whats the status with Philadelphia region? We just ordered DTV today and got the HD reciever, so should we be expecting to have a new dish + reciever by the end of the year? Our install is set for monday is there anyway to request the equiptment now so save the installer some hassle!

Thanks for the help!