Directv to offer more HD

[Walter L.]

So, should I quit Voom and start salivating over D* announcement till 2007 (or longer) or should I continue enjoying my HD experience on Voom?

AMEN!!! Some people believe that need to they think long-term about subscribing to a particular provider. Come on guys, this is not marriage. Today for me HDTV= VOOM. 2007? who the hell knows?

 

[rang1995]

So, should I quit Voom and start salivating over D* announcement till 2007 (or longer) or should I continue enjoying my HD experience on Voom?

Of course not i have Voom and D* but i just put it up as a piece of news..by 2007 who knows what will be

 

[Eric_C]

Locals over the Sat seems like such a waste unless the PQ is going to be 100 percent identical.

Friends of ours get their HD locals over Brighthouse, its not the same as OTA. I'm 38 miles from the broadcast station and mine come in crystal clear with some antenna work.

I can almost bet its a marketing movie. "We spent years telling them Sat is better than antenna, now its the other way around" and they can't back out of the situation without confusing the typical clueless consumer.

You buy a HD TV for PQ, and from what I've seen of locals delivered via cable its not the same.

I'd never give up OTA if it meant inferior quality, our local HD channels are great, especially CBS and to downgrade just would not make sense.

I would especially be ticked if they put HD locals above adding more HD nation wide channels.

If they put the nats on before the locals and expand to Voom like offerings, I'll be switching as soon as those mystical 24 channels go live.

You also forget that the FCC states that all local must be in HD by 2007, wanna bet they are going to drop the SD channels all together and do a down convert in the box itself, whats the ratio, 4:1, 4 SD channels equals the bandwidth of 1 HD channel?

So they pick up there too.

 

[Dvlos]

10-20 more national HD?? TRY 150!!!

Hey, I don't think anyone is going to have access to all 150 network channels (would be kinda wierd to anyway). In any case when a HD show like say "CSI" comes on how many different national CBS networks are you going to need to see it from to enjoy it?

150 HD networks, but if you live in Miami you will have 10-20 (tops) networks.. RIGHT? SO ...


... same thing as a $150 OTA antenna which is ....

a lot of money to throw at replacing OTA antennas with...

....compressed and filtered HD.

The ONLY way I'd buy into this is IF.. my local ABC broadcasts their HD at a max of 15-16 mbps as per the engineer from ABC - which I think is really good for their 720p stuff anyway... and if D* would send the same signal to me at 19mbps THEN.. only THEN could I see it worth going with D*. Or if I move to some place far away, and even in THOSE cases you may not be able to get these channels anyway.

 

[GadgetRick]

Well...

I'm happy to see DTV is at least trying to take HD seriously. However, as has been pointed out here, HD locals!!?? Come on guys! Enough with the friggin locals already! Hell, I hardly watch locals myself. I don't watch anything except the big sports broadcasts on local channels because I can't get them somewhere else!

Anyway, this is certainly not the end for Voom. Voom will either succeed or fail for other reasons. If they fail it will be because they didn't do enough to obtain new subscribers or, more likely, the general public just didn't adopt HDTV fast enough. Niether of these reasons has anything to do with DTV (at least directly).

If/when DTV offers all of this I'll take a look at them again. If they offer a better product (or someone else does for that matter), I'll switch. As someone said, it's not marriage and, even if it was, divorce is cheap!

Also, the digital switchover time has now been pushed to 2009 by the FCC. This doesn't mean much of anything anyway as the FCC can always push it again if needed. Besides, this only says everyone must send a digital signal, not an HD signal.

As far as TivoHD. Honestly, I'm tired of hearing about it. I don't see $1,000 value from it as of yet. First of all, there just isn't enough on DTV in HD to Tivo to make it worth my while to spend that much money. Second of all, even if they had more, I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much money to be able to Tivo it in HD. I'd settle for an SD Tivo for the difference in price. Now, if/when the price of an HD DVR comes down, well it might make more sense, however, there still needs to be HD channels to record. DTV does NOT have this and won't for quite some time now.

So I wonder if this is the, "big announcement," all of the DTV lovers have been talking about. Remember, they've been saying DTV is going to make a, "big announcement," during the summer about their HD offerings. Ok, it's generally a big announcement but it doesn't mean much to most of us just yet.

The Rickster

 

[rad]

As far as TivoHD. Honestly, I'm tired of hearing about it. I don't see $1,000 value from it as of yet. First of all, there just isn't enough on DTV in HD to Tivo to make it worth my while to spend that much money. Second of all, even if they had more, I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much money to be able to Tivo it in HD. I'd settle for an SD Tivo for the difference in price. Now, if/when the price of an HD DVR comes down, well it might make more sense, however, there still needs to be HD channels to record. DTV does NOT have this and won't for quite some time now.
The Rickster

Between D* HD and OTA HD there's plenty of HD to record, maybe in not your opinion but in mine.

I find it a bit funny that folks say a $1,000 digital recorder that has four HD tuners in it plus a 250GB harddrive isn't worth it. Back in the late 70's early 80's folks were spending that much (in those $'s) for a VCR that could record one channel, in mono, on a 1 hour tape (which cost $20).

 

[vurbano]

So I wonder if this is the, "big announcement," all of the DTV lovers have been talking about. Remember, they've been saying DTV is going to make a, "big announcement," during the summer about their HD offerings. Ok, it's generally a big announcement but it doesn't mean much to most of us just yet.

The first sat goes up April 2005. By mid 2005 they will have an ADDITIONAL 500 HD channel capacity. And by the end of 2007 ANOTHER 1000 HD channel capacity. Are you so short sighted not to think that they will be adding everything Voom has and more besides the 21 exclusives along the way? Wanna wager that D* has ESPN2HD before Voom? IF 1500 additional HD channel capacity is not "big" Id like to know exactly what you think would be?

 

[Dvlos]

Between D* HD and OTA HD there's plenty of HD to record, maybe in not your opinion but in mine.

I find it a bit funny that folks say a $1,000 digital recorder that has four HD tuners in it plus a 250GB harddrive isn't worth it. Back in the late 70's early 80's folks were spending that much (in those $'s) for a VCR that could record one channel, in mono, on a 1 hour tape (which cost $20).

Today we call those guys the guinea pigs, yes and the Betamax owners too, who thought $1,000 for a VCR in mono was high quality stuff, but the 4 head stereo one I bought in the 90's for $90 seems about right to me. I didn't buy a DVD recorder when it was $1,000 because it's not worth it, now they are $150-$300 hey look it's worth it.

I'm happy HDTivo for D* has 4 tuners in it, one for every HD channel they currently have. $1,000 is a lot of money for a secondary item IMO, I'm not Sean Mota raking in the six figure salary every 6 months. I have a house, a family, and other expenses that have to be considered before I get something that is supposed to be for "entertainment". If the HDTivo was $450 I would consider it a good "buy". Right now it's too steep, and not enough HD on D* to warrant it.

 

[Dvlos]

The first sat goes up April 2005. By mid 2005 they will have an ADDITIONAL 500 HD channel capacity. And by the end of 2007 ANOTHER 1000 HD channel capacity. Are you so short sighted not to think that they will be adding everything Voom has and more besides the 21 exclusives along the way? Wanna wager that D* has ESPN2HD before Voom? IF 1500 additional HD channel capacity is not "big" Id like to know exactly what you think would be?

Where do you get 500 HD and 1000 HD channels from? I read in there that it says for "network channels in HD" in that same report it lists how many national HD channels it plans to have the capacity to add by 2007 and I THOUGHT that number was around 50.

D*'s plans zero in on providing network HD capable locals to certain markets, then expand that market by 2007. Hey if mid-2005 rolls around and D* has 40 HD channels, the HDTivo drops in price, and V* is still stumbling around who isn't going to switch?

 

[wase4711]

It is a pretty big deal. Even now that I have my antenna working, it's still only good like 90 - 95% of the time. When that 5% ends up costing me a Bears game or the World Series or something important, it's going to irk me.

I'll move to DirecTV as soon as they release a networked DVR solution. That's the only thing that can keep me with VOOM, assuming they get around to adding Comcast Sports Chicago.

Pretty much sums up the feelings of most folks in Chicago; my Voom locals are very spotty, especially cbs and Fox, and unfortunately, they have most of the local sports teams..although Comcast Sports Network is taking over for FSN in 2 weeks, so it will be interesting to see if they show up on Vom...Anyone have any info on this?

 

[wase4711]

The first sat goes up April 2005. By mid 2005 they will have an ADDITIONAL 500 HD channel capacity. And by the end of 2007 ANOTHER 1000 HD channel capacity. Are you so short sighted not to think that they will be adding everything Voom has and more besides the 21 exclusives along the way? Wanna wager that D* has ESPN2HD before Voom? IF 1500 additional HD channel capacity is not "big" Id like to know exactly what you think would be?

As a "professional engineer", you if ANYONE should know that NOTHING will be on the air by mid 2005; I mean have you EVER seen the scheduled kick off of anything new come off without a hitch and on time??

and, would being able to get ESPN2HD REALLY make you switch your service??
lots of folks here have been screaming for SCI FI channel on Voom, and now that its here , I haven't read much about anyone saying how much more they love Voom now..
Its at least 2 years till DTV has all that additional capacity up and working..lets just hope Voom survives that long, or someone with endless mounds of cash, like Microsoft buys them so we have as many or more HD choices than we do now...

 

[rad]

Today we call those guys the guinea pigs, yes and the Betamax owners too, who thought $1,000 for a VCR in mono was high quality stuff, but the 4 head stereo one I bought in the 90's for $90 seems about right to me. I didn't buy a DVD recorder when it was $1,000 because it's not worth it, now they are $150-$300 hey look it's worth it.

I'm happy HDTivo for D* has 4 tuners in it, one for every HD channel they currently have. $1,000 is a lot of money for a secondary item IMO, I'm not Sean Mota raking in the six figure salary every 6 months. I have a house, a family, and other expenses that have to be considered before I get something that is supposed to be for "entertainment". If the HDTivo was $450 I would consider it a good "buy". Right now it's too steep, and not enough HD on D* to warrant it.

Ah, you're just jealous. I hope V* stays in business long enough to come out with their DVR

 

[Dvlos]

for SCI FI channel on Voom...

You know what I have fallen victim to this, I thought I missed SCI FI from cable, I did like the content, but I feel more drawn to other good HD shows, I watch SCIFI upstairs from my SD TV, like old Twilight Zone episodes. I guess a week or two ago I resolved in my mind, to wait and hope for SciFi shows like Stargate and Farscape in HD on BravoHD.

It's a good addition, but it was no where near the monumental impact adding Fox Sports Florida in HD was.

 

[DobyMax]

Voom can have have all of the HD channels that it wants, plus the "promised" DVR. But it all comes down to customers, and we all know Voom is definitely not pulling them in at a high rate, along with people leaving and thinking about leaving. Do you think a DVR will change that? Get real. Voom doesn't have the customers. 30,000 won't get it. No brag, just fact.

 

[Dvlos]

Do you think a DVR will change that?

I think it will, no doubt about it. The overwhelming responses on this forum, the D* forum here, and AVS Forum, suggests that the main reason people think about leaving seems to be DVR, the main reason people don't leave D* or E* is lack of a DVR.

No it will not be the one thing they have to do, to get 1 million subs... if I am not mistaken upon launch E* had great multi-room deals, Voom needs that, as well as contracts to stop churn- or termination fees to recoup some of that money back. Voom is still standing around thinking ok most people only have 1 HD set... Brrrr Wrong.. I have 5 TV sets, but will only commit 2 to Voom, if Voom had a great multi-room deal I would probably connect 2 more STBs, but an addition $15 a month for TVs that don't get watched that much is just not worth it. No a DVR isn't the final end all be all piece to the Voom marketing mystery, but it's a big piece of the puzzle I think.

 

[DarrellP]

I find it a bit funny that folks say a $1,000 digital recorder that has four HD tuners in it plus a 250GB harddrive isn't worth it.

Back in 85 when I started working on computers, there was no such thing as a "personal" computer and in the late 80's, a 20 MB (that's Megabytes, not Gigabytes) hard drive cost us $279 at the Reseller level. :shocked

I paid $1200 for my first "Stereo" (Not HiFI) VCR back in 83, so $1k for a PVR is a pretty good deal as long as Voom does not go out of business.

 

[HeavyC]

However, if they come out before Christmas with a whole-home networked DVR solution that severly undercuts D* and E*'s offerings with the acceptance of a 1 or 2 year contract and a penalty for leaving early that will work wonders.

The simple fact is 1000 dollars is way too much for someone to spend on a Receiver. I mean, that's the same price as some very decent HDTV's. Your average person can not get their mind around that.

 

[vurbano]

As a "professional engineer", you if ANYONE should know that NOTHING will be on the air by mid 2005; I mean have you EVER seen the scheduled kick off of anything new come off without a hitch and on time??

and, would being able to get ESPN2HD REALLY make you switch your service??
lots of folks here have been screaming for SCI FI channel on Voom, and now that its here , I haven't read much about anyone saying how much more they love Voom now..
Its at least 2 years till DTV has all that additional capacity up and working..lets just hope Voom survives that long, or someone with endless mounds of cash, like Microsoft buys them so we have as many or more HD choices than we do now...

D* launched 7s on 5/4/04 and had to move all of its locals to it to free up space for some HD channels. HD channels were supposed to have been added in October. BravoHD has already appeared. I would expect FOXHD to appear in October on D*.

Since these sats do not require moving channels like 7s I would expect to see additional HD channels begin to appear after about a month of testing the new sat in April.

AS for switching. I will probably switch when D* has starzhd, tnthd and cinemaxhd, Espn2hd im sure will be added quickly as well. D* is very sports oriented. ST and other sports paks may not "make" them money but it brings in subs signed to one year contracts and they know it.

Again a month or two after April D* will have that first sat capacity up and running. Your 2 year statement is ridiculous.

 

[alsie731]

DTV and HD channels !!!!

My .02 worth is I left DTV due to promises of HD and could watch my Patriots in the Super Bowl. Picked up new HD dish, receiver and activated system and low and behold no see Super Bowl and my Patriots in HD because some local station in the western part of MA did not give approval. Was not to happy having friends over to watch it in HD and had to watch it in my regular package of local channels which was not HD. Cancelled and was given all types of promises (was a customer for 4 years). Figured I'd re-activate when they finally got some HD. (Still Waiting!)Well thanks to VOOM I saw my Pats win last night against Colts and saw it in HD due to the OTA that was installed with the install. Well in 2005 hope no one holds their breath cause it ain't going to happen. DTV's track record proves it. DTV is like a drunk giving promises and never living up to them. My opinion Murdock has so much $$$ he doesn't care and the poor stockholders could make $$$ if he took DTV into the direction to get and keep customers. I'm not crazy about VOOMS content but since I've been a customer I have done nothing but gain channels and would DTV have given you the Liston fight for Zip - don't think so. Ya, VOOM has got a way to go but at least they are moving in the right direction.

 

[Dvlos]

Thanks to Voom I've watched my Marlins (and Tampa Bay) in HD, what a major surprise, the Tyson fight for free, SciFi and USA out of nowhere.. that's the kind of thing I like about Voom. I know they are trying in their limited way, and as small as they are they are outdoing cable companies and E* and D* in terms of HD. D* spending money to bring HD locals to the masses... I say, about freaking time, what have you been doing with all the revenue D*'s been generating over the years? They should have been the HD kings long ago.