DirecTV's Plans for 2006/2007

[dragon002]

no no - I'm talking about the old 2LNB's that got the add-on. They're a bunch bigger...

no hancox,

the fiberglass dish that had 2 lnbs with a center spacer that you could add the 110 lnb and a combiner to the 18 v side of the 119 lnb was the paratodos dish. just measured one, 18X23, but true oval shape. the phase 3 measures 18X21 but it is a rectangle with rounded edges,. the surface area is nearly identical. the only diff is the phase 3 has an integrated lnb.

FYI, they are completly interchangable in use

 

[Ex Direcway]

Congratulations again Scott for breaking news before any other site.

-Robert

Actually posted first by shappyss I believe here.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=57341

 

[Stargazer]

Congratulations on the news. I hope these type of things will help keep Dish Network in check. This will also give Dish Network some information that will allow them to be able to match or beat what they are doing (if they are willing to).

 

[Stargazer]

It will not download for me because I am on dialup. It lags at around 38%. If anybody able to put a review of some of the things the PDF contains and be able to post a pic as an attachment on here of that new dish?

 

[dragon002]

Congratulations on the news. I hope these type of things will help keep Dish Network in check. This will also give Dish Network some information that will allow them to be able to match or beat what they are doing (if they are willing to).

no this , if true , blows echostar out of the sky!!!

 

[lou_do]

Thanks Scott, for posting this valuable information.

I was very impressed, and glad to see most of their information but I can't believe that they are going to wait till around the middle of 2007 before they start adding any National HDs. On their page 36, they show themselves way behind cable and DISH, for over another year, then they will pass cable, but it will be almost another year and a half, before they are able to compete with the amount that DISH will be able to offer.

Yet on their page 71 they state that in 2006 almost 15 million digital TVs will be sold, of which I am sure most will be HD capable. Why are they not concerned with offering available nationals to attract those 15 million new TV owners to D* as well as keeping their current HD customers from jumping ship, for more HD programing from other services. They make such a big deal of their offering HD locals, when many of us could care less about the 4 they plan to give us, we already receive 20 to 30 OTA. Yes, there are others that currently can't receive any of the 4 HD locals and are excited about getting them, but to many of us it is meaningless. I just feel they are making a big mistake by not getting as many national HDs on line ASAP. Yes, they should put up local HDs, but the Nationals should be given priority, they go to all the HD customers.

I am a big supporter of D* and really enjoy my system, but I think their dragging their feet in adding National HDs is going to hurt them. I know it is dragging down my faith in them.

OK, I vented, I am off the soap box.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Looks like shappyss actually beat me to it.

I didnt look to see if anyone posted it first I just opened it up went through it real quick GOT EXCITED AT WHAT I SAW and posted it here for all to see.

This is real exciting stuff, its the first thing I have seen from DirecTV in a long time that actually made sense to me, lately everything coming from them has me shaking my head. (But not this!)

 

[moonman]

I think and hope that the add-on hard drive will not be vaporware...it means that
they will make the USB outputs "live" at last...means a end to H/D upgrades?

 

[Skyboss]

The big things on my end...

Single wire into the home
Windows networkability
PC Tuner Card
Stand alone products with tuners

Oh, and that professional/home theater series HD DVR on page 38.

 

[dragon002]

The big things on my end...

Single wire into the home
Windows networkability
PC Tuner Card
Stand alone products with tuners

Oh, and that professional/home theater series HD DVR on page 38.

skyboss,

here we go again, please dont get angry with me. do you have any idea how many subs out of 15.5 million care about those four items,???? MAYBE 50.000 IF you are lucky.

 

[javahh]

Man o Man this is the best news I have seen in awhile from D*. As a sub for the past 5 years and a HD user for the past 1.5 years, I myself am very pleased with this. I have considered going with the other guys, but just could not, since D* has been a rather decent company to deal with. Every time I have a problem in the past 5 years (think I can count these on one hand) has been resolved quickly and with a fair amount of professionalism. Keep up the good work D*, you have a loyal supporter and sub for many years to come.

 

[HDVoomer]

I for one would hope DirecTV will use the extra capacity to increase their resolution on the HD channels so that they are no longer HD Lite.

 

[DirectMan]

On page 91 they talk about a ~3% price increase per year in the 2005-2008 period for packages/sports/premium/other. So far in 2006 we have a $3/per month increase on the base $42 package which works out to a 7.1% annual increase - so I assume that means that there will be No increase in prices for base packages until sometime in 2008. Either that or they are lowballing their estimates so they can beat them on the revenue side - or maybe the subs total will be lower than estimates due to higher prices.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

Thanks for the post Scott.

Looking at the chart for HD channel expansion, I can't tell if it's just due to the scanning of the presentation but are there a couple of very slight up blips before D10 is launched?

It looks to me like there is a few more blips throughout 2006 but who knows. That first blip looks like it could have been in relation to TNTHD though. Could the 2nd blip be NGCHD, dragon002 was telling us the other day we should be getting this channel added pretty soon.

I think that slimdish will be a much better option for me than the current 5LNB dish. From the looks of these plans I should be able to keep my HDTivo until 2007 by which time hopefully the upcoming HDDVR has the bugs worked out of it. One thing I am glad I did not see mentioned (at least I hope it's not mentioned) was that dating service thing being talked about a short while ago.

 

[LonghornXP]

I just got online about an hour ago so I just read the PDF and this thread so here I go. I knew about half of this information and am more suprised at how much I didn't know but I'm pretty happy all the same right now. Did anyone notice these two little quotes from the PDF.

1. Broadband/Internet delivered VOD.
2. On one of the PDF pages that shows the new user interface plans for 2007 did you notice the HBO On Demand logo.

If you noticed both of these than you have a very very big clue about what is coming. In simple terms HBO On Demand, Cinemax On Demand, Showtime On Demand, TMC On Demand and Starz On Demand will be future service offerings that will be delivered via a broadband/internet connection.

Now onto my next little bit of news. What oh what can DirecTV use their WiMax internet plans for. Lets see for a second below.

DirecTV will be working to offer high speed internet service in all the US via Wimax to start with. Now think about the one wire installation solution. Now think about a new dish having an antenna built-in to it. Now think about a powerline ethernet adapter to replace the phone line requirement. Now think about this powerline network connecting directly to the new one wire multiswitch.

Now this will be a very simple installation in the future that will have all rooms being Wimax, HD and DVR ready. Maybe it now occurs to you that some of that Wifi bandwidth will be used for broadband delivered VOD services that will of course be under DirecTVs control. Most people might assume that DirecTV meant that DirecTV would own the VOD content but in reality they are talking about a solution so that DirecTV can control the delivery of VOD services for quality control. Today if a customer had to rely on their internet connection working and having enough bandwidth that just wouldn't be a good business plan would it. But if DirecTV controlled their own Wimax broadband network they can control the bandwidth and they can also control their uptime as well as their content delivery method so they can have better ways to secure the content.

I'm hearing that this Wimax network will have bandwidth set aside for each box on a given account for VOD. They will only set aside four total boxes bandwidth per account so that should be clear. So with that bandwidth put aside they will also have enough bandwidth to offer high speed internet service in download speeds of at least 5Mbps. They can also offer VoIP phone service as well because Wimax by nature would be data going from a tower on earth within a max range of the customers house. This means the data doesn't have to travel beyond earth so call quality and speed will be quite fine. They also at some point in the future plan to offer a cell phone bundle like cable just did recently.

Much of this they didn't say but this was small bits of a much bigger picture but again this will be long term stuff as in 2007-2008 until things really get going. Some of the stuff I said will occur much before 2008 but it will occur. The plans are todo this below.

To start all new customers will get the new dish with the Wimax antenna and the new multiswitch for one wire installation. This dish and multiswitch will support all HD services, internet, VOD and pretty much everything they will offer. It will be installed regardless of whether the customers orders or even wants it at the time as to avoid future truck rolls when and if they decide to order it. Also once the hardware is available the next time a customer gets an upgrade that requires any type of installation that installation will include everything. The more a customer is ready to go for new services the more likely DirecTV can call that customer knowing they are upgraded and offering that customer more service offerings with no extra installation being needed.

I'm also hearing that in the future with the new multiswitch and one wire dish that new DVR boxes will only require one cable for dual tuner ability and that all existing DVR boxes that have two satellite input jacks will be able to use a simple splitter from the wall jack in the roof itself as long as they are using the new dish and multiswitch until they have their box replaced whenever that may occur.

For the most part that is the bigger parts of what I knew and if I'm not mistaken I did say on these boards a while ago that DirecTV had plans to offer VOD services over the internet but at the time I didn't know they were working on the Wimax system but I was indeed right about the plans. They also did plan to offer VOD via the spaceways but I guess that would have been harder and more expensive than doing it via Wimax as they now are planning. Also the internet service offering might have also been a factor for the VOD plans as well.

Granted much of this won't occur until 2007 and I know it sucks being a DirecTV HD customer during 2006 but the good news is that DirecTV being able to offer a very good triple and quad play package of services along with all markets HD locals, tons of national HD channels along with true VOD services this might in the long run entice the cable companies to keep up and this would also include Verizon FIOS. Any pressure is good and in 2007 which isn't long DirecTV will be the first satellite provider that can and will offer everything that cable can offer.

DirecTV will be able to offer VOD, HD locals, HD nationals, high speed internet, phone service, HD DVRs among tons of other stuff. Also I've been told that the internet plans and VOD plans via the Wimax will also benefit Dish Network as well.

This Wimax thing will be a joint project with both DirecTV and Dish Network and this means that both companies will have the ability to offer high speed internet services, phone service and VOD services. But pricing and hardware at the homes will be decided by Dish and DirecTV on their own along with what content each will offer via VOD as well.

Also I've just got word that the rental plans for the HD DVR boxes will work as follows.

A low risk customer with a good credit score won't have to pay the 250 dollar upfront fee for the HD DVR with a two year agreement while a high risk low credit customer will be required to pay 250 bucks upfront and also have a two year agreement. This 250 dollar charge will be a deposit and you will have to call and they will do a credit check once you order which will decide if you pay it or not. I think the general rule of thumb will be if your credit score is good enough to buy a house it will be good enough to not pay the deposit.

I hope this helps you all out a whole bunch.

 

[LonghornXP]

For those of you on dialup or for some other reason cannot get the pdf file from the link on the first page I'll host the file on my server. Also keep in mind that to open the pdf file you must download the latest adobe reader version on the adobe website which will be version 7.07 and if you currectly have adobe reader installed using the check for updates feature will still say no new updates but it still won't be version 7.07.

You can download the pdf file at the start of this thread at the link below.

http://www.longhornxp.net/directvnews.pdf and right clicking the link and selecting save file as will make it easy to download or you can use a download manager. I will also post a link in the first post of this thread as well.

 

[Proc]

...Also I've just got word that the rental plans for the HD DVR boxes will work as follows.

A low risk customer with a good credit score won't have to pay the 250 dollar upfront fee for the HD DVR with a two year agreement...

The HD DVR will be a "free" lease if you have a good credit score?

 

[vurbano]

Big brother monitoring my viewing experience may be the last straw for me. IMO its none of their F$cking business what I do or what I watch with my equipment. As long as I am paying the bill and not stealing service they need to butt out of my life.

 

[dragon002]

vurbano,

for once i agree with you 100%

 

[vurbano]

So with that bandwidth put aside they will also have enough bandwidth to offer high speed internet service in download speeds of at least 5Mbps.

At 5Mbps they have already lost the battle IMO. MINIMUM cable download speeds are going to 5Mps down and 2Mbps up with the highest package at 15Mbps down and 2 Mbps up in my area. I guess D* will really be competing against DSL or areas not serviced by cable. But this "bundling to compete against cable" is a flawed plan. Internet service via Verizon or cable vs D* will still be a no brainer at that speed. Unless they can find a way to get to 15Mbps they should forget it. IMO given a choice, the typical consumer will go with the provider that can offer them the fastest internet package even if they do subscribe to a mid tier package just to have more options available if they decide they want it. ANd given that much of it will be wireless, I highly doubt it will be as reliable as that copper cable.