Dish messing with Voom, All are now HD-Lite 1280x1080i: Discuss this issue HERE!

[Tom Bombadil]

Actually no criticism was implied at all. I was simply acknowledging that it had been contained in the thread and thus wasn't new information. I even made sure to mention that the thread was very long, which was my way of saying that I can understand someone not bothering to read it all. Perhaps I should have been a bit more direct about allowing for this.

Just a couple of days ago, I was asking VOOM'ers if VOOM had originally started out any higher than 1440x1080. I knew they were at 1440 when they went under, but didn't know if they had been at 1920 when they started. I was wondering because one ex-VOOM'er had claimed that these channels had been much better under VOOM. So far noone has stated that VOOM ever broadcast those channels in anything higher than 1440.

As far as I know, the "height of quality" for the VOOM channels was after Dish took them over and offered 4 of them in 1920, until early Dec, 2005. We are hoping for a return to this quality, but perhaps those few months for those few channels will become the old "glory" days forever.

 

[mdonnelly]

Maybe he was just kindly suggesting that I do a search before I post, then? Wait, let me read it again.......he did tell me what I wanted to know after the mild critisizm, so I take back my sarcasm. Thanks for reminding me Tom.:up
David
Who am I?(apparently the guy who let my bad day seep onto the forums)

And yeah, doing a search before you post IS the polite thing to do.

 

[Gary Murrell]

I really thought we would have seen something concenring Voom, by now

-Gary

 

[BFG]

looks like they'll be making NY/LA/HD DNS, the voom 5, & ESPN2 available tomorrow but not make any changes to the PQ

 

[Tom Bombadil]

The only reason I can think of for why Dish would drop resolution to 1280 yet retain bitrates up around 15 mbs, is to give them the option of dropping the bitrates and squeezing in a 4th channel per transponder in the future.

In this way they would not have to face the complaints about downrezzing *AND* bitrate compression at that time.

This would be quite doable when they switch to MPEG4 and gain even just a little extra headroom per transponder. Let's say they gain 20% from MPEG4 and so can then offer four 12 mbs channels per TP.

Otherwise they could easily bump up resolution to 1440 or 1600 or higher since they know they are going to stay at 3 channels per transponder and give around 15 mbs.

So they stand and make the switch to 1280 now, while subscribers to HD & VOOM are low, to set that standard, which gives them more flexibility down the road than if they go to 1920. Downrezzing from 1920 in a couple of years, when they might have 10X as many HD subs, would be a much tougher fight.

If they don't go back to 1920 real soon now, I think it is a clear indication of their long term strategy.

 

[Buji]

So right now we're all just staring at each other and complaining. Has Scott or anyone heard anything back from dish as to why they haven't made the change back yet?

 

[Ilya]

So right now we're all just staring at each other and complaining. Has Scott or anyone heard anything back from dish as to why they haven't made the change back yet?

Not yet. The Press conference starts in 1.5 hours.

 

[ChrisDuncan]

As far as I know, the "height of quality" for the VOOM channels was after Dish took them over and offered 4 of them in 1920, until early Dec, 2005. We are hoping for a return to this quality, but perhaps those few months for those few channels will become the old "glory" days forever.

In my opinion, they still looked much better when Voom broadcast them, even at lower resolution. Of course, I'm using a Dish 6000, but they've never looked the same to me after viewing them over Dish. I still use my old Voom receiver for OTA, and the picture is SO much clearer than when I'm watching HD over Dish.

I used to like showing off my home theater with Voom channels but ever since Dish has had them I'm more likely to show a DVD or OTA broadcast. Seriously, most of DVDs look clearer than what I see with my Dish 6000, even before they downrezzed the signal (which did indeed make it look even worse).

Also, remember when we were supposed to get an additional 10 channels? Then they lowered it to 5? Didn't they lower the number to 5 in order to put out better quality? If not, what the heck was the point in decreasing the number of channels? People acted like it was good news when they announced it, and here we are getting fewer channels and lower resolution... if they're going to broadcast at 1280 x 1080 why not just go ahead and give us the additional 10 channels?

 

[Buji]

Not yet. The Press conference starts in 1.5 hours.

Well, the press conference has come and gone and not only is there no word about E* restoring the resolution/bitrate on the existing channels, we found out that they're pushing out the new HD channels and only putting them out in mpeg4 (and all that entails).

Fan-tastic.

 

[Ilya]

Well, the press conference has come and gone and not only is there no word about E* restoring the resolution/bitrate on the existing channels, we found out that they're pushing out the new HD channels and only putting them out in mpeg4 (and all that entails).
Fan-tastic.

Perhaps that's how they are going to restore the resolution...

 

[riffjim4069]

Their silence leads me to believe that MPEG-2 VOOM (and perhaps other for that matter) will be bit-starved. I don't think you'll have any option other than upgrading to MPEG-4 to enjoy full bitrate VOOM.

 

[BrettTRay]

Their silence leads me to believe that MPEG-2 VOOM (and perhaps other for that matter) will be bit-starved. I don't think you'll have any option other than upgrading to MPEG-4 to enjoy full bitrate VOOM.

Maybe MPEG4 is Dish's resolution to the HD Lite on Voom that they were talking about in their email to us.

 

[Ron Tobin]

Maybe MPEG4 is Dish's resolution to the HD Lite on Voom that they were talking about in their email to us.

Is there any reason to believe that MPEG4 won't also be delivered HD Lite and bit starved? I'm surprised we've gotten no answers from the Q&A specificially dealing with this issue.

 

[BrettTRay]

Is there any reason to believe that MPEG4 won't also be delivered HD Lite and bit starved? I'm surprised we've gotten no answers from the Q&A specificially dealing with this issue.

I believe there is a reason that MPEG4 channels will not be HD Lite. There is no reason why they should compress the hell out of these. They will have more than enough room so they can't use that excuse. No one knows right now I'm just speculating but I would almost bet on it that the MPEG4 channels WILL be Full Rez.

 

[Gary Murrell]

there is enough room for full 1920x1080i mpeg2 right now
F%&* you Dish , my local cable just sent me a letter saying they were starting HD in a few weeks, free boxes, tons of channels and etc.

what Dish just did is loose a 130$ a month customer, I am tired of buying High $ receivers, and being screwed over time and time again

what a month of bull-sh*t ??

-Gary

 

[chipvideo]

there is enough room for full 1920x1080i mpeg2 right now
F%&* you Dish , my local cable just sent me a letter saying they were starting HD in a few weeks, free boxes, tons of channels and etc.
what Dish just did is loose a 130$ a month customer, I am tired of buying High $ receivers, and being screwed over time and time again
what a month of bull-sh*t ??
-Gary

I really have been looking at cable as well. They are starting to look good again. When dish first came out I was in heaven. Well things have changed. Favor goes to cable now. Cable in my area actually has more HD channels than dish minus the voom as voom counts as one. I am actually looking at cable right now on my tv splitted from the internet line. It looks as good as my OTA HD channels, so I assume the rest of the HD channels look good too.

Gary is there a way to get bit rates for cable HD?

The fact that dish is going to charge me for channels I cant get unless they swap out my 811 receiver I am gone in a heartbeat. This just pisses me off what dish did. They have no reason to put those channels on mpeg4. Damn I even spent money on a new dish1000 as well. Oh well FTA for me I guess.

 

[jmcgee_jr]

there is enough room for full 1920x1080i mpeg2 right now
F%&* you Dish , my local cable just sent me a letter saying they were starting HD in a few weeks, free boxes, tons of channels and etc.
what Dish just did is loose a 130$ a month customer, I am tired of buying High $ receivers, and being screwed over time and time again
what a month of bull-sh*t ??
-Gary

Good for you gary do it man. I am goign to look at either DTV or just dropping HD at all and juts getting local cable. I too am tired of it.

 

[gutter]

Again... DISH's PR department heads should be fired. There is or was no need to create such frustruation among your customer base. As a PR person of 30 years experince, I would have advised Charlie to have had a special Charlie chat at CES tonight to answer the questions that existing customers have about HDLITE and upgrade path for various receivers. But that would have been the easy thing to do and way to smart. Better to piss off your customers and get them all worked up and risk loosing your best high rate customers. Sure makes a lot of sense to this PR professional.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

One of my co-workers recently went to Charter cable. I went over and we compared OTA locals vs Charter's HD locals. It was immediately obvious that Charter's were compressed, they were no match for their OTA counterparts. Softer, less detail, less vibrant color.

 

[BrettTRay]

One of my co-workers recently went to Charter cable. I went over and we compared OTA locals vs Charter's HD locals. It was immediately obvious that Charter's were compressed, they were no match for their OTA counterparts. Softer, less detail, less vibrant color.

I think anything with the words "Charter" in it suck anyway. CATV quility differs from region to region. Around here Comcast is pretty good but I've talked to many Charter customers around here that hate it.