DISH NETWORK® UNVEILS BIGGEST HIGH DEFINITION UPGRADE IN TV HISTORY

[Chris_R]

PQ of new HD channels? Better? Worse?

Someone asked about the resolution of the new channels. I checked about eight of them and they were all 1440x1080i. CBS C was 1280x720p60 though. Also I checked HDNet and it was still MPEG-2, not H.264.

Resolution isn't everything though, "Lost" on ABC is 1280x720 but it looks better than anything I've seen from Dish, as the average bitrate is probably somewhere north of 15Mbit/sec.

That was probably me, although I was about to ask, "How is the picture quality" of the new HD channels - the new HBO's, Starz's, Lifetime, etc? Do they seem overly compressed on people's displays or are they holding their own? I'm actually working far away from home at a summer camp at the moment and have no way of checking myself. Yeah, I know PQ can be subjective, but still any opinions would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Tyralak]

That may be true but your husband probably think different.

+1000 :up They should rename those channels to The Men Hating Channel and All Men Are Abusive a**holes Movie Network. That's about the extent of the content on those channels.

 

[Tyralak]

I ordered "I Am Legend" on HD PPV when it came around the first time, and it is still on my EHD and still playable. I am looking forward to doing an A/B comparison between them, but for now I have still not received the "Turbo" update on my 622. Still can't see channel 501. Dish must have had a snag in the turbo rollout.

When it was first on, it they hadn't activated the ripoff function on PPVs. Right after they started sabotaging the PPV streams, I Am Legend was one of the first to go. I thankfully got it when it first came out.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Definitely a lot of misandry on the Lifetime Network.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Jim, 555-6456

Don't forget 1-800-Directv They don't like Premiums either!

 

[Ronnie-]

Don't forget 1-800-Directv They don't like Premiums either!

Haha, that was pretty good hemi.:up

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Haha, that was pretty good hemi.:up

I thought you'd like that one. I'll keep that out of the war zone.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

That was probably me, although I was about to ask, "How is the picture quality" of the new HD channels - the new HBO's, Starz's, Lifetime, etc? Do they seem overly compressed on people's displays or are they holding their own? I'm actually working far away from home at a summer camp at the moment and have no way of checking myself. Yeah, I know PQ can be subjective, but still any opinions would be helpful. Thanks!

From what I have seen so far, the channels look good. Everything depends on the actual film too, in terms of the quality of film for the HD transfer.

 

[JimP]

From what I have seen so far, the channels look good. Everything depends on the actual film too, in terms of the quality of film for the HD transfer.

Not everything.

I just got Dish's Absolute HD ($29.99) installed yesterday and I'm somewhat disappointed with what I see as motion artifacts and line twittle. The motion artifacts show up as jerkyness during slow horizontal pans and what looks like breakup of the picture during fast motion...as if the picture can't keep up with it. I've never had these problems before yesterday with cable or OTA.

What I don't understand is why the 722 doesn't allow native resolution to be output as many of us have better scalers/deinterlacers in our displays than what apparantly is in the sat box.

This does raise a question about image quality. Except for the special 1080p programming, does Turbo HD have a higher resolution than the previous Absolute HD package?

Edit: I've been watch Dish off and on during the day and the motion artifacts and line twittle wasn't apparant on the material I watch. I'm not sure what happened, but its looking pretty good.

 

[HobbyTalk]

This does raise a question about image quality. Except for the special 1080p programming, does Turbo HD have a higher resolution than the previous Absolute HD package?

No, it is the same programming, only a name change.

 

[david_jr]

Actually WPIX-HD has been up for quite a while (at least a month, I think).

Regardless, it's a great addition.

Is this NYC only or for everyone with HD and superstations?

 

[JohnH]

Is this NYC only or for everyone with HD and superstations?

NYC locals only. It is on the spotbeam.

 

[Hall]

Someone asked about the resolution of the new channels. I checked about eight of them and they were all 1440x1080i. CBS C was 1280x720p60 though. Also I checked HDNet and it was still MPEG-2, not H.264.

Resolution isn't everything though, "Lost" on ABC is 1280x720 but it looks better than anything I've seen from Dish, as the average bitrate is probably somewhere north of 15Mbit/sec.

There are generally two "full" HD resolutions, 1920x1080i and 1280x720p. Since we're talking about broadcast resolutions, I'll leave 1080p out. The "CBS C" and ABC channels operating at 1280x720p are "full HD" resolution. They aren't "worse" than 1920x1080i. 1440x1080i is a stripped-down resolution that some have issues with. Mind you, 99% of viewers can't tell that something's different but as soon as you tell them it's 1440 instead of 1920, they say "oh yeah, I could tell something was wrong".

 

[Curtis0620]

Don't forget 1-800-Directv They don't like Premiums either!

Directv, for some reason, is the worst provider for Premiums. They lean heavily towards PPV for movies.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Likely because they focus mainly on sports packages...

 

[DodgerKing]

Directv, for some reason, is the worst provider for Premiums. They lean heavily towards PPV for movies.

Curtis....This is first time I have seen you be critical of Direct. I am sure many Dish subs would be shocked???

Anyway, you are correct about Dish being better than Direct currently in the premium realm, including what they offer, the number of HD premiums, and the prices of the premium packages. But, the difference in the number of channels in both SD and HD between Dish and Direct will slowly be less. Direct will be offering much more in the next few months. In fact, Direct lead Dish in HD premiums for a while, until recently.

 

[Curtis0620]

Curtis....This is first time I have seen you be critical of Direct. I am sure many Dish subs would be shocked???

Anyway, you are correct about Dish being better than Direct currently in the premium realm, including what they offer, the number of HD premiums, and the prices of the premium packages. But, the difference in the number of channels in both SD and HD between Dish and Direct will slowly be less. Direct will be offering much more in the next few months. In fact, Direct lead Dish in HD premiums for a while, until recently.

I just get a little carried away with the PR about channel claims.

 

[allargon]

Definitely a lot of misandry on the Lifetime Network.

I can't believe no one is complaining about the stretch-o-vision on the two Lifetime channels.

People complain about the lack of HD on WFN, Disney and Hallmark but get suckered by stretch-o-vision on Lifetime, Food and Cartoon Network. Sheesh!

 

[tawhite]

That's because none of us are watching them.

 

[TalonDancer]

DISH NETWORK® UNVEILS BIGGEST HIGH DEFINITION UPGRADE IN TV HISTORY

Includes Industry’s First High Definition Programming Offered in 1080p and Up To 150 National HD Channels

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – July 31, 2008 – DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) today set the bar for the next-generation HD standard by becoming the first in the pay-TV industry to offer high definition programming in 1080p, the highest and best HD resolution available.....

Classic Dish marketing

Three+ days later AFAIK NO ONE has reported seeing ANY "1080p, the highest and best HD resolution available" via their Dish subscription.

What was E* so afraid of that they announced 1080p VOD/PPV vaporware ? D* announcing 1080p VOD/PPV vaporware before they did?

Talon Dancer

Edit: Oh yeah this was a diversionary tactic before the 8/4/08 Earnings Call where E* was going to have to announce the 1st net loss of subscribers by a Sat TV provider. Not to worry, now that we have 1080p VOD/PPV we will either start adding more high end HD subs (new customer TurboHD packages) or soak our existing high end HD subs for even more cash via VOD/PPV or both