DTV transition and Dish sats

[Wererat]

I'm a bit confused about whether I need to take action or not.

I'm installed with a Dish 1000 covering 110 and 119, not EA. My locals come in as SD on 110 (Lansing, MI). The HD transmissions are over on 61.5 and therefore at the moment I don't receive them barring hooking up an antenna to my 722.

After Feb. 17 (assuming no politics move the DTV transition date) will Dish, on the 110 satellite,
a) transmit the as-received DTV signal which will display in HD (where the content matches?)
b) transmit the DTV signal downconverted to SD rez and bandwidth?
c) transmit nothing so that I would need to get a dish pointing at 61.5 (or, again, antenna) to receive locals at all?

I suspect b) but am hoping for a) and while c) is certainly less than optimal, knowing is half the battle.

 

[Voyager6]

I'm a bit confused about whether I need to take action or not.

I'm installed with a Dish 1000 covering 110 and 119, not EA. My locals come in as SD on 110 (Lansing, MI). The HD transmissions are over on 61.5 and therefore at the moment I don't receive them barring hooking up an antenna to my 722.

After Feb. 17 (assuming no politics move the DTV transition date) will Dish, on the 110 satellite,
a) transmit the as-received DTV signal which will display in HD (where the content matches?)
b) transmit the DTV signal downconverted to SD rez and bandwidth?
c) transmit nothing so that I would need to get a dish pointing at 61.5 (or, again, antenna) to receive locals at all?

I suspect b) but am hoping for a) and while c) is certainly less than optimal, knowing is half the battle.

The answer is: B (This may be what you are currently receiving).

 

[navychop]

Keep in mind, Digital TV, or DTV, has many formats, not just HD. Signals transmitted in SD over digital can look better than their equivalent analog counterpart. If the station stops their 4x3 analog signal, and replaces their main channel with a 16x9 signal, Dish (& other providers) can just cut that down to 4x3 SD for non-HD customers. Keep in mind, that will present you with the same 16x9 format, just cut down to leave black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. It might even sometimes be both letter boxed AND pillar boxed.

Because customers will start seeing a "smaller" picture on their current 4x3 TV sets, I suspect that will induce some to upgrade to a larger HDTV.

 

[sethwell]

I'm a bit confused about whether I need to take action or not.

I'm installed with a Dish 1000 covering 110 and 119, not EA. My locals come in as SD on 110 (Lansing, MI). The HD transmissions are over on 61.5 and therefore at the moment I don't receive them barring hooking up an antenna to my 722.

After Feb. 17 (assuming no politics move the DTV transition date) will Dish, on the 110 satellite,
a) transmit the as-received DTV signal which will display in HD (where the content matches?)
b) transmit the DTV signal downconverted to SD rez and bandwidth?
c) transmit nothing so that I would need to get a dish pointing at 61.5 (or, again, antenna) to receive locals at all?

I suspect b) but am hoping for a) and while c) is certainly less than optimal, knowing is half the battle.

if your locals are being sent in HD on 61.5, call dish and tell them that your not recieving your locals in HD and want them, assuming you subscribe to locals in the first place. good luck to you

 

[Wererat]

Thanks all for prompt replies!

Of course not all digital is HD, but I had a thinking maybe Dish would toss the full stream on the 110 sat.

Getting a 61.5 dish set up either myself or by calling Dish (yep, I'm paying for locals through Dish currently) is an option but I'm reticent to tinker with a currently flawless install or allow others to do so, particularly in this nice weather in MI *ackpfft*.

I will probably just get by for now &/or install my DB-2 antenna inside the house for the SB; the local NBC transmitter is very close and well, hey, OTA bitrate is still better than any dish or cable. In the spring when the roof isn't buried in snow and ice I'll either put up an external ant or ring Dish for a 61.5 dish.