In the TWICE(This Week In Consumer Electronics) Volume 19, No. 24, there is an article on page 6 That states that "E* will go to MPEG-4 in '05".
Excert:
"The CEO said Echostar has not added new channels to its HDTV programming lineup in recent months because it has not had the bandwidth capacity aboard it's satellite fleet. It also has not been more aggressive about promoting it's HDTV services lately because plans for the MPEG-4 transistion were in the works, Ergen said."
The article says that E* will replace ALL existing receivers within the next 4 years in order to go all MPEG-4 and eliminate MPEG-2. The HD subs will be changed out first with the majority of the subs changed out later. They had originally planned this for this year, but they have had problems getting chipsets and standards finalized.
Excert:
"The CEO said Echostar has not added new channels to its HDTV programming lineup in recent months because it has not had the bandwidth capacity aboard it's satellite fleet. It also has not been more aggressive about promoting it's HDTV services lately because plans for the MPEG-4 transistion were in the works, Ergen said."
The article says that E* will replace ALL existing receivers within the next 4 years in order to go all MPEG-4 and eliminate MPEG-2. The HD subs will be changed out first with the majority of the subs changed out later. They had originally planned this for this year, but they have had problems getting chipsets and standards finalized.