Anyone know when Dishnetwork will be adding additional HD channels? Dish is offering some good deals on upgrading. I was wondering if I should update to HD. However the current channels that are HD I probably would only watch 1 possibly 2. If I upgrade to HD and don't get the HD channels at this time they charge you a $6 fee a month. If I sign up for the HD channels at this time it would be an additional $20 a month to watch ESPN. I need to update my current receivers anyway so If I don't do the HD I will upgrade with new SD receivers. Is the quality of viewing regular satelite channels through a HD receiver less quality then viewing regular satellite channels through a regulare receiver. Do I bite the bullet and pay an extra 20 a month or just pay the $6 a month and hope there will be additional channels added soon.
HD Channels and quality
- Thread starter xtraheat
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I upgraded recently from a 510 to 622 with AT200 & HD programing. I have suddenly rediscovered my TV & watching has become a pleasure once more. With the addition of the external HDD for program archiving on the horizon plus RSN's being added in HD. I would say go ahead & take the plunge. I don't think you will regret it
If you subscribe to DishHD by May 31st, there is a rebate form that you can fill out and send in for 10 monthly credits of $10. That means that DishHD will only cost you $4 more per month than the HD enabling fee. By the time the 10 credits are over, there will be more HD channels.
Some of the excellent HD channels you get are:
- HDNET which has movies, music, original TV shows. Recently I recorded "Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live" which is an HD live concert that otherwise you can buy in DVD for $20 - but the DVD is not HD ! On June 8th, they will show the Space Shuttle Launch in HD - they show all of them.
- HDNET Movies which has HD Movies (of course) - if you don't have an HD DVD player, these channels are the only way you can see movies in better-than-DVD quality
- HDNET News is a 24-hour news channel without the tabloid crap that is on Headline News these days. And, of course, it is 16x9 HD all the time.
- RaveHD is an HD music channel with concerts and music programs.
- RushHD is an Xtreme Sports channel (surfing,snowboarding,etc) in HD
- KungFuHD is Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, etc. movies in HD - far, far better quality than the fuzzy blurs they are usually shown in.
- MonstersHD is the same thing for horror movies.
- UltraHD is 24 hour fashion TV channel in HD
- WorldSportHD has team sports, like soccer from Spain.
- Discovery HD Theater has the best programming from the various Discovery channels, in HD 24 hours a day, plus some unique programming like Sunrise Earth (which is an hour program photographed at sunrise in some pristine wilderness location, with no narration, no music, and no commercials, just the HD picture and 6 channel surround sound of the wild place at sunrise)
- National Geographic HD, TNT HD and A&E HD have HD programming part of the time, the same shows as on their regular channels
- FoodTV HD and HGTV HD have 24 hour HD content, which at this point is a small subset of the shows on their regular channels (no Emeril yet).
- ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD and NFL-TV-HD are included.
Even without DishHD, you can still buy HD PPV movies on the HD-PPV channel (clever name, eh?). If you have a good size HD TV, Casino Royale is almost like being in a movie theater (but here you can pause to go to the bathroom!)
You can get more details about the HD programming in the Forum at:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=133
PS History Channel HD is coming in the fall, and also The Weather Channel HD sometime in fall or winter. I don't know of any new sports HD channels that are planned - because all of the major sporting events are already on channels that are already in HD: ABC, CBS, ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN-2 and TNT. Versus has an HD channel - it's not yet on Dish, but Dish does show the NHL events from Versus-HD and if your regular package includes Versus, then you can watch the NHL-HD events. As mentioned above, WorldSportHD shows team sports from other countries, and RushHD shows individual outdoor (extreme) sports. Universal HD is a channel with HD content from USA Network, SciFi Channel and a few others owned by Universal - I am not sure whether they show the same tennis events normally found on USA. Since Sports is the biggest attraction for HD, most USA sports are already available in HD. Oh, and Dish has an NBA-HD channel but I am not sure what you have to have subscribed to, in order to get that channel - probably the NBA League Pass channel or else the NBA-TV channel. Most of the NBA is on ESPN-HD and TNT-HD anyway...oh, and 9 areas of the countries get their regional sports network in HD (Fox Sports Net, etc.)...
Some of the excellent HD channels you get are:
- HDNET which has movies, music, original TV shows. Recently I recorded "Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live" which is an HD live concert that otherwise you can buy in DVD for $20 - but the DVD is not HD ! On June 8th, they will show the Space Shuttle Launch in HD - they show all of them.
- HDNET Movies which has HD Movies (of course) - if you don't have an HD DVD player, these channels are the only way you can see movies in better-than-DVD quality
- HDNET News is a 24-hour news channel without the tabloid crap that is on Headline News these days. And, of course, it is 16x9 HD all the time.
- RaveHD is an HD music channel with concerts and music programs.
- RushHD is an Xtreme Sports channel (surfing,snowboarding,etc) in HD
- KungFuHD is Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, etc. movies in HD - far, far better quality than the fuzzy blurs they are usually shown in.
- MonstersHD is the same thing for horror movies.
- UltraHD is 24 hour fashion TV channel in HD
- WorldSportHD has team sports, like soccer from Spain.
- Discovery HD Theater has the best programming from the various Discovery channels, in HD 24 hours a day, plus some unique programming like Sunrise Earth (which is an hour program photographed at sunrise in some pristine wilderness location, with no narration, no music, and no commercials, just the HD picture and 6 channel surround sound of the wild place at sunrise)
- National Geographic HD, TNT HD and A&E HD have HD programming part of the time, the same shows as on their regular channels
- FoodTV HD and HGTV HD have 24 hour HD content, which at this point is a small subset of the shows on their regular channels (no Emeril yet).
- ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD and NFL-TV-HD are included.
Even without DishHD, you can still buy HD PPV movies on the HD-PPV channel (clever name, eh?). If you have a good size HD TV, Casino Royale is almost like being in a movie theater (but here you can pause to go to the bathroom!)
You can get more details about the HD programming in the Forum at:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=133
PS History Channel HD is coming in the fall, and also The Weather Channel HD sometime in fall or winter. I don't know of any new sports HD channels that are planned - because all of the major sporting events are already on channels that are already in HD: ABC, CBS, ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN-2 and TNT. Versus has an HD channel - it's not yet on Dish, but Dish does show the NHL events from Versus-HD and if your regular package includes Versus, then you can watch the NHL-HD events. As mentioned above, WorldSportHD shows team sports from other countries, and RushHD shows individual outdoor (extreme) sports. Universal HD is a channel with HD content from USA Network, SciFi Channel and a few others owned by Universal - I am not sure whether they show the same tennis events normally found on USA. Since Sports is the biggest attraction for HD, most USA sports are already available in HD. Oh, and Dish has an NBA-HD channel but I am not sure what you have to have subscribed to, in order to get that channel - probably the NBA League Pass channel or else the NBA-TV channel. Most of the NBA is on ESPN-HD and TNT-HD anyway...oh, and 9 areas of the countries get their regional sports network in HD (Fox Sports Net, etc.)...
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ESPN,ESPN2,HDNET,HDNET Movies,DiscHD,NatGeoHD,UHD and HGTVHD make the cost worth it now and it will only get better. Just my 0.02
The only channels that you don't get with AT100 are National Geographic HD, HBO, SHO, Starz and Cinemax. National Geographic requires an AT250 subscription and the movie channels require the corresponding movie plex subscription.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe you get your HD RSN (if available) unless you have AT 100+ and Dish HD.
I believe there was a press release mentioning ESPNNEWS-HD a while back...can't remember when it was supposed to come online though.
I'll mention that a lot of the National Geographic HD programming is still in SD, since the channel shows the exact same shows (and only the most recent programs were shot in HD).
PS ESPNNEWS-HD costs them one HD camera plus upgrading the uplink for the channel to HD. It will be like all the news shows on ESPN-HD - you see the news guy in the studio in HD (big deal), and then IF the highlight is in HD, you get in HD, but a lot of the highlights are still SD, because a lot of the major sports events are still only filmed in SD.
PS ESPNNEWS-HD costs them one HD camera plus upgrading the uplink for the channel to HD. It will be like all the news shows on ESPN-HD - you see the news guy in the studio in HD (big deal), and then IF the highlight is in HD, you get in HD, but a lot of the highlights are still SD, because a lot of the major sports events are still only filmed in SD.
