HD Channels are Launched

[Sapient]

I, an E* subscriber, am really happy for you folks in D* land. This is great news. I wish I could see the PQ to compare. This is even good news for us E* folks, because it will put pressure on E* to up their offering. I don't really care about the premium channels, but it will be nice when we get Smithsonian, CNN, and Weather in HD.

Enjoy!

 

[ONUOsFan]

Just out of curiosity, and so I don't have to wait until I get home, can anyone CONFIRM that D* is simulcasting those 70's channels (that sounds like a TV show) in MPEG 4?

 

[ScoBuck]

Just out of curiosity, and so I don't have to wait until I get home, can anyone CONFIRM that D* is simulcasting those 70's channels (that sounds like a TV show) in MPEG 4?

Only ESPN ESPN2 HBO and SHO are currently in BOTH MPEG2 and MPEG4

 

[gadgtfreek]

Only ESPN ESPN2 HBO and SHO are currently in BOTH MPEG2 and MPEG4

I sure hope they plan HDNET, I love the movies and the PQ is good now, so it could be better.

 

[dm41398]

I would hope they are simulcasting the old 70's channels now in mpeg4.

I don't think so. Assuming any simulcasting would come from 103b, not the old 119. We don't get a good signal on 119, and ESPN2, channel 72, doesn't really come in. Seeing the same thing on the new duplicate for ESPN2 on 209. Searching for sat. etc.. Bummer.

 

[Fish Man]

Just out of curiosity, and so I don't have to wait until I get home, can anyone CONFIRM that D* is simulcasting those 70's channels (that sounds like a TV show) in MPEG 4?

Before I headed out for work I only took the time to look at a few channels that we didn't have before (e. g. CNN, Weather, National Geographic, Animal Planet...)

However, several people are now reporting over in DBSTalk that the channels that we've had for sometime "in the 70's" are simply an additional mapping to the MPEG2 version ... for now. No telling when they'll actually get an MPEG4 mirror of them up.

 

[ScoBuck]

I sure hope they plan HDNET, I love the movies and the PQ is good now, so it could be better.

I don't know their timetable for migrating the rest of the MPEG2 offerng to MPEG4, but it will happen for sure.

 

[digiblur]

Not easily... but are you saying that you think the old channel numbers are now being simulcast in MPEG4 and MPEG2?

If that's the case I'll have to take a look at these channels when I get home tonight... I honestly didn't look at them this morning, so I don't know if the PQ has improved.

From what I can tell with ESPN, etc, I should know right away when I look at them if they've changed over to 4...

No, I was saying to cover the 110 LNB while the channel was on. Take a piece of aluminum foil and put it over it. You'll instantly see if the channel is coming from the new bird or not. Solid proof....

 

[gadgtfreek]

I don't know their timetable for migrating the rest of the MPEG2 offerng to MPEG4, but it will happen for sure.

Cool, thanks.

 

[wes311]

No MHD & NGCHD

It's interesting that there is no MHD & National Geographic HD to start off with especially since those 2 channels were the ones showing up on Ch 98 for a while as "sneek peeks"

 

[jdcer]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

Ill call them tonight and see whats up with Starz. If I have to wait a few days, no big deal. Ill live.

Anyways, Im more than happy with what I have so far. Its a shame that I had to work this morning since all I want to do now is go home and watch TV all day.

I subscribed to the Starz pack this am and got all the channels, including the four HD channels OK. I went on D* website and had them added there to my other programming.

 

[cb35]

Only ESPN ESPN2 HBO and SHO are currently in BOTH MPEG2 and MPEG4

great news for me since i couldn't get the sat with ESPN2 HD on it - hopefully now I'll get it - can't wait to get home and check it out

 

[ONUOsFan]

great news for me since i couldn't get the sat with ESPN2 HD on it - hopefully now I'll get it - can't wait to get home and check it out

If you can get the other new channels, you should get this as well...

 

[cb35]

I don't think so. Assuming any simulcasting would come from 103b, not the old 119. We don't get a good signal on 119, and ESPN2, channel 72, doesn't really come in. Seeing the same thing on the new duplicate for ESPN2 on 209. Searching for sat. etc.. Bummer.

ah crap - hopefully they put it in MPEG4 format soon - I am in the same boat as you.

 

[ONUOsFan]

ah crap - hopefully they put it in MPEG4 format soon - I am in the same boat as you.

I certainly don't have any inside, technical information, but it is my understanding that the new HD versions of the old HD channels (ESPN, ESPN2, TNT) are in MPEG4 and are coming from the new satellite. That being the case, I don't know why you would have the same issues with the new channel that you have with the old one... if they were still in MPEG2 from the old satellite, why bother making a new channel for them?

 

[rad]

I certainly don't have any inside, technical information, but it is my understanding that the new HD versions of the old HD channels (ESPN, ESPN2, TNT) are in MPEG4 and are coming from the new satellite. That being the case, I don't know why you would have the same issues with the new channel that you have with the old one... if they were still in MPEG2 from the old satellite, why bother making a new channel for them?

I only checked 245 TNT-HD, it's a remap. How do I know, I pulled the BBC off the sat line and 245 still worked but the other new MPEG4 channels, like TNT-HD didn't work, got searching for sat signal.

 

[ONUOsFan]

I only checked 245 TNT-HD, it's a remap. How do I know, I pulled the BBC off the sat line and 245 still worked but the other new MPEG4 channels, like TNT-HD didn't work, got searching for sat signal.

Hmm.... that's interesting. And unfortunate.

What's the point of that?

 

[rad]

Probably just for consistancy on how the channels are lined up. They added the new HD channels on the same number as the SD versions so just upgrade all the others so they operate the same way.

Frankly to me it didn't make sense to, at this time, to throw up MPEG4 versions of channels they have up now, get the new channels up and running and then once you're done with all that work take the time to go back and add MPEG4 versions of the MPEG2 channels if it doesn't impact future rollouts.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Probably just for consistancy on how the channels are lined up. They added the new HD channels on the same number as the SD versions so just upgrade all the others so they operate the same way.

Frankly to me it didn't make sense to, at this time, to throw up MPEG4 versions of channels they have up now, get the new channels up and running and then once you're done with all that work take the time to go back and add MPEG4 versions of the MPEG2 channels if it doesn't impact future rollouts.

Thanks for the information, but I have to respectfully disagree with you about there being no point in upgrading the old channels. The PQ is much better on MPEG 4, and they're not filling up the sat with the new channels at this point, so why not?

Haven't they been saying that this is a "grace period" for people with older equipment, and that eventually they wouldn't get any HD once they're all migrated to MPEG4?

 

[thomasf390]

Guys...sorry to ask this again...I know it has been talked about, but would someone pls explain to my why the HD Weather chanl is not in 16x9?? PQ looks like HD.

Confused in Baltimore