Local HD channels added today

Hey, I'm in this area too! Yeah it sucks we get all these channels, and yet they don't work. Anyone know when this problem will be fixed? All dish needs to do is widden the spotbeam. And yes, there is no OTA, so we can't get that either!
So does the HD versions show up on your Guide?. What happends exactly? What are you guys going to do what E* take Scranton WB off the 119 satellite? That may happen since all the Scranton WB channels are also on Eastern arc setup on the 61.5. . So can any of you guys confirm if you can get SD locals with an eastern arc setup out there in central pa?
 
Not related... If anything, Dish will take the HD channel and down-convert it to keep providing an "SD" feed to customers. The analog shut-off doesn't mean everyone will all of a sudden get HD-locals in place of SD locals.

I understand that the shutoff doesn't mean everyone's getting HD locals. However I wondered if WXXA might have been uplinked again in HD because their analog had been shut off Tuesday. My guide still shows the SD, but not the HD. As most of the uplinked went live, but WXXA didn't I'm assuming that they only uplinked it in HD because that is the only signal available and they are down rezzing from that to provide the SD as they still haven't reached agreement to retrans HD. :mad: Just speculating as I have no idea how all the technical parts of this work. I was excited to see it uplinked because SD is hard to watch. However I am not getting my hopes up too high now as the others went live and WXXA didn't. The only good news for me is that I do receive WXXA extremely well OTA even though I am almost 50 miles from the tower in rough terrain. Would be nice to have it on the the DISH though for recording flexibility. Just have to keep my fingers crossed.
 
So does the HD versions show up on your Guide?. What happends exactly? What are you guys going to do what E* take Scranton WB off the 119 satellite? That may happen since all the Scranton WB channels are also on Eastern arc setup on the 61.5. . So can any of you guys confirm if you can get SD locals with an eastern arc setup out there in central pa?

I doubt that they're going to take the locals off of 119, because there are too many people without EA setups. I've never even seen one. In fact, I could swear I saw a new 61.5 dish added to a 110/119 setup just last week.

The HD channels show up in the guide. But when you select them, you get the searching for signal screen and then that times out and you get a screen that says that Dish knows there's a problem with this channel and they're working on it so you don't need to call them. This must be a screen generated by the receiver itself whenever it loses the signal.

Other than not having HD, it's very annoying because if you try to go to one of the local channels by keying in the (mapdown) number, it tries to go to the HD channel instead of the SD one.
 
Who's going to take a ride to the satellite and fix the width? 22,000+ miles is a long trip.


I didn't realize that the spotbeam width could only be changed AT the satellite. It makes me wonder what E* is actually doing to fix the problem because that's the response we always get from them..."we are aware of the issue and are working on it". (I am sure they throw "soon" in there a few times as well.) I don't get why the beam is so small in the first place. I fall under Philly's beam and it's over 80 miles further away than the Scranton one that's supposed to be my DMA and doesn't cover me. Just doesn't make sense. They knew the beam wasn't going to cover everyone before they switched to it, too.

Thanks for the info, Digi. (Kinda depressing, though.)
 
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I didn't realize that the spotbeam width could only be changed AT the satellite. It makes me wonder what E* is actually doing to fix the problem because that's the response we always get from them..."we are aware of the issue and are working on it". (I am sure they throw "soon" in there a few times as well.) I don't get why the beam is so small in the first place. I fall under Philly's beam and it's over 80 miles further away than the Scranton one that's supposed to be my DMA and doesn't cover me. Just doesn't make sense. They knew the beam wasn't going to cover everyone before they switched to it, too.

Thanks for the info, Digi. (Kinda depressing, though.)

I think they can marginally adjust with width of the beam by increasing the power, but they may be at the limits of what they can do.

The beam isn't "small", it's just poorly placed to serve your market. Voom probably never intended to serve your market with the sat.

http://www.dishuser.org/e12spots.pdf

It seems a much beater solution would be to throw them on 77 instead.
 
I talked to a customer service superviser,and she told me they have a list several pages long of locals due to go HD on the 25th of this month. One she confirmed was the CBS out of Madison,WI. The ABC local was not on her list. Of course I told her,Dish has lied to me for almost a year on this matter.I told her,when I see it then I will beleave it.
 
I talked to a customer service superviser,and she told me they have a list several pages long of locals due to go HD on the 25th of this month. One she confirmed was the CBS out of Madison,WI. The ABC local was not on her list. Of course I told her,Dish has lied to me for almost a year on this matter.I told her,when I see it then I will beleave it.

I guess they decided not to announce them for some reason as they only announced six at the retailer chat.

Launching February 25th Charleston, SC; Colorado Springs, CO; El Paso, TX; Savahhah, GA; Tallahasse, FL; Tri Cities, TN/VA.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-ne...-dish-retailer-chat-2-4-09-a.html#post1690663
 
I think they can marginally adjust with width of the beam by increasing the power, but they may be at the limits of what they can do.

The beam isn't "small", it's just poorly placed to serve your market. Voom probably never intended to serve your market with the sat.

http://www.dishuser.org/e12spots.pdf

It seems a much beater solution would be to throw them on 77 instead.
Yea I doubt Voom cared anything about Scranton DMA, But I doubt they are going to put them on the 77 since the Scranton locals are on the 61.5 for eastern arc customers SD and HD.

I also read a memo right here at Satellite Guys stating that ONLY Eastern Arc Setups (1000.4) will be installed from now on for new customers in the Eastern Arc DMA's. and Western Arc customers will only be installed 1000.2 dish setups. So for those of you who think E* is going to keep Scranton Locals on the 119, don't be so sure!. I've heard a whisper about Scranton DMA being dropped of the 119 in the near future. When E* decides to call you at home and tell you that you must upgrade ,don't say I didn't warn you!!;)
 
I don't see how you think they're going to accomplish all those upgrades in a limited period of time. It wasn't that long ago that they wouldn't even let people switch to EA if they wanted to.
 
All of what upgrades? How many E* customers in the Scranton DMA do you think there are?

There are quite a lot of us that would need a new dish/setup, but there isn't THAT many of us that it couldn't be done.

I'd gladly let them come replace my dishes with the new EA's if I can get my locals in HD. (long as it is free!)

E*, if this is what needs to be done, then MAKE IT HAPPEN!
 
There are quite a lot of us that would need a new dish/setup, but there isn't THAT many of us that it couldn't be done.

I'd gladly let them come replace my dishes with the new EA's if I can get my locals in HD. (long as it is free!)

E*, if this is what needs to be done, then MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Whats Quite a lot ? Don't forget you can't count D* subs or Cable Subs, or E* customers that have the Eastern Arc setup. So yes your right it can be done.
It would be free, but it may require another commitment is what I've been informed of. Well I can tell you right now, Scranton HD locals are NEVER going to be on the 119. In a few years Scranton Locals won't be either.
 
Whats Quite a lot ? Don't forget you can't count D* subs or Cable Subs, or E* customers that have the Eastern Arc setup. So yes your right it can be done.
It would be free, but it may require another commitment is what I've been informed of. Well I can tell you right now, Scranton HD locals are NEVER going to be on the 119. In a few years Scranton Locals won't be either.
Head down I-81 to the Harrisburg market, where the HD locals ARE on 77. I called them up and said I "heard" they were now available in HD but I couldn't get them (aka played stupid). End result, when from 2 dishes (the 110/119, 61.5 solution) to the EA dish at the cost of another 2 year commitment (was only 4 months into the commitment, so what's another 4 months)
 
Head down I-81 to the Harrisburg market, where the HD locals ARE on 77. I called them up and said I "heard" they were now available in HD but I couldn't get them (aka played stupid). End result, when from 2 dishes (the 110/119, 61.5 solution) to the EA dish at the cost of another 2 year commitment (was only 4 months into the commitment, so what's another 4 months)
Maybe HDRoberts was on to something when He metioned the 77. I bet thats where the 119 Scranton local channels are moving too then, for the Eastern arc customers.
 
All of what upgrades? How many E* customers in the Scranton DMA do you think there are?

I didn't think you were just talking about the Scranton DMA. I thought you were talking about the entire EA area being forced to switch to EA, since you mentioned the memo that only EA systems should be installed from now on.

I'm still not sure what you're suggesting. Taking the SD locals off of 119 accomplishes nothing, since the HD locals are still on a beam that doesn't cover the entire DMA. If you're suggesting that they're going to move the HD locals to another bird, that would make sense, but the problem is that you're the only one saying that you've heard that that's indeed the plan. Everyone else who has asked them about it has been told nothing.
 
Scott,
Is it possible that the stations you cite were only uplinked in HD because their analog versions were "switched" off? I will check for WXXA when I get home, but I have a bad feeling that it is just that. WXXA was uplinked with all of the other Albany HD locals last spring, but never went live and was eventually removed along with WRGB CBS 6 because of lack of retrans agreement for the HD. Now I believe the SD versions were on 110 so maybe they are adding it. We shall see.


No, Newport and Dish came to agreement a few weeks ago. WPMI was turned on on 2/2 - the rest are coming - the question is of course when - but I would think soon. Interesting that the agreement came just after Variety-TV went silent :) .
 
No, Newport and Dish came to agreement a few weeks ago. WPMI was turned on on 2/2 - the rest are coming - the question is of course when - but I would think soon. Interesting that the agreement came just after Variety-TV went silent :) .

Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou! Now all we have to do is get an agreement with Freedom and we are golden. Thanks for the info.
 

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