More HD? When?

[TimGoodwin]

Automatic renewal.

 

[LonghornXP]

I wonder how early you will have to order ST to guarantee getting the games in HD

Also bear in mind that these are options that D* is looking at and if they pick this option I'm sure they would give ST customers enough time to schedule a replacement box. I'm also being told if they went this route they might still keep those channels on current satellites but in MPEG4 only so that all they would have to replace is your HDTV box without an appointment. That means a customer would get a letter telling them to call and schedule the delivery of the new HD box with prepaid shipping for you to send your current HD box using the box the new HD box came in.

Again they are looking at many options to do more fast while not straining their installers and call centers.

 

[Smthkd]

Also bear in mind that these are options that D* is looking at and if they pick this option I'm sure they would give ST customers enough time to schedule a replacement box. I'm also being told if they went this route they might still keep those channels on current satellites but in MPEG4 only so that all they would have to replace is your HDTV box without an appointment. That means a customer would get a letter telling them to call and schedule the delivery of the new HD box with prepaid shipping for you to send your current HD box using the box the new HD box came in.

Again they are looking at many options to do more fast while not straining their installers and call centers.

But wont they still need an installer to come out and put up a new Dish that can receive the Ka band signal!!? Current D* dishes can only receive Ku band, Right?

 

[hancox]

Nope. The idea is that the MPEG 4 box would pull in something from the current 101/110/119 dish set, so no new dish/switch to start.

 

[kfried001]

Kfried001, DirecTV carries all of the O&O FSN-HD channels. I just watched a Suns game in HD last week.

Sorry, you may have watched the game but it was not in HD on D*.

 

[mx6bfast]

Sorry, you may have watched the game but it was not in HD on D*.

Actually, depending on which day it was, he could've watched a Suns game in HD on D*.

D* broadcasts both NBA-TV HD and FSN HD games. For FSN, only those who are in the broadcasters region will get the game in HD. For ex: I recieve FSN South. When a Grizz game is broadcast in HD by FSN South, I will get the game on either channel 95 or 96.

 

[LonghornXP]

But wont they still need an installer to come out and put up a new Dish that can receive the Ka band signal!!? Current D* dishes can only receive Ku band, Right?

Correct on the KA and KU systems but I was saying that D* might use the same birds they used last season which are KU birds but have them in MPEG4 so only MPEG4 boxes could tune them so by doing this they would only need to replace the HD boxes because besides MPEG4 everything else would be the same. Now by doing this they could free up a few transponders on those birds which would give them the ability to free up room for another 5-10 HD channels in MPEG2 format that all customers can get until they can get all HD customers upgraded on the dish side.

Again those are all options but they are looking at all options right now to have a smooth changover while still provider as many channels as they can but right now at this point they can't do anything to add many new channels until they move to MPEG4.

 

[Curtis0620]

Firstly don't take Swanny for its value because he has been biased with any providers HDTV plans at least IMO. Now its true that nothing new on the national HD side will come until later this year like the last quarter of the year. Now I can say that when the fourth quarter comes we will have a very good selection of national HDTV channels but again for now it will be dry because HD LIL will be the main focus now for D* because much has to be done such as installing new dishes and replacing hardware. Also contracts have to be done and testing has to take place. That is a pretty massive process considering what most other events require.

The last thing that I've heard and again I could be wrong because things do change or my contact was wrong but they are planning on adding all the premium channels HD feeds (East feed for sure but I don't know about the West but it has been hinted that the west feeds will be carried) and they will expand the SD Premium channel lineup with the bandwidth they would free by going MPEG4. Now SD premium channels could take longer to add because they would need time to get HD Pak subscribers upgraded to MPEG4 or I have even heard that NFL ST customers would be upgraded first for MPEG4 so they could free up bandwidth on 101 KU bird by moving all ST games onto the Spaceway Sats. Now whatever they plan most likely will be one of those things but we all will have to wait and see what they do.

But rest assured that many customers have complained about the Cinemax package and they will be increasing that packages channels. Also HBO Comedy and Starz Family and Cinema have been big requests as well.

Would that be all NFLST subscribers or only the HD subs?

 

[Carter]

Sorry, you may have watched the game but it was not in HD on D*.

Kfried, trust me on this one. I have watched a few Suns games in HD on DirecTV. There is another Suns game scheduled to be in HD on 4/16 (Sacramento Kings @ Phoenix Suns).

 

[LonghornXP]

Would that be all NFLST subscribers or only the HD subs?

If your asking about getting the upgraded boxes that would only include the HD ST channels and as such only current HDTV NFL ST customers would get the upgrades while SDTV NFL ST customers won't have any change unless they upgrade to HDTV. Now only current HD ST customers would get a free upgrade so at some point if you don't have HD with D* you won't get a free box but you would either rent and/or buy their new HD box. Now I say rent and/or buy because I don't know if their basic HD box would be offered as a rental but I'm pretty sure (90+ percent) that the basic HD DVR would be a rental while I'm 100 percent sure that their HD DVR multiroom system would be a rental.

Now no matter what they do if that leads to customers getting more SD channels such as @Max and the like all D* customers would get those channels because those channels would still be broadcast on SAT A using both KU and MPEG2 as current SD premium channels today.

 

[mx6bfast]

Longhorn,
Do you know if we will be able to be signed up for both -2 & -4 at the same time? If D* doesn't have an HD DVR by the time Memphis is up on the new sats I would still want to record HD from D* on my HDTivo. Will I be able to have other -4 boxes but still keep and use the HDTivo for D* programming?

I hope this comes across clearly.

 

[colofan]

Maybe Robert can answer when will we see the new dish at least and will it provide backward compatibility so we could convert the dish and the needed multiswitches ahead of the receivers?

 

[Bear]

New frequencies = new LNBs at a minimum.

mx6bfast - you will be able to use the HD Tivo through the overlap period, if you don't end up handing it in for an "upgrade". However, the theory that seems to make the most sense is that new content is only in MPEG-4 and probably only on the new sats until the full transition occurs (2H06/1H07). don't underestimate the complexity of moving 12+ million subscribers over to new technology. I think that they are going to do this deliberately enough that we should not expect a lot of new stuff (e.g., half a dozen new HD channels that parallel existing premiums) while they focus on not losing people.

Later,
Bill

 

[mx6bfast]

Thanks for the info. Right now I have an E86 and an HDTivo in the living room. When 2 programs are recording we can still watch other shows. Now if I can use the HDTivo during the overlap period if there is not an HD DVR, I will probably still have the same type setup, but the E86 will be upgraded to a -4 box. Of course once the new HD DVR is out then I will get that. But I'm hoping by the time it rolls around to Memphis the HD DVR will be out.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn,
Do you know if we will be able to be signed up for both -2 & -4 at the same time? If D* doesn't have an HD DVR by the time Memphis is up on the new sats I would still want to record HD from D* on my HDTivo. Will I be able to have other -4 boxes but still keep and use the HDTivo for D* programming?

I hope this comes across clearly.

I'm hearing that they will have a basic HD DVR out for the launch of the first 12 markets that would be replacing current HD Tivo owners that would support both MPEG 2 and 4 so I wouldn't worry about that. Now I've heard that if D* can't get their basic HD DVR out early enough they would give customers a new non DVR HD STB for the time being while they keep their HD Tivo but once their HD DVR is out they would require the customer to send back both the basic HD STB and their HD Tivo again with prepaid postage and boxes.

Again the bottom line is don't worry about it much because they IMO will have their HD DVR out but its their multiroom HD DVR that might take until closer to football season or maybe the end of the year. But again rest assured that D* won't force you to lose your HD DVR features until they have an HD DVR to replace for you. But just be aware that worst case senario is you won't be able to record HD LIL and new national HD channels until they get their HD DVR available which either way will be one or two months max after the first 12 markets lauch but still should be before NFL season starts.

 

[LonghornXP]

New frequencies = new LNBs at a minimum.

mx6bfast - you will be able to use the HD Tivo through the overlap period, if you don't end up handing it in for an "upgrade". However, the theory that seems to make the most sense is that new content is only in MPEG-4 and probably only on the new sats until the full transition occurs (2H06/1H07). don't underestimate the complexity of moving 12+ million subscribers over to new technology. I think that they are going to do this deliberately enough that we should not expect a lot of new stuff (e.g., half a dozen new HD channels that parallel existing premiums) while they focus on not losing people.

Later,
Bill

Um 12 million people is a little too much. Right now only HD customers will need any upgrades for both boxes and dishes. Now there are plans to upgrade all the SDTV channels to MPEG4 but that would only require replacing of the boxes only because they would still use the same satellites so customers don't need anything new but the box itself. Now that is going to start but not until after all HDTV customers have been switched over and even when they do start it will take time to get customers boxes hooked up and if D* were smart they would put in their customers bills asking them if they know how to plug in a new box the same way their existing one plugs in to call this number and ask for replacement while customers who can't would require a house visit. Most customers can hook up a new box on their owns which would save money and time.

 

[Bear]

Um 12 million people is a little too much.

Note the timing - the transition is slated to go into 2007, and will impact ALL D* customers in some fashion. Last time I checked, that was north of 12 million folks and growing.

Right now only HD customers will need any upgrades for both boxes and dishes. Now there are plans to upgrade all the SDTV channels to MPEG4 but that would only require replacing of the boxes only because they would still use the same satellites so customers don't need anything new but the box itself. Now that is going to start but not until after all HDTV customers have been switched over and even when they do start it will take time to get customers boxes hooked up and if D* were smart they would put in their customers bills asking them if they know how to plug in a new box the same way their existing one plugs in to call this number and ask for replacement while customers who can't would require a house visit. Most customers can hook up a new box on their owns which would save money and time.

We are basically saying the same thing.