TV PRedictions Interview with D* EVP Shanks.

[herdfan]

Part 1 of the interview:

http://www.tvpredictions.com/shanks091406.htm

Part 2 of the interview:

http://www.tvpredictions.com/nextshanks091406.htm

One interesting this he mentions is that there will be 68 local markets up in HD by the end of the year. The current plus announced markets equals 50, so that must mean there are 18 more unannounced markets still to go up.

But I thought it was reported after the last announcement that they were done for the year?

 

[Jimbo]

That figures, my city sits at # 70, it's gonna be awhile, I'm very glad I invested in an OTA antenna several years back.

Jimbo

 

[jim tressler]

I liked his hd lite excuse.. lol - talk about a word spin doctor!

 

[Kirby Baker]

That figures, my city sits at # 70, it's gonna be awhile, I'm very glad I invested in an OTA antenna several years back.

Jimbo

You might be in luck, my market, Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo (#38 or so) has been removed from D* plans from what I hear. You just need one more in the top 69 to drop out now!

 

[Sean Mota]

If they have a major craving for watching channels like Equator HD, Rave HD or Rush HD (available on EchoStar) and they base their decision on channels like that, they should look somewhere else. However, if you want high quality HD channels with the most popular HD programming, then you should choose DIRECTV. And next year, we will leapfrog the industry with our ability to deliver more than 1,500 local HD channels and more than 150 national HD channels.

I find it very funny in two parts. One is how about, Starz HD, Cinemax HD, National Geographic HD, Food HD, HGTV HD, MTVHD are those not high quality channels as well or am I missing something.

Next they should take a look at the most popular sports programming like the NFL and Major League Baseball and the local regional sports networks. If their favorite team is in HD, there is a better chance it is on DIRECTV.

TVP: Some high-def owners at Internet message boards complain that DIRECTV's HD picture quality is "watered down." They call this, 'HD Lite." How do you respond?

ES: "HD Lite" -- that's a great phrase. I would think that would be more applicable to our competitor's HD packages next year that are only offering 35 channels of HD. ​

​

oh man, how lost and stupid can he be to go into an interview and be so uninformed or he is playing dumb to us. What a disgrace? Does he think the public is stupid? All his mpeg2 1080i channels are HD Lite where does he think we get this? from the moon? How freaking lost he is?

But relating to picture quality, anybody that thinks we don't take it seriously is mistaken. Across the board, I'll put our HD signal up against any of our competitors on a consistent basis.

and there he goes again. If you are reading this board or anyone from your shop, please put your HBO HD, showtime HD, discovery hd against someone's else cabler or satellite and you will see the flaws. Put it on a 65" monitor and you will see the flaws. How ridiculous his statement can be is beyond comprehension....

DIRECTV from day 1 has always been about providing great picture quality.

War stories... this is not the case anymore. Spin it all you want but you are full of it.

We monitor (HDTV) technical message boards and some people reading this article have probably been contacted by our engineering department if there are things that we need to respond to. There are a lot of factors that go into HD signal quality. HD is still a relatively new product and encoders and transmitters at the broadcasters or at pay TV channels and MPEG 4 encoders are in their first generation. Sometimes stations and networks still have lip-synch issues and so do we sometimes. But we monitor it and get if fixed quickly if it's in our control. This is because the HD standard that was approved does not lock audio to the video signal like in the standard definition signal. So a ton of work is going into mature every aspect video and audio quality.

​

Sure and I am still a baby. The HD Lite problem started three years ago and nothing has been done to fix it and he keeps spinning the issue. What a moron?​

This assumes that E* was not going to launch RSNs in HD but they are getting ready to do.

Now comes the question of programming. At the INHD website the top two things they are promoting are Major League Baseball games, which we already carry and more, and a show called Beer Nutz. So I am not sure we are going to spend our customer's money on a show called Beer Nutz just because it is in HD. And I am a big fan of beer.

how about NBA, NHL, college football games in HD on INHD. Those do not count?

 

[herdfan]

DIRECTV from day 1 has always been about providing great picture quality.

On Day One back in 1994 D* did have great PQ. Absolutely stunning. Friends who had cable would come over and marvel at how good it looked. Then came 1997 and it has been downhill ever since.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Let's take that challange..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8435926&&#post8435926

Wow, Eric Shanks is the modern day "Baghdad Bob" in the world of Satellite Television.

I would love to accept his challange. So how about it Bob, err Eric? CES? Side by side Dish -vs- DirecTV with identical monitors ISF Calibrated by Gregg Loewen?

We will bring in 25 random people from the show floor to watch the same program side by side but we won't tell them which one they are watching. We will let them pick their own winner. Monitor 1 or Monitor 2, tally the vote and see who the winner is.

Are you up for it?

If so email me scott at satelliteguys dot us. I look forward to your reply.

 

[vurbano]

I find it very funny in two parts. One is how about, Starz HD, Cinemax HD, National Geographic HD, Food HD, HGTV HD, MTVHD are those not high quality channels as well or am I missing something.



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oh man, how lost and stupid can he be to go into an interview and be so uninformed or he is playing dumb to us. What a disgrace? Does he think the public is stupid? All his mpeg2 1080i channels are HD Lite where does he think we get this? from the moon? How freaking lost he is?

and there he goes again. If you are reading this board or anyone from your shop, please put your HBO HD, showtime HD, discovery hd against someone's else cabler or satellite and you will see the flaws. Put it on a 65" monitor and you will see the flaws. How ridiculous his statement can be is beyond comprehension....​

War stories... this is not the case anymore. Spin it all you want but you are full of it.​

Sure and I am still a baby. The HD Lite problem started three years ago and nothing has been done to fix it and he keeps spinning the issue. What a moron?​

This assumes that E* was not going to launch RSNs in HD but they are getting ready to do.




how about NBA, NHL, college football games in HD on INHD. Those do not count?

The man is insane, uninformed or a liar.

 

[Brewer4]

He is just applying the Carl Rove deny everything, pretend to not know, point out issues with the other guy rather then answering the question, etc. Its worked wonders for certain groups. Unfortunately I think it only works for a short time before folks get smart and have had enough. All I know is things better improve in 2007 with the new sats.

If there is more foot dragging and spin to cover delivery failures, it could be the continued high end and HD downward spiral customer loss mentioned in the article. I know I am giving them 15 months. At that point AT&T should be ready in my area and Comcast will offer Tivo and HDNet.

 

[Jamey K]

One interesting this he mentions is that there will be 68 local markets up in HD by the end of the year. The current plus announced markets equals 50, so that must mean there are 18 more unannounced markets still to go up.

QUOTE]

It all sounds good, but there are markets where there are 1..maybe 2 HD signals OTA. What happens when they run across stations who won't commit to HD until they are made to do so? D* can put the digital signal but that's all.