Uplink Activity Report - 7/2/2008 12:17pm - 66 changes

[Fitzie]

Thanks to kstuart for listing many groups of complainers. I think most of us were named several times--I was hit with where are my HD locals, I want more HD nationals, and gimme some Speed. But I'm happy every time another DMA is lit up with locals, because I know that's another one out of the way, and I'm closer to getting mine (or at least to getting on the list).

Thanks to flyingsquirrel for the succinct outline of the many Fox-Dish issues; one I had missed was the rates arbitration issue; I don't remember hearing of it before.

For the few that have both Dish and D*, a question: how does the HD quality compare? If I understand correctly, the Dish HD signal is about 1440 by 810; is D* doing any better?

Regards, Fitzie

 

[8arrett]

+1
(or is that +$1.99???)

Actually, it's $1.999



--Grin&Barrett

 

[Laddyboy]

So what is the logic of putting Dallas locals on both 110 and 61.5? Surely Dallas won't be included in the Eastern Arc, will it?

 

[JohnH]

So what is the logic of putting Dallas locals on both 110 and 61.5? Surely Dallas won't be included in the Eastern Arc, will it?

Dalls has always seemed to be treated as an eastern city. Perhaps because it is in the Central Time Zone.

 

[rad]

So what is the logic of putting Dallas locals on both 110 and 61.5? Surely Dallas won't be included in the Eastern Arc, will it?

Why not, they put Austin up on 61.5?

 

[flyingsquirrel]

For the few that have both Dish and D*, a question: how does the HD quality compare? If I understand correctly, the Dish HD signal is about 1440 by 810; is D* doing any better?

I do not have both, but my neighbor has the same TV as I do and he has D* and we have done some "walk down the sidewalk" comparisons back to back.

These are through both DVRs for common channels. For most of them, there is not a lot to choose. Very similar.

The big difference that I noticed was that ESPN looked a lit better on Dish than Direct. I have been told that is because Direct is still putting ESPN our in MPEG2, compressed a lot, while Dish is sending out MPEG4.

All I can say is that I am considering switching and the PQ of Direct would neither be an enticement nor a hinderance. There are slight difference, probably due to encoding tweaks, but nothing where you are going to say "That looks like Crap compared to the other provider." Neither one looks as good as BlueRay, but both are Much better than any online DVD I have downloaded.

If I switched it would be to get things like Speed and FX, that I am pretty sure Dish is not going to get until next year at the earliest.

 

[db2]

I have been told that is because Direct is still putting ESPN our in MPEG2, compressed a lot, while Dish is sending out MPEG4.

As of right now both Dish and Direct are sending out ESPNHD in mpeg2. That will change in August when Dish switches all remaining mpeg2HD to mpeg4HD.

That being said, IIRC, right now Dish is sending ESPNHD in 1080i resolution while Direct is sending it 720p. That may be the difference you're seeing.

 

[tigerfan33]

As of right now both Dish and Direct are sending out ESPNHD in mpeg2. That will change in August when Dish switches all remaining mpeg2HD to mpeg4HD.

That being said, IIRC, right now Dish is sending ESPNHD in 1080i resolution while Direct is sending it 720p. That may be the difference you're seeing.

db2. I thought both ESPN hd and ESPN2 hd were 720p as is ABC hd.

 

[db2]

db2. I thought both ESPN hd and ESPN2 hd were 720p as is ABC hd.

You are correct. ABCHD, ESPNHD and ESPN2HD are all produced in 720p resolution. However, a few months ago Dish network started converting and sending out at least one (not sure if it's both) of the ESPNHD signals in 1080i resolution.

 

[rad]

You are correct. ABCHD, ESPNHD and ESPN2HD are all produced in 720p resolution. However, a few months ago Dish network started converting and sending out at least one (not sure if it's both) of the ESPNHD signals in 1080i resolution.

That doesn't make sense since 1080i takes more bandwidth then 720p and if you're short why make the problem even worst when it doesn't buy you anything?

 

[TalonDancer]

So what is the logic of putting Dallas locals on both 110 and 61.5? Surely Dallas won't be included in the Eastern Arc, will it?

The HD Locals for Dallas and Houston are on both 110 and 61.5. The HD locals for Austin and several other Texas DMAs even further west are on 61.5. But interestingly the HD locals for San Antonio are not.

The speculation has been that Dish will keep the HD Locals for the large Dallas and Houston DMAs on both sats so that they have more options for LOS, etc..

Talon Dancer

 

[Laddyboy]

Thanks for the responses to my question about Dallas locals on both 110 and 61.5.

 

[kstuart]

That doesn't make sense since 1080i takes more bandwidth then 720p and if you're short why make the problem even worst when it doesn't buy you anything?

I'm not sure they are doing that any more, but IIRC the original reason was that it was helpful for statistical multiplexing to have all the channels be the same resolution.

PS Customers only talk about resolution, but it is actually only a small aspect of picture quality, and picture quality is not always proportional to resolution.

For example, if the bandwidth available to your MPEG4-HD channel is 4000k, then it will look better at 1440x1080 than it will look at 1920x1080. This is because the average bitrate at 1440 will be greater.

It is analogous to a 100 horsepower motorcycle being able to accelerate faster than a 250 horsepower SUV...

 

[Fitzie]

Thanks for the comments on picture quality, especially in re: ESPN.

Fitzie

 

[tkcaptaina]

Ugggg No Greenville Locals!

I hear you over in Beulaville, dude. I just got the HD upgrade and even though I can pull in most everything OTA it can be unreliable. I would feel better setting timers with the HD channels that are uplinked on the sat.

 

[rfischer4073]

sigh, bye bye euronews free preview.... might just have to ante up that 2 bucks a month...

Just tried that over the weekend, and was dissapointed to find out that Euronews is not available al la carte. One can only get it with an International package subscription.

 

[dmendenjr]

Just tried that over the weekend, and was dissapointed to find out that Euronews is not available al la carte. One can only get it with an International package subscription.

That sucks. Did you try asking about the "Pan European" Package?

DISH Network -- International - does show it is not available without another level of international programming.

I was about to add a premium pack to my service (probably starz) and was gonna add this as well...

Edit:
I Got it! They need to make an ACUTAL pan-european package with EuroNews and EuroChannel bundled together!

 

[wied]

need more national HD

 

[rfischer4073]

That sucks. Did you try asking about the "Pan European" Package?

DISH Network -- International - does show it is not available without another level of international programming.

I was about to add a premium pack to my service (probably starz) and was gonna add this as well...

Edit:
I Got it! They need to make an ACUTAL pan-european package with EuroNews and EuroChannel bundled together!

You ARE the man! I mentioned the Pan European package to an American CSR and it was added at $1.99 a month.

I am guessing that you need to mention the package name and not the channel name.

Thanks SO much!

 

[dmendenjr]

You ARE the man! I mentioned the Pan European package to an American CSR and it was added at $1.99 a month.

I am guessing that you need to mention the package name and not the channel name.

Thanks SO much!

no worries... I was just thinking out loud when I mentioned it, but am glad it worked. still need to do that myself.