What did Charlie Say?

[Scott Greczkowski]

As you might have seen there has been a lot of news floating around about Dish Network launching two new satellites for more HDTV.

I am amazed at how little fact checking some of these national publications do and how twisted these stories become when they hit the wires.

From what I know there were only two people there reporting on Team Summit, and that was Bob Sherman from Satellite Business News, and me.

We were the first to report the news of Dishes MPEG4 plans. In fact we had the news online here at SatelliteGuys about 45 seconds after Charlie announced it.

So now you read these national publications and are probably wondering what Charlie REALLY said at Team Summit. We now have the exact audio of Charlies MPEG4 service announcement.

So here you go, take a listen with your own ears. This is the entire announcement about the MPEG4 service. Nothing more was said about it at Team Summit.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN (.MP3 File)

Once again this goes and shows that when the "real media" looks for Satellite News they come to SatelliteGuys.US! Thanks for making us America's Satellite Information Source.

 

[boston area dtv]

Scott this I can agree with you on. You did a great job and you should get the kudos from the national publications for breaking this.

 

[riffjim4069]

Two things...gotta update the SatelliteGuys blurb at the beginning, it sounds very creepy. Second, I heard no mention of any HD quality controls being put into place after the satelites are placed into service...sounds like we're gong to see a lot more DishHD-Lite.

 

[Poke]

Yeah thanks for all the information you provide Scott! Satellite Guys is the Best Place on the Net for Satellite Information plus more!

 

[mwgiii]

Attention national media......

Please give SatelliteGuys.us a mention in your articles, since Scott was the one who broke the news.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Two things...gotta update the SatelliteGuys blurb at the beginning, it sounds very creepy.

Sorry sucky mic and I am inside a loud server room.

Second, I heard no mention of any HD quality controls being put into place after the satelites are placed into service...sounds like we're gong to see a lot more DishHD-Lite.

Whats with you lately Jim, you look at everything with a nagative slant. From what I have heard I would actually expect to see the HD quality to improve. Lets just say that I have heard that they are doing some FULL RESOLUTION HD testing over at 148 with some new encoders.

Dish (nor DirecTV) wants to feed us HD Crap, but they had to because of the bandwidth limitations and most importantly encoding issues. This MPEG4 encoding technology is still evolving and is getting better. Look at how bad looked a few months ago, and that was with 2 HD Channels on one transponder in MPEG4. And now they have 6 HD channels on one transponder and the quality looks better then before. That alone shows the advances that have been made with the MPEG4 encoders.

Its not perfect yet but they are working on it. And I got to be honest, I feel really confident in saying that.

 

[Poke]

Yeah MPEG4 still some what new and as they get the hardware in place and software for it configured correctly things will be good. Same goes for the Networks as they improve their hardware you will see more Networks get their HD version of channel up and running.

 

[kenny911]

Yeah Scott you need to change the intro. It sounds creepy.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I agree with Scott. Mpeg-4 isn't going to give us a whole lot more of HD-Lite; its going to enable them to IMPROVE PQ and resolution. Look at PQ on UHD; much better in mpeg-4 than mpeg-2, IMHO.

 

[shadyB]

Any more information on these satellite launches? Do we know what launch system they plan to use and launch dates? If we have not heard of any dates, how much time does it usually take to get on a launch schedule? Getting two more launches in this year could be tight.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They are already scheduled. Remember one of the satellites is not theirs.

 

[shadyB]

They are already scheduled. Remember one of the satellites is not theirs.

Cool. I see the one scheduled for the month of December on a Proton rocket in Kazakhstan. Who is the other launch with, and what do you mean it is not theirs. Sorry if it is something that I am missing.

 

[Voyager6]

Cool. I see the one scheduled for the month of December on a Proton rocket in Kazakhstan. Who is the other launch with, and what do you mean it is not theirs. Sorry if it is something that I am missing.

Check here for more info about the 2 new sats: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=96450&page=2
Much has already been revealed about these two sats.

 

[foghorn2]

Two things...gotta update the SatelliteGuys blurb at the beginning, it sounds very creepy. Second, I heard no mention of any HD quality controls being put into place after the satelites are placed into service...sounds like we're gong to see a lot more DishHD-Lite.

There is always Cable Choice.

 

[JMikeF]

Lets just say that I have heard that they are doing some FULL RESOLUTION HD testing over at 148 with some new encoders.

Dish (nor DirecTV) wants to feed us HD Crap, but they had to because of the bandwidth limitations and most importantly encoding issues. This MPEG4 encoding technology is still evolving and is getting better. Look at how bad looked a few months ago, and that was with 2 HD Channels on one transponder in MPEG4. And now they have 6 HD channels on one transponder and the quality looks better then before. That alone shows the advances that have been made with the MPEG4 encoders.

Its not perfect yet but they are working on it. And I got to be honest, I feel really confident in saying that.

Scott - thanks so much for the information. :up
I've had HD (in one form or another) since 1999 in the Ferrara Theater, and have been with Dish as long. I love the HD variety, but now that I've got a full blown 1080p front projector & an 8' screen, picture quality is paramount. And it's been inconsistant with Dish, to say the least.

I've got Verizon FIOS to the house, and they are very eager for my HD business. But due to what you said above, I'll be patient to see how the MPEG4 techology delivers.

It has to.
Period.

 

[drjdan]

JMikeF,

What are you currently using FIOS in the house for now? Why not just subscribe to the HD for a month and compare side by side. Can your projector send two HD feeds side by in a split screen? That would be a good comparison of the same program.

 

[waltinvt]

<snip>....
Dish (nor DirecTV) wants to feed us HD Crap, but they had to because of the bandwidth limitations and most importantly encoding issues. This MPEG4 encoding technology is still evolving and is getting better. Look at how bad looked a few months ago, and that was with 2 HD Channels on one transponder in MPEG4. And now they have 6 HD channels on one transponder and the quality looks better then before. That alone shows the advances that have been made with the MPEG4 encoders.

Its not perfect yet but they are working on it. And I got to be honest, I feel really confident in saying that.

Gosh, that drives me crazy.

"E" had (and continues to have) a "choice". Whether MPEG2 or 4, they chose to lower PQ in favor of more channels. That means yes- they DID want to.

It was a calculated business decision, just like the whole deal with fake MPEG4 to force customers to upgrade to MPEG4 receivers if they wanted the new HD channels (even though they were really still MPEG2). They figured they'd gain more customers than they'd loose, especially since "D" had already cut their HD picture quality and really wasn't much competition in other aspects of the business - other than maybe some sports programming.

The point is, "E" probably could have kept the upper hand even without reducing HD resolution but they didn't have to risk it, so they chose not to. Heck, if it wasn't for competition, "E" would probably consider going back to black & white.

That being said, I think they probably are "working on it" like you say but only because cable competition is starting to demand it. I expect someday "D" will compete again too and then we may all really start to see some progress.

 

[JMikeF]

JMikeF,
What are you currently using FIOS in the house for now? Why not just subscribe to the HD for a month and compare side by side. Can your projector send two HD feeds side by in a split screen? That would be a good comparison of the same program.

Blistering reliable high speed Internet connection - it's the best performance for the price available to the consumer.

 

[KimmiKat]

In our area we have "Uverse" and offer high speeds on the internet. They havn't turned on the video yet although they put a nice new "box" down the street a few months ago.

Blistering reliable high speed Internet connection - it's the best performance for the price available to the consumer.

 

[psumattDE]

Blistering reliable high speed Internet connection - it's the best performance for the price available to the consumer.

JMike-
Go ahead and try the FIOS TV. I did. You won't be disappointed. The HD quality compared to DISH is big. And the SD improvement? Let's not even go there.