Whie the Dish folks are Celebrating...

[jvarkalis]

The reason why we stay with D* & E* is, we like them a lot better than grainy old cable. By going on sites such this, people express their opinions and ideas, in hopes that people responsible for things like programing, equipment, etc, from D* & E* may read them.

Just because people complain about a product doesn't mean they don't like it, they may be simply trying to get the company to improve the product. Kind of like the old saying, "The wheel that squeaks gets the grease". Any good company knows the key success, of their business, is giving the customer the products they ask for.

I know from all of D* announcements, it sounded like their goal was to get local HDs up and running, then worry about nationals. But I am sure that they have heard more concern, from customers, to get more nationals up and running first. With the improvements to E* HD lineup, I am sure that D* will "Re-Think HD Programing", as not to loose out to E*.

I dont disagree with you 100%, I hope I did not come sounding I was blasting this site! I think giving people a place to vent and come together is a good thing! And I am a big fan of this site! But I want to ruffel a few feathers and get people to think!

You also hit the nail on the head, I have D* because I have a deep rooted hate for Comcast. I bet if we took a vote, most of us would agree that we have a dish mounted somewhere because we simply dont want to do the cable option.

I think people complain about things they dont like! Why complain about something you are happy with? That is a sign of an issue! Actually any good company knows the key to success of their business, is giving the customer what they want in the first place! Not wait untill they ask for it! You do that and your competition beats you to the punch!

I am starting to think that our biggest problem is the low number of US households that are HD ready or active! We simply are not big enough to worry or cater to yet! Thats what did Voom in, or least a big part. They went fishing in a small pond with few fish!

PS Cub fans unlike our TV options you do have an Option! It's about 10.2 miles South! A freindly message from your 2005 World Series Champion White Sox

 

[lou_do]

I think people complain about things they dont like! Why complain about something you are happy with? That is a sign of an issue! Actually any good company knows the key to success of their business, is giving the customer what they want in the first place! Not wait untill they ask for it! You do that and your competition beats you to the punch!

True, but it is only recently that there is a big push on, to sell HDTVs. Back when D* & E* first started, HD was only a twinkle on someone's eye. Now you go into a big box electronic store and most of the TVs are HD, a few years ago that wasn't so.

I am starting to think that our biggest problem is the low number of US households that are HD ready or active! We simply are not big enough to worry or cater to yet! Thats what did Voom in, or least a big part. They went fishing in a small pond with few fish!

Yes, I agree, I feel it is a MAJOR problem, and the main reason for the problem, has been the lack of programing. If more was made available, more people would be encouraged to purchase HD equipment and programing.

I heard something yesterday, on a radio talk program. They were saying that only about 50% of the homes that have HDTVs, don't have HD programing for them. How much truth there is to that, I don't know, but I found it interesting. Maybe those people feel they want to wait until more is made available.

 

[SaltiDawg]

...

On the E* boards, most E* subscribers agree that they are overcharged, and their equipment is horrible. If you take any D* package and square it off with an equivalent E* package, you will see that you pay usually $5 to $8 more. They also charge $10 for every extra receiver, (this is a recent price change). So if you have two receivers, you will usually pay $15 more than with D*.

I don't know about the quality of either the content or the picture in the Voom package, but I do know that most of what you're saying about costs is factually inaccurate.

 

[JoeSp]

I am an E* subscriber. Like to address a few things here. First, VOOM is pretty nice. They have some cool movies and nothing but nothing beats EquatorHD. The RAVE channel occasionally has some nice stuff on it -- some of it even the wife will watch. We both like GalleryHD especially when the auctions are on. As a whole, I have been paying $9 a month for it and I find myself watching it alot. As for the HD quality, it goes up and it goes down. Right now the VOOM channels are looking great.

As for E* sats--- E10 goes up on Feb 8th. The Voom Sat 61.5 spotbeams can cover every major TV market on the East coast and some in the mid-west. With E10, the 61.5 sat and the 148 location I believe that E* can cover the top 60 markets with HD LIL. Of course that will be if E10 goes up in time. Give 60 days for the sat to get into posistion and be tested and the timetable is --- MAY.

I do not believe that E* is doing the wrong thing waiting until the 622 is ready for shipment. Say how is D*'s MPEG4 HD-LIL working right now? And when will their MPEG4 HDDVR be out?

 

[Logic 7]

I spoke with the D* customer retention dept last night and complained about the lack of HD channels on D* and how I was thinking of going to E* or cable etc. The rep told me that they will probably be adding TNT-HD & NGC-HD He wouldnt give me a date because he didnt want to tell me something he didnt know for a fact. He was one of the most knowledgable rep's i've ever spoken to. Oh yeah he gave me $5 amonth of my bill for a year and two free months all the movie channels plus the sports pack. Doesnt solve the programming problem but its a nice perk.
:

 

[joedekock]

I spoke with the D* customer retention dept last night and complained about the lack of HD channels on D* and how I was thinking of going to E* or cable etc. The rep told me that they will probably be adding TNT-HD & NGC-HD He wouldnt give me a date because he didnt want to tell me something he didnt know for a fact. He was one of the most knowledgable rep's i've ever spoken to. Oh yeah he gave me $5 amonth of my bill for a year and two free months all the movie channels plus the sports pack. Doesnt solve the programming problem but its a nice perk.
:

Are you still under contract with them?

 

[Logic 7]

No

 

[kb7oeb]

The new charge for additional MPEG4 HD boxes is now $6 not $10. Though still too much in my opinion.

 

[FlyingJ]

I heard something yesterday, on a radio talk program. They were saying that only about 50% of the homes that have HDTVs, don't have HD programing for them. How much truth there is to that, I don't know, but I found it interesting. Maybe those people feel they want to wait until more is made available.

I have heard that the number is much higher than that. I mean around 80%. I personally must know 20 people with widescreen or plasma TV's and i think only one gets HD programing. Fact of the matter is the "mainstream don't get it". I don't blame them the info out there is so screwed up from the Best Buys, and everyone else.

 

[raymo721]

You are forgetting about the spotbeam capacity of Rainbow-1 at 61.5 W. Yes it requires a two dish solution but many folks would prefer two smaller dishes to the one big one that DirecTV requires. Dish will free up additional space on Rainbow-1 for using more of its spotbeams after E-10 is launched and the split SD locals are moved from 61.5 W. There will probably also be some room on the E-10 spotbeams to do some HD LiLs as well.

Wait a second, I've seen alot of homes in my area with a superdish and one small oval dish on them. Whats that all about? the AT9 is not that much bigger than the superdish and will be able to get all the sats and I'd rather have that.----Ray

 

[rad]

You are forgetting about the spotbeam capacity of Rainbow-1 at 61.5 W. Yes it requires a two dish solution but many folks would prefer two smaller dishes to the one big one that DirecTV requires.

Has anyone compared the total surface area of the D* AT-9 dish vs. the Dish1000? I've got an AT-9 and a neighbor has a Dish1000 and to my eye they're both big honkers.

 

[rocatman]

Wait a second, I've seen alot of homes in my area with a superdish and one small oval dish on them. Whats that all about? the AT9 is not that much bigger than the superdish and will be able to get all the sats and I'd rather have that.----Ray

I was refering to a D500 which is a 20" dish and a D300 which is a 18" dish. There are some areas curently that require a Superdish for the SD locals and would require an additional D300 to receive HD nationals or some internationals which is probably what you are seeing in your area. It is expected that after E-10 is up and operational that most SD locals will be moved to E-10 and a Superdish will no longer be required for SD locals. Dish subscribers who want some of the international channels will probably still need a Superdish. I believe a D1000 is slightly larger than a D500 but much smaller than a Superdish. Some folks have taken a Superdish and rigged another LNB to it to get the 129 W slot that would normally require a D1000 so if Dish really wanted to they could market a Superdish that could get either one of Dish's FSS satellite slots (105 W or 121 W) and 110 W, 119 W and 129 W.

 

[jimbo jones]

I work for Sears and we sell Dish, they are adding nation local channels in HD this month as well as Universal HD, ESPN2 HD, a few more channels, and more Voom channels are coming this month as well as the MPEG-4 standard and DVR receivers. The regular HD package starts at $10.99 and you can add Voom for $5 more. After seeing the line-up for Dish it makes me wish I never had D*

 

[kb7oeb]

Actually that is the old rate and is no longer an option as of 2/1. They created new base packs that include hd. Depending on what you pick you are paying about $20 for the HD channels.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/index.shtml

 

[lou_do]

Actually that is the old rate and is no longer an option as of 2/1. They created new base packs that include hd. Depending on what you pick you are paying about $20 for the HD channels.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/index.shtml

If you go to the DISH web site. Total up the new HD Platinum package w/ HBO, Max, Showtime and Starz, it comes to $155.00 for your programing. Go to DirecTV select their Total Choice Premier (using new price of $99.99) and their HD package (new price of $9.99) it comes to about $110.00 a month.

That is an extra $45.00 a month for a few more HD channels. Am I right or did I figure something wrong?

 

[vinnyv07]

I have been a sub to both providers and I tell you that Directv's lack of HD gets me sick. I love football and all.....but I have a family and am not able to watch a ton of it for 17 Sundays to make it all worth while for me. I feel that the Sunday ticket is way overpriced. To me it is an insult that Directv hasn't added TNTHD yet. I have written this many times in the past. I don't expect everyone to agree with me about TNTHD. But I feel its a damn good ch. There is always some movie that they are showing on the weekend that I like. Yes ...it's sometimes an up convert. But their HD movies have great sound and look crisp on my tv. Basketball is a treat. Yes they have commercials.....but JPIII is on tonight and I will be blasting that sucker. The fact that Directv hasn't provided tnthd to their customers in negligent and they deserve to answer the question of why they haven't offered the ch yet. Why do they short change their HD customers? Are they too busy saving bandwidth to offer YES HD to a handful of people? I'm sorry...think what you may of TNTHD ...but it's another ch to watch. So are the VOOM ch's. There is nothing saying you have to like each ch. Do you watch every ch that is on any providers offering. Truth is that most ch's do stink ....HD or not. Bottom line is that they do provide a choice.....and right now Directv doesn't offer a compelling choice as far as HD goes.

 

[Smoky]

If you go to the DISH web site. Total up the new HD Platinum package w/ HBO, Max, Showtime and Starz, it comes to $155.00 for your programing. Go to DirecTV select their Total Choice Premier (using new price of $99.99) and their HD package (new price of $9.99) it comes to about $110.00 a month.

That is an extra $45.00 a month for a few more HD channels. Am I right or did I figure something wrong?

You figured wrong. The all everything package is now the HDDISH Platinum package at $99.99, add locals for $5 = $104.99. Check this link.
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/platinum/index.shtml

 

[lou_do]

You figured wrong. The all everything package is now the HDDISH Platinum package at $99.99, add locals for $5 = $104.99. Check this link.
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/platinum/index.shtml

I went to that page and it doesn't say anything about that package containing HBO, Showtime, Starz or Max. When you go to the order page and select HD Platinum, it doesn't include the 4 above movie networks. You have to select them separate to add them to your package. Then it comes up to around $156.00, with locals. I know it sounds high but they make you select those movie networks from that page, like they are not included, in HD Platinum. I also don't see them listed under the SD channels that come with that package.

If you go to select the "America's Everything Pack", you can't select any of the 4 premium movie networks.

It must be a bug in their ordering page. It shouldn't allow you to select the 4 movie networks if it is included with the HD Platinum package.

 

[Smoky]

It's probably a bug in the website. It's not the only bug in that site. I have the America's Everything Pack + HD pack with Voom and locals. When I ordered the 622 Feb. 1, this came out to $104.99 (HD Platinum + locals). Its the same thing I had plus the new channels I cannot see with my 811 receiver.

 

[Smoky]

Heres a link for prices.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=54963&highlight=dish+platinum+costs