Hey guys. I am a former D* customer and dropped them when FiOS became available. Primarily, I dropped D* because of their less than stellar, both in quantity and quality, HD. I also liked the idea of FiOS seemingly has unlimited HD bandwidth available with their fiber to the premises (FTTP) architecture.

Having said that, all the HD D* had when I subscribed was being delivered in MPEG2. My understanding is D* will launch a $hitload of National MPEG4 HD channels in 2007. That's a lot of HD. :D

FiOS is about to give us another handful of HD channels (at least that's the rumor ;) ). FiOS HD is excellent. I definitely notice a difference between FiOS HD and D* MPEG2 HD.

Is D* currently delivering any national HD content in MPEG4? If so, are they delivering it in full resolution? How does it look? I know D* is delivering local MPEG4 HD and that it apparently (haven't actually seen it) looks pretty good. Has anybody measured the resolution of their MPEG4 HD local channels? Is it reasonable to assume that D* will deliver the MPEG4 national HD channels the same way it is delivering their MPEG4 local HD channels?

What makes you think any new national HD will be exclusive to D*? You'd feel pretty stupid if you switched, and then it showed up on FIOS at the same time that it did on D*. Besides, there won't be a $hitload of new HD available this year.

What makes you think any new national HD will be exclusive to D*? You'd feel pretty stupid if you switched, and then it showed up on FIOS at the same time that it did on D*. Besides, there won't be a $hitload of new HD available this year.

I'm not planning on jumping ship just yet. :) I like to stay informed and look at all the options. If D* starts delivering full HD, and a lot more of it than Verizon, then I might consider going back to them. It's called consumer choice.

I am not unhappy with Verizon. Having said that, Verizon has been a little slow to roll out new HD channels. Supposedly, they have had agreements for Food HD and HGTV for quite awhile, but have not rolled them out yet. Also, there are new HD channels out there that, for whatever reason, Verizon has not added, like Golf HD, Versus HD, and OLN HD, that other providers have added to their lineup.

And until that actually happens, it could be just a ғartload of HD channels.

☺☻

I don't believe DirecTV has any NATIONAL channels in MPEG4 HD.

only stations currently being broadcast in MPEG4 are HD locals. we wont see any national MPEG4 channels until later this year, at best.

If D* wanted to ease into the transition to MPEG4 for national channels, they could easily (or more easily) start with Sunday Ticket, then move into the premium movie channels. That would only require those viewers that subcribe to those services to have boxes changed out - if they haven't already because of LIL MPEG4. Then, they can continue swaps as they add local markets in HD until they finally catch up with everyone and can change the rest of the HD channels over. Finally, the next stage could be transitioning SD to MPEG4 if they wanted to. A lot of SD customers are probably due for a box upgrade, anyway.

Enjoy you're FIOS as many people would love to have that excellent option.

If all goes well with the new D* sat launches, then it might be worth switching in 2008.

Here in the SF Bay Area we are stuck with Comcast, D*, E* for our national channels. OTA here is pretty good so I could care less about the mpeg4 locals D* has been pushing the last year or so.

Besides, there won't be a $hitload of new HD available this year.Try again.

FiOS still has many times the national (conus) high-definition channel capacity of DirecTV, even after the new satellites are launched and operational. At the moment, all channels are distributed as MPEG-2, so MPEG-4 requires re-compression.

It remains to be seen whether DirecTV's larger subscriber base will allow it to negotiate carriage of new channels before the competition.

Aren't D* MPEG4 channels currently decompressed and recompressed versions of off-air ATSC MPEG2 HD local stations?

So the resultant MPEG4 signal cannot be higher quality than the OTA MPEG2 version, and is likely to be worse (though how much will depend on the quality of the decode/recode operation and the compression applied)

(To improve on the OTA version in quality terms you'd need to source the local station using a dedicated circuit - either using a higher data rate MPEG2 or MPEG4 compression process, or if you don't want to statmux, install an MPEG4 transmission rate encoder at the station and backhaul - which is how the BBC provide their local station on satellite in the UK in MPEG2)

Aren't D* MPEG4 channels currently decompressed and recompressed versions of off-air ATSC MPEG2 HD local stations?

So the resultant MPEG4 signal cannot be higher quality than the OTA MPEG2 version, and is likely to be worse (though how much will depend on the quality of the decode/recode operation and the compression applied)Yes, but we all know D* has limited MPEG2 bandwidth, and a lot more MPEG4 bandwidth, so the hope is MPEG4 looks better and is more consistent.

Ken - You hit the nail right on the head. I have not acquired any of the MPEG4 boxes (H20, HR20). I'm waiting to see what DirecTV does with the national HD channels. If they are sent in FullHD (or is it TruHD?) 1920x1080i at acceptable bitrates to prevent blocking and other artifacts, then I'll acquire the right STB to receive those new national channels. But, I've already decided that if DirecTV uses HDLite for the new channels then I will drop their HD service and just keep the SD channels. I just can't justify paying for "HD" when it's not after the new satellites are up and functioning.

In the coming years, we should start to see HD TV programming available via the Internet or on disc (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray). These other sources should satisfy my HD wants and needs. And of course I can still receive broadcast OTA local channels.