Just saw this last night. Watched parts of about 4 different games. This just appeared on DISH. Last week 5 new Big Ten HD channels and now 16 new HD hockey channels. Way to go Charlie!!

Just saw this last night. Watched parts of about 4 different games. This just appeared on DISH. Last week 5 new Big Ten HD channels and now 16 new HD hockey channels. Way to go Charlie!!

So what you're saying is they added more HD Lite programming that very few people asked for or wanted? :p

So what you're saying is they added more HD Lite programming that very few people asked for or wanted? :p

Really why did they waste the bandwidth on this?

According to posts over at DBSTalk indicate DirecTV has added CIHD channels alongside regular CI channels.

Holy channel count inflation Batman!

Dish actually has more channels numbers for NHL HD than games that could possibly occur simultaneously even if every single team in the league was playing games in HD on the same date at the same time. There's only 30 teams on the league. It's not even possible to need more than 15 channels.

Its NHL center ICE free preview. What's not to like. Besides, Dish's HD-Lite is a far cry from what the D* customers had to suffer with the past few years.

Still if you looked at the SD CI lineup, there were many games that didn't get on the HD channels. Dish I don't think will ever get all of the HD NHLCI channels up simultaneously.

Actually, there were only three games in HD. Colorado/Nashville was SUPPOSED to air in HD but never made it.

Those of us in the NY area got one (since we can't see Rangers/Islanders/Devils in HD unless we have CV).

=NLK=

Still if you looked at the SD CI lineup, there were many games that didn't get on the HD channels. Dish I don't think will ever get all of the HD NHLCI channels up simultaneously.

Unless the NHL expands mid-season it's a mathematical impossibility.

What if they show both home / away feeds then the could need all of the channels and then some.

dish sometimes shows 3 feeds, including the canadian feeds even when there are 2 add'l US feeds for the same game.

However, they only have access to about the same HD RSN's as D*....and they have not shown the canadian HD feeds so far. And many RSN's only have about 10 games in HD all year anyway so realistically, E* should only need 4-6 of those HD channels per night.

That's great that the rumor is D* will light up the HD CI channels soon, but I've also heard Nov./Dec. and that just doesnt cut it for me. I have to make a decision on provider before the free preview is up. If D* wanted new NHL CI subs, they really shouldve done everything possible to have the HD channels up last week.

Oh well, there's always next year. Whoever has FSNY/MSG/CSN-P/NESN in HD gets my business.

I hope they do the same with the NBA!

Whoever has FSNY/MSG/CSN-P/NESN in HD gets my business.

You would need 3 different providers in 3 different parts of the country to get all of that.

I know Dish does not have MLB Extra Innings but it would be nice if D* and E* could get CSN-Philly HD like D* has for the EI package and use them for Flyers games, I have e-mailed the NHL about this and they would not reply about that nor why we can not get CBC-HD, TSN-HD, Leafs-HD and RDS-HD.

meanwhile Bell Expressvu gets all of that of course and they also get access to the U.S. RSN's in HD. Which is BULL!!! We should get the same in return, e-mail the NHL and demand the Canadian HD feeds fans!!! E-mail them like Tim Robbins mailed for all those book for the library in Shawshank Redemption!

Do they need extra channels for Center Ice HD? Couldnt they just disable the blackout of the RSNs for those with the Center Ice package? Or at least just mirror the same channel and only use the bandwidth of one channel? I know they dont have all of the RSNs in HD, but for the ones that they do have, this seems like a huge waste in bandwidth to have the same broadcast twice, if that is indeed the case.

no they are mirrored, no extra bandwidth being taken up.

You would need 3 different providers in 3 different parts of the country to get all of that.
Comcast Sports Philly - not on a dish, you can only get it on cable in the Phila area.
MSG/Fox Sports NY/MSG for Buffalo - SD versions only on DirecTV, HD only on cable in their markets only.

Flipped between two games on NHL HDs and did not see any artifacts in fast moving scenes, and then changed to HDNet (MPEG2?) and watched another hockey game, noticed visible motion artifacts, looked like MPEG4 is a decent step up.

Comcast Sports Philly - not on a dish, you can only get it on cable in the Phila area.
MSG/Fox Sports NY/MSG for Buffalo - SD versions only on DirecTV, HD only on cable in their markets only.

Comcast Sports PHilly had their HD available on Extra Innings this year for D* so I'd hope to expect the same for the NHL season.