DirecTV 7S rollout schedule  

Nice :D

You can always tell when they launch a new satelite. I remember before the last one went up just how bad our local channels had become. Terrible strobe effects from such a severe lack of bandwidth. Once they kicked the satelite into gear everything was peachy. Now I don't really care. I just want more HD. 10 bucks really is a lot for the couple channels we get currently

Personally I would rather they improve the PQ of the existing HD channels before trying to squeeze more in.

ron

Sounds like the plan is coming together. Hope this will mean more HD as some have said. I am fairly new to D*. Now my question is this, will the HD games that D* will broadcast with ST really constitute their doubling of HD offerings or are we likely to get 4 or 5 more channels of HD besides football? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with HD football, as I am considering ST for the first time, I would just like more HD on a regular basis. The success of 7S seemed to me to be directly related to my desire for more HD.

I would like to see HD versions of Fox, ABC and NBC along with some of the other "full time" HD channels. But as usual, I don't get to make that decision. It is like playing the lottery, one can have a small glimmer of hope!

I can tell you for sure, FOX EAST and WEST will be added to D* similar to what they've done with CBS EAST and WEST when FOX goes HD in September.

EDIT: Clarification ...

FOX will go HD in September, however I'm not sure when D* will decide to carry FOX (before they go HD or after).

That info has been up for over a week. Would that have been enough time (2 weeks) to run all the tests?

If you go to the D* web site and poke around you will find a comprehensive list of local markets that they plan to send local signals to within the next several months. I was amazed. The announced goal is to provide 94% local coverage. How much bandwidth will that leave for more HD? Not much I fear. And even if they decide to use some of that bandwidth to offer more HD network feeds ---Fox? NBC? ABC?--in addition to CBS, it won't have any positive impact on us unless we live in a Network Owned and Operated affiliate city/region or are part of the 6% outside one of the D* local zones. It seems as if a lot of folks will get very little more HD from D* or E* for that matter in the near future. We have to hope that Voom stays alive.

why would d* move existing sub off of 101 to 119 if they only planed to put more back on 101? deos not make sense. they are going to free up i belive 4-6 transponders on 101. the new bird gives them much more to work with on 119 and the rest of the new markets are going on the leased space from telasat 5. now i'm not saying they are going to use all that space on 101 for hd, but i belive that some will be used pericularly if they plan on offering half the ST in hd this year........

why would d* move existing sub off of 101 to 119 if they only planed to put more back on 101?

They aren't. My guess is the HD Networks will go up first and any leftover bandwidth will go to either new channels or reducing compression, yeah okay, we can hope. This would give them room for the Majors and maybe a couple other HD feeds, maybe 4.

In the D7S status thread over on DBSForum there's a post from a person that has locals on 101 now but will be moving to 119. He said that D* installers are all over town installing new dishes and upgrading any receiver over 4 years old to support the three slots for the past month. Sounds promising that it will happen on schedule.

I believe that the new (and some of the old) markets will be moving to Spot Beams on 7S. This will free up CONUS transponders for HD material.

I wonder how soon it will be until people start going to the D* HD website and viewing the source.

You mean the buried source that says FOX, ABC, NBC, PBS HD, Starz!, Cinemax, Encore, All CBS (4 games per week) and FOX broadcast HD (six games per week)???

Bad, Skyboss, bad!! :D
Sid

How about posting a piece of that code for all of us to enjoy!

Who was the user that found the ESPN-HD news buried in the source? It was like he found gold. We all danced at work like one of those Microsoft commercials.

Is getting info from a "buried source" like Tiger Woods hearing dead people? I thought that D* would be the last place we would look for information on what they are going to do. At least that is the sense I get from reading the posts of some of the more experienced folks using this forum

Drgolf- Believe it or not, someone monitored the HTML Source code on the Directv website. If you select View from your internet browser and then Source you can see it for the page you are looking at. Anyway, Directv had embedded the ESPN HD roll out in the Code before the news was released and marked it so it wouldn't show up yet. But the person monitoring the source code found it and posted it here.

How about posting a piece of that code for all of us to enjoy!

It was a joke man.

I believe it was the legedary AVS member mythicalphenix (sp?)

Yes, it was:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=266030

Who was the user that found the ESPN-HD news buried in the source? It was like he found gold. We all danced at work like one of those Microsoft commercials.
___________________________________________________


aviators99

How could I forget the mythical_phenix? I think I'll name my first born after him. :D

"Wow! This one will go down in history! What a great find!" - Aviators99

"You the man!! This is the top scoop of the year. Moderator - Give him celebrity status on this board!" - JohnA

"HOly COw.. it's true.. U da Man.. Best find of the YEar... I'm gonna copy it and print it... maybe frame it.. : )" - jvs666

"I think he should be nominated AVS member of the year" - steverobertson

"Let my first post to this forum sing the praises of mythical_phenix, and his hidden code finding skills!!" - Scorp

>>> ESPN-HD - Where it's available, and where it's not! <<<

Ken H
AVS HDTV Moderator

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Metro Detroit
Posts: 15160
A tip of the AVS hat to member aviators99 for breaking this much awaited news.


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POST #3 | Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Actually the 7S capability addition will be rather siginificant. 7S will support all the 101 locals, current 119 spot beam locals and the new "non - 72.5 degree locals", roughly 30 or so beams. This will free up roughly six transponders at 101. In addition, there will be 7 conus transponders at 119. In looking at what channels are out there, D* offers all but about 20 channels of TV that are out and available (Extra VH1 channels, but mostly channels missing from the premium tiers.). What can you do with 13 conus feeds????

Using 3 of the 6 transponders at 101, all the conus SD material can be sent at a higher bit rate (10 channels vs. 12 per transponder) resulting in better PQ. It will also allow D* to put 2 HD feeds only without having to mix with SD material. This leaves room for 6 HD feeds at 101. Probably to be used for CBS, FOX and 2 HD PPV/Special Event feeds. This way, a multi sat dish won' have to be used for Sunday Ticket and special events. Now, there remains 7 conus transponders at 119. Another option is to assign a Conus transponder to each movie pack. 1 HD feed and 6-7 SD feeds. This would allow every HD movie channel and movie pack channel to be available, then move the rest fo the HD to 119. Still leaving room for 14 HD feeds. Not sure what they will do with it, but the majors (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) will fill up 6 of them (2 are already in use). Two for special events and PPV leaving room for 4-6 more channels.

Basically, they'll have 13 feeds available. I beleive 3-6 will go to improving PQ and adding more programming and 10 for HD and special events. This increases D's HD capacity from 9 channels to betwen 20 and 30 HD feeds based on anything adverse happening to 7S or anything else in the system. Effectively doubling HD capacity, or even trippling as said.

God, I hope you're right......then I can justify buying an HD-TIVO

Snoopy, where does this information come from? Is it all just theorizing?

I echo Ken's question. Also, are ABC and NBC HD D* feeds being worked on contractually?

Don

Except for the west coast versions of them, as an antenna user I really am not excited about getting the networks in HD as I already get them in HD better than I'll ever get them from DirecTV. I want to know when I'm getting other non-Network channels in HD.