DIRECTV Sued Over HDTV Picture Quality - Page 2

One of the attorneys that filed this complaint is a member here at AVS, and this was talked about here over a year ago although I haven't seen him post recently. I believe the actual complaint was filed in Nov 2004.

The below are what I believe to be the meat of the complaint.

Today, no they can't. But by the time this winds it way through the system, D* 10 and D*11 will be operational and D* would be able to do so if they chose to.

Let's hope that after the new sats are up that D* does return to full-rez HD and this suit goes away.

Tommylotto?

this should be sticky'd and the 100 channels by christmas sticky should come down.

I think so, I don't recall the exact name.

I want to see DirecTV relabel the channels it downconverts as HDTV Lite.

If there is a company dumping waste illegally in your neighborhood, should you just move somewhere else? What if the guy is a NFL ST fan and has nowhere else to go? Why can't someone use our legal system to seek justice, when D* apparently is falsely advertising something then delivered less, and for a long time without any regard of the complaints from the HD subs who pay a good sum for their HD product. Then what was our legal system for?

Apparently there are those who at any point of dissatisfaction in life, their solution is to simply avoid.

Raises hand. I won't pay for the HD package and receive none of those channels. I watch MNF in SD right now.

If this lawsuit accomplishes nothing else I hope that it scares ALL providers into NOT downrezzing HDTV signals.

yeah, they wont cough up valuable subscription dollars just to appease a few quality whores. What is much more likely is that they would put in very small print on each HD related ad that HD channels are recompressed to ensure optimum picture quality or other some such nonsense.

From a legal point of view there is nothing that prevents, unless there is a contractural agreement with the program provider, the downrezzing of HDTV signals as long as Direct, Dish, or cable etc., does not advertise that the signals being provided are HDTV.

Interesting. I don't consider this frivilous.

False advertising is illegal with good reason and should always be challenged.

Many letters and forums brought this issue to DTV's attention and they refused to acknowledge or fix the issue. A class action lawsuit was practically inevitable.

DTV will ultimately either need to broadcast within full HD specs or come up with their own marketing term which connotes High Def..."Digitally Higher Definition" or something stupid...with a footnote indicating the range of their broadcast.

I can also see them dropping the $10/month fee for HD until they can broadcast at full bandwidth. That would be a nice enough win for me (unabashed ST fan).

D* does have the capacity NOW to offer true HD. It is a matter of priority, they decided to offer HD LIL, and pay no attention to the national HDs and quality.

I hope this lawsuit not only get D* to take notice, but E* as well.

You are kidding right? You are to believe the HD providers will agree not to advertise their HD products as HDTV?

Yep. It would be so funny if D* were required to label their HD as something less.

I knew this day would come. Glad too see someone setup to the plate regarding dowrezzing. For those who think it is a frivolous....shame on you. D* and E* are dead wrong for downrezzing. How can you accept that???

Will D* and E* be legally forced to stop downrezzing? Probably not as long as they keep the horizontal resolution and 720p and 1080i (that is legally what can be considered HD).

Will they be forced to add a disclaimer to their Ads as to not mislead consumers on what "type" of HD they are broadcasting....almost guaranteed.

As long as they refuse to acknowledge the problem they won't willingly seek a solution.

"DIRECTV from day 1 has always been about providing great picture quality."

He probably believes his own BS.

Makes sense if they're not actually HD...

The outcome of this law suit is about as clear as D* HD.

I am a happy E* subscriber (since 1999) but I would like to see this happen to E* as well.

If Mr. Swann's article is correct, since the filing of the lawsuit DirecTV has been trying to get this resolved via arbitration rather than a civil suit. It's taken this long to get the ruling on that point. We probably won't get any comments from the AVS member since this is under litigation. I think El Segundo is in Los Angeles County, so I guess this suit would be there. Right? Might be fun to pack the courtroom with disgruntled HD viewers. I wish I could attend.

Yes, to the best of my knowledge, this most recent activity is only by whether or not DirecTV can use arbitration-it did not address anything about the complaint itself, PQ, etc. The court said no to DirecTV and the suit will progress.

As an attorney myself, this is embarassing.

If you don't like the picture quality, subscribe to another service.

Finally...some progress being made against the deceptive practice of HD-Lite.

We need to get HDNet World Report there for it. Just so we can see downrezzed HD about a service that is downrezzed.

It would be nice if this would bleed over to local channels & multicasting. Of course we don't pay for those channels.

I wonder if this is why Murdoch said 100 channels on D* by Christmas.

Yeah, and if the car you just bought doesn't run, just buy another one.

Except that the "car" here is not "not running", it's just not as zippy as you'd like it to be.

Almost. You should have said, "it's just not as zippy as they told you it would be."

Right. The allegation here is not that the product doesn't meet expectations. The allegation is that the product is not as advertised.

Yup, not as advertised.

Ford had to recall Mustang Cobras a few years ago because they were not making the stated horsepower. They made horsepower, but not the advertised amount. All of the Cobras were recalled and retrofitted with a new intake to bring the HP up. So the zippy car comment applies.

D* advertised HDTV. D* providing less than HDTV standards. Hopefully the outcome will be that D* must bring up the quality to full HDTV standards.