[CZ Eddie]

After some brief reading it appears as though DirecTV may be gearing for a huge HD channel lineup in 2005.


What are the latest rumors on this? Which of the two providers are most likely to come out of 2005 as the clear winner in HD channel lineups?


If you wish to include Voom on this discussion, feel free... but I would rather not, as Voom is a big "?" as far as the long-term is concerned.

 

[arxaw]

Quote:

Re: Dish or DirecTV in 2005?

DIRECTV - definitely.

 

[mikegt]

Eddie:


DirecTV doesn't have the capacity right now to add more HD

channels - in fact, according to others on this forum they've

been lowering the quality (bitrate) of what they do have

because of lack of bandwidth. There is talk of launching a

new satellite to increase bandwidth but it should be considered

"just talk" until the bird is successfully launched and DirecTV

actually uses the extra capacity for HD.


Voom is the only service dedicated to providing as much HD

as possible, and they are doing it TODAY. I used to have DirecTV

but gave up on them due to their picture quality issues and

their lukewarm support for HD. I've had Voom since the Spring

and have been very happy with it. As far as longevity, this

depends on how many of us are willing to support what Voom is

trying to do, which is to provide as many HD channels as possible

at the highest quality possible - a goal very different from the

other services and broadcasters, who would prefer to give us

low-rez shopping and PPV channels to maximize their revenue.

If we allow Voom to fail this will set back the cause of HD

considerably. Their failure will be held-up as proof by the other

providers that consumers don't really want HD. If Voom fails it is

likely that DirecTV will find a way to backtrack on whatever plans

they currently have to offer more HD in the future.


Mike G.

 

[CZ Eddie]

edit, see below

 

[CZ Eddie]

Quote:

Originally posted by CZ Eddie Sorry, I should have put this in the HD programming forum. I posted it there now: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=459054 Thanksf for the feedback so far!

Well that thread got deleted for some reason.

 

[mjones73]

MikeGT, I doubt you will see D* backtrack if Voom fails, it sounds like their intent is to put up the bandwidth to start carrying locals in the future, something I haven't seen Voom announce they plan to do yet personally.


It's great Voom has 30 something HD channels but I've read numerous complaints online that the content of most of the channels is limited, that they have bad installers and that their customer service isn't all that great. If Voom wants to continue to grow, they need to work on their own issues.


I do hope they do well, competition is always good for the consumers. Personally I was considering them myself but after all the bad things I've read about them, the fact that I'd have to rent or pay a good amount of money for each receiver I needed, would still need cable to supplement programming on my other TV's and of course the fact my wife had to have Lifetime, I ended up going elsewhere.

 

[Rick_R]

Dish launched a new satellite on 10/14/04 but has not specified what they will use the satellite for. It takes 1-2 months to check out a new satellite before putting it into service. We shall see soon if Dish intends to use this for more HD. My guess is that we will soon see lots of more HD from Dish.


Rick R