[Troytn]

I posted this in the hdtv programming and meant to post here since its a hardware report.

Echostar mentioned IF they buy Directv the first thing they want to do is replace every Directv receiver with a dish network receiver. I would hate to give up my Sony HD100.

What are your thoughts?


Here is the news report:


ECHOSTAR MAY FORCE NEWS CORP TO UP ANTE FOR DIRECTV

EchoStar Communications' $30-billion bid for Hughes Electronics, operator of DirecTV, may force News Corp, the leading suitor for the General Motors-owned company, to raise its bid, according to analysts and investors interviewed by Bloomberg News. It would also force News Corp to make its bid public so that investors in GM and Hughes can assess it, the wire service observed. It quoted Vic Hawley of investment advisors Reed Conner & Birdwell as saying that GM "can force a sub-par deal to a point, but to get our approval, Murdoch has to make it clear to us that this is a deal we want over EchoStar." Meanwhile, EchoStar said Tuesday that it would replace DirecTV receivers in subscribers' homes with its own over the next four years at a cost of $2.5 billion.


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Troy

 

[vruiz]

You will be assimilated! Resistance is futile! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


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Vic Ruiz
STOP HDCP/DFAST/5C

 

[baimo]

It would probably be OK for most people. By the time they were ready to replace the STB's the technology would probably be next generation.

 

[B Smooth]

Maybe I have not seen the latest GUI for DISH (maybe someone can post a URL), but the one I did see was absolute crap. I cant imagine folks would willingly step down from their Sony's and RCA's interfaces for that.


Am I supposed to give up my DirecTivo unit for a Dishplayer....I don't think so.

 

[baimo]

The GUI is not very high tech, but the next HDTV-receiver will have open-tv and a recordable hard drive. It will be much nicer than the present models.

I still doubt that DISH will win this battle.

baimo

 

[Kipp Jones]

Hey if Dish is willing to cover the cost to upgrade ....by then all the boxes will have all the new copy protection...I'll take it.


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Kipp


IS THAT A REMOTE CONTROL IN YOUR POCKET OR ARE YOU JUST HAPPY TO SEE HDTV?

 

[Carbo]

I would rather shut my TV off forever then switch to their [email protected]#$.

 

[davegust]

Get real folks. There are a lot of big names that stand to lose big investments in DirecTV products if the receivers are quickly obsoleted (RCA, Philips, Sony, Microsoft, etc). I can't imagine Bill Gates would let Charlie shut down his Ultimate TV show so quickly.

 

[Glimmie]

If Dish simply wants to manufacture or slap it's name on Direct boxes that's one thing and easily done if all the legal stuff is in line such as supplier deals.


But if they mean literally replacing D* boxes with E* boxes, it becomes much more complicated. The two companies use different transport streams and compression systems. Not only would the STB's need to be replaced but also a large portion of the broadcast system, the compression units. Plus this probably would require major changes to the conditional access system witch by the way is designed and supported by a News Corp owned subsidary - NDS limited and Tandberg Corp. Perhaps that is why Charlie wants to make such a change if he gets Direct.


And if that's not eonugh, you would need to do it in a very short cutover time unless you support both systems for a period of time. And to support both systems, all Direct's programming would need to be duplicated in both systems.


Not very likely.

 

[rogo]

Ergen is clearly talking about switching conditional access systems, canceling the entire DirecTV datastream, etc.


Eventually.


It is how we realizes all the synergies in the deal.


It is also because Dish has much better hacker prevention technology than DirecTV. Hacking Dish has been harder to do, and harder to keep running.


Mark

 

[Glimmie]

Agreed, Dish uses DVB. This is a widely supported European digital television standard and has a slight quality edge over the DirecTV system.


DirecTV uses a in house designed system that could be difficult to support if Hughes retains their engineering group. (Or Charlie is dumb enough to fire or piss them all off and make them quit)


In all fairness DirecTV was first with a two year lewad on Dish. They simply had no choice but to design their own system. Echostar was fortunate to leverage the advancements in digital television when the launched.

 

[John Klaczynski]

Quote:

Get real folks. There are a lot of big names that stand to lose big investments in DirecTV products if the receivers are quickly obsoleted (RCA, Philips, Sony, Microsoft, etc). I can't imagine Bill Gates would let Charlie shut down his Ultimate TV show so quickly.

Huh? Big investment? - Hardly - for the most part, they have taken the basics already designed from Hughs and relabeled them (Most of their individual investments is in the GUIs) - Heck, when the press informed these manufactures of the ability of DirecTV to shut down the Hi-Rez outputs of the DTC100 clones, most manufacturers responded with "We didn't know that."


Having said that, somewhat more problematic are the sets which have DirecTV receivers builtin. - Charlie would have to supply STBs for those folks, who would probably get PO'ed not at E*, but at RCA et al.


Finally, about PO'ing Bill Gates... The Dishplayer comes to mind here - It's been out about 2 years and is already an orphaned product.

 

[John_D]

I have a RCA DTC-100 and a DISH 6000, the DISH interface is extremely poor in comparison and I hope I never have to use that Commodore 64 looking crap as my primary guide/interface.

 

[rashid11]

It is rather obvious that Dish, when & if its bid is acceptedby Hughes & cleared by the Feds. would eventually want to convert the former DTV subs to their own technology.


While I dont see anything wrong with Dish swapping my

DTC100 in say about a year, with a new OTA-enabled and

recording-enabled receiver __with analog__ outputs, I have

difficulties visualizing it.. with competition gone ..,


Interestingly enough, it would provide Dish with a unique opp to please MPAA by simply refusing to deliver an STB with analog outputs to former DTV HD subs, instantly rendering our equipment obsolete. I hope they have brains not to do that .


Another problem, for me, is I can not possibly see Dish's birds and I was extremely lucky to receive DTV.


If they keep the sat positions and replace them with their

own sats (can existing DTV transponders be used for Dish ? I guess they can be, as the modulation is done @ the Earth transmitting center and it's only frequency shifting amp & antenna grid @ the sat ?), what would be great. I like the idea of having 3 birds in the same region of the sky much more than having to have 2 separate dishes pointing different ways.


On a positive note, if the deal goes through, Dish will become a force that MPAA will have to reckon with (what is the total number of subs they will end up with ? 15M ?) and

may be, just may be, they will have guts to stand up to HDCP crap.

 

[Michael4JBL]

I would love to get rid of my Sony Directtv receiver and switch to HD-Dish HBO and Showtime. The Sony receiver is the worst componet in my system. If I could trade that in to Dish and upgrade to HDTV I would. I'll be the first to jump on that bandwagon.


[This message has been edited by Michael4JBL (edited 08-09-2001).]

 

[chap]

I could be wrong, but I thought I read a couple of weeks ago that Dish gave up on the bid for DirecTV. DirecTV had sent the bid back because it wasn't high enough and Dish gave up. Of course this all could have changed.


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STOP DVI/HDCP!!!!!

 

[gnosys]

I don't see how the Dish deal can possibly go through, but if it does, there are positive and negative things about it. The plus side is the bandwidth for HD increases a great deal; the negative is lack of competition and the need to standardize equipment. I can't see Dish voluntarily re-equipping all the DTV based systems for free! The built-in systems are a special problem.

This one is a non-starter, for a number of reasons.

John in VA


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[This message has been edited by gnosys (edited 08-09-2001).]

 

[kagato]

Considering the subscriber size, I would guess it's the other way around. I think we're more likely to never see another old sytle Dish Network box ever again. On the other hand, dish may take that as a chance to mandate the OpenTV interface. Which generally isn't that bad of a thing. But that's as far as I could see Charle pushing it.

 

[rogo]

Kagato, you are wrong.


They will definitely use DVB and the Nagra conditional access system that Dish uses.


It will take years, but it will happen.


Period.


Mark

 

[Will7]

Quote:

Originally posted by rogo: Kagato, you are wrong. They will definitely use DVB and the Nagra conditional access system that Dish uses. It will take years, but it will happen. Period. Mark

Yah right! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif This is not just about sending you the receiver and you install it. There is also the question of the multiple dish and aiming issue. I can see Charley contracting the National Guard to do the job. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif




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I Want My Sports In HDTV