[F4Boy]

I'm going to be the optimist here...


I moved into a new house last April (2003) and at the time I connected to D*, they offered HBO, SHO, and HDNET in HD. I wanted more. I wanted networks. I'm 70 miles from the LA towers and have no chance of receiving anything OTA. In Sept '03, we get the HD package with Discovery, HDNTMV, ESPN (is this when ESPN was turned on?) etc. I still want networks but my local cable (Adelphia) doesn't offer anything. If they had networks and some other HD channels, I'd switch. Then, D* comes through in a huge way for the Super Bowl and CBS in January, and announces Fox. Yeah I know, it's taking forever. But they are obviously trying to get the network full time. In the mean time, we get the baseball playoffs. Was this not a phenomenal weekend to veg out and watch some great baseball in HD?? Then in August, again D* steps up to the plate with the Olympics (terrible feed for sure, but you can't blame D*) NBC and Bravo. (Yeah, I know). Now Fox is imminent for the full time network. ABC is the only one left. And of course, other movie channels, TNT, etc. For the most part though, I think D* is doing a fairly good job at adding HD content. They are increasing bandwith at a very large rate to accomodate more HD. They repeatedly state that HD is a priority, and all their actions confirm this. I know we all want everything yesterday, but I feel we are making some pretty good progress. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, 6-7 HD football games available for Sunday ticket subs. Last year we got one.



Of course,these networks are for O&O markets which benefits many, but also doesn't help a lot of others. I do feel for the people that do not receive the networks in HD. Good luck to all of you in getting this resolved quickly.

 

[kaa1954]

I agree. I find it increasingly easy to stay exclusively "HD" when watching TV on D*. Watching HD baseball from 2 till 9 PM (west coast) doesn't hurt either. No flames here.

 

[the-sloth]

i agree. D* gives me 2x or 3x what my cable co could offer me.

 

[RDJR]

I also must agree. Although FOX-HD e/w can't come on soon enough. I complain alot here but I pretty much watch sports and news on TV and my sports viewing is almost exclusively HD now thanks to D*. Did I mention I still can't watch the NY Giants in HD every Sunday.

 

[Snoopy4]

Ditto. Can't wait for the new sats. After all the waiting I've already done, what 18 more months!

 

[drgolf]

Anyone that spends time looking at the available information and can separate it from the mis-information will understand that good things are coming to D* HD. We need to get over our child like behavior where we want everything now or we throw a tantrum to see what is coming. By the way, I rated the last weekend including the Thursday night ESPN HD game as a WOW. Much great HD stuff on D* and more to come.


At any point one service will be better than the other with their latest addition. What we need to look for is the staying power, who will provide the best service in the long run. Choosing an HD provider is an individual decision we each will make. However, I must agree that D* is doing a pretty good job with more to come.

 

[vurbano]

D* offers no more HD than my local cable company, with the exception of sunday ticket. I enjoyed baseball and MNF all night last night thanks to an antenna, sat providers had nothing to do with it. D*'s HD pak is of little value at the moment, IMO

 

[RDJR]

"with the exception of sunday ticket". LOL. That's a pretty big exception to football fans like myself.

 

[vurbano]

Quote:

Originally posted by RDJR "with the exception of sunday ticket". LOL. That's a pretty big exception to football fans like myself.

Its great. But I have a hard time considering it a real network. Its a series of sports subscription channels really that operate for about 7 hours one day a week.

 

[dmedina]

A little off topic, but do you notice the D* SD channels looking better? I thought I was hallucinating on Sunday, but I thought a number of SD channels improved in picture quality. Yesterday I was watching the STL/HOU game on FX between innings and it looked watchable. I wonder what they did...


Back on topic, where I live, my cable company provides all the local channels I get off the antenna already in HD. And they have HBO and Showtime. No Bravo, No HD game of the week, no espn hd, no SUNDAY TICKET games (i love watching 9 HD games a week), etc. etc. So for my money, I too agree that D* is getting it done


Dave

 

[vurbano]

Quote:

Originally posted by F4Boy I'm going to be the optimist here... I moved into a new house last April (2003) and at the time I connected to D*, they offered HBO, SHO, and HDNET in HD. I wanted more. I wanted networks. I'm 70 miles from the LA towers and have no chance of receiving anything OTA. In Sept '03, we get the HD package with Discovery, HDNTMV, ESPN (is this when ESPN was turned on?) etc. I still want networks but my local cable (Adelphia) doesn't offer anything. If they had networks and some other HD channels, I'd switch. Then, D* comes through in a huge way for the Super Bowl and CBS in January, and announces Fox. Yeah I know, it's taking forever. But they are obviously trying to get the network full time. In the mean time, we get the baseball playoffs. Was this not a phenomenal weekend to veg out and watch some great baseball in HD?? Then in August, again D* steps up to the plate with the Olympics (terrible feed for sure, but you can't blame D*) NBC and Bravo. (Yeah, I know). Now Fox is imminent for the full time network. ABC is the only one left. And of course, other movie channels, TNT, etc. For the most part though, I think D* is doing a fairly good job at adding HD content. They are increasing bandwith at a very large rate to accomodate more HD. They repeatedly state that HD is a priority, and all their actions confirm this. I know we all want everything yesterday, but I feel we are making some pretty good progress. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, 6-7 HD football games available for Sunday ticket subs. Last year we got one. Of course,these networks are for O&O markets which benefits many, but also doesn't help a lot of others. I do feel for the people that do not receive the networks in HD. Good luck to all of you in getting this resolved quickly.

TNT and ABC are the only ones left?


where is StarzHD east and west?

cinemaxhd east and west?

TMCHD?

a second feed of HBO and SHO?

 

[drgolf]

vurbano, like I said everyone has to make their own decison. If I only had the choice of the local cable company or OTA, my HD stations would = 0. Being in that situation makes D* a very good deal for me and I am happy to have the option with all of the HD. With 11 HD channels plus Sunday Ticket plus HD specials like Fox LCS, I am way ahead of the zero. What my decision really came down to was between the DBS options and I chose D*

 

[vonzoog]

I thought that I read somewhere in this forum that D* was going to offer "local" HD network channels in the future. I would assume that this will take another 18 to 24 months to be true. Not being able to receive OTA signals and NBC not giving me a waiver while all the rest of the networks have, this looks to be my only way of ever receiving all the networks in HD.


Does anyone have any information on this? Maybe a moderator??


Other than fighting D* over waivers (I know that it is not their fault), I do not believe there is really anything to complain about with D* They actually provide a first class product.

 

[fredfa]

vonzoog:

D* says it will offer 500 HD LIL channels (that could be 60 markets or more) by mid 2005 when its two new satellites go up. Another 1,000 HD LILs would be added with new satellite capacity in 2007.

Check DirecTV's site under investor relations and the news release will give you all the details.

 

[Tonedeaf]

Here is the thread from the hardware forum with D* press release.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=443890

 

[vonzoog]

fredfa & Tonedeaf,


THANKS

 

[Darin]

Quote:

Originally posted by vurbano TNT and ABC are the only ones left? where is StarzHD east and west? cinemaxhd east and west? TMCHD? a second feed of HBO and SHO?

I don't think you read his post close enough. Look again:
Quote:

ABC is the only one left. And of course, other movie channels, TNT, etc.

 

[ucsbgaucho]

What really is the point of HD locals? 99.9% of local network affiliates still do all their stuff in SD (news, local programs, etc) and won't be going HD anytime soon, most probably won't for maybe 5-10 years. so why bring HD locals to everyone, instead they could save the bandwith and spend all that satellite money on working with the FCC to allow everyone access to the national feeds during prime-time, or during times when the network is airing its programming. I know, you're still missing out on the local ads that run during these times, but I think DirecTV could take its money and charge for getting the national network feeds instead of every local in HD, which will only be HD when the network runs a program, and then you've got 500 channels showing identical programming.

 

[chrisexv6]

I have to agree with the OPs assessment.


I too was questioning switching from D* to digital cable, because cable seemed to offer more HD at the time. Here we are 6 months later, and cable still offers the same amount of HD, but D* has gone to great lengths to make it obvious that they are trying to add even more. They added Fox just in time for the Yanks, they get props for that from me (even though I pull it OTA).


They added NBC and CBS (I can only get NBC because its O&O in my area, again, more props because I couldnt pull it in with an antenna).


The icing on the cake was when I actually saw the digital cable signal available in my area. D* SD on a bad day blows it away. I couldnt believe it, cable has "so much more bandwidth" but it was blatantly obvious that they were compressing the heck out of the signal, and that was on a 48" TV I was sitting 12' away from. I sit 11' from my 65" TV and D* SD looks 100% better.


I will be with D* for a very long time. When the new sats come up, I have a feeling that will solidify me never even looking elsewhere. Hopefully they come through how D* says they will.


BTW, the point of HD locals is the fact that a TON of the HD programming now available is during prime time on "the big 3", which are "locals" for most of us. All 3 of the CSIs in HD should be seen to be believed. Miami especially, all those beach scenes


-Chris

 

[bonscott87]

Yep, I totally agree. Vurbano obviously has a good cable choice, good for him. I and many, many others don't. They offer not even half the channels D* offers. I do get all my HD locals via OTA so I am lucky there.


I think D* and E* are both nearly the same with HD offerings other then D* with Sunday Ticket and baseball playoffs. But E* seems to have no plan whereas D* does. Thus why I'm with D*.


And yes I have also noticed a PQ increase in SD lately and posted in another thread a couple weeks ago about it. HBO and Showtime have looked very, very good lately and even Sci-Fi has looked great like with the Farscape mini-series.