More Directv HD channels coming in April...

[MRWALKER]

I have just had a discussion with a Directv installer who says he just got back from some school provided by Directv, and he says that Directv is planning to launch 1500 channels in HD in April. He said that by the end of 2006, there will be more channels in HD than in SD. Anyone heard anything like this?

[rbinck]

Did you ask him what he was smoking?

[Tachyon]

I haven't read this but I hope it is true. I recently dropped my subscription to the HD channels because I felt the handful of channels wasn't worth the $11. I'll re-up when they incrase the offering.

[MRWALKER]

He said that they will be broadcast from over 5 different satelites and that customers are supposed to be offered upgrades at a special price. I don't know, we'll just have to see!

[Sport73]

Originally Posted by MRWALKER

I have just had a discussion with a Directv installer who says he just got back from some school provided by Directv, and he says that Directv is planning to launch 1500 channels in HD in April. He said that by the end of 2006, there will be more channels in HD than in SD. Anyone heard anything like this?

The 1500 channels DTV is quoting includes the local/regional HD feeds for all the cities in the country that they currently offer locals for. This means that you will get essentially NO NEW HD CONTENT from their launch, unless you're not already getting NBC/ABC/CBS/Fox etc. via antenna.

There may be a few additional HD channels thrown in, but don't hold your breath for an all-HD line-up.

That said, at least DTV will be able (potentially) to improve SD picture quality with the more efficient mpeg4 format.

[rbinck]

Originally Posted by Sport73

That said, at least DTV will be able (potentially) to improve SD picture quality with the more efficient mpeg4 format.

That will require the change out of in excess of 20 million SD receivers to convert to mpeg4. IMO that is not going to happen for decades.

[HarleyJoel]

I spoke to a DirecTV tech rep over the phone a couple of weeks ago who stated that they will have new HD channels sometime this year but he wasn't too opimistic on the timeline since the launch of one of these two satellites have been delayed. He said that there will eventually be two satellites each capable of 1000 digital channels. He also said the new HD channels will likely be several launched at once. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about but who knows.

[borromini]

As mentioned in one of the previous posts, those HD channles are only for local networks throughout the country. This is old news. The birds that are going to get launched in 2007 will be of key interest to us because those are the birds that will supposedly allow DTV to launch new national HD feeds.

[Jimbos]

Originally Posted by borromini

As mentioned in one of the previous posts, those HD channles are only for local networks throughout the country. This is old news. The birds that are going to get launched in 2007 will be of key interest to us because those are the birds that will supposedly allow DTV to launch new national HD feeds.

Hmm,
Thats what I mentioned earlier about the 3rd and 4th sats going up and what would be on them ......(in a previous post)
Others told me I was crazy, they were only for more locals ......
But, what do I know, we, us. Those of us that try to understand whats going on, vs. those just complaining about lack of info.

Thank you to those of you that really have an interest in this stuff,
you know who you are .

[Cornbread]

Originally Posted by Sport73

That said, at least DTV will be able (potentially) to improve SD picture quality with the more efficient mpeg4 format.

MORE compression doesn't equal better picture quality.

[Jimbos]

Originally Posted by Cornbread

MORE compression doesn't equal better picture quality.

MPEG 4 doesn't mean we get a worse picture.
It all depends on how they use it.
They could decide to bump up the HD bit rates and add HD channels also using some to clear up the SD channels as well.

The queastion is " WILL THEY ???"

More compression means more bandwidth to do things like this.

I do not think you will see much picture improvement, UNTIL the rest of the SATS are up and in D* possession.

Jimbo

[Cornbread]

No one really knows if MPEG 4 will look better or worse that MPEG 2 yet, more bandwidth yes, but not necessarily a better picture. The compression/decompression will be more extreme thusly enhancing the possibility of picture degradation.

[Jimbos]

Originally Posted by Cornbread

No one really knows if MPEG 4 will look better or worse that MPEG 2 yet, more bandwidth yes, but not necessarily a better picture. The compression/decompression will be more extreme thusly enhancing the possibility of picture degradation.

==========================================
D* had better not go backward, seeing they are clearly going forward in technology ....
Keep in mind D* is not the only one moving forward to MPEG 4 , DISH will , I think your computer has been using more efficient technology for quite a while.
This MPEG 4 thing is not something, a D* employee decided to try , to see what it would do.
I am sure it has been researched for quite some time.

I have faith that if done right, this will be a huge and positive move for the company.

PS. I am in no way associated with D*, other than paying my bill on time.

Jimbo

[dblack10219]

Can anyone explain how the MPEG-4 format "helps" the end user (DirecTV customer) other than providing higher compression of data stream to enable more hours of recording on a DVR type machine?

[chrpai]

MPEG4 can achieve the same PQ as MPEG2 but use less space. You already identified one benefit, the other is room for more channels on the transponders over the dish.

Its just a more efficient use of the system to allow for more content.