DISH Network adds 10 more HD Channels

[high def mon]

Just got off the phone with a tech and Dish is going to charge $5. a month for the new (10 for now) HD channels. This was on top of the HD package. You also have to have a dish pointed at 61.5. I tried to sign up on the spot to no avail. They said to call back on Sunday.

[bbk5150]

What a waste for some very good bandwidth. Dish is wasting space for these Voom channels. I used to have Voom and I can tell you that all of the Voom channels suck. Sure, the picture quality is good, but that overall quality of the content blows. I knew that had I stayed with Dish that they would not add any COMPELLING HD content . I am sure glad I went back to Comcast and got a free HD DVR with all the premium channels for about $50 a month.

[retorq]

Over at another forum they are all getting conflicting statements, some are told 110 some were told there were 14 channel, some where told there was nothing.

Originally Posted by high def mon

Just got off the phone with a tech and Dish is going to charge $5. a month for the new (10 for now) HD channels. This was on top of the HD package. You also have to have a dish pointed at 61.5. I tried to sign up on the spot to no avail. They said to call back on Sunday.

[GRN]

Aside from the fact that Echostar's own CSR's are clueless about the new HD channels (and I don't think any longtime DISH customers and posters on this forum are genuinely surprised ), keep in mind that these new channels are being offered without the benefit of the satellite Echostar purchased from VOOM. Which means that, once that satellite goes up, there will be an even larger selection of HD channels to choose from (albeit HD locals, in all probability).

And I'm a bit nonplussed as to how the 10 HD channels are a "waste of very good bandwidth". The real waste of bandwidth was when DISH was doing absolutely nothing with it. At least now they have (or are going to have) new HD content, something that DISH customers have been howling for seemingly forever.

We may very well see Starz-HD and Cinemax-HD in the future. Rome was not built in a day.

[daleb]

Originally Posted by GRN

And I'm a bit nonplussed as to how the 10 HD channels are a "waste of very good bandwidth". The real waste of bandwidth was when DISH was doing absolutely nothing with it.

Well said!
The latest is the 14 channels will beam down from the 61 deg satellite. So some of us may have to add a dish to receive it. Not a big deal, but I also read the HD package may go up $5/mo.

If you have a Dish 500 like I do, (I get the 110/119 sat.) you need to upgrade LNBs to Pro versions, order another dish for the 61 sat. with a pro LNB (you ony need one LNB for the 2nd dish) and a pro switch (#DP34).
I don't know what installers will charge for all that. I suspect if you get out with a $100 you are doing okay. If you ever had to pay list price for all these dish antenna components, no one would have satellite.
In the end, you will have another 14 channels of HD material. It's a personal choice as to how many of those you will like. As anyone who has been receiving HD programming for a while knows, HD is not that hot without good content. And sometimes with some old shows HD is not really even recognizable as HD.

[retorq]

Out of curiosity, why would the 500 have to be upgraded to a pro LNB?? This is the first mention I've seen of upgrading the existing equipment.

[GRN]

Originally Posted by retorq

Out of curiosity, why would the 500 have to be upgraded to a pro LNB?? This is the first mention I've seen of upgrading the existing equipment.

That's a good question. I got the 61.5 dish installed last year, I got the 811 and HD package last year, and had no hardware upgraded. I still use the same LNB's and whatnot from the initial installation in 2000.

Can anyone get a definitive answer on that? daleb? rbinck? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

[infamous_pb]

Dishnetwork told me that I need another dish pointing at the 61.5. How much does a seperate dish, installation, etc. cost (beside the additional $5 a month)?

[rickbbb]

It was such a misleading press release yesterday.But when I called Dish Network they told me its only for new customers who were past Voom customers. That SUCKS !

[daleb]

Originally Posted by GRN

That's a good question. I got the 61.5 dish installed last year, I got the 811 and HD package last year, and had no hardware upgraded. I still use the same LNB's and whatnot from the initial installation in 2000.

Can anyone get a definitive answer on that? daleb? rbinck? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

Top of page 88 in the 811 manual under multiple Dish installations, it says you can not use pro LNBs with Legacy hardware. I am assuming Legacy hardware is 'older' hardware?
I am painting the worst picture here, as I prefer to be pleasantly surprised by being wrong, than the alternative.

[infamous_pb]

Originally Posted by rickbbb

It was such a misleading press release yesterday.But when I called Dish Network they told me its only for new customers who were past Voom customers. That SUCKS !

They didnt tell me that. They said it was for anyone w/ a 61.5 dish

[retorq]

They told me an extra dish was $60 thru them, others were saying $90. You also need a switch from what I have read, no idea on how much that is new. Ebay has dishes and switches for less than half that.

Originally Posted by infamous_pb

Dishnetwork told me that I need another dish pointing at the 61.5. How much does a seperate dish, installation, etc. cost (beside the additional $5 a month)?

[GRN]

Originally Posted by daleb

Top of page 88 in the 811 manual under multiple Dish installations, it says you can not use pro LNBs with Legacy hardware. I am assuming Legacy hardware is 'older' hardware?
I am painting the worst picture here, as I prefer to be pleasantly surprised by being wrong, than the alternative.

Gotcha. I talked about this once with a friend of mine who was an installer, and while I am in no way an expert in installer-speak, I believe if you have the old Legacy hardware you're fine. You're not supposed to mix the hardware, true, but once you have the two dishes installed (I already have the DISH 500 plus the 61.5 dish as well), then you're good to go. I would assume that the people that might have a problem are the longtime DISH suscribers who have the Legacy Hardware and never had the 61.5 dish installed.

But since I'm not an installer, I'm not going to even make believe that the scenario above is correct. Someone else is probably better equipped to handle this subject than I am.

rbinck or fredinva?

[retorq]

numbskully is/was a Dish installer I believe. Maybe he'll drop in and let us know.

[daleb]

Originally Posted by GRN

Gotcha. I talked about this once with a friend of mine who was an installer, and while I am in no way an expert in installer-speak, I believe if you have the old Legacy hardware you're fine. You're not supposed to mix the hardware, true, but once you have the two dishes installed (I already have the DISH 500 plus the 61.5 dish as well), then you're good to go. I would assume that the people that might have a problem are the longtime DISH suscribers who have the Legacy Hardware and never had the 61.5 dish installed.

But since I'm not an installer, I'm not going to even make believe that the scenario above is correct. Someone else is probably better equipped to handle this subject than I am.

rbinck or fredinva?

I am in the latter category, so I may have to ante up. We will see how all this falls out. Dish should be infroming people what they will need soon. And of course, if they plan to suck another 5'er a month out of us for it, it should be very soon.