Charlie speaks..... Finally!!!

**bigthrust** · 11-14-2007 09:13 AM

Charlie is a frickin' billionaire. He needs to invest in the company that we invest in every month. We want results NOW. D* just added more HD channels that I would watch and these are channels that E* does not have in HD. All of my TVs are HD so HD is mostly what I want to watch. If Dish does not get their a$$ in gear, I may have to jump the fence.

**Voyager6** · 11-14-2007 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by bigthrust

Charlie is a frickin' billionaire. He needs to invest in the company that we invest in every month. We want results NOW. D* just added more HD channels that I would watch and these are channels that E* does not have in HD. All of my TVs are HD so HD is mostly what I want to watch. If Dish does not get their a$$ in gear, I may have to jump the fence.

E* launched E10 last year and has 2 new birds (E11 & AMC14) ready to launch as soon as a launch vehicle is available. Ciel 2, which E* has leased a good part of, is supposed to launch in late 2008. Seems like a significant investment to me. There is not much E* can do UNTIL the new sats are launched and in place. Just like D* couldn't do anything with HD UNTIL D10 was launched and in place. From reports, E* is trying to free up some more TP's for HD with new encoders.

**james_k_p** · 11-14-2007 10:56 AM

Me Too! I was about to make a new post called B*tch about D* getting MORE HD channels that we don't have. Now I'm really getting anxious. And don't give me crap about stretch-o-vision and how half of you don't want it unless it's HD 100% of the time.

If that's you, then don't bother posting for a few years. Others like ME, want the channels as soon as they are offered, even with 5% of HD content so we can grow with the channels as they grow.

As an example, the stretched version of Wizard of Oz on TBSHD this weekend I thought looked really good. I actually had to flip to the standard channel that I had stretched on my display settings to compare and make sure it was stretched by tbs. So would I prefer to have that instead of just an SD TBS? HELL YES!

But I guess we are stuck until new Sat launches next year. Since I'm a dish sub for over 10 years....I guess I'll just wait...but in the mean time, I will B*tch, Moan, Gripe, and I'll like it!

**ScoBuck** · 11-14-2007 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by skottey

Yeah, but if they keep me happy with service I will be a long lasting customer and they will make their money. Also.. don't they refurb and reuse the boxes for new customers?

Your statement is just as true for people that take an initial comittment of 18 or 24 months. But it secures some return on their initial investment. Yes they refurb and resue boxes. But that is still a fraction of boxes put out for new subs.

**ScoBuck** · 11-14-2007 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by richiephx

Many people object to any kind of lease commitments and prefer to pay upfront and own it. I think D*'s business decision to not offer a purchase option may be short sighted on their part.

Maybe SOME people object to leasing, but some also embrace it. And they have been doing it for 1 1/2 years now, and it seems not to be having a negative impact - take a look at the numbers they are posting.

**cincyguy2k4** · 11-14-2007 11:59 AM

I found a good solution for me because Dish does not offer locals in Cincinnati in HD.

I bought a product called HDHomeRun which is a dual ATSC tuner device. Then, I installed a Vista Ultimate machine with a 500GB drive.

I simply connect my Xbox360 and have it connect to the media center running on the Vista PC. With this I have a complete HDTV dual tuner DVR for my local channels.

Did I mention no crap encryption so I can archive the shows I want ?

---------

With that said... Time Warner in our area has begun to offer FREE HD channels to the customer. Also they have all locals in HD.

Its tempting to think about the cable company... while they dont have as many HD channels as Dish or Direct..... they have most of the ones I want in HD (ESPN, ESPN2, Discovery...) and are no longer charging extra fees for the HD version.

Come on... 20 bucks more for a box that cant pick up my locals in HD and has a ton of voom garbage I do not care about. Great deal.....

.

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The thing thats keeping me from changing is the ease of use of the Dish DVR's and the fact that I have been a customer so long. Not to mention I have been treated very fairly by them. There are a lot of customer service nightmares here and am thankful my experience with them has always been pretty good. Being treated right means something in the grand scheme of things.

**heyitsmikewi** · 11-14-2007 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by cincyguy2k4

I found a good solution for me because Dish does not offer locals in Cincinnati in HD.

I bought a product called HDHomeRun which is a dual ATSC tuner device. Then, I installed a Vista Ultimate machine with a 500GB drive.

I simply connect my Xbox360 and have it connect to the media center running on the Vista PC. With this I have a complete HDTV dual tuner DVR for my local channels.

Did I mention no crap encryption so I can archive the shows I want ?

---------

With that said... Time Warner in our area has begun to offer FREE HD channels to the customer. Also they have all locals in HD.

Its tempting to think about the cable company... while they dont have as many HD channels as Dish or Direct..... they have most of the ones I want in HD (ESPN, ESPN2, Discovery...) and are no longer charging extra fees for the HD version.

Come on... 20 bucks more for a box that cant pick up my locals in HD and has a ton of voom garbage I do not care about. Great deal.....

.

---------

The thing thats keeping me from changing is the ease of use of the Dish DVR's and the fact that I have been a customer so long. Not to mention I have been treated very fairly by them. There are a lot of customer service nightmares here and am thankful my experience with them has always been pretty good. Being treated right means something in the grand scheme of things.

In Milwaukee, Time Warner still has channels lower than 100 in analog. So while they have the HD locals, a lot of the normal cable channels look HORRIBLE. Also their DVR is junk. My dad has returned a number of them because they just lose his recordings or say it is full when it is not. With Dish I have all digital and more HD. I get my HD locals via the OTA, which in the beginning I had a lot of problems, but now that that has been fixed, I have an extra tuner to record off of. Makes it nice when you want to record a lot of things off of local channels. Anyway, I too am waiting for more HD, but I have never looked back since switching again from Time Warner. Ok, well maybe only for the On-Demand stuff. THAT is one nice feature they have. The rest, INHO, is junk.

**RealityCheck** · 11-14-2007 12:47 PM

Charlie speaks..... Finally!!!

Sounds to me more like gasping for breath!!!!

**skottey** · 11-14-2007 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by james_k_p

Me Too! I was about to make a new post called B*tch about D* getting MORE HD channels that we don't have. Now I'm really getting anxious. And don't give me crap about stretch-o-vision and how half of you don't want it unless it's HD 100% of the time.

If that's you, then don't bother posting for a few years. Others like ME, want the channels as soon as they are offered, even with 5% of HD content so we can grow with the channels as they grow.

As an example, the stretched version of Wizard of Oz on TBSHD this weekend I thought looked really good. I actually had to flip to the standard channel that I had stretched on my display settings to compare and make sure it was stretched by tbs. So would I prefer to have that instead of just an SD TBS? HELL YES!

But I guess we are stuck until new Sat launches next year. Since I'm a dish sub for over 10 years....I guess I'll just wait...but in the mean time, I will B*tch, Moan, Gripe, and I'll like it!

You had me up until the Wizard of Oz example... I agree, I want the channels as they are available, even if they only have 5% HD... but I do not want content that is in a theater aspect ratio converted to pan and scan 4:3 and then stretched to 16X9. These movies should certainly maintain their aspect ratio. If TBS wants to stretch Seinfeld, fine, but Wizard of Oz needs to maintain its aspect ratio and should be broadcast in HD. There is no excuse for a movie being ripped apart in such fashion. No way!

**drummerguy** · 11-14-2007 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by skottey

You had me up until the Wizard of Oz example... I agree, I want the channels as they are available, even if they only have 5% HD... but I do not want content that is in a theater aspect ratio converted to pan and scan 4:3 and then stretched to 16X9. These movies should certainly maintain their aspect ratio. If TBS wants to stretch Seinfeld, fine, but Wizard of Oz needs to maintain its aspect ratio and should be broadcast in HD. There is no excuse for a movie being ripped apart in such fashion. No way!

This is Turner we're talking about. Remember how they used to colorize all those classic movies? They don't respect the original material. They seem to think they can do whatever they want with it.