What we are hearing...

[Scott Greczkowski]

First off... Everything you read here should be considered a RUMOR until you see it yourself... And I think you are going to like what you see.

Second... this information is made up of not only information I found out myself through my contacts but is also made up from information that other staff members have found and reported in our staff area. The information has been compiled together (and a lot of it matches from all of our sources)

So here we go...

It appears the new channels may not appear until Tuesday or Wednesday. While there could be a chance they could go up earlier, it is doubtfull as they need to prep for the NFL Ticket on Sunday which takes a lot of work to put on.

We should see anywhere from 10 to 25 HD channels next week. With TBS HD and CNN HD being the first ones available. Additionaly channels will be rolled out through the month of October.

Say GOODBYE to HDLITE on DirecTV, we are hearing full resolution on all the new MPEG4 channels! All channels will be using VBR (variable bit rate) encoding. In addition DirecTV is only putting 4 MPEG4 channels per transponder (Dish Network does 6 per transponder at 1440x1080) DirecTV will be doing 4 per transponder at 1920x1080. (The 720p channels will be at full resolution which is 1280x720)

It is expected that current MPEG2 HD channels will be available in MPEG4, for the MPEG4 versions of the channels users must tune to the SD channel number for that channel and the MPEG4 version will automatically be tuned.

And there you have it. Remember until you see it for yourself then consider this just a rumor.

 

[digiblur]

You can't compare apples to oranges. Without knowing the raw bitrate per TP it makes no sense to compare how many channels they have per TP. They could very well be using a high FEC due to the KA band resulting in a lower usuable bit rate on each TP.

 

[JAG72]

Thanks for the info Scott. If this is true then it is really good news right now. The only piece I would like to know more on is the 4 channels per transponder. To get their capacity of 150 national HD channels they would need around 40 transponders. Does D10 and D11 have 40 transponders for national HD use?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You can't compare apples to oranges. Without knowing the raw bitrate per TP it makes no sense to compare how many channels they have per TP. They could very well be using a high FEC due to the KA band resulting in a lower usuable bit rate on each TP.

I have the transponder map and frequencies and what is on each transponder.

 

[stone phillips420]

great news, thanks 4 the update

 

[digiblur]

I have the transponder map and frequencies and what is on each transponder.

Cool... doesn't answer my question though. I'd like to see the raw throughput they get per TP. 40 megabit like DishNetwork? Maybe less?

 

[skyviewmark]

I hope when all this is said and done, and the channels are on and being watched, that someone finds out exactly what the heck happened and why they were not put on when they implied they would..

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Cool... doesn't answer my question though. I'd like to see the raw throughput they get per TP. 40 megabit like DishNetwork? Maybe less?

That I don't know.

I was told by 3 people that they air aiming to look as good if not better then FIOS.

 

[beast37799]

gotta love competition

 

[Rosebud97]

The office of the president responded to my e-mail request about HD rollout. The rep confirmed that 19th was the date for the deployment, but DirecTV ran into some technical problems. He did not disclose the source of the problems, but they are working on a fix now. It's unclear from the conversation whether they have identified the problem and a fix.

Yet, DirecTV, the rep said, will begin rolling out the new HD programming next week. He sounded certain, but he didn't provide enough info for me to decide whether he knew what's what.

I assume there's a lot of screaming and finger pointing within the organization right now.

 

[anhmduk]

It appears the new channels may not appear until Tuesday or Wednesday. While there could be a chance they could go up earlier, it is doubtfull as they need to prep for the NFL Ticket on Sunday which takes a lot of work to put on.

We should see anywhere from 10 to 25 HD channels next week. With TBS HD and CNN HD being the first ones available. Additionaly channels will be rolled out through the month of October.



And there you have it. Remember until you see it for yourself then consider this just a rumor.

Lets hope this time we end up seeing some channels. Thanks Scott

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Lets hope this time we end up seeing some channels. Thanks Scott

I hope so, I am getting tired of answering all these PM's and emails asking me when I think the new channels will come.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

It is expected that current MPEG2 HD channels will be available in MPEG4, for the MPEG4 versions of the channels users must tune to the SD channel number for that channel and the MPEG4 version will automatically be tuned.

It would probably make sense for the ones without SD equivalents to get new MPEG4 channel numbers (likely in the 200s, not the 70s).

 

[digiblur]

gotta love competition

A beautiful thing... I see Cox cable is slowly adding a few new HD channels to the lineup.

I still think I'm going to wait until next Spring or Summer before I choose my HD provider. I'll have more than enough HD to fill my TV watching time until then.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Sounds great.

 

[DVRaholic]

Thanks Scott, Now I can take the weekend off and not set my alarm for 5:59am every morning

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I actually set mine for 5:45 this morning so I could wanth channel 570, and fell asleep again at around 5:58 and woke up again a 6:30.

Good thing too only saw a blank screen.

 

[concorde1]

Just called to move my service (staying in same DMA) as we are closing on our first house. While on the phone asked about new HD service. The lady stated sometime next week if no problems experienced. Seems to confirm before the end of the month. I have waited 2 years for this and am very excited for the new HD channels. Self installed my dish in this condo and am getting great signals on all transponders as well as all test channels. Yippee!!!!!

 

[MacDawg]

Thanks Scott. Will keep the fingers crossed again.

 

[Questioner]

Cutting it close, a lot of ads and press releases promising mid to late september