MLB Network Launches in SD Only

ScoBuck

'Just Chillin'
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Jul 11, 2006
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Long Island, NY
Wonder why they didn't launch this in HD as well. I am under the impression that they have oodles of bandwidth available.

DirecTV launched in both SD and HD, the signal is definitely available.
 
It's coming. Not sure when, but it's coming. I thought we were supposed to get the HD version on 1/1, but apparently we'll have to wait a bit. Yes, they have ample bandwidth for the channel.
 
It's coming. Not sure when, but it's coming. I thought we were supposed to get the HD version on 1/1, but apparently we'll have to wait a bit. Yes, they have ample bandwidth for the channel.

Maybe the engineers are all still on holiday vacation. Encore HD, Crime and Investigation HD, and many others that are "coming soon" but are available from the source are yet to be turned on. Something is going wrong at their end. Just turn the channels on already!
 
Maybe the engineers are all still on holiday vacation. Encore HD, Crime and Investigation HD, and many others that are "coming soon" but are available from the source are yet to be turned on. Something is going wrong at their end. Just turn the channels on already!

Yeah, I don't know what the hold-up is, but we've had Encore HD on in this market for at least a month already. Still waiting on C&I, NBA HD, and all those .tv channels.
 
Yeah, I don't know what the hold-up is, but we've had Encore HD on in this market for at least a month already. Still waiting on C&I, NBA HD, and all those .tv channels.

That is what is even stranger. FIOS prides themselves on all feeds going out through the main center to all markets and then going out to the customers as opposed to companies like Time Warner that don't distribute every market centrally, yet not all markets, even the market like mine in the back yard (Tampa Bay) of their center in Temple Terrace STILL don't have Encore HD, while other markets have it. They obviously have the signal coming in and have it going out to some markets. Why not the rest? FIOS is odd.

Edit-
I have had MLB HD with DirecTV since it came online 1/1.... so FIOS cannot blame the source. They (FIOS) are the reason it isn't on yet.
 
Yeah, when I heard this I was suprised also. Bandiwidth, according to most posters isnt the hold up, and the HD feed is available. So what give? It would make more sense to me if they didnt have the SD feed or the HD feed instead of what they did
 
Yeah, when I heard this I was suprised also. Bandiwidth, according to most posters isnt the hold up, and the HD feed is available. So what give? It would make more sense to me if they didnt have the SD feed or the HD feed instead of what they did

I think the FIOS approach is to bring a bunch out all at once, rather than add a new channel here and add a channel there. It must be. Otherwise they would have added the channels that are available now. Maybe the .TV filler isn't live yet, who knows? But the nationally known real channels that are HD should go HD ASAP on FIOS. We all know Encore, MLB, Crime and Investigation, another others I cannot think of off the top of my head are live.

What about the Retroplex (They are calling it Starz Retro) and the other new one? They are two SD channels, and have been live for a long time according to the Starz/Encore website. They haven't turned those on either last I checked.
 
How come NHL network is in the sports pack at one time in the guide it said extreme package only.
Will they do the same for the MLB network channel have the std. channel in the extreme pack and the hd in the sports pack.
 
I think the FIOS approach is to bring a bunch out all at once, rather than add a new channel here and add a channel there. It must be. Otherwise they would have added the channels that are available now. Maybe the .TV filler isn't live yet, who knows? But the nationally known real channels that are HD should go HD ASAP on FIOS. We all know Encore, MLB, Crime and Investigation, another others I cannot think of off the top of my head are live.

What about the Retroplex (They are calling it Starz Retro) and the other new one? They are two SD channels, and have been live for a long time according to the Starz/Encore website. They haven't turned those on either last I checked.

Verizon may feed things out nationally, via their Super Head End (SHE), but they still need to make changes regionally (at their VHOs) to accomodate any new channel feeds. For most of the channels, I'm not sure what the delay is - they started that roll out some time ago, and it just stalled. As a result, some markets have Encore HD, as well as Starz Retroplex and Indieplex (our market have both of those already too - they were turned on around the same time as Encore HD). The other markets will get them too... and I believe they were supposed to have them already - they must be hitting some technical issue that's stopping the roll-out.

I do know that the .tv channels are causing them problems. According to other sites, those aren't just straight linear TV feeds - they involve some IP connectivity - beyond that, I have no understanding of them. But apparently Verizon IS having problems turning those channels on at all.

Again, not sure what the hold-up is, but they started the new channel roll-out and it's been put on pause for a while. As for them just adding one or two channels at a time - they've done that before. You already used the MLB example. And they've done that before.

As for their bandwidth - they still have plenty. To understand how much just requires a little basic bath. Verizon currently runs all their channels via mpeg-2. They do no additional compression, which means that they can carry 2 HD feeds per QAM channel, or 8 - 9 SD channels per QAM channel. This latest expansion (what went on last summer), including their analog elimination, gave them 135 QAM channels. Let's say, for sake of argument, that Verizon gets to 150 HD channels per market - that uses 75 QAMs, leaving 60 for SD. And they can fit over 500 SD channels in that space. Since they don't have 500 SD channels, they can easily expand beyond 150 HD channels. Given how many SD channels they currently carry, I think they can get to close to 180 HD channels, using their current architecture.
 
How come NHL network is in the sports pack at one time in the guide it said extreme package only.
Will they do the same for the MLB network channel have the std. channel in the extreme pack and the hd in the sports pack.

This is an odd one. The Sports Pack has been eliminated in all but 2 markets - NY and Northern NJ. In all other markets, the Sports Pack has been rolled into Extreme - so, in my market, when I upgraded to Extreme, I got all the sports channels too. Why is NY and NNJ special? The reason has to do with pricing. In those two markets, Extreme costs the same (ala carte) as the old Premier package did - $47/month. Also, in those two markets, if you were a Premier customer when the change-over to the new packages happened, you got grandfathered into receive ALL the new HD and SD channels that were getting added. For the rest of us, we got many of the new HD channels (for existing Premier customers), but not all - I wouldn't have gotten any of the Fox HD channels, e.g. The same applied to the SD channel additions - e.g. Current and Blue Highway TV were both, for some reason, exclusive to the Extreme package.

Because the folks in NY and NNJ were given a discount on their TV service, they kept the Sports Pack as an extra. So, if you're in either market, and you want MLB or NHL, I believe you need to subscribe to the sports pack.
 
I just signed up for TV here on Long Island (already have FIOS Phone & Internet) and I am getting Extreme HD package for $57.99/month Last month when I checked all I saw was Essentials for $47 offered, so perhaps they are doing away with Sports Pack here in NY and N NJ. I will confirm after my install on Monday.
 
I just signed up for TV here on Long Island (already have FIOS Phone & Internet) and I am getting Extreme HD package for $57.99/month Last month when I checked all I saw was Essentials for $47 offered, so perhaps they are doing away with Sports Pack here in NY and N NJ. I will confirm after my install on Monday.

Don't get your hopes up, i had my install here in NNJ on Dec.8,08 with the Extreme HD package and if i wanted the sports pack i would have to pay for it.
Hope this will change soon.
Good luck with your install.
 
Don't get your hopes up, i had my install here in NNJ on Dec.8,08 with the Extreme HD package and if i wanted the sports pack i would have to pay for it.
Hope this will change soon.
Good luck with your install.

You are correct. Install went well, I had setup everything prior to the techs arrival. I was able to triple play all my services (Phone, 20/20 internet & TV) for $99/month so can't complain. I am sure soon enough they'll get rid of the sports package here, but I won't complain, those channels are not something I really care for.
 
FIOS is asleep at the wheel.

BHN Tampa Bay just got MLB HD on 1/15/09, while FIOS only has the SD feed. What about that press release that said they would being showing the HD feed on day one?

Something isn't right with FIOS. They must be having some real backend problems. They have had a slate of channels that were "coming soon" as of Nov and they have not added them to all markets. This includes Crime and Investigation HD, Encore HD, Chiller.... channels that exist but they have not delivered.

Miscellaneous problems continue with the service. There is an issue with the channel displaying on the box even though you tell it to display clock. Many people are having this problem.

I love the channel lineup, but FIOS is certainly not without its FLAWS!
 
Does anyone know if there MLB game day package will show games in HD this year? I know BHN last had very few but DTV show a good number.
 

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