It should start soon, probably sometime next year. The Western Arc sats are what we are talking about. Not all TP's on WA sats are 8PSK. You can see which TP's are not 8PSK here.
Nimiq 5 Launch Scheduled for September 18
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They are going to do it just like the smart card swap,gradual, with only certain channels going 8PSK and rolling out over time, this way customers can get new MPEG4 equipment installed in their homes.
No they wont be switching everything to MPEG4 though at the time, only 8PSK as there are a bunch of 8PSK non MPEG4 receivers out in the field, those will be switched out later on a year or two after the 8psk switchover.
I remember Charlie talking about this in an earnings call about a year ago. At that time, he said it was suprising how many really really ancient receivers were still out there ( they were working on the oldest first) and he expected it would be something like 4 years before they had a complete conversion including MPEG4.
I always thought the way to do the 8PSK conversion is either by local markets so that they could add more locals to each spotbeam or by programming packages. Dish could send extra installers to areas for the conversion. An example for programming packages would be for Dish to swap out all QPSK receivers for folks who subscribe to adult programming.
Yes including MPEG4 it would be around 3 years to upgrade. However I am told that 75% of the boxes out there now have 8PSK in them.
Does this mean when the conversion gets started on Western Arc, all available HD Locals will be added? ex. Los Angeles locals have 5 channels in HD that aren't yet on DN's LA local HD line-up. (KCOP 13, KWHY 22, KCET 28, KOCE 50 AND KVEA 52 ARE ALL AVAILABLE IN HD) Directv has 3 out 5 of these channels available in LA.
They have already started doing this in some areas, such as Marquette Mi.
If Dish was smart they would analyze each spotbeam or even each TP in each spotbeam and determine how many QPSK receivers use that spotbeam/TP as well as determine how many MPEG-2 8PSK receivers use that spotbeam/TP. If the number of MPEG-2 8PSK receivers is relatively low, it would probably make sense to just swap everything out to MPEG-4 8PSK receivers. It would seem to eventually have to do two swapouts is not that cost effective.
Most of the satellites have some 8PSK on them. I think the only ones that do not are the 77 slot since 8PSK requires more signal strength and this bird is not at its designed location.
That's about it... more bandwidth. Less hacked FTA receivers can tune 8PSK without special boards. But they've sewn up the pirate groups pretty well with the card swap.
Almost all of the HD on DishNetwork's system is already in 8PSK already, since all HD receivers can do 8PSK. The only HD you'll find in QPSK mode is on 77 and 118.7.
The puzzle begins... remember there are 3 HD installation types. 110/119/129, 61/72/77, and 110/119/61.5. The last one is the real kicker that puts a kink into things. If you add HD to 72 you have to add it to 110/119. There is room on 119, so possibly you'll see something once they get things situated on the 72 slot.
There's always DirecTV with the loads of new national HD they've been adding
(in a sarcastic tone)
Already been down that road with D*and I dont thank I want to take that trip again!!Most of the satellites have some 8PSK on them. I think the only ones that do not are the 77 slot since 8PSK requires more signal strength and this bird is not at its designed location.
That's about it... more bandwidth. Less hacked FTA receivers can tune 8PSK without special boards. But they've sewn up the pirate groups pretty well with the card swap.
Almost all of the HD on DishNetwork's system is already in 8PSK already, since all HD receivers can do 8PSK. The only HD you'll find in QPSK mode is on 77 and 118.7.
The puzzle begins... remember there are 3 HD installation types. 110/119/129, 61/72/77, and 110/119/61.5. The last one is the real kicker that puts a kink into things. If you add HD to 72 you have to add it to 110/119. There is room on 119, so possibly you'll see something once they get things situated on the 72 slot.
There's always DirecTV with the loads of new national HD they've been adding
{in a non sarcastic tone}
Seeing a decrease in signal strength by about 10 on all those transponders that were mentioned above . More bandwith less signals strength. Too bad I was getting real happy thinking I would be getting 70 and up on all my 72.7 transponders.
2 ways 3 dishes
1st I'm using 3 dishes. 1st time I had 2 dish 500's with single LNB adapters on 72 & 77 and .9 meter on 129. I have since gone to 3 large dishes .9 meter on 72 & .8 meter on 77. Also at one time had a 500 plus on 118 but that didn't work out so just sold it. It didn't have enuff SS for the KC lil to work well. So I've "moved" to Little Rock".
1st I'm using 3 dishes. 1st time I had 2 dish 500's with single LNB adapters on 72 & 77 and .9 meter on 129. I have since gone to 3 large dishes .9 meter on 72 & .8 meter on 77. Also at one time had a 500 plus on 118 but that didn't work out so just sold it. It didn't have enuff SS for the KC lil to work well. So I've "moved" to Little Rock".
Dish isn't going to worry about non-standard setups like this. No techs would put in this configuration. If you are smart enough to do this in the first place, you can repoint yourself when the time comes. Dish will only concern themselves with WA, EA, and 119/110/61.5 hybrid setups.
As far as the QPSK-only box swaps, I presume they are replacing these with MPEG4 boxes?
Yes that is what I am hearing. Then they dont need to swap those boxes out again in another year or two.
