Official 4DTV Conversion to W5/X4 services only infornmation post

[tvropro]

Thing is, they took away the small W5 package I was going to sub to until things settle. The Discovery Suite. Now the only package under $10 is the MTV Networks pack. I would think The Discovery Suite would have been the most popular of small packages.

I believe Discovery Communications is a company that is easy to work with, I seriously doubt it was them that asked for the package to be removed. I personally believe SRL removed it because that package probably had the most subs of any package and they want to force everyone to get the SuperPak to continue getting them all. When they do things like this they're only hurting themselves and making themselves look like NPS. Everyone thought NPS was nice because of their "free guide" even with no programming, that was a ploy to get an account established with them so that when someone decided to go ahead and sub to programming they would go ahead and call the company they already have a account with.

You shouldn't beat SRL up they are not NPS. Did you think that maybe because of new contracts with Discovery and to get the 4DTV in the Comcast system they had to play by different contract rules? Two sets of contracts are needed for each channel now. One with the programmer and one with Comcast HITS for carriage.

I just ordered the MTV Mini pack and had no issues on the phone. I had it prorated till the 4th of Jan, with Websams I couldn't have done that. I will re fire it up after Jan 4th again to get in the Comcast SAC with the 4DTV. Now I have some double channels on Direct and the bud but I wanted to do my part to help support what I believe in.

 

[brex2001]

tvropro,

I spoke with Mike Kohl earlier today and he expressed his appreciation for the subtle way you've kept encouraging the worried among us. And tongue in cheek, so to speak.
I've done my part by activating a minor sub today too. Although its only to make fleabay a sale, it does show that these 4DTVs are viable.
The public has to be made aware somehow, why not plant the seed of the idea for some to see. More exposure could get us all more support.
People showing an interest through emails, phone calls, etc. count for something if Skyvision/SRL can show the numbers to the bean counters.

 

[tvropro]

tvropro,

I spoke with Mike Kohl earlier today and he expressed his appreciation for the subtle way you've kept encouraging the worried among us. And tongue in cheek, so to speak.
I've done my part by activating a minor sub today too. Although its only to make fleabay a sale, it does show that these 4DTVs are viable.
The public has to be made aware somehow, why not plant the seed of the idea for some to see. More exposure could get us all more support.
People showing an interest through emails, phone calls, etc. count for something if Skyvision/SRL can show the numbers to the bean counters.

Mike is a great guy and has done more than his share to help us. He is pulling for us bigtime. I want to reverse the injustice that has been done to us and C band because of NPS and Dish Network. If we all pull together this can be done. I love C band and will ride it out through thick and thin. Were entering a new era let's make it a great one.

I have launched a new website that will be all about the 4DTV, updates, tech stuff for the tinkerers etc. I want to build it into a one stop place for information to get out.

It can be found here: 4DTV Online By TvroPro... The Official 4DTV Info Site

After I finish it, I will do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on it so It can be found easy on Google etc. The word will get out we all have to work to get it out

 

[sonyajon]

We will definitely be supporting the Denver 8 as we have now and in the past. We can only get 2 OTA channels due to the way the mountains curve around us here, Thanks!

 

[Transponder]

I hope they can offer weather channel and some news like cnn and fox in the future also i beleive that would help

 

[eurosport]

I hope they can offer weather channel and some news like cnn and fox in the future also i beleive that would help

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News are all on W5. I think having all 3 added would be an excellent addition to the W5 offerings!

 

[eurosport]

I also like the idea of the Denver network channels possibly being offered too.

 

[tvropro]

In theory anything SD Comcast sells to cable headends on HITS could have a modulation change and sold to us. I don't know if they would be willing to do that. If the 922 had megapipe combo mode as originally planned it would make things allot easier. Let's say they pull off the Denver thing. That makes the 4DTV movable for subs on other birds. If they went to 29270 7/8 split on the 29270 3/4 combo channels on W1 the 4D would tune them. HBO did some excellent maximizing of a transponder using 29270 7/8 split, and I know Comcast uses that on Denver and there feeds on GB. So it is something to think about. Could open up a door for a minor modulation change.

 

[gardo403]

Only thing with 7/8 vs. 3/4 FEC would be you need a bigger dish to get the high EBNO numbers... That wouldn't affect Cable Headends but might affect some people with 6 footers.... Or maybe not... I'm just thinking of Hbo and cinemax on G1 is hard for some 6 footers.

I would welcome the change myself as that would open up a lot of possibilities for new Channels

 

[sergei]

Only thing with 7/8 vs. 3/4 FEC would be you need a bigger dish to get the high EBNO numbers... That wouldn't affect Cable Headends but might affect some people with 6 footers.... Or maybe not... I'm just thinking of Hbo and cinemax on G1 is hard for some 6 footers.

I would welcome the change myself as that would open up a lot of possibilities for new Channels

I'm using a 6 foot mesh with a LNBF for W5/X4 programming which includes the HBO channels right now with now problems keeping a lock.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I'm using a 6 foot mesh with a LNBF for W5/X4 programming which includes the HBO channels right now with now problems keeping a lock.

The W5 re-uplinks are not the same as the masters.

 

[tvropro]

He was talking about other birds. To do a test go to the Denver stations on W1 and see how they come in with quality numbers. I should have said SES-1 for the combo channels not W1 in my other post..

 

[tvropro]

The W5 re-uplinks are not the same as the masters.

All of W5 uses 19510 3/4 which is very forgiving as BER goes. A 29270 7/8 signal is the hardest to get. One of the problems with HBO was people had misaligned dishes and they ran in a reduced uplink power mode. I never had any issues but have a 12 foot dish. But people achieved good results with well tuned smaller dishes.

I have to wonder how many bud's are misaligned right now? I would say quit a few. Break out those wrenches and get turning

 

[sergei]

I would think by now everyone would know that W5 programming are not master feeds, but right now who cares just so long as we can get programming using our old receivers and after December it's most likely a dead issue finding masters and not having to buy into a pizza dish is all I care about. FTA is nice but again it only goes so far for available programs.

 

[tvropro]

I took a good look at my DirecTV SD channels vs W5 yesterday when I ordered the MTV Mini pack. HITS C band wins, not by a lot but it is better looking then the pizza guys. Now the MTV suite on C3 (the masters) which are the channels Direct and Comcast use were never the greatest source to start with, but the masters are sharper than HITS though. So in picture quality the Masters are #1, HITS is #2, and Direct is #3. When NPS still had G3 around I compared the NPS channels to Direct and Direct looked better. Those G3 channels were wicked. My point of this is HITS does a good job with what they have, very watchable.

 

[gdweathers]

Just got my letter from SRL about all this including the yellow letter with the 7 step conversion. I fooled around a little with this and noticed for the 905 the steps will be a little different but easy to figure out. On the back of this letter are channel locations as of 1-4-11. HBO and Max seem to be missing. I wonder if they will be available? Channel 204 is The Hub and 230 is Centric,what the heck are those?

 

[Davage]

Just got my letter from SRL about all this including the yellow letter with the 7 step conversion. I fooled around a little with this and noticed for the 905 the steps will be a little different but easy to figure out. On the back of this letter are channel locations as of 1-4-11. HBO and Max seem to be missing. I wonder if they will be available? Channel 204 is The Hub and 230 is Centric,what the heck are those?

DO NOT DO THE 7 STEP CONVERSION!! It *WILL* turn your receiver into a glorified cable box! Even "playing" with some of key steps could start the process.. Please hold on. Now that the 7 step process is officially public, all I can ask is to please be patient. I will check to see if it is safe to post an 'alternate' set of steps shortly.

 

[tvropro]

I Echo what Davage says if you do that 7 step list your receiver will become a brick locked on X4 only like a 410. Even if you follow them today and made a brick you cannot get authorized on the Comcast SAC to 1/5 so you'll have a dead brick till 1/5. HOLD ON AND DON"T PLAY WITH IT!!!

The Hub is the new Discovery Kids (quite good at night) Centric is the old BET on Jazz. They play Miami Vice and the A Team on it.

 

[gdweathers]

I'm following this closely so I know about the cable box thing. But thanks for the warning anyway! I'm leaning toward hooking my 905 to my 6 foot fixed Unimesh dish for W5 programming only and using my 7 foot and 90 cm dishs for fta. That plus ota =more tv than I have time to watch. The letter did warn not to do the conversion until 1-4-11 which is what i'm gonna do.

 

[gdweathers]

I Echo what Davage says if you do that 7 step list your receiver will become a brick locked on X4 only like a 410. Even if you follow them today and made a brick you cannot get authorized on the Comcast SAC to 1/5 so you'll have a dead brick till 1/5. HOLD ON AND DON"T PLAY WITH IT!!!

Its my 905 and I'll play with it all I want! Just kidding. What about HBO and Max? Heard anything?