On another forum I found this link to the interesting booklet about Directv 10 mission (lots of details):
http://www.khrunichev.ru/khrunichev/upload/images/autoref/DirecTV_10.pdf
The price hike on D* is confirmed (Sept. 1)
As of Sept. 1 the price for Setanta on D* is going up by $3 (to $14.99) - this is from my monthly statement.
I'm not sure if it's new, but I just noticed that you can select Family Choice on D website (up to now you had to call to order it). Interestingly, it's called there Total Choice Family.
Looking at the name I guess the hdd in the box will be 250GB. Do you think that the recording capacity of mpeg4 programms will be increased (in terms of the number of hours) compared to mpeg2? If yes, how much?