Additional MPEG4 / Detroit Info

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have received a bunch more information from my DirecTV contacts that I felt I should pass along to you.

Despite what is being posted on other forums, I am told that Detriot MPEG4 in HD is online and is working great.

People who want HD LIL should be aware that those signing up for HD LIL will lose there NY/LA HD feeds and you will not be eligible for them in the future.

Full swap out will be done via D* at no charge ( with commitment).

If the MPEG4 Receiver is purchased at retail and D* is contacted for dish installation, there WILL be a charge.... and commitment.

In the next few weeks the following will be happening...

ALL NEW HD purchases in planned and scheduled MPEG 4 markets will be installed with MPEG-4 H-20 IRDs.

If the market is due to be launched within the next 6 months, the dish will be installed as well.

If this market is NOT due within 6 months an AU2 Oval3 dish ( standard tripple LNB dish ) will be installed and swapped out once MPEG 4 reaches that market.

The new multi-switch will NOT allow OTA diplexing/combining. A seperate line will need to be ran from the OTA to each IRD that you want signal to. This will be considered custom installation work since D* is now providing HD LIL.

BTW I am hearing that the HR20-250 MPEG4 HD DVR is coming along well, we could see it between January and March.

There you go, the latest. my thanks to my contacts for the excellent information.

 

[Pete In Plano]

Always right on top of it, Scott!!!!!!!!!!!! That is why I start my day catching up on Satellite Guys every morning. And pop in throughout the day as I get time. Thanks always for such a great site!!

 

[austen0316]

hey scott, do you have any idea when the philadelphia market will be launched?

 

[Neutron]

So the new MPEG-4 HDDVR will also house a 250GB hard drive?

Also, if I'm hearing this right, once the upgrade happens, and they offer HD-LIL, we will lose our NY/LA feeds even if our stations are O&O?

 

[Hogarth]

Also, if I'm hearing this right, once the upgrade happens, and they offer HD-LIL, we will lose our NY/LA feeds even if our stations are O&O?

I'm pretty sure they're required to by law. Thanks, Congress. Check SHVERA.

H

 

[Tonedeaf]

Dammit, knew it would be too good to be true to keep the NY HD's. Oh well. Maybe I will just wait until the HD-DVR to come out to get upgraded. No HD-Tivo right now.

 

[Scrib]

So what happens if I upgrade to a H20 in my bedroom, but I still have a HD-TiVo downstairs? They upgrade my dish, I get LIL in the bedroom, but lose my NY feeds on the HD-TiVo???

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

So what happens if I upgrade to a H20 in my bedroom, but I still have a HD-TiVo downstairs? They upgrade my dish, I get LIL in the bedroom, but lose my NY feeds on the HD-TiVo???

This is correct.

 

[sltmag]

Since D* states they are doing LIL is there any word if UPN, WB, and PBS locals would be included? In the NYC area those are three huge stations that would be missing from LIL.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Those channels will still be available to you in the SD locals package which you will continue to receive.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

Since I am in the LA market will I get to keep the mpeg 2 HD locals if i get an H20 and also get the mpeg 4 locals? I have 3 HD boxes 1 of which is the HD tivo which I want to keep until the new HD DVR is out.

 

[Hogarth]

Since I am in the LA market will I get to keep the mpeg 2 HD locals if i get an H20 and also get the mpeg 4 locals? I have 3 HD boxes 1 of which is the HD tivo which I want to keep until the new HD DVR is out.

If you're in the LA market, why would you care about MPEG4 locals at all until the HD DVR is out?

 

[CWS_kahuna]

If you're in the LA market, why would you care about MPEG4 locals at all until the HD DVR is out?

Because I can't get them OTA.

 

[sltmag]

Scott, I was talking about UPN, WB, and PBS HD feeds. All of which my local cable company (Comcast) provides. As will FiOS if it ever comes my way. That being said, there should be no reason to upgrade to MPEG4 in NYC if those channels are not transmitted in MPEG4 simultaneously with MPEG2.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

I would think that at some point they will add UPN, WB & PBS (my local cable also provides these).

 

[rad]

Scott, any word from your sources when D* will start doing other DMA's, like #3???

I'm not sure now if I want to do this now anyway. In the Chicago area, CBS ATSC is on channel 3, which is a real b*tch for folks to get a reliable signal on. So yea, I could get the HD locals but then I loose the WCBS-DT feed and I won't be able to record the WBBM-DT feed via D* on the HR10-250 since it can't talk MPEG4/KA. I was ready to jump on this but now I'm not so sure. Do you know if there's a time period where the upgrades must be done by inorder to get them for free?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes at some point (They will be doing a lot of shuffling once there is more MPEG4 online) and you will see the additional locals down the line in the future.

For now the goal is the get the 4 big networks up and running in each area.

 

[Brewer4]

I used to read AVSforum more but lately satelliteguys is knocking the ball out of the park with information. Great job and keep up the good work.

 

[TimGoodwin]

Thanks Scott for the info! It is nice to start hearing some progress on this for a change. Also, with all this good news coming out any word on the HMC?

 

[kryten98371]

Because the equipment being swapped out is "advanced", am I correct in assuming that there will be a 2 year commitment vs 1 year?