Date when Dish stops broadcasting SD stations/data? Mar 2023?

[BarnRat]

I think I read on this forum that Dish was going to stop broadcasting SD stations/data and switching to all HD in Mar 2023. Is this still a valid date? Does anyone have more info on this? When I call Dish to get an answer they say every time that they "don't know for sure . . . but soon."

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish has not announced any date to stop broadcasting SD channels that I am aware of.

I know DIRECTV at one time said a date, but that date has come and gone a long time ago.

 

[dweber]

Dish switched Eastern Arc to all MPEG 4 in 2016 but I have not heard a date when Dish will switch Western Arc to all MPEG 4. SD channels are MPEG2.


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[MikeD-C05]

Dish switched Eastern Arc to all MPEG 4 in 2016 but I have not heard a date when Dish will switch Western Arc to all MPEG 4. SD channels are MPEG2.


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If they do switch off the sd channels, will it mean they can use two satellites instead of three to receive all of Mpeg 4 programming like the eastern arc does? Then they can stop renting 129 satellite.

 

[Radioguy41]

In their 2022 channel lineup they advertise up to 330 channels (200 in HD). That leaves 130 SD channels that would have to be converted to HD or eliminated from the lineup altogether and I don't see that happening anytime soon, if ever.

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[Jim5506]

I believe there is considerable confusion going on here...obviously. Dish is not turning off ALL SD channels, they are eliminating SD duplicates by replacing all old MPEG2 receivers with MPEG4 receivers, thusly making the MPEG2 SD duplicates on WA unnecessary.

As was alluded to in an earlier post Dish switched EA to all MPEG4 in 2016 and thusly was able to eliminate SD duplicates there 7 years ago, my understanding is that that that is what they are doing with WA. Whether that means they no longer need the 129 satellite is up to them. The biggest headache is getting to all those old MPEG2 receivers out there and replacing them. I guess at some point they may just drop all the MPEG2 channels and wait for the stragglers to complain that their channel is gone and find them that way.

There are still plenty of MPEG4 SD channels on Dish, most local secondary channels are SD and some of these have no HD source.

 

[dweber]

Jim 5506 is correct. Dish would eliminate the SD duplicate channels when they eliminate MPEG 2. The advantage to having both HD and SD duplicates is that when Satellite 129 loses signal due to extreme weather the receiver automatically switches to the SD version on Satellite 110. The 110 signal is stronger than the 129 signal.


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[sam_gordon]

Jim 5506 is correct. Dish would eliminate the SD duplicate channels when they eliminate MPEG 2. The advantage to having both HD and SD duplicates is that when Satellite 129 loses signal due to extreme weather the receiver automatically switches to the SD version on Satellite 110. The 110 signal is stronger than the 129 signal.


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But if they eliminate the duplicate, couldn't they put the HD signal on 110 and take advantage of the stronger signal?

 

[TheKrell]

But if they eliminate the duplicate, couldn't they put the HD signal on 110 and take advantage of the stronger signal?

The HD signal requires more bandwidth, so they could not just take away an SD channel and put up an HD in it's place.

 

[sam_gordon]

The HD signal requires more bandwidth, so they could not just take away an SD channel and put up an HD in it's place.

So they take away 4 SD signals and put up 1 HD. Whatever.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

So they take away 4 SD signals and put up 1 HD. Whatever.

Actually if I remember correctly its 14 SD stations for each HD station.

 

[n0qcu]

Jim 5506 is correct. Dish would eliminate the SD duplicate channels when they eliminate MPEG 2. The advantage to having both HD and SD duplicates is that when Satellite 129 loses signal due to extreme weather the receiver automatically switches to the SD version on Satellite 110. The 110 signal is stronger than the 129 signal.


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That is actually a disadvantage.
I hate when it switches to the SD version of the channel.

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[rvvaquero]

Actually if I remember correctly its 14 SD stations for each HD station.

Well, I could give you a list of about 140 stations they could remove tomorrow and 99.5% of subs wouldn't even notice.

 

[ethanlerma]

Actually if I remember correctly its 14 SD stations for each HD station.

Is that MPEG2 or MPEG4 SD stations though? If going from MPEG4->MPEG4 that figure seems believable, but MPEG2 is so inefficient I would expect many less SD stations to fit in the slot of a MPEG4 HD station.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think that was MPEG2 SD channels.

 

[BarnRat]

... The biggest headache is getting to all those old MPEG2 receivers out there and replacing them. I guess at some point they may just drop all the MPEG2 channels and wait for the stragglers to complain that their channel is gone and find them that way.

There are still plenty of MPEG4 SD channels on Dish, most local secondary channels are SD and some of these have no HD source.

I think that Dish has contacted me because I have two very old MPEG2 receivers: DVR 625s. The e-mails and recorded phone msgs I've been getting confused me into thinking they are dropping all SD channels, which according to you guys, is not what is going to happen. I'm getting my roof antenna replaced and both of my DVR625s replaced with Wallys next month (January).

Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff.

 

[sam_gordon]

Actually if I remember correctly its 14 SD stations for each HD station.

How much space are they giving each channel? Even if the SD channels were only getting .5Mbps each, that means the HD channels are getting 7? That's getting close to what OTA is putting out.

 

[Josephinelcajon]

A little off topic but I always wondered why NASA TV has never gone HD or better yet 4K! Its currently a SD channel that would simply play the SD content on a HD channel. Or be eliminated? The other I frequently watch is Hallmark SD and watching the Waltons on the Hopper Plus with no format ability sucks!

 

[Jim5506]

Once again, Dish is working to eliminate SD duplicates, not SD channels that stand alone. Putting an SD channel on an HD channel would defeat their purpose of freeing up bandwidth. Actually, that is a misnomer, all that matters is how much bandwidth a particular channel must occupy in the downlink, SD/HD is irrelevant.

 

[navychop]

watching the Waltons … sucks!

FIFY

Goodnight …