DIRECTV: 100 HDTV Channels In 2007

[FlyingJ]

Imagine how stupid it would sound to see someone bashing Berkeley Farms because Clover Farms kicks ass! Well, that's what these forums look like most of the time. It's ridiculous.

Agreed, but Clover Farms does kick ass and Berkeley Farms does suck!:

I don't even know if either is a real company. Point is that it is just human nature to defend ones investment so they don't feel stupid. Just like in Football when a fan sees a call one way when everyone else sees it the other way. Sometimes the brain gets foggy with emotion.

 

[boston area dtv]

How true that statement is. One of my neighbors bought a new HDTV for Christmas and was wanting me to come over to see it. He was shocked when I told him he had a nice TV but his picture was not HD. He was feeding it with a grainy analog cable signal. It looked horrible. I came back to my house and took a old pair of rabbit ears over and hooked them to his antenna input. When one of the local digital signals appeared, using the built in tuner, he was floored by the difference. I brought him over to my house and showed him Discovery and HDNet, we then went to BB and he bought a D* HD receiver.
.

Thats funny you say that. I have the 50" Sony SXRD. My father in law who I get along with great purchaed the 60" SXRD. (He had to out do me.)

Anyway he has comcast and I have D*. My wife went over while I was at work and she called and said his picture doesnt look as good. I say no way. Mine was an older model only 1080i his was 1080p plus I thought cable didnt down rez like D*

Anyway I go over to the house and theres SD pic for a channel thats supposed to be HD. I said didnt you or the installer turn the TV on to see if the pic looked good? He said they both thought it was excellent.

So I go through the sony menus and go through the cable box menus checking to see if something was off.

I finally pull the tv away from the wall and realize that the guy only used the red white yellow connector. Not HDMI or the the one with green and blue (Whatever I know about this junk I learned from you guys!)

The Cable installer told my father inlaw to return the cable he bought because he didnt need it to hook up the TV! I installed a HDMI cable and he was up and running. If my wife didnt say," dad my husbands TV looks better than yours" he mighta watched SD for ever!

 

[ScoBuck]

I can see someone needs to read the previous email about attachment.

I don't have a problem with D* except them saying stuff that they don't follow through on.

Again, instead of coming up with a reasonable analogy or point of view, you throw a dart. Seems to me if I count 'em up - you're posting as much here as anyone. And I am not attached to D*, rather I in fact believe they have made the most reasonable decisions as to overcoming their present LIABILITIES in bandwidth. It is surely not perfect by ANY MEANS (which I've said over and over), but IMO they will be ahead of the pack when the new birds are flying.

 

[jpn]

Ok, then maybe when Apple drops a new Mac out there for all it's retailers? How about when a new cell phone is released? You get my point. Lots of other companies release hardware all the time, all at once, with no problems. Saying D* isn't able to do it is an excuse.

Yet more idiotic analogies.

Cellular companies release new phones all the time. Those phones use a common network infrastructure with all of the other phones out there. You won't see Verizon/Cingular/etc roll out an entire network infrastructure, AND replace every phone in existence, all at once.

IF you aren't bashing, then you're doing a great job of illustrating exactly how little you understand about satellite tv.

 

[scotsmanron]

Look, I don't know you from Adam, but you don't have the right to call ANYONE an idiot. SO you can just just the condescending third grade juvenile BS and be done with it.

If you've made yourself feel better, you're welcome.

 

[ScoBuck]

Look, I don't know you from Adam, but you don't have the right to call ANYONE an idiot. SO you can just just the condescending third grade juvenile BS and be done with it.

If you've made yourself feel better, you're welcome.

Well - we agree on something. Name calling, and dart throwing are wrong. Coming here to state a well thought out idea is what it is supposed to be.

But remember, you throw darts at people. Its just as wrong as name calling.

 

[charper1]

Well it seems this thread has run its course and now we can all walk away agreeing on the only thing we know for sure; time will tell and let's revisit this 12/31/07 when it means something.So let's all go have a good night enjoying our services in our H/T and chill.

 

[PowerMax]

Man - give it up. If you're gonna make a comparison make it a good one will you? Apple/Cell Phone Companies/most Hardware Companies don't have to come to 15 MILLION HOMES ONE AT A TIME TO SET THINGS UP.

What is obvious, you have a problem with D* (and your entitled), but its clogging the thought process IMO.

I don't think DirecTV would have had that problem either, they don't even have 500,000 HD subscribers, so 15M is really a stretch. Like anything there is supply an demand, when the HR10-250's were out, I bought one and waited 3 weeks for it to arrive from Mexico.

 

[charper1]

I thought it was more upward like 850,000 - 925,000 subs reported in spring/summer 2006 and expected 1M by year's end. Maybe someone has a better / current number. Maybe reported here in this financial statement. (I did not read it all)

 

[PowerMax]

You obviously don't understand the history here.

SW1&2 were originaly slated for high speed Internet. It has spot beams only, not CONUS beams.
When News Corp got these sats they canned the Internet idea and reconfigured them for HD for DirecTV. But being spot beam only sats they couldn't use them effectively for national channels (they'd have to use several spot beams and a lot of power to cover the whole country, a waste). That's when they came up with the HD LIL massive rollout. Best use of resources available to them with SW1&2.

Now with DirecTV 10 and 11 going up this year, they are fully CONUS capable satellites built specifically for DBS. So now with these new sats they can effectively do national HD.

Understand now?

Actually I understand the history quite well. I got it right from Boeing 8 months before these birds went up. I am not here to debate the point. Satellite TV has been degrading for the last 9 years, most notable in the last 4. You should clean your toilet before you try and eat off it.

 

[ScoBuck]

I don't think DirecTV would have had that problem either, they don't even have 500,000 HD subscribers, so 15M is really a stretch. Like anything there is supply an demand, when the HR10-250's were out, I bought one and waited 3 weeks for it to arrive from Mexico.

Your numbers are way old and way off - the number of HD subs is close one way or another to 1 million.

And, my quote said they have to go to 15 million homes one at a time - remember, those SAME installers, go to those various homes for MORE THAN installing 5lnb dishes or HD IRDs. They ALSO go to each home to install oval dishes, SD IRDs, DVRs and also for service calls. I think the basis of my statement is fairly accurate - those OTHER companies DO NOT go to homes to install, wire, set-up EVERY customer one at a time like the satcos have to.

I think you should just sit back, think about all that had to be accomplished in order for their subs to be ready to RECEIVE the Ka bird signals - then see how YOU would have done it better, or faster, or without all this whining. I'm waiting for your ideas, its always easy to knock what Is being done, but its not always easy to have a better idea that will work. Frankly, I haven't been able to figure out a way they could have done it much better - so have it it mate. I'm not knocking you, rather I'm curious as to how YOU think it should have been done. One thing I guarantee, no matter what you say, people will tell you your not right, and thus you will get back to the original point of NO MATTER HOW IT WAS DONE PEEPS WOULD COMPLAIN.

 

[Captain TV]

What a foolish post. They admit to a current situation where they don't have capacity (geeez, honesty) and yes its not a good situation. But it is what it is!

But that IN NO WAY takes away from some truths and FACTS. 2 sats are going up (the first in less than 90 days). Once its up and lit, the REASON for having to "rob Peter to pay Paul" is gone forever. You can be the doubting Thomas if you choose, but those birds are designed, ordered, almost 100% built, and have launch dates - so guess what?

By the end of this year, the CLEAR leader in HD will be DirecTV. In fact by summer, they will have more than any other competitor (once DIRECTV10 is turned on). How is this blowing smoke, and instead of making such a foolish general comment, how about some specifics.

Well EXCUSE me sir for offending you. To others I am sorry also. One thousand pardons. By the way, can I sell you a brdge in Brooklyn?

 

[rad]

Gee, what a nice friendly discussion of this topic, NOT!

 

[Questioner]

Gee, what a nice friendly discussion of this topic, NOT!

It's always a pleasant discussion when ScoBuck is involved!

 

[Newshawk]

You don't have to announce your plans 6+ months in advance. Don't expect directv's competitors to just sit on their hands, even if they do deliver on their promises. I seriously doubt most of the national hd networks are going to be launching only on directv.

If E* can design, contract out, have constructed, launch, test and activate a satellite in only 6 months or so, then I'll be REALLY impressed! We know what the main DBS satellite makers are building, we know what the three main satellite launching companies are doing for the year, and we know what the FCC has authorized, as they have to authorize all US satellite usage. There is nothing in the works for E* that will let them even get near D*'s capacity for a long while. Perhaps that's why Charlie is so sold on co-operating with D* in certain areas.

As for launching HD networks on D* first, I'd go by the fact that Turner, NBCUniversal and CNN have all confirmed that they are planning to launch HD channels by the end of the year (TV Week, 1/9/07)

Talk about rampant directv fanboyism.

Talk about rampant D* bashing... and ad hominem attacks.

 

[Questioner]

I wasn't aware cable and broadband services had to launch satellites to expand programming (the same cable and broadband services direct claims to beat in terms of hd capacity in their latest commercials). And while dish may not have capacity to launch a slew of new channels, they are already leading directv in the hd wars so they may not need new sats to hold that lead or at least stay equal.

I don't think you understood the 2nd part of that, I have no doubt CNN and other major networks will be launching in hd later this year, but it won't be on directv exclusively. Meaning if they are on many different providers, that doesn't exactly help directv become the hd leader.

 

[GaryPen]

I don't think you understood the 2nd part of that, I have no doubt CNN and other major networks will be launching in hd later this year, but it won't be on directv exclusively. Meaning if they are on many different providers, that doesn't exactly help directv become the hd leader.

In that case, perhaps E* oughta make nice with TW over CourTV first?

 

[jpn]

Look, I don't know you from Adam, but you don't have the right to call ANYONE an idiot. SO you can just just the condescending third grade juvenile BS and be done with it.

If you've made yourself feel better, you're welcome.

I'm going to make a distinction. I did not call you an idiot. I said the analogy was idiotic -- there is a difference. Every analogy you've used in this thread is extremely wide of the mark. If you think I called you an idiot, then you have my public apology -- it was not my intent to humiliate.

I should have erased most of my last response, except for the part where I suggested that you don't understand the issues. If you had a basic/rough understanding of what's involved, you would not use new cars, computers, or cell phones as analogies.

This is not meant as an insult, but here's how far off you've been:
If we were discussing creating a new Sun, your analogy would be creating a grain of sand.

 

[bonscott87]

I wasn't aware cable and broadband services had to launch satellites to expand programming (the same cable and broadband services direct claims to beat in terms of hd capacity in their latest commercials). And while dish may not have capacity to launch a slew of new channels, they are already leading directv in the hd wars so they may not need new sats to hold that lead or at least stay equal.

I don't think you understood the 2nd part of that, I have no doubt CNN and other major networks will be launching in hd later this year, but it won't be on directv exclusively. Meaning if they are on many different providers, that doesn't exactly help directv become the hd leader.

Ummm, nowhere have I read that any of these new HD channels would be exclusive to DirecTV. They will be available to everyone. Now it may be they will launch on DirecTV first but after that E* could certainly carry them, assuming Charlie will pony up the $$$.

As for bandwidth, you do understand that most cable systems are already tapped out with bandwidth? Thus they can't add all that much more HD, certainly not 20-30 more HD channels. They have to get the analog tier shutdown before they'll gain any bandwidth.

Dish, no more new sats going up. How tapped out are their current sats now? If they have the spare capacity to match DirecTV then that is awesome. More competition is better for everyone. But from what I've read, Dish does have some spare capacity for some more HD channels, but not nearly enough to match DirecTV in the long run. So the only way for them to get more bandwidth is to launch more sats and/or get new slots available for DBS (i.e. like DirecTV got 99 and 103 as new slots to broadcast from).

FIOS, everything says they have plenty of bandwidth. Their problem is they are available in so few areas. But they've got the capacity should they choose to use it.

 

[PowerMax]

Your numbers are way old and way off - the number of HD subs is close one way or another to 1 million.

And, my quote said they have to go to 15 million homes one at a time - remember, those SAME installers, go to those various homes for MORE THAN installing 5lnb dishes or HD IRDs. They ALSO go to each home to install oval dishes, SD IRDs, DVRs and also for service calls. I think the basis of my statement is fairly accurate - those OTHER companies DO NOT go to homes to install, wire, set-up EVERY customer one at a time like the satcos have to.

I think you should just sit back, think about all that had to be accomplished in order for their subs to be ready to RECEIVE the Ka bird signals - then see how YOU would have done it better, or faster, or without all this whining. I'm waiting for your ideas, its always easy to knock what Is being done, but its not always easy to have a better idea that will work. Frankly, I haven't been able to figure out a way they could have done it much better - so have it it mate. I'm not knocking you, rather I'm curious as to how YOU think it should have been done. One thing I guarantee, no matter what you say, people will tell you your not right, and thus you will get back to the original point of NO MATTER HOW IT WAS DONE PEEPS WOULD COMPLAIN.

Actually my numbers are dead on, of the 1M subs you refer too less than 500,000 have a DVR, including the new HR20-700 subs. I already did outline how I would have done it better. So perhaps instead of telling me to do what I already have, you should visit a Sylvan learning center to improve your comprehension / retention skills in reading. I could be a good friend to you.