DirecTV MPEG4 Rollout to begin

[hdtvtechno]

Whats the status with Philadelphia region?
Thanks for the help!

Rumor was sometime this month
but its a rumor at this point

 

[jake14mw]

Nevermind, I found the answer to my question. I have been told that since the higher frequency of the Ka band is more sensitive to rain-fade, that a higher gain antenna is necessary to counteract this loss. Still, I have been told to expect an uptime of only 99.90% with the Ka signal as opposed to the current uptime of 99.99% with the Ku signal. This translates to an extra downtime or around 8 hours a year for the Ka signal!! Makes me wonder how successful this Ka band rollout will ultimately be....

Wow, I hope that information is wrong! That means 9 times the rain fade that I have now? That would not be good!

From another UConn fan.

 

[Brewer4]

I have nothing to add.

From another Uconn Fan. Lets just hope our football team gets better. Yuck.

 

[Gojira54]

Well I had a huge storm last night, and the verdict is in. The Picture never went out. So all this talk about Rain fade being worst could be just a rumor! It was really late when it hit so I cant really say if the cloud cover was really dark. But as of now no problems!

 

[hdtvtechno]

So how is directv dealing with the free upgrade for customers ?

Do Customers just sit and wait for directv to call you to schedule the upgrade
Or is directv sending out postcards to customers to inform that of the upgrade to call them

or do customers have to call directv to schedule the free upgrade ?

 

[satjay]

If you have OTA.....I would not rush out to get the upgrade.....Unless by the time they get to your city, all the bugs have been worked. Just my two cents, from someone who did the upgrade but is having trouble with local HD's

 

[Happy Camper]

Satjay: That's what I was thinking. So, if we are in the Dallas metro area and we already get pristine, non downressed OTA HD, and we have an HR10-250 and a standard D* TiVo, just what would we be getting with the new stuff? I know I'm missing something.

 

[nmstough]

Can I use the older H10 receiver with this new dish? I just want to get access to the 101-110-119 Ku Mpeg2 satellite channels.

 

[satjay]

Not missing much other then locals without OTA. I bascially think you are saying ok, I get it now so when they expand chanels in 06 or 07 or whenever they do you are ready. I belive when they do the expansion of channels it will be on the new system?. So you ask yourself get it now, out of the way deal with the bugs, or wait, get the bugs out and maybe have to wait when new channels roll out.

I got it becouse I thought my rabit ears looked taky with a nice tv and all. Plus like a majority of the people who are on this site. We see new technology and have to get it!

 

[hdtvtechno]

I am talking about when directv will launch the national hd channels in the mpeg 4 format

then i want the upgrade.
I am sure there will be a time limit when u can still get the free upgrade from directv.
so i dont miss out.

Yeah i know chicago market is not ready yet, but want to be sure how would i need to get the free upgrade, as asked before.

 

[mustang65]

So what will happen to the SD locals when all these changes happen? I get my locals from the 72.5 bird and from what i understand it's a leased slot.

 

[mustang65]

let me rephrase my above post. I'm not a d* sub yet. I would get my locals from the 72.5 bird. Just curious about if they do move the SD locals what kind of equipment i would need.

 

[hdtvtechno]

let me rephrase my above post. I'm not a d* sub yet. I would get my locals from the 72.5 bird. Just curious about if they do move the SD locals what kind of equipment i would need.

Not to worry

But if they do move the locals to another sat, then Has to give u new Equiptment for free.

 

[tibber]

Mustang,

Since you're SD locals are already on the 72.5 bird which is one of the "oddball" birds, any move D* might make would not change your equipment. It would either be to the other oddball, 95, or to a standard bird. Since all the receivers and any new dish you would get can already pick up all the SD birds, you'd be good.

It would only be an issue if you already have a 2nd gen or older receiver--but then D* has been very good at replacing receivers that old.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[moqz1001]

In The 210 Dma's How Many Locals Are Their Combined ?


Now As For National Channels ... There Is Wayyyyy More Than 150 Channels, So What Channels Will Directv Drop ?


Because If The Channels Themselves Are No Hd Directv Could Still Upconvert Them To Hd


But Still We Have Over 150 National Channels ( Tnt, Espn Etc...) And Manty Not Carried By Directv Yet...


So Me I Am Not Celebrating, They Dont Have Room For The 300+ National Channels Out There...

So This Means Either More Sat Launches And/or Another New Dish We Will Need After The 5 Bird One In 3 Years



So Now What ?

 

[charper1]

They will have more than enough room for all the current nationals and a lot more along with the HD LIL and the 150 national HD. That 150 is for the foreseeable future national HDs in addition to the ones we have now, and there are no where near that many available; and I can't see that many for a long while. There is no need to up convert any no HD stations, so those wont count toward the 150 HD.

 

[Fgsilva]

sorry as I think somebody already asked that, but what are these supposed 150 national HD channels??? does it mean channels like TNT, Universal, HBO, etc? If that's the case, counting these channels plus the voom channels (which I think only dish can carry anyway) I don't think we currently have more than 40, right?? Are there plans for other stations (like scifi, tbs, etc) to go HD in the near future?

They will have more than enough room for all the current nationals and a lot more along with the HD LIL and the 150 national HD. That 150 is for the foreseeable future national HDs in addition to the ones we have now, and there are no where near that many available; and I can't see that many for a long while. There is no need to up convert any no HD stations, so those wont count toward the 150 HD.

 

[mx6bfast]

sorry as I think somebody already asked that, but what are these supposed 150 national HD channels??? does it mean channels like TNT, Universal, HBO, etc? If that's the case, counting these channels plus the voom channels (which I think only dish can carry anyway) I don't think we currently have more than 40, right?? Are there plans for other stations (like scifi, tbs, etc) to go HD in the near future?

National channels are channels other than local networks. So yes, the ones you mention are national because the whole nation can recieve them.

There are plans for other channels to go HD. Some are talked about and listed at the AVS site.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

sorry as I think somebody already asked that, but what are these supposed 150 national HD channels???

Keep in mind that's having the capacity for 150HD national channels.

 

[Fgsilva]

gotcha. then perhaps by 2050 we'll have all 150 channels...

Keep in mind that's having the capacity for 150HD national channels.