DIRECTV SD / HD Changes coming

You can activate an H24 with an HR54 or HR44, but not an HS17. Also you will most certainly need to get it from Directv, not a third party.

And Directv may charge $99 for the H24. Normally that's the charge, but with an SD upgrade that's supposed to be free they might waive that - depending on if the CSR is having a good day or not lol
 
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Considering that all these SD channels have HD versions as well.

I think what DIRECTV is going to do is simply discontinue the Ku band MPEG-2 SD versions of these feeds to create the necessary bandwidth on Ku for the 5 MPEG-4 based HD channels moving down from the Ka band.



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Just got an email that Cox switched to MPEG-4 across the lineup and is using Comcast encoders to do it.
 
Comcast implemented MPEG4 in the most brain dead way possible. They have a fixed bit rate of 3 Mbps for all channels, rather than the varying bit rates everyone else uses (Directv's MPEG4 bit rates average around 6.5 Mbps for comparison)

I'm sure it makes planning super easy and the equipment might be a little cheaper since it is simpler, but it shows how little they care about video that they chose the most customer hostile solution possible. The fact that everything is 720p is the least of its problems.
 
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This doesn't surprise me at all ...

We were definitely still going in homes to work thruout the Pandemic, at least up to the time that I retired.
I can't imagine they have restricted techs from going inside, thats half the job in some cases.

They have a slew of tests that need to be done and passing before leaving, so like I said, it doesn't surprise me.
Nothing that I could not handle myself. In fact, that is what I did. Aimed the unit dead on without doing any fine tuning with signals on 101 up to 100 and the others in the upper 80s to mid 90s on signal strength. And no tech involved. Installed the second unit also. Now all I have left to install is the Internet to Coax converter. And yes, I installed a new dish, power inserter, splitter, receivers. Not everyone is as dumb as D* thinks.
 
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Nothing that I could not handle myself. In fact, that is what I did. Aimed the unit dead on without doing any fine tuning with signals on 101 up to 100 and the others in the upper 80s to mid 90s on signal strength. And no tech involved. Installed the second unit also. Now all I have left to install is the Internet to Coax converter. And yes, I installed a new dish, power inserter, splitter, receivers. Not everyone is as dumb as D* thinks.
Most people aren't able to do an install with signal levels that high. It would be a nightmare with all of the service calls they would get if they didn't send out techs to do the installs.
 
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Nothing that I could not handle myself. In fact, that is what I did. Aimed the unit dead on without doing any fine tuning with signals on 101 up to 100 and the others in the upper 80s to mid 90s on signal strength. And no tech involved. Installed the second unit also. Now all I have left to install is the Internet to Coax converter. And yes, I installed a new dish, power inserter, splitter, receivers. Not everyone is as dumb as D* thinks.
You have to remember, those of us on this type of forum are those that know how D* works and some of us can set the recvrs and dishs up just fine, however, we here are less than 1 percent of the normal D* subs.
99% of them have no idea how to do any of that nor do they want to know ... they just want thier TV to work.
 
Within the next month, SD-only customers and Mixed Household customers (customers having both SD and HD equipment on the same account) will receive communications (via email) to offer them an upgrade to all HD equipment at no additional cost.

In the email to customers, it states that if they choose not to upgrade, their SD equipment will still work; however, starting on July 13th, 2021, they will lose the following 8 SD channels:

  • Channel 214 – MAVTV
  • Channel 233 – GSN
  • Channel 305 – ION (east)
  • Channel 328 – TV ONE
  • Channel 339 – Fuse
  • Channel 345 – RFD TV
  • Channel 361 – AccuWeather
  • Channel 372 – Trinity Broadcasting Network
These customers will also see an OSD prompting them to upgrade from June 15 – August 15, 2021 (30 days before and after the channels are removed).

If the customer upgrades to HD equipment, these channels will be viewable in HD.

Why this happening & how it will improve the customer experience:

Signal reliability remains a top call driver and a top issue negatively impacting the customer experience.

Because HD channels on the KA band are more likely to encounter signal degradation from rain fade than channels on the KU band, there is an effort to move the top 5 HD channels over to the KU band to improve the signal reliability of those channels.

This change is expected to greatly improve the customer experience, reduce churn, and reduce the number of 771 events.

Top 5 HD Channels to move to KU band in September 2021:

  • 202 – CNN
  • 360 – FOX News
  • 312 – Hallmark
  • 229 – HGTV
  • 356 – MSNBC
Hey Scott ...

Any updates or corrections to this info.?

As those 8 SD channels on the Ku band are still alive and according to the "datadigesters" on Edgecutter. There never were any information slates given to advise subscribers to upgrade their equipment.

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Comcast implemented MPEG4 in the most brain dead way possible. They have a fixed bit rate of 3 Mbps for all channels, rather than the varying bit rates everyone else uses (Directv's MPEG4 bit rates average around 6.5 Mbps for comparison)

I'm sure it makes planning super easy and the equipment might be a little cheaper since it is simpler, but it shows how little they care about video that they chose the most customer hostile solution possible. The fact that everything is 720p is the least of its problems.
I can see it costing Comcast a ton more money since they'd have to install the hardware for doing dynamic bit rates vs DIRECTV that has to only do it at their broadcast center.
 
I think the idea is that those are the channels with the highest viewership. I'm sure Directv knows exactly how much each channel gets watched since most receivers are internet connected these days.
also need to keep news channels on par (can't make cnn better with also doing the same for fox)
 
also need to keep news channels on par (can't make cnn better with also doing the same for fox)

They are all watched pretty heavily, and unlike a lot of channels they have daytime and nighttime viewership. Most channels are only showing new stuff for a few hours at night (if at all, a channel like MTV seems to only have a few hours of new programming a week now) and then it is all reruns.
 
They are all watched pretty heavily, and unlike a lot of channels they have daytime and nighttime viewership. Most channels are only showing new stuff for a few hours at night (if at all, a channel like MTV seems to only have a few hours of new programming a week now) and then it is all reruns.
I didn't know MTV was still around ..... do they show any Music Videos anymore ?
 
Sure, but thats way different from the "Original " MTV. (and VH1 for that matter)
That's what I thought nowadays as well. ...

The names "MTV" and "VH1" have long been misnomers from the '80s era when they actually were genuine music video channels. Whereas all they show today is reality TV junk.

Or has even that gone out of style for those channels now? ...

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Sounds like it is time for me to pitch my two SD receivers and install my two HD boxes I have in reserve !
Recent storms had blown my oval dish out of alignment and re-aiming did not return useful signals.
Thanks guys ! You always have the answers.
 
I can see it costing Comcast a ton more money since they'd have to install the hardware for doing dynamic bit rates vs DIRECTV that has to only do it at their broadcast center.
Does this mean Directv has better Picture Quality PQ than comcast. Would I notice the difference on a Sony 75x900h?