I've been a faithful customer of E* for more than 7 years but I think is now the time for me to make the switch, back to cable or D*. This news about the receivers MPEG4 is depressing me, I was looking to buy a 921 at the current price but at this point is useless. E* better do something soon because they may loose a lot of loyal customers. I am wondering if they will replace the equipment for free, I am sure they will replace the leased equipment but what about the customer's owned equipment, any thoughts?
Dish Earnings Conference Call and reported HD Plans...
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Sounds that way. But this is Echostar we are talking about so that could change tommorow.mwgiii said:So my $1000 921, which now sells for $549, will be totally useless next year for the new HD channels.
Remember when they said "The 8PSK Module is all you will need to watch all the new HDTV channels on Dish Network"?
HAHAHAHAHA
Based on the information from this Conference Call and the announcment of the dividend, I am more convinced that Dish has an agreement with Voom close to being announced. It is probably a purchase but maybe just a cooperative agreement. Voom's HD PVR under development is MPEG-4 capable so that is probably the direction they will go with HD.
First off let me say I am not bashing Dish Network. I am a Dish Network customer and have been for a long time, everything I say is MY OPINION, and I based my opinion on what Charlie said on Todays chat.dimi1963 said:
I urge everyone who is concerned to listen to todays Confrence Call on Echostars website and form your own opinion of what Charlie said.
As far as upgrading people he said the the customer would have to pay a majority of the bill to upgrade their equipment however Dish would also have to subsidize the units a bit as well.
Now Charlie saying that Dish does not have any additional HD capacity also concerns me, remember this spring on the Charlie Chats he was asked about HD content and he said they were planning on adding some additional HD content in the fall.... WELL WHERE IS IT? To me I feel that Dish is just stringing us along with promises they are not keeping.
Again listen to the chat, FORM YOUR OWN OPINION and then post your thoughts here to SatelliteGuys!
We are 14,000 strong if we work together we can make some changes.
mwgiii said:So my $1000 921, which now sells for $549, will be totally useless next year for the new HD channels.
Guess now everyone knows why the cost bottomed out now.
Isn't it funny that VOOM who was supposed to launch MPEG4 last month yesterday announced that it would instead rollout MPEG4 Q4 of 2005? Just something else to make you think.rocatman said:
MPEG-4 for HD first makes sense because of the size of the boxes out there. However, MPEG-4 realtime encoders for HD is (apparently) a year away, so nobody can do anything about it. By the time a realtime MPEG-4 HD encoder is available, every satellite provider (including Echostar, DirecTV and Voom) will want one, about the same time.
Hong.
Hong.
Technically, I don't think Charlie has been factual so you may never see MPEG4 until they buy voom.
He maybe is just using a poker face and buy voom 01/01/05.
He also wants congress to believe he Bandwidth deprived for SHVIRA.
Dont show your cards yet Charlie.
He maybe is just using a poker face and buy voom 01/01/05.
He also wants congress to believe he Bandwidth deprived for SHVIRA.
Dont show your cards yet Charlie.
so...in other words...the HD revolution gets put on "hiatus" for the next year or so in the E* camp, huh. On the flipside...everyone complains that D* is over-compressing theirs. On the local side, my hometown cable has VERY little HD, no inclination to add more, and can't get what they have to work right.
Thank God I get OTA...sounds like that's about it for awhile.
Thank God I get OTA...sounds like that's about it for awhile.
TuxCoder said:
The quote from the call said no capacity until they launch new satellites next year... since the new 105 bird has already been 'launched', does that mean it won't be used at all for HD? That was my question.
It sounds like E*, D* and V* are all playing the HD waiting card for at least a year. It makes you very nervous to buy any equipment from any of them today because that equipment may prove to be worthless in a couple of years. This is why the invesment on an HD recorded is a risky proposition at this point. 921 and 942 for E* are worthless if there is no MPEG-4 backward compatibility. The HDTIVO may fall into this category as well. I know D* has said that the will have more birds and everything may be MPEG-2 but that is not written in stone yet and could change anytime. V* MPEG-4 is questionable as well. Now you have to wait until 2006 to get it.
It sounds like we as consumers are in "limbo" right now with all these technical changes that may affect anyone who buys any equipment at this point. Best advice "don't buy and lease if you can until the smoke clears"
It sounds like we as consumers are in "limbo" right now with all these technical changes that may affect anyone who buys any equipment at this point. Best advice "don't buy and lease if you can until the smoke clears"
Here is Charlies EXACT words from the confrence call today (Spelling and typing mistakes are my own)DWS44 said:
NightRyder said:With so few HD channels, who needs a HD recorder anyway?
NightRyder
Well that depends on the person. There are those who say they cannot live without a 921 or an HDTivo. So it varies from person to person. The consumer is the only losing here. The investment made into any of these HD recorders (921 or HDTIVO) may turn out to be worthless money thrown into the garbage. Just like the 6000u turned out to be for E*.
NightRyder said:With so few HD channels, who needs a HD recorder anyway?
NightRyder
I timeshift everything I watch period. If I'm going to watch HD, that too must be timeshifted. I still don't have HD content because I'm too nervous to drop even $550. I think back to when I decided to buy my 721 and how hard it was to swallow the $550 for that. At least at that time, it was a huge jump from recording one show with a VCR to recording two with almost no effort. Dropping an additional $550 just for SOME HD content is hard to justify, especially with the additional $15 per month fee.
Bobby
Bobby_M said:
I have a 508 and 501 so I understand the benefits of time shifting. My poorly worded comment
was really meant to express my dismay at Dish's apparent inability or unwillingness to add more HD programming, and that their current HD DVR seems to be a dead end product. NightRyder
NightRyder said:With so few HD channels, who needs a HD recorder anyway?
Well, for me it is simply the fact of having a DVR and HD in a single box, and not having to have two boxes on the TV to have those two capabilities...whether I record SD or HD. I'm still DVR-less, and getting seriously envious of friends that have them!
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