Dish Network on HDTV

[DanB474]

Nope, with the SD outputs (i.e. S-video or composite) and the stretch modes offered, it looks like any other receiver - full screen

 

[DVDDAD]

There is another way to do it - make all boxes capable of decoding HD content. If all boxes could decode HD, even if you were just seeing an SD version on your set, then they could eliminate SD feeds for channels with 100% program duplication. It wouldn't be much of a savings at first but over the long haul it would help free up more bandwidth for more HD. Efficient use of spotbeams would make the savings even greater.

But those with legacy boxes would no longer get the HD only feeds and will lose many channels if they don't upgrade to a HD box. That includes everyone with a 721 or 5XX receiver. Very expensive to replace and who pays for the replacements?