Free Starz in SD only?

[Smartkid]

When the anniversary offer for one-year of free Starz began, I was getting both HD and SD versions. Now I'm only getting the SD channels, how do I fix this?

I had DVR timers scheduled for some movies and they are all recording in SD now!

 

[mike123abc]

They are in HD here. But, I am an HD for life sub. I know that it used to be that you did not have to be an HD sub to get the premiums in HD, you got HD premiums just by subscribing. I wonder if they applies to the free Starz.

 

[finoky]

At the beginning of the free for a year I had more Starz HD than I do now. Thought I was mistaken but have several movies DVR on an HD channel that I now only get in SD. 350 and 354 for sure I only now get in SD when I originally got them in HD. I have the top 250 plus the mackdaddy HD package.

 

[wolfjc]

They are in HD here. But, I am an HD for life sub. I know that it used to be that you did not have to be an HD sub to get the premiums in HD, you got HD premiums just by subscribing. I wonder if they applies to the free Starz.

I have the top 250 & HD for life and I get Starz free and the HD channels are 350,351,352,354,356.

 

[Jimmerinwi]

I have the same HD channels I've always had. Haven't seemed to have lost any here.

 

[Smartkid]

I'm getting channels 350-356 but only in SD. I contacted DishNetwork via chat and they had no idea what I was talking about. I think it might have something to do with the recent uplink changes but I don't know for sure. I really want the HD channels back, Otherwise this free year is useless to me.

I have Dish America Silver.

 

[Mr Tony]

Now I'm only getting the SD channels, how do I fix this?

I got money that says you have a 110/119/61.5 setup
SD versions are on 61.5
HD versions are on 72

You need an Eastern Arc dish or move that 61.5 dish to 72.7 but then you'd lose your locals in HD

 

[Smartkid]

You need an Eastern Arc dish or move that 61.5 dish to 72.7 but then you'd lose your locals in HD

I'm a bit of a noob at this - how can I fix that? I went to System Info and it says I'm connected to 118/119/61.5. I subscribe to Dish America Silver + Internationals and am in zipcode 08820. I've had this setup since I got the installation 2 years ago.

 

[MaryB@SlingTV]

I'm a bit of a noob at this - how can I fix that? I went to System Info and it says I'm connected to 118/119/61.5. I subscribe to Dish America Silver + Internationals and am in zipcode 08820. I've had this setup since I got the installation 2 years ago.

Hi Smartkid, if you would like to PM me your account# or phone#, I will take a look at your account and see what we can do to get all your programming in HD! Thanks!

 

[Mr Tony]

Well since you have Internationals and live in an Eastern Arc market they can swap out your dish but you still will need 2 dishes

The one for Internationals will stay as is
The one for 61.5 they will swap out for one that gets 61.5/72/77. They will hook up the INternational dish you have to the new dish and you'd be all set

What model of receiver do you have?

 

[SandFarmer]

Hi Smartkid, if you would like to PM me your account# or phone#, I will take a look at your account and see what we can do to get all your programming in HD! Thanks!

All programming in HD? What "all" are you talking about. If you are talking about Starz, ch 353 &355 on mine are SD and how many should we have?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Smartkid]

Well since you have Internationals and live in an Eastern Arc market they can swap out your dish but you still will need 2 dishes

The one for Internationals will stay as is
The one for 61.5 they will swap out for one that gets 61.5/72/77. They will hook up the INternational dish you have to the new dish and you'd be all set

What model of receiver do you have?

Thanks Iceberg, I contacted Mary through PM and she has been very helpful. She suggested the same fix. I just need to get back to her with my availability so they can send a technician.

I have the VIP 722. I've been reading about the Eastern Arc set up and changing dishes on this forum. Will what you're proposing here "future proof" me? (ie. I'll be equipped for any other changes that might be down the line?)

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah. Dish wants to get away from "mixed setups" and have a customer on either Eastern Arc (61.5/72/77) or Western Arc (110/119/129). The fact you have Internationals does put a little monkey in the wrench but your location requires Eastern Arc. So they'll do what I posted above (swap the 61.5 dish for a Eastern Arc) and wire up the Int'l dish to the Eastern Arc one and you'll be all set.

One thing you gain (although minimal) is the channels on Eastern Arc are in MPEG4 (versus MPEG2 on 110/119) so you'll save a little hard drive space when you record shows (MPEG4 takes up less room)

 

[mike123abc]

Will what you're proposing here "future proof" me? (ie. I'll be equipped for any other changes that might be down the line?)

The best answer for that is for the time being. Dish has seemed fit to move programming every few years with new satellite launches. Given their announced build/launch schedule, it looks to be stable for at least 2 more years.

 

[papita]

I'm a bit of a noob at this - how can I fix that? I went to System Info and it says I'm connected to 118/119/61.5. I subscribe to Dish America Silver + Internationals and am in zipcode 08820. I've had this setup since I got the installation 2 years ago.

While you wait for the dish change service you could watch a couple of Starz channels in HD on channels 6103 and 6105. When they changed those channels from the 94xx or 95xx range to the 61xx the mapdowns (HD mirrors on channels 350 and 354) were lost. I think that even if you change to the new dish you will still need to tune to 6103 and 6105 to watch these two in HD.

 

[SandFarmer]

While you wait for the dish change service you could watch a couple of Starz channels in HD on channels 6103 and 6105. When they changed those channels from the 94xx or 95xx range to the 61xx the mapdowns (HD mirrors on channels 350 and 354) were lost. I think that even if you change to the new dish you will still need to tune to 6103 and 6105 to watch these two in HD.

On my 722 it goes from 6084 directly to 6330. No 61xx series and the two that are SD are no where else in HD. The 9496, 9497 & 9498 channels are mapped to 350's in HD. My 350 & 354 are HD. It's 353 & 355 that are SD on my box.

 

[finoky]

While you wait for the dish change service you could watch a couple of Starz channels in HD on channels 6103 and 6105. When they changed those channels from the 94xx or 95xx range to the 61xx the mapdowns (HD mirrors on channels 350 and 354) were lost. I think that even if you change to the new dish you will still need to tune to 6103 and 6105 to watch these two in HD.

Thanks for this info. My two missing Starz HD channels were indeed on 6103 and 6105.

 

[rapidturtle]

My free Starz for 3 months ended last night, and when I woke up this morning all of my HD channels were gone. I called Dish, and they took care of it, and also gave me back Starz free for the year instead of the free Encore. Not to Shabby!! Thanks Dish.

 

[reddice]

I wish Dish would just leave the HD channels on 61.5 as it is stronger than 72.7. I do have a EA setup I got last year but I had to go though so much hassle. The biggest beef with the EA is that all the SD channels are MPEG-4. I am the only one with a HDTV and MPEG-4 receiver. Everyone else is on SDTV's and 510 DVR's. No one in my house wants to upgrade to HD so my receiver is on my own EA dish while the other three SD receivers are on a Dish 500.

WA got it made because they can a pure WA setup and still keep the MPEG-2 SD receivers. With EA it is all MPEG-4 or nothing. On the topic why does Dish even bother selling SD receivers that only do MPEG-2 when they are trying to get everyone on the east on the EA. Makes no sense. I wish I was on WA. They got everything good and future-proof with legacy and new receivers.

 

[mike123abc]

WA got it made because they can a pure WA setup and still keep the MPEG-2 SD receivers. With EA it is all MPEG-4 or nothing. On the topic why does Dish even bother selling SD receivers that only do MPEG-2 when they are trying to get everyone on the east on the EA. Makes no sense. I wish I was on WA. They got everything good and future-proof with legacy and new receivers.

Well the rumor of course is that someday Dish will change Western Arc to 8PSK which will cause quite a few of the MPEG-2 receivers to quit working (the later MPEG-2 receivers support 8PSK).

The only real reason that they still have all the MPEG-2 receivers is that there are so many of them it is expensive to replace them. They are not making them any more, just reconditioning them and such waiting for them to wear out and be replaced by MPEG-4/8PSK ones. Eventually I would suspect that WA will be MPEG-4 only too, but they will probably milk 8PSK first until those receivers are too old.