Directv gives out either SD DVR's or HD DVR's to every customer and then removes the duplicate PPV's channels that have the same ALL Day Ticket showings.... 
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Great Idea for Directv ?
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Why not go farther and everyone get's a box with MPEG4 capability as long as they're at it? I would think that would be cheaper then giving out DVR's and would free up more bandwidth.
Duplicate PPVs (and any other channels) _do not_ take up any more bandwidth than having one, the dupes are just duplicate _showings_ of the _same stream_ (they are different channels being fed from a single stream, and are handled internally by the STB), they are _NOT_ different streams with their own bandwidth allocation, removing them would do nothing for bandwidth, and in fact the STB provides a way to keep the duplicate mappings from showing up, known as the Favorites lists. (Unless you are referring to HD and SD duplicate streams, in which case, forget the above, and read below)
As for giving out all SD or HD units, well, the obvious, not everyone who has SDTVs has HDTVs and not everyone who has HDTVs wants to go back to SDTVs, also, dropping all SD support, would be disastrous fiscally as the majority of subs are STILL SD, and, vice versa, if they go all SD and no HD, they'd have no future path and would be just as disastrous, it seems the only way is what they are doing, and that is phasing out (upgrading as they buy HDTVs) SDs as subs for HD take over the margin, so, none of that sounds like a good idea to me, and I suspect, nor does it to D*.
As for giving out all SD or HD units, well, the obvious, not everyone who has SDTVs has HDTVs and not everyone who has HDTVs wants to go back to SDTVs, also, dropping all SD support, would be disastrous fiscally as the majority of subs are STILL SD, and, vice versa, if they go all SD and no HD, they'd have no future path and would be just as disastrous, it seems the only way is what they are doing, and that is phasing out (upgrading as they buy HDTVs) SDs as subs for HD take over the margin, so, none of that sounds like a good idea to me, and I suspect, nor does it to D*.
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I am not questioning your knowledge of the D* system, I am confused and I am intrigued. If the PPV shows 3 different channels, which are all playing the same "Hit Movie" at 3 different start times (say 1 hour apart). How does my kids good ol' "Basic Black Box STB" manage this, is there some sort of internal memory capable of looping this info? And if so, then why does D* lock me out of a purchase if I am too far before/after a start time?
Also, just a wacky idea: Some day, when DVRs are more prevalent and the Hard Drives are ridiculously big, they could do something similar to the "hdtvtechno" idea and download dozens of movies; thereby freeing up multiple channels. It could create a VOD type system, but I don't know if that is realistic.
Just my crazy ramblings,
Will
I am not questioning your knowledge of the D* system, I am confused and I am intrigued. If the PPV shows 3 different channels, which are all playing the same "Hit Movie" at 3 different start times (say 1 hour apart). How does my kids good ol' "Basic Black Box STB" manage this, is there some sort of internal memory capable of looping this info? And if so, then why does D* lock me out of a purchase if I am too far before/after a start time?
Also, just a wacky idea: Some day, when DVRs are more prevalent and the Hard Drives are ridiculously big, they could do something similar to the "hdtvtechno" idea and download dozens of movies; thereby freeing up multiple channels. It could create a VOD type system, but I don't know if that is realistic.
Just my crazy ramblings,
Will
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First allow me to clarify, I probably know (and don't know) as much about D* as the next guy, I am no insider, so please, question away, I am not afraid to be wrong.
My reply did not take into consideration the timeshifted dupes (I was talking about where you see the same programs, same times, different channels, and about SD and HD streams of the same program), the timeshifted ones, I would imagine, could be half and half, the transmitting bandwidth (meaning from the satellite to our dish) would require a seperate stream, BUT (and I do NOT know this for sure this is an assumption), that the uplink stream (from the ground dishes to the satellite) only needs ONE stream, and the equipment on the satellite MAY handle the time shifting using that one stream (or it may be all done on the ground, I don't know), so while it does not use anymore bandwidth than one stream on the uplink, the downlink may require additional bandwidth, howevere, there are possibilities that I am way off.
To add to the topic at hand, the time shifting allows the chance for more people to want to buy a movie at all times of the day instead of only every 2 hours, so no matter which shifts they removed, they would make someone unhappy, people don't want to miss a movie by 10 mins, and have to wait almost 2 hours for the next run.
They cannot make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time, so they pick their battles. when all households (or most of them) have D* DVRs, then, they will probably do away with the timeshifted dupes.
I did not mean to come across like I helped build the thing.
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How many people actually order PPV? I'd venture a guess that it's definately not the HD crowd. With only one HD PPV channel, we're left out in the cold. I, for one, refuse to pay $3.99 to see a movie in SD. I'd much rather drive to my nearest redbox and rent the DVD for $1. I think all the "time shifted" PPV channels are a complete waste - are they really upsetting anyone by cutting down on the 46 PPV channels?
Right On!
I agree with you 100%. SD programming looks terrible on my 50" 720p plasma, why hasn't there been more of a "shift" to HD PPV programming?
But the thing we have to keep in mind, is that "middle america" is HUGE part of D* business. It is easy for me to say I would rather go rent a DVD at one of the several stores within a 5 minute drive of my house, or get NetFlix which is only a one day mailing time from the local distribution center; because I happen to live in a very populated part of the NorthEast, so it is all very convenient for me. But for the many (possibly majority) of D* customers who happen to live in a rural part of the country, these two options could be a major hassle. If we compound that with economic demographic trends, these folks might also be far less likely to own an HDTV or an HD-STB; so HD programming may be a moot point for them anyhow. So it is likely that SD PPV will not be "shifting" to HD anytime soon, or at least until the new Satellites go up anyhow.
It will be interesting to see how D* evolves it's programming model, in relation to HD technology, over the next couple of years. For me, it can't happen fast enough; Schneller ist Besser!!!
I agree with you 100%. SD programming looks terrible on my 50" 720p plasma, why hasn't there been more of a "shift" to HD PPV programming?
But the thing we have to keep in mind, is that "middle america" is HUGE part of D* business. It is easy for me to say I would rather go rent a DVD at one of the several stores within a 5 minute drive of my house, or get NetFlix which is only a one day mailing time from the local distribution center; because I happen to live in a very populated part of the NorthEast, so it is all very convenient for me. But for the many (possibly majority) of D* customers who happen to live in a rural part of the country, these two options could be a major hassle. If we compound that with economic demographic trends, these folks might also be far less likely to own an HDTV or an HD-STB; so HD programming may be a moot point for them anyhow. So it is likely that SD PPV will not be "shifting" to HD anytime soon, or at least until the new Satellites go up anyhow.
It will be interesting to see how D* evolves it's programming model, in relation to HD technology, over the next couple of years. For me, it can't happen fast enough; Schneller ist Besser!!!
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