Home Media Center Update:

[LonghornXP]

Any idea how the new dish is mounted? With any luck it will just be a matter of taking off the old one and installing the new one on the existing mount. Mine is on a chimney which requires getting on the roof, if the HMC comes out at the end of 2005 beginning of 2006 I'll have to wait until spring unless it's a mild winter, I'm in the upper Midwest and roofs can be very snow packed that time of year.

Sadly you will require a new mount. All I can say is good luck and avoid falling off the roof and breaking your neck or anything else for that matter. Or you could let the D* installer fall off instead....LOL. I never wish anyone falling off the roof but better the D* guy than you right.

 

[mhaider]

Sadly you will require a new mount. All I can say is good luck and avoid falling off the roof and breaking your neck or anything else for that matter. Or you could let the D* installer fall off instead....LOL. I never wish anyone falling off the roof but better the D* guy than you right.

I was afraid of the new mount thing. I just hope the new dish and mount isn't as big as the E* Superdish, but if it is it is. I hope the new dish can still go on the chimney. Do you know if it's just a replacement of the mast for the dish? Any details on what the new mount is like? I see in some installations of the E* Superdish there's a brace for the mast, I've seen this when it's been mounted on a roof. I keep referring to the Superdish cuz I have a feeling that's going to be about the size of the new D* dish.

I'll be letting the D* installer crawl around on my roof, me and roofs don't get along...LOL.

 

[Barney]

Your problem is a different reason which is low power not how fast they could install the splicer. Now if your Fox station is indeed an O&O station and not a Sinclair station for example I would guess you would have a better shot of it being on the satellite with perfect signal strength before you can get it OTA.

I think I have a better shot of getting my local FOX-HD by OTA than by D*...Austin is #54 on the MPEG4 list........strange, I'm 54 .......retire in 3 years..."Hey, maybe I can get a Senior's Discount"......

My FOX-HD by D* is from NY City........ It doesn't matter how fast they get the "splicer" to just pass on 720P to its customers.......its WHEN they pass it on.........still waiting.....sorry LonghornXP, not flaming you, but I'm finding it real hard D* will take care of just shy of 40% of its HD customers in that 1st group with MPEG4 HD-DVRs, HD-STB's, dishes w/5LNB's in less than 2 months from now (before the NFL Season). Maybe thats why they offer the rent "option" if/when the HD-DVR's are "rushed" out.....no beta testing, installers have no idea how to make 'em work, & will they work? CSR's have no idea whats going on....in less than 2 months, they are expected to answer questions about MPEG4 HD-DVR's........

Again Longhorn.....like I said before...I hope to post here I'm wrong.....I just don't see it happening....hope I don't have to drop D* all together when I do get FOX-HD by OTA......I've been waiting for about a year on the OTA....(suppost to have it going full power by July 2005.......but we all now about rumors).....just rumors......D* is starting to cut-it too thin my friends. But I'll hang in there for a little while longer......(Don't ask a Senior Citizern how long a "little while" is............I forget..... )

Barney

Barney

 

[ShadowEKU]

I was afraid of the new mount thing. I just hope the new dish and mount isn't as big as the E* Superdish, but if it is it is. I hope the new dish can still go on the chimney. Do you know if it's just a replacement of the mast for the dish? Any details on what the new mount is like? I see in some installations of the E* Superdish there's a brace for the mast, I've seen this when it's been mounted on a roof. I keep referring to the Superdish cuz I have a feeling that's going to be about the size of the new D* dish.

I'll be letting the D* installer crawl around on my roof, me and roofs don't get along...LOL.

if it cant use the same mast then im gonna have to go to a pole mount...

 

[riggscm]

The bottom line is that the multiroom viewing features will be connected via coax.

Instead of using the term "will" the appropriate term is "can". Because it "can" also be connected via a LAN. You use a definative when in reality it's not the only way to connect it.

Am I the only one that finds it just weired that a TV signal would be sent over CAT5?
Oh I know it will work... but its just outside the norm for me, and probably others. When I think of STB's I think of Coax, I guess cuz I'm used to it. No bigge just different.

regarding wireless...
from what I've read I see 2 things that could cause problems here.
1) 802.11n is still being debated and no IEEE specs have been agreed upon, therefore I don't see how as a manf. you can plan for this technology.

2) I am curious about the speed and bandwidth of 802.11n. One possible spec has speeds near 100Mb's and the competing 315Mb's. I don't think that 100Mb's, and I'm not sure about 315Mb's, will allow enough bandwidth to "broadcast" HD.

I think we'll be dealing with wires for a while, I just don't think the bandwidth is there yet.

 

[ShadowEKU]

Am I the only one that finds it just weired that a TV signal would be sent over CAT5?
Oh I know it will work... but its just outside the norm for me, and probably others. When I think of STB's I think of Coax, I guess cuz I'm used to it. No bigge just different.

regarding wireless...
from what I've read I see 2 things that could cause problems here.
1) 802.11n is still being debated and no IEEE specs have been agreed upon, therefore I don't see how as a manf. you can plan for this technology.

2) I am curious about the speed and bandwidth of 802.11n. One possible spec has speeds near 100Mb's and the competing 315Mb's. I don't think that 100Mb's, and I'm not sure about 315Mb's, will allow enough bandwidth to "broadcast" HD.

I think we'll be dealing with wires for a while, I just don't think the bandwidth is there yet.

HD over wireless is nigh impossible... at least for things like media center... i can send tv over my wireless 11 system and it gets real jumpy... go for the 54 ist stable and watchable. however if i try to stream hd even over my 100 network its still choppy at times.... ive yet to upgrade the wired to gigabit but it is in the cards before xbox 360 launches.

and for the record i have 4 wireless acceesspoints/routers.

 

[ghostv]

I'm interested in HMC but I hope that I will still be able to copy a show to dvd. With my current hacked d*tivo setup, I'm able to do just that and it rocks. Any news on this?

Also, I hear some different numbers for trade in values and prices of the servers. If I currently have 2 d*tivos (SD), how much might it cost to get the larger server and one SD and one HD receiver.

Thanks and great info on this site. Any info is good, so keep it up. Some people say we should just wait til d* announces something, but I myself rather hear this news so that I don't buy something that I might just replace less than a year from now. Great job LonghornXP!

g

 

[silversurfer]

ghostv welcome to SatelliteGuys!

 

[ghostv]

ghostv welcome to SatelliteGuys!

Thanks! I'm glad I found this place!

g

 

[bonscott87]

I won't quote them but I've seen a couple posts above that said they can't believe D* will upgrade 40% of their HD customers by NFL season. Uhhh, why do you think they have to? Sunday Ticket won't be on MPEG4 so it won't matter. There is no hurry other then D* wanting to get everyone converted as fast as possible but there are no hard deadlines here. They'll most likely start the "Top 12" they announced probably in August and go from there. Perhaps the Top 30 by years end. But also just because they start conversion in a market doesn't mean they are finished in a certain period of time either.

D* should do this conversion quite quickly but certainly ain't going to be done by NFL season. Heck, it'll be lucky to be even *started* by NFL season.

 

[Barney]

I won't quote them but I've seen a couple posts above that said they can't believe D* will upgrade 40% of their HD customers by NFL season. Uhhh, why do you think they have to? Sunday Ticket won't be on MPEG4 so it won't matter. There is no hurry other then D* wanting to get everyone converted as fast as possible but there are no hard deadlines here. They'll most likely start the "Top 12" they announced probably in August and go from there. Perhaps the Top 30 by years end. But also just because they start conversion in a market doesn't mean they are finished in a certain period of time either.

D* should do this conversion quite quickly but certainly ain't going to be done by NFL season. Heck, it'll be lucky to be even *started* by NFL season.

I'll try to find the "rumor" about the 1st group being done before the NFL Season. But it doesn't matter anyway, its just a rumor.
So you say they will start the upgrade in Aug for the 1st group.....looks like I'll win a bet! I'm #54 on the list..........then I'll be retired & can't afford do-wah...before D* gets to me.......I win a bet again........

Barney

 

[DixonJDixon]

Longhorn: does the indefinite delay of Spaceway F2 put everything on hold?

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn: does the indefinite delay of Spaceway F2 put everything on hold?

Yup and I guess I'm prepared to eat crow now. But that delay shouldn't be too much but long enough to rule out before football season. Sorry

 

[vurbano]

Yup and I guess I'm prepared to eat crow now. But that delay shouldn't be too much but long enough to rule out before football season. Sorry

You mean to tell me that D* cant give me anything from SP1 or D8 already in the air without SP2??????????

 

[LonghornXP]

You mean to tell me that D* cant give me anything from SP1 or D8 already in the air without SP2??????????

I hate to say this but I screwed up. I meant to answer that the announcement will be held up a while. Now the HMC and installation of the new dishes won't be held up. New national HD channel offerings won't be held up either but they never were going to be added until closer to the end of the year. This will take time and even when new national HD channels are offered you may not get them right away because you along with every HD customer will want this upgrade and as such some will get it before others. My guess is that customers in the top 25 markets or so will get both their LIL HD and national HD channels before those in other markets. Those in other markets will have to wait another couple or so months to get those national HD channels. That is the breaks and people will just have to accept that no company can do all this and make everyone first.

 

[Barney]

Yup and I guess I'm prepared to eat crow now. But that delay shouldn't be too much but long enough to rule out before football season. Sorry

I was hoping I was wrong, my friend.......but like I had stated, I find it real hard for D* to do this upgrade as fast as "rumored"...........Im 54 & #54 on the list..........I'll hang in there for a while longer...& hope to stay with D*....but D* says "for subs w/ST will only pay $49 instead of $99 to watch NFL in HD but new subs will pay $318.........I'm sorry....D* isn't doing it right...& not doing me & you right either...........

Barney

 

[LonghornXP]

I was hoping I was wrong, my friend.......but like I had stated, I find it real hard for D* to do this upgrade as fast as "rumored"...........Im 54 & #54 on the list..........I'll hang in there for a while longer...& hope to stay with D*....but D* says "for subs w/ST will only pay $49 instead of $99 to watch NFL in HD but new subs will pay $318.........I'm sorry....D* isn't doing it right...& not doing me & you right either...........

Barney

I agree with you on the Sunday Ticket issue but we are talking about two different things here. Just because D* is screwing customers on the Sunday Ticket package doesn't mean they will screw us on other new products and upgrades. Now D* sure hasn't helped our confidence levels over these last several months that is for sure but we can't assume they will follow suit. Now I'm not saying they won't try and screw us HD customers but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Even for me if they don't do right in future upgrades and products I'll be part of the bashing on here and that is a for sure promise.

 

[Skyboss]

When it first comes out and you install it via say wireless D* will not provide support for it because it won't be an approved connection as they would call it.

Thats a given. Wireless with audio is barely good enough in certain areas of my home/yard.

Am I the only one that finds it just weired that a TV signal would be sent over CAT5?
Oh I know it will work... but its just outside the norm for me, and probably others. When I think of STB's I think of Coax, I guess cuz I'm used to it. No bigge just different.

At full 19.2 MBPS a switch (not a hub, but a switch - a hub shares the routing between all ports, a switch pipes it to a specific location - in simple terms) could support 5 links to 100mbps, but it'll be more like 15mbps. If you have giganet, then the possibilities are limited to the speed of the ethernet adapter.

regarding wireless...
from what I've read I see 2 things that could cause problems here.
1) 802.11n is still being debated and no IEEE specs have been agreed upon, therefore I don't see how as a manf. you can plan for this technology.

2) I am curious about the speed and bandwidth of 802.11n. One possible spec has speeds near 100Mb's and the competing 315Mb's. I don't think that 100Mb's, and I'm not sure about 315Mb's, will allow enough bandwidth to "broadcast" HD.

Broadcast HD is 19.2 mbps... The issue is overcoming security and walls within the home that would cause wireless interference. Most systems would probably be a combination of both. Wired where possible, wireless where possible.

 

[Barney]

I agree with you on the Sunday Ticket issue but we are talking about two different things here. Just because D* is screwing customers on the Sunday Ticket package doesn't mean they will screw us on other new products and upgrades. Now D* sure hasn't helped our confidence levels over these last several months that is for sure but we can't assume they will follow suit. Now I'm not saying they won't try and screw us HD customers but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Even for me if they don't do right in future upgrades and products I'll be part of the bashing on here and that is a for sure promise.

Don't worry my friend.........I'll be bashing them also....
I almost think that D* won't even have HD-DVR's till sometime next year....yup! a year from now..........at the most! Might have the HMC buy sometime 2007-2008..........thats a year or more........

Barney

 

[moonman]

IMO, D* has found a new "cash cow" with the H/D products, so I think they will try
to get these new product's out as soon as they can. First it was the H/D add-on
Superfan S/T charge, then last night was the added H/D tier for the H/D version
of the Tyson boxing match $ 10.00 more for that. I'm afraid the H/D tax has just
started!!