Come Feb. 2009 when ota goes all digital will the markets that still don't have HD locals be getting them? How does Dish get local channels to subscribers now anyways? Do they pick them up with antennas and then send the feed to the satellite through an uplink center? If in Feb., all they can get is the digital signal, won't they be able to offer HD Locals to everyone? Thanks for any responses.
Local Channel Question
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All local channels presently being carried by Both DISH or DIRECTV will be in DIGITAL by February or 2009. Now that doesn't mean HIGH DEF, just the digital signal. THere is a schedule that has been posted previously that details when each market will be converted to the digital signal but I can't remember where I saw it before. But rest assured that both companies will convert the analog locals to pure digital by the deadline. THey have to or there will be no picture come February of 2009. Imagine the calls from subs on that day if they didn't.
E* needs satellite transponder space and spotbeams to transmit signals to earthstations, signals from the stations to satellite uplink sites, and agreements with stations for retransmission. Any or all are in play with markets lacking HD locals.
If the OP question is, will E* have HD locals for ALL markets up come Feb 2009, the answer is probably not.
Once there is no longer both analog and digital signals transmitted from the local stations, wouldn't there be more bandwidth available for Dish to use in carrying additional local HD.
Not unless E* switches out a lot of subscriber receivers. SD locals are encoded as mpeg2 while HD locals are encoded as mpeg4. Only the newer receivers 211, 612, 622, and 722 are mpeg4 receivers. All others are mpeg2. Everything on Eastern Arc (EA) is encoded as mpeg4 and all subscribers have mpeg4 receivers. This is only being rolled out for new subs though. Everyone else is on the Western Arc (WA) where SD locals and all non-HD programming are in mpeg2, along with a few HD channels, with most HD programming (including HD locals) in mpeg4. Until all subs on the WA have Mpeg4 receivers, E* will have to broadcast locals in both mpeg2 and mpeg4, taking up transponder and spotbeam space. I will also note that even on EA, E* broadcasts SD locals and HD locals separately even though both are encoded mpeg4.
I think you mean that analog signals are MPEG-2 compressed and digital signals (which carry SD and HD programming) are MPEG-4 compressed. I'm not sure that is correct. If so, only people with MPEG-4 capable receivers would be able to get digital locals. Can't people with non-MPEG-4 receivers get digital locals? Perhaps the HD content may be downcoverted to SD but I don't think those receivers can deal with an MPEG-4 stream. I am still learning to don't beat me with a rubber hose if I am wrong. Some knowledgeable person will correct me.
