Missing HD Channels on Dish. (Bluegras, this is for you)

TNGTony

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Sep 7, 2003
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Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
[EDIT=Updated 3/5]
[EDIT=updated 3/18/14 - ESPN, ESPNU, Disney East and ABC Family added back to dish in HD]
Here is a list of Dish Network SD channels that do not have the HD counterpart.
SD only Channels on Dish not listed DO NOT have an HD feed, not even if some of the other carriers have the channel listed as an HD offering. (Like Dish does with Logo and Centric. These are not HD channels from the source)
Channels in red are currently in legal disputes with Dish so they will not be added until things are settled.

TVLand
TVGuide Network
Oxygen
QVC (oh yes, we all long to have an HD shopping channel. NOT!)
MTV2
GAC
Disney Jr. (HD channel possibly coming Fall 2014)
Nick Jr. (Yes, there is an HD feed - East Only)
Nick West (or NickToo)
Nick Toons
Disney (West)
Disney XD
American Heroes Channel (Formerly called Military Channel)
Pivot
CSPAN & CSPAN 2
The Blaze
Al Jazeera America
Ion
HSN (Yes, another shopping channel!)
HSN2
Ovation
TBN
EWTN
Daystar
NASA TV
RT
HBO2 West
MoreMax
Showtime Beyond
Showtime Extreme
The Movie Channel West
Encore West
Encore Action
Encore Classic
Starz Cinama
Starz in Black
MoviePlex
Fox Movie Channel (FX Movie Channel)
World Fishing Network
The Outdoor Channel
Fox Sports 2

24/7 RSNs
two adult channels.

Baby TV
Univision Oeste (West)
UniMás este (East) Not on Dish by contractual agreement
BYU TV
The Pentagon Channel
-----
Dish Latino
ESPN Deportes
Fox Deportes


International
TV5 Monde

Corrections, additions, etc. welcome WITH CITATIONS.

I am amazed at just how few channels Dish doesn't carry in HD and how many of these have little to no "unique" content in REAL HD.
 
Ovation needs to be in HD. Also, all the premium movie channels (HBO's, etc.) ought to also be provided in HD. ION in HD would also be nice to have along with Fox Movie Channel. Of course 24/7 RSN's in HD. Outside of those, I can't find any compelling content on the other channels listed. I don't watch Hot in Cleavland so I don't miss TV Land being in HD. The point is, I think, that while Dish has plenty of HD, it could go just a little further in bringing us a few more channels it provides in SD up to HD to really cover the channels with quality content who actually could benefit from being offered in HD. As much as I like the Military Channel, it does air a lot of SD content and those many programs with old B&W degraded film of Hitler and 1930's and 40's Germany. I don't know about this big change to Heroes Channel. Sounds very cynical.

And for what it is worth: Dish, PLEASE cease counting and labeling channels like LOGO and Centric as HD when it is really NOT! 'Nuff said.
 
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I too am somewhat surprised how few really matter. As mentioned the premiums should be and obviously most of the Disney channels seem to be wanted. Not too much beyond that, not always because the channel is bad, because the content wouldn't be HD.
 
I know this isnt the wish list HD thread, but after the "Disney Family" of channels, I would probably give TVLand more of a shot with there original programming if it was in HD
 
Are these really HD channels Dish needs? I'd love to see quality over quantity meaning HD channels that are less compressed and with higher PQ. The only ones I want would be the ESPN/Disney channels.

Oh I can hardly wait to get that quality Di$ney programming back in HD! I'll take the Military channel instead thanks. I feel as though I have failed as a parent because my youngest son will watch the crap on Di$ney in SD. If only I had spent more time with him in his formative years. :rolleyes:
 
Updated list removing ESPN2. Don't know how I screwed up ESPN2! ESPN U is listed in red on my computer screen!
Added The Outdoor channel. Just overlooked that one.
For the record WFN was originally launched on Dish in HD. It was changed to SD about a year later.
 
Not including RSNs, that list would take a bandwidth of around 6 CONUS transponders (assuming 8 HD streams per transponder). That's a lot of space, but not nearly as much as I would have expected. I wonder how feasible it would be for Dish to provide all of these in HD. How much capacity is WA supposed to gain once the current conversion is completed, and how much will be gained in the future with mpeg4 conversion? Also, what do things look like on EA?

Personally, my big wants are the premiums (including Encores) and the Disney channels. Commercial free movies and sports deserve HD the most (IMHO).
 
To get everything in HD it would require the full use of both arcs coming back to a dpp switch with more inputs than outputs. :rolleyes:

I hope that never happens. :eek:
 
Pie in the sky time: IMHO the SD version of the channels should be a function of the receiver. IOW, any channel that is HD on Dish should not have an SD counterpart. The receiver would convert the channel to 480i. That saves a crapload of bandwidth.
 
My wish list:

Disney and ESPN channels
TV Land
Nick West
FX Movie Channel
Starz Cinema
Fox Sports 2
 
Pie in the sky time: IMHO the SD version of the channels should be a function of the receiver. IOW, any channel that is HD on Dish should not have an SD counterpart. The receiver would convert the channel to 480i. That saves a crapload of bandwidth.

To add to that....also take the less popular channels & cram as many of them onto a transponder as possible. Who cares what they look like. This will save valuable space for the best possible picture quality on the popular channels.

The big question is "what is popular & not popular"?