Mpeg4 SD and HD Rumors

[bleodler]

I saw this post on AVS, looks interesting. Although from recent info on here it looks like the August 1 date is being pushed back. I would like to see LonghornXP's comments on it.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=557967

Word on the street is DirecTV will be doing the following:

*Free HD equipment to new subs with a two year agreement beginning August 1. $100 for the HD DVR for new subs. Lease option on the DVR.
*Free HD equipment to current subs who already have HD equipment to receive MPEG-4 with a two year agreement beginning August 1, with an equipment upgrade to roll out to Sunday Ticket Superfan and LiL HD subs first.
*Upgrade path for current SD subs for about $200 for those going from SD to HD, with an option to lease HD equipment vs. buy.
*Upgrade path for current SD subs for $100 for those who want to go from SD MPEG-2 to take advantage of new SD MPEG-4 material, this will be an SD DVR - not TiVo.
*Home Media Center around Christmas lease or buy for $500, plus $100 for each remote unit.

By year end, the only new DirecTV equipment will be as follows:

SD receiver - MPEG-2 (A basic sub)
SD DVR - MPEG-2/MPEG-4
HD receiver - MPEG-2/Mpeg-4
HD DVR - MPEG-2/MPEG-4
Home Media Center - MPEG-2/MPEG-4

HD Channels by September:

ESPN 2
INHD 1 and INHD 2
TNT
HBO East/West
Showtime East/West
Starz East/West
Encore East/West
Cinemax
Fox HD Movie Package - Comparable to Voom 21 package (No details on number of channels, but it will include films from 20th Century Fox - Quite the catalog - Star Wars, Die Hard etc...)
Sunday Ticket and other sports subscriptions which offer HD games.

The above channels will not be on spaceway. Spaceway is for LiL, PPV/VOD (Which will dump to DVRs during the night and you pay only if you watch them). Once Spaceway 2 is up, there is room for 50 LiL markets which will be transitioned through next year. San Diego is slated for the February to March timeframe.

Additionally, they expect to add expanded movie packages for MPEG-4 equiped subs. MPEG-2 subs will get the current movie packages, MPEG-4 will have available the additional VH-1 channels and all of the other movie package channels such as HBO Comedy. East and West versions of Starz!/Encore etc...

Packaging and pricing is also going to change, but the details on channel breakout are unknown. A best Guess would be a $29.95 package of the popular programing plus $19.95 for HD everything. Kind of like how Cox has broken out their digital packages.

HD will be moving to 100% MPEG-4. New Expanded SD channels will also be MPEG-4, current channels will remain MPEG-2 durrign the transition. When all of the new SATs are up in 2007 the transition will be completed on DirecTV's end and everything can move to MPEG-4, but the in home equipment swapout will have to be complete before it can happen. All new receivers will be MPEG-4 compatible (SD and HD) begining August 1, except for a basic MPEG-2 box to attract new customers at a low cost point. MPEG-4 effectively doubles DirecTVs capacity on the SD side - about 500 SD channels not including spotbeams. Add to that LiL plus an addiitonal 150 national HD channels on the Ka side.

SD locals will remain available until 2008, or until everyone in a particualr market has been converted to HD, then the SD locals will go away and the box will do the HD-SD conversion.

Satellite allocation:

101 will remain primary.
110 for International Programming
119 for Spanish Programing and LiL backfill.

HD subs will only need the new Ka Dish which also picks up the 101 slot. 110 and 119 won't be needed unless your SD locals are there and you want them or you sub to foreign language programming. The new dish will hit all of the Ka Satellites plus 101 Ku.

SD Subs who want SD MPEG-4 material, but not HD will not need a new dish.

 

[minorthr]

My question is how are they going to squeeze all the HD content on the old birds. Even going Mpeg4 they claim to currently be at the max for space and they currently have what 7 or 8 HD channels. Is Mpeg 4 that good that they could squeeze 20 new HD channels plus however many for the Fox HD Movie Package in the space of 8 mpeg2 HD channels?

 

[smitty825]

I don't know how D* plans to fit in an additional 20 channels. I am assuming that they are planning on using DirecTV8's Ka & Ku bands to fit a bunch more channels.

That being said, MPEG4 (or, more specifically, H264) is very, very cool technology. If you have Quicktime 7 for Mac or Windows, check out this site for a quick H264 demo and how much you can reduce the bit rate and increase the quality of the video. (For those anti-mac people, I apologize for such a mac-specific link, but you do have to admit the demos are pretty cool )

 

[scooby2]

I don't think it is possible to get 20 additional by moving to mpeg4. There are not any more Ku transponders available to add additional content so they will be stuck until dishes get swapped to allow Ka.

 

[Skyboss]

I don't think it is possible to get 20 additional by moving to mpeg4. There are not any more Ku transponders available to add additional content so they will be stuck until dishes get swapped to allow Ka.

How many channels are there now? You can get at least a third more on the current system, and there is probably some capacity improvement with Directv 8. 20 channels is not out of reach.

 

[vinnyv07]

Well....I dont care how they do it...just lets see how the PQ is after they add the new HD. I'll be on board for the new HD pack...lets get this thing going!!!

 

[scooby2]

How many channels are there now? You can get at least a third more on the current system, and there is probably some capacity improvement with Directv 8. 20 channels is not out of reach.

There are around 15 full time channels right now. If they go back to full res with mpeg4, they could probably double that.

DirecTV 8 is replacing a satellite already up there. All the KU transponders are pretty full so there is no way to use it to add any more HD. mpeg2 is mpeg2. The only thing Dtv8 will do is increase signal strength for some people unless they do something with Ka.

 

[LonghornXP]

Most of that is the plan with a few things to point out. First the new dish will support all current and new satellite locations along with full KA and KU support.

The boxes are about right but I don't think they will be offering any MPEG2 only boxes. I'm hearing that all SD and HD boxes being shipped by D* very soon will support both MPEG2 and 4.

I'm hearing that new customers can get a very low cost HDTV box with a two year agreement. New customers can also buy or rent both the HD DVR and Home Media Center.

Current HDTV customers will get a free equal replacement (HDTV box gets HDTV box, HD Tivo gets HD DVR box). Existing customers with a non DVR HD box will have the option of buying an HD DVR at a discount or renting an HD DVR.

Current SD customers can upgrade to an HD box at a discounted price and/or get a discount on an HD DVR if they purchase it upfront or they can rent an HD DVR with no upfront costs. The basic HD boxes will not be offered as a rental. Only the HD DVR and Home Media Center will be offered as rentals.

The HD channels are about right with these exceptions. First Encore HD won't be offered because Starz Encore pulled the plug for the time being.

I'm also hearing about SD channel expansion with the most talk about premium SD channels. DirecTV wants as many SD customers to upgrade to MPEG4 boxes on their own so they will have new hardware, new hardware features, new channels along with Premiums On Demand (via KA dish in interactive TV mode). The Premiums On Demand will come later but it will be coming. They will use current DVR boxes to store PPV movies for PPV On Demand so KA bandwidth will only be needed for Premiums On Demand. Cable companies free On Demands won't be offered until they offer full length shows that would justify the bandwidth and storage requirements.

From what I hear both spaceway 1 and 2 will both be required and will be used as two huge spotbeams that would cover both the west and east of the USA. The premiums on demand will only work with DVR boxes to start with. Firstly a customer can't even get access to the Premiums On Demand unless they order the premium channels themselves and the Premiums On Demand service as well. Once a customer is authorized they will view an interactive TV screen with the list of movies and such from say Showtime On Demand. The satellites will be sending out a data stream of each and every movie and show all the time (just one stream per show sent over and over again at a constant fast speed). Once a show is requested from the interactive TV screen your access card will be authorized via software to look for and receive that stream of data and copy it to the DVR itself. The system will work in a similiar way as the weather features that display your local information. Just remember that its easier for D* to send out 200 constant SD MPEG4 data streams instead of dealing each request and this system I said above doesn't require any two way talking of any form.

Sorry I went long but that still can't be explained very well for some reason. Also the HD package will also most likely include the Voom 21 package along with a Fox HD suite of channels and the cost from what I hear will be 10.99/month for current and new HD channels including the Fox HD suite of channels but that won't include the Voom 21 suite. To get the Voom 21 suite of channels you must pay 4.99/month. From what I hear you will be able to order the Voom 21 alone for 4.99/month without ordering the HD Package at 10.99/month. Premium HD movie channels will require a subscription to the premium channels themselves.

Your local RSN HD feeds will require the Sports Pak but you don't need the Locals package unless you want HD local channels. All RSN HD feeds carried will be used to show HD games as part of the various sports packages. Say if 15 of the local RSNs carried in HDTV on D* are broadcasting an HDTV game all those games will be mirrored on an HDTV channels grouped with the sports package. I hope I explained this correctly and most of all well enough.

If your still reading this please for your own sake wipe your eyes with water.

 

[pstineme]

Are you still hearing that there is a Mpeg 4 HD-Dvr coming soon? There has been conflicting information about whether or not one even exsists or how far along it is. Any update about the hardware or release date of the HMC?

 

[rad]

Boy, I'm really tired of having nothing but rumors to read on D* and wish they'd make the 'official' announcement really soon.

 

[charper1]

Well unless we get lucky that will not be until some time after Spaceway 2 is launched and ready; after 07/28/05.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

Yawn

 

[rkr0923]

blah blah blah.........same ole same ole
all talk no do

 

[sltmag]

Your local RSN HD feeds will require the Sports Pak

Longhorn,

Now I am getting YES HD(Yankees home games) for free as part of my RSN. Are you saying those games will no longer be free and I need to subscribe to the Sports Pack as well? That is not good. Not good at all...

 

[PeaceOfMind]

Thanks LonghornXP....Your positive research keeps us on top of things that we may be able to look forward to, keeping in mind, the understanding that the owner of a company can change their options, as they see fit.
There are many people of the Satelliteguys.us management team that take their time to research answers for those of us that have serious questions and we would like to take this time to Thank each and everyone of you.
Your work is worth more than any of us members could ever pay but we would like to take this time and say, "Thank You", for taking the time to research problems for those of us that really appreciate all the help that you have given us.
Helping others is worth more than being rich.
PeaceOfMind

 

[pstineme]

Well unless we get lucky that will not be until some time after Spaceway 2 is launched and ready; after 07/28/05.

This site says maybe mid August

http://www.orbireport.com/Logs/Log05/Log2005-08.html

 

[rad]

Your local RSN HD feeds will require the Sports Pak but you don't need the Locals package unless you want HD local channels. All RSN HD feeds carried will be used to show HD games as part of the various sports packages. Say if 15 of the local RSNs carried in HDTV on D* are broadcasting an HDTV game all those games will be mirrored on an HDTV channels grouped with the sports package. I hope I explained this correctly and most of all well enough.

Longhorn, are you now getting information that the HD RSN channels, like Comcast SportsNet Chicago will also be carried? I thought in prior ports you indicated that they wouldn't be carried, just the four major network channels for the LIL HD rollout.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn,

Now I am getting YES HD(Yankees home games) for free as part of my RSN. Are you saying those games will no longer be free and I need to subscribe to the Sports Pack as well? That is not good. Not good at all...

Sorry about that I was very tired last night when I posted this. To get your local RSNs in HDTV you must order the locals package or the sports pack but you don't need to order both. Now when RSN HD channels are showing college sports in HDTV you must order the sports back to get them all (I'm talking about RSN channels out of your market). Also keep in mind that most pro games outside of your RSN will be blacked out. I do know that RSN HD is in the works but when I don't know but it shouldn't be much longer after the original rollouts in each market. Also customers within the Chicago market will have access to next years Cubs and Whitesox games in HDTV because D* will carry the OTA WGN feed. You must order the locals channel package to get this upcoming WGN feed. Customers outside of the Chicago market won't have access to this channel unless they order the MLB Extra Innings package but the games will be on different channels just mirrored from that WGN OTA feed.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn, are you now getting information that the HD RSN channels, like Comcast SportsNet Chicago will also be carried? I thought in prior ports you indicated that they wouldn't be carried, just the four major network channels for the LIL HD rollout.

My post below yours answers most of your questions. Keep in mind that some Comcast sportsnet channels along with others won't be on D* because they aren't hosted via a satellite but sent over the cable companies closed fiber network. Because of this those few channels don't have to be offered to D*.

 

[CRendall]

If WGN is broadcasting the game in HD and DirecTV has the feed why wouldn't DirecTV broadcast the HD version as well as the SD version? I don't live in the Chicago area and sounds like I would have to get MLB EI to see the Cubs games in HD on WGN, but I would still see the games in SD on WGN. Correct?