New HD channels coming!

[goaliebob99]

The sixto report is up at DBStalk and the rest of the missing Hbo / Cinimax minus outtermax are uplinked. The one surprise is that espn3d is going full time! All channels came from ppv slots.

 

[jcrandall]

They are pulling 5 of the HD Cinema channels. Appears they are running out of bandwith again

They have around 30 HD PPV channels, so they can still do some additions if they reach agreements for major channels, things like AMC, BBC, etc. That said, I wouldn't expect any big time launches coming.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Of course Netflix may not have BR at that point !

Looks like they are considering going Streaming only, or maybe having Streaming being a separate package ?

Netflix is suppose to make streaming separate from DVD/BR which would be fine by me as I probably won't even need the streaming. Heck, if they had a plan where I could do BR without regular DVDs, I would do that instead if it were cheaper.

 

[CK SatGuy]

They are pulling 5 of the HD Cinema channels. Appears they are running out of bandwith again

They have around 30 HD PPV channels, so they can still do some additions if they reach agreements for major channels, things like AMC, BBC, etc. That said, I wouldn't expect any big time launches coming.

I think 20-25 HD PPV would still suffice (Dish only has 20 HD PPV and nobody seems to be complaining)

 

[harshness]

I think 20-25 HD PPV would still suffice (Dish only has 20 HD PPV and nobody seems to be complaining)

The problem with this theory is that DIRECTV uses the PPV channels for their Sunday Ticket package and special events. They may use upwards of 20 of the channels at once.

 

[bobvick]

There are two empty transponders, and one transponder full of "test" channels on D12, that would yield 15 potentially available slots. Also the following transponders on D10 have only four channels per transponder, 6 and 14, this could potentially yield 2 slots. On D11, transponders 2,4,6,10 and 11 have only four channels and transponder one has only two channels, this would be 8 potential slots on D11. So there could be (maybe) up to 25 open slots, if the 5 channels to a transponder theory holds true. Maybe they have decided to devote some of the DirecTV Cinema capacity to full time national channels and that could be even more space.

 

[JohnL]

Yes, many don't realize that a good quality film print will look vastly better than HD. Film has much higher resolution than HD. The only advantage to native HD is the lack of Film Grain, but then again Film grain gives the picture a better look.

John

 

[cypherstream]

Depends on what modulation rate the transponder is using. Here are the possibilities:
Ka, DVB-S2D, SR 30 Msps:
QPSK 3/5 35 Mbps
QPSK 2/3 39 Mbps
QPSK 4/5 47 Mbps
8PSK 3/5 52 Mbps

New transponders are 8PSK. So let's take an average per channel bandwidth if you load 5 channels on that transponder.

5 HD Channel average bandwidth per service:
8PSK 3/5 - 10.4 Mbps
QPSK 4/5 - 9.4 Mbps
QPSK 2/3 - 7.8 Mbps
QPSK 3/5 - 7 Mbps

AT&T U-Verse fluctuates their MPEG4 HD from 5-6 Mbps (6 Mbps is average). Now we all heard they do have some picture quality issues. So I'm wondering if we bump that up to 8mbps, that should yield much better quality and fix the issues. So IF DirecTV wanted to put 6 channels per transponder you would get these average bitrates:
8SPK 3/5 - 8.6 Mbps (Much better than U-Verse quality)
QPSK 4/5 - 7.83 Mbps (Slightly better than U-Verse quality)
QPSK 2/3 - 6.5 Mbps (U-Verse quality)

In my opinion, I think it's worth a shot trialing 6 channels on an 8PSK transponder. Your still at a minimum 2.1 Mbps or more ahead of U-Verse which qualifies as HD service (though we know it's not nearly as sharp). With already being ahead of the average bitrate, if you statistically multiplex 6 services together at VBR rates where the channels picked are not all "action" style channels, but a nice mix of talking heads, stationary or slow moving, variety, already lower bitrate from the content provider, etc... I think 6 channels per transponder will work in most situations, provided they are using the state of the art encoders. Perhaps when there is a technology refresh, more efficient encoders will be installed at DirecTV to maximize bandwidth. There are even some channels that you could take all the way down to 4.5 - 5mbps, like QVC HD, HSN HD, CSPAN1&2 HD. These types of channels are very slow camera pans or stills, which translate to easier compressed MPEG4. You never see full blown action/explosion scenes, car chases and those types of encoder demanding pictures on some of these channels.

You have to look at it like this... uplinks cost money. Bandwidth is a finite commodity, as is fuel, water, food, etc. In any resource there is a devotion to conserve and use that resource in the most efficient manor so 1) you don't run out, 2) you keep costs down. Just as we look to install more energy efficient appliances, heating and cooling or buy more efficient cars that get better MPG's... it is in DirecTV's intrest to invest in more efficient encoders. They can't keep launching satellite after satellite at the cost and time it takes to do so.

The other thing they could do is start to migrate some MPEG2 to MPEG4. However with the millions of MPEG2 only hardware out there, this is a huge task. Seems a little more efficient to start with the encoders at the head end and maximize what is currently out there until D14 is launched. Hopefully they learned from the mistake of D12 and build D14 with more available bandwidth.

Here's a link to a thread of people discussing U-Verse HD quality for reference:
http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=11888.0

 

[cband]

TCM doesn't have commercials during their movies. FMC doesn't either although their library is pretty small compared to TCM.

AMC used to be commercial free way back when. Had them on C-Band. As for HD on TV vs Blu Ray?? Not even in the same galaxy. PQ on Blu Ray will blow away any HD on TV. Depending of course on the transfer of the film to Blu Ray!

Jeff

 

[dishrich]

The other thing they could do is start to migrate some MPEG2 to MPEG4. However with the millions of MPEG2 only hardware out there, this is a huge task.

What MPEG2 HD are you talking about? They already did this WAY some time ago, & there is NO MPEG2 AT ALL on the Ka birds - where all the HD is anyway.
If you are talking about MPEG2 SD, unless D* decides to put HD on any of the Ku birds, it's NOT going to matter on HD capacity anyway, so that's a moot point as well.

 

[cypherstream]

Dishrich, i meant migrate mpeg2 SD to mpeg4. The ku frequencies could better utilized for HD as KU works better with rain fade and SNR / BER with 8psk modulation than Ka (which is why they aren't using 8psk and can only pack 5 HD's a transponder now). I still think it's worth a shot adjusting power levels and FEC to see if 8psk or turbo coded 8psk would work to improve bandwidth for more efficient HD transport per transponder (whether its on a Ku or a Ka bird).

Interesting poll on EngadgetHD (along with comments):
DirecTV's latest HD add is Telefutura in Miami, but who needs more channels anyway? -- Engadget HD