New HD Coming to C-band?

[Al K]

This was posted on the 4DTV forum of Satforums.


"NPS was just notified by HITS, they are getting ready to launch an HD suite
in the next couple of months, that will be in 4dtv Compatible mode. At this point we believe, possibly on sat w4. I will know more in the next couple months, but this is something NPS will be watching very closely and trying
to work on."

There was no more information, only speculation on the forum. It appears to be a legitimate post from NPS, c-band service provider.

 

[Kb Cool]

I hope it comes true. But if they price each service ala-carte like discoveryHD at$5.50 per month. It will be too expensive. So I am hoping they will sell it as a HD package for a fair price.

 

[johnnytuinals]

I think the prices of the Motorola HD200 and HD201s HD receiver will go up in price for the 4DTVs.
Was looking to sell mine on Ebay but I think I will see what happens.JT

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Isn't HITS PQ questionable as it is? And what is w4 anyway? Last I heard that 36E?

 

[truckracer]

W4 is AMC-4 at 101 degrees west. w4 was an old abreviation for Westar 4 from the earlier days of c-band. The 4dtv units still have the old abreviations in the menu.

 

[iammike]

Most of the folks I've heard comparing Hits SD picture quality to the pizza guys think it's equal to if not a little better. I'd think this would hold true for the HD channels as well. If they do full resolution rather than HD-Lite I'd think it would almost have to be.

Here's an interesting question though. If Hits does do HD-Lite, will the folks with HDD-200 modules have any problems? I think I'm safe with my r5000 mod on the 922, as my computer handles playback, but I wonder if the older technology in the HDD-200's could handle it without a firmware update.

 

[photoman76]

There is a new mux on AMC 4 Cband. However, it's Digicipher 2 combo mode (Megapipe) and is not compatible with 4dtv. TSReader shows 3 encrypted channels. From the bit rates, 2 are HD and one is SD.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Most of the folks I've heard comparing Hits SD picture quality to the pizza guys think it's equal to if not a little better. I'd think this would hold true for the HD channels as well. If they do full resolution rather than HD-Lite I'd think it would almost have to be.

Here's an interesting question though. If Hits does do HD-Lite, will the folks with HDD-200 modules have any problems? I think I'm safe with my r5000 mod on the 922, as my computer handles playback, but I wonder if the older technology in the HDD-200's could handle it without a firmware update.

Its going to take bandwidth no matter where it comes from....that's what I am having a problem grappling with.

 

[johnnytuinals]

Hope to see something in Print from NPS soon.........
I am already getting Startz,HBO,PBS,Discovery and a few others with my HDD201 and hope too get more..JT

 

[tdti1]

There is a new mux on AMC 4 Cband. However, it's Digicipher 2 combo mode (Megapipe) and is not compatible with 4dtv. TSReader shows 3 encrypted channels. From the bit rates, 2 are HD and one is SD.

Sadly NPS may have been given bad info, I hope that mux is not from Comcast...

 

[photoman76]

Sadly NPS may have been given bad info, I hope that mux is not from Comcast...

The Digicipher 2 mux on AMC 4 is gone. The Comcast muxes on AMC 4 all seem to be mpeg2/dvb.

The Digicipher 2 mux is now on the new AMC 18 at 105 degrees West. Still encrypted in combo mode with 2 HD channels and one SD channel.

 

[somery]

I don't have HD yet, but I still want it to happen. JohnfromNPS did say he will listen over the next couple of months. These things can still change. Unless you heard John say otherwise....

 

[photoman76]

There are now two HD muxes on AMC 18. The Comcast/Hits website lists the channels as:

A&E HD
HGTV HD
Starz! HD
Universal HD
Food Network HD
National Geographic Channel HD

Unfortunately both muxes are Digicipher 2 Combo Mode and are not compatible with 4dtv. Comcast/Hits is using Combo Mode because they can transmit 3 HD channels per transponder instead of two if they were compatible with 4dtv. Mike Mountford in the May NPS Cband chat confirmed there is no HD suite for 4dtv.

 

[Kb Cool]

I am now waiting for MikeM to announce. "There is no IPTV"

 

[photoman76]

Both SES-Americom and Intelsat have IPTV services, but both are for telecom companies which receive the satellite signals at their headend and distribute it to their customers over their phone lines. Neither provide satellite service directly to home users. So it depends on whether cheap satellite settop boxes can be built and if either SES-Americom or Intelsat is interested in working with NPS to provide service.

http://www.ip-prime.tv/ipprime/siteSections/overview/turnkey_solutions/index.php

http://www.intelsat.com/services/media/Iptv-work.asp