New HIT Channels on SES1 and AMC18

[PopcornNMore]

4DTV had its place in the world.......but then again so did the 8 track. Very few people want to use a setup that is buggy, no PVR, no HD, requires a full subscription for each receiver, and really doesn't carry alot of mainstream channels.

I have to agree. While HITS does offer a few advantages such as being able to subscribe to smaller channel packages, no rain fade, improved SD quality, etc it just doesn't compare to Dish Network or DirecTV as far as channel choices, HD channels, DVR functionality, programming guide, multi-room viewing, on-screen graphics and cost per channel.

When I first got HITS two weeks ago I thought about reducing my Dish Network package and increasing the HITS package next month. However, now I'm leaning more towards increasing my Dish Network package and reducing or even cancelling the HITS package next month.

 

[tvropro]

When I first got HITS two weeks ago I thought about reducing my Dish Network package and increasing the HITS package next month. However, now I'm leaning more towards increasing my Dish Network package and reducing or even cancelling the HITS package next month.

Some people are happy with pizza packages and terms some are not. You have to do what you and your family think is best. After having C band subscriptions and quality for 24 years pizza to me pizza pales by comparison.

Things I hate about pizza:
1) picture quality
2) rain fade
3) contracts
4) high prices
5) few packages

The only thing I have good to say about pizza is it offers certain channels we cannot subscribe to currently on c band. I care less about HD lite, DVR's etc.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Things I hate about pizza:
1) picture quality
2) rain fade
3) contracts
4) high prices
5) few packages

1) picture quality - Most channels on pizza now are available in HD which look much better than HITS SD channels and are free for life.
2) rain fade - If dish is properly adjusted rain fade isn't too much of a problem.
3) contracts - Yes, but with pizza you are getting a FREE state of the art HD DVR receiver, dish, LNB's and installation. A DSR-410 receiver costs almost $200 up front.
4) high prices - Channels on pizza average 40 to 48 cents per channel. With hits they are 75 cents to $2 per channel or a whopping $6 per channel ala carte.
5) few packages - Dish Network has 9 channel packages. DirecTV has 5 channel packages.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I just realized that if I move my C band dish from AMC 18 to Galaxy 17 some of the following HITS programming is ITC:

41 DMX Audio Channels
TV Games Network
FOX Movie Channel
Speed
FOX Soccer Channel
The Word Network

Plus FX East, FX West, CW East, CW West, CW Central, Reelz and Classic Arts Showcase.

 

[tvropro]

It seems this thread is turning into a pizza is better than c band thread. This is the same stuff I observed over at Satforums last year. Most there actually ended up in a non productive argument with all kind of fights breaking out. Since this is the 4DTV Discussion area I think we should really keep our conversations focused on the good things C band 4DTV and 410 H2H can offer.

There are pizza promotion threads all over the internet besides in their respective forums here on Satellite Guys. So let's keep it upbeat and focused on promotion of the 4DTV as to what the forum is for. I didn't waste all of last year fighting for 4DTV's rights for nothing and worked hard for a no brick conversion. We are at a new beginning that will take time to build. If we put bad press out about shortcomings just cause it's a 95 Chevy vs a 2011 Caddy, all were doing is feeding the pizza giants at there own game. This bad press helped cause the 4DTV to fall to a point that the Motorola ACC threw in the towel. Do we really want to help out pizza and the 2010 NPS cause?

One thing I could never understand in reading all those vicious threads over at Satforums was why can't each platform just do it's thing with the people who believe in it. In short, if your happy with HITS or pizza do you thing and promote your platform in it's respected area or forum.

 

[tvropro]

I just realized that if I move my C band dish from AMC 18 to Galaxy 17 some of the following HITS programming is ITC:

41 DMX Audio Channels
TV Games Network
FOX Movie Channel
Speed
FOX Soccer Channel
The Word Network

Plus FX East, FX West, CW East, CW West, CW Central, Reelz and Classic Arts Showcase.

The Fox distro networks have been ITC for a while as they are migrating to Mpeg 4. The others are normally ITC like the CW, DMX etc.

 

[Dishman Dan]

I think we need a dislike button to push for the pro pizza posts on this 4DTV thread!!!...

There are people who like to have dozens of channels that they are paying dearly for and do not even watch and they probably have 20,000 songs on their Ipotties with the lowest quality settings and say they are happy with that too. Quanity vs quality.

The 8 track tape format was mentioned - well never mind 8 track. Look at vinyl records and how they were supposedly outdated. Vinyl is hot again and people are paying huge amounts for turntables to play this outdated format! Some turntables cost thousands of dollars and some diehards even have tube amplifiers which is "old tech" but quality!

I would rather have the no contracts affordable channel packages than a long term relationship with charlie! True there are a few more that I would like available but just how many channels do you really need???

As for DVRs I thought that they charge a hidden fee for them? The pizza receiver you used to be able to purchase but now there is a fee for those too. What about those channels that are free OTA and people are dishing money out to buy those! I am sticking with my DVD/HDD recorder and OTA antenna plus my FTA dish!

People think that if they have a flat panel TV they have the best out there. There is a big difference in the sets and all the HD formats that are used by the broadcasters. When it comes to pizza picture quality all the people I know that have pizza have fuzzy pictures compared to 4DTV. When they come to my house they are amazed at my "HD picture" which is not HD!

You can have a Chevette (pizza) or a Corvette (4DTV, quality but not as many) but hey they are both still considered "vettes" (Satellite TV)! But it is the pizza that has the Corvette price!

 

[tvropro]

I think we need a dislike button to push for the pro pizza posts on this 4DTV thread!!!...

:up:up

People think that if they have a flat panel TV they have the best out there. There is a big difference in the sets and all the HD formats that are used by the broadcasters. When it comes to pizza picture quality all the people I know that have pizza have fuzzy pictures compared to 4DTV. When they come to my house they are amazed at my "HD picture" which is not HD!

I had a friend over today and was showing him the 4DTV and DVB vs Direct pizza he was saying is that all HD? I said NO 480i SD, he was amazed at the difference.

I think you hit the nail on the head with Quality vs Quantity, and yes I have a big selection of vinyl from back in the day with a $150 cartridge from 1989 on my turntable that I use too. I also fix amps for a living and you can't beat the sound quality of tubes vs transistors. It's warm and a true sound. Digital is not better, people don't see and hear in digital that is why we react to analog better.

 

[Kb Cool]

:up:up

I had a friend over today and was showing him the 4DTV and DVB vs Direct pizza he was saying is that all HD? I said NO 480i SD, he was amazed at the difference.

I think you hit the nail on the head with Quality vs Quantity, and yes I have a big selection of vinyl from back in the day with a $150 cartridge from 1989 on my turntable that I use too. I also fix amps for a living and you can't beat the sound quality of tubes vs transistors. It's warm and a true sound. Digital is not better, people don't see and hear in digital that is why we react to analog better.

Did your friend ask to see HBO or ESPN?
I'm just messing with you. Lifes too short anyways to be bickering about what's best. All that matters is what best for you at the time. And if SRL and HITS happens to put it in high gear in this lifetime or my next i'll gladly become a subscriber.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Did your friend ask to see HBO or ESPN?

In my household no one is enough of a sports nut to be concerned about ESPN!

We can receive HBO quality movies with Dish picture quality on Netflix!

 

[Kb Cool]

In my household no one is enough of a sports nut to be concerned about ESPN!

We can receive HBO quality movies with Dish picture quality on Netflix!

Plenty of sports on FTA. I hope they are still there tomorrow after Popcorn's mention of G17 being ITC.
Netflix i haven't seen so i can't judge.

 

[TheTechGuru]

VuDu looks nearly BluRay.

VUDU - Home Page Better than Netflix, but it's pay per movie.

Anyway, in this economy most of us can not consider contract TV, end of story. I now have HD cable available to me but it would be $50/mo to add it to my account that is currently internet only not to mention a rip off $49.99 for them to come out and remove the analog channels trap from the line.

Right now I'm just enjoying what free QAM I find on the line which includes HD locals and MusicChoice.

 

[trinidex]

In my household no one is enough of a sports nut to be concerned about ESPN!

We can receive HBO quality movies with Dish picture quality on Netflix!

No one here either!

We grumbled went HBO went away...for about a day, then we started watching Starz.

We like our 4D and DSR410 setup - yes I would like to see some more channels added, but as I always say...it's just TV and we'll always find something to watch, if we're that desperate!

 

[tvropro]

Did your friend ask to see HBO or ESPN?
I'm just messing with you.

No we never even tuned in HBO or ESPN. I don't sub to HBO anyway and watch ESPN very little since I'm not a spots nut. Maybe thats why HITS does it for me with the lineup they have.

I showed him HITS, PBS Net and some analogs on 4DTV, FMC, Hist Bio and a few others on DVB. He was amazed at the clarity and sharpness of a good SD signal.

Lets face it the pre packaged pizza /cable is nothing more than maximizing the dollar for the provider. If they could get away with 50 channels on one transponder they would. If they really cared about the end result they would cut down the channels in a mux, and stop pre downrezing the channel. HITS has an edge since they actually are a cable distro headend provider. So the quality has to stay up there. Unlike pizza/cable which can send any type of crap to the end user since the consumer can complain till there blue in the face and they could care less.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I'm being totally honest here. H2H win's. It has purer colors with less artifacts. I think if your a purest like I am the way things are going with compression and taking away real quality. Soon it won't be worth turning on the tv anymore unless you turn on the bud.

I would have to agree with this. It's the same now with streaming audio vs. the quality audio sound of a CD.

 

[Kb Cool]

No we never even tuned in HBO or ESPN. I don't sub to HBO anyway and watch ESPN very little since I'm not a spots nut. Maybe thats why HITS does it for me with the lineup they have.

I showed him HITS, PBS Net and some analogs on 4DTV, FMC, Hist Bio and a few others on DVB. He was amazed at the clarity and sharpness of a good SD signal.

Lets face it the pre packaged pizza /cable is nothing more than maximizing the dollar for the provider. If they could get away with 50 channels on one transponder they would. If they really cared about the end result they would cut down the channels in a mux, and stop pre downrezing the channel. HITS has an edge since they actually are a cable distro headend provider. So the quality has to stay up there. Unlike pizza/cable which can send any type of crap to the end user since the consumer can complain till there blue in the face and they could care less.

Well, Give SRL a kick in the A$$ and get us a HD receiver. Like i said, life is too short and i really don't want to wait until my next one for them to finally do something!

 

[PopcornNMore]

It seems this thread is turning into a pizza is better than c band thread. This is the same stuff I observed over at Satforums last year. Most there actually ended up in a non productive argument with all kind of fights breaking out. Since this is the 4DTV Discussion area I think we should really keep our conversations focused on the good things C band 4DTV and 410 H2H can offer.

There are pizza promotion threads all over the internet besides in their respective forums here on Satellite Guys. So let's keep it upbeat and focused on promotion of the 4DTV as to what the forum is for. I didn't waste all of last year fighting for 4DTV's rights for nothing and worked hard for a no brick conversion. We are at a new beginning that will take time to build. If we put bad press out about shortcomings just cause it's a 95 Chevy vs a 2011 Caddy, all were doing is feeding the pizza giants at there own game. This bad press helped cause the 4DTV to fall to a point that the Motorola ACC threw in the towel. Do we really want to help out pizza and the 2010 NPS cause?

One thing I could never understand in reading all those vicious threads over at Satforums was why can't each platform just do it's thing with the people who believe in it. In short, if your happy with HITS or pizza do you thing and promote your platform in it's respected area or forum.

I agree and I'm sorry if I sounded anti C-band / HITS/ 4DTV. I enjoy C-band satellite and the HITS service as much as you and I certainly appreciate all that you are doing to help keep this service alive.

I think the best thing for me to do is to have a subscription to both HITS and Dish Network to keep everyone in my family happy.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I have both 4DTV and DirecTV systems (and FTA DVB-S2), and consider my setup the best of both worlds.

Recommend all c-band lovers subscribe to at least one HITS service. Keeping the dream alive, one map at a time.

Same here and I believe this is the best solution.

 

[Kb Cool]

I think SRL and at one time NPS are holding something back from us. That is the ability to authorize more than one receiver per household. I have a feeling they are allowed to do this. But won't out of greed or fear.
Has anybody ever gave an honest answer?

 

[PopcornNMore]

Did your friend ask to see HBO or ESPN?
I'm just messing with you. Lifes too short anyways to be bickering about what's best. All that matters is what best for you at the time. And if SRL and HITS happens to put it in high gear in this lifetime or my next i'll gladly become a subscriber.

My wife wanted to know if we get the "Hallmark Channel", so that she could watch "I Love Lucy" this weekend. I had to say no and then realized that we have 9 dishes (2' to 8') and 2 OTA antennas installed in our backyard, a dedicated communications room containing over 60 satellite receivers and we still don't receive the channels we want to watch.