OLN HD Hockey Report

[Scott Greczkowski]

So exactly at 7:30 the NHLHD channel popped on and a high lights package was shown, it looked back, VERY blocky.

We then saw the announcers live and their faces were so orange they looked like Ompa Loopas.

So far not impressed with this NHL HD feed.

 

[JamesJ]

is it mpeg4?

 

[angiodan]

Looks pretty good to me right now. Not the best HD I've seen but certainly better than SD. Enough to make me switch from the SD HNIC broadcast, and usually I won't change from that for anything.

Any bitrate and resolution numbers on this channel from our tech guys on the forum?

 

[psumattDE]

Yes, picture quality was QUITE nice last night on the HD feed of OLN.

 

[iceondsom]

What channel are you seeing OLN HD on?

 

[psumattDE]

9463

 

[dimi1963]

Is this available to all subs?

 

[psumattDE]

Apparently it's available to all subs who can get OLN.

 

[CapeFish]

Looks pretty good to me right now. Not the best HD I've seen but certainly better than SD. Enough to make me switch from the SD HNIC broadcast, and usually I won't change from that for anything.

Any bitrate and resolution numbers on this channel from our tech guys on the forum?

Same here....maybe it's a Cape Coral thing?

OLN HD on Dish Network is much appreciated!

 

[garys]

Is this available to all subs?

Program discriptions says to all OLN subscribers, which equals AT180 + HD receiver, channel is mpeg2.

 

[tjwgrr]

Program discriptions says to all OLN subscribers, which equals AT180 + HD receiver, channel is mpeg2.

Hmm... I betcha' Dish Network is going to do this with Nat. Geo. HD too when it launches..... hope not since I'm Silver. I won't be a happy camper.

We already pay extra for HD programming.....

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Oh, so is this the first HD channel where Dish is going to determine eligibility by AT tier level???

A person getting HD Bronze or HD Silver will not get it?

 

[grb]

Oh, so is this the first HD channel where Dish is going to determine eligibility by AT tier level???

A person getting HD Bronze or HD Silver will not get it?

No, and they don't get OLN SD either.

It seems like Dish's policy is consistent -- you don't get the HD version of HBO unless you subscribe to the HBO package. So why would you get OLN HD if you don't subscribe to OLN?

Personally, I would love to be able to get the HD versions of HBO, Showtime and Starz without the SD package, but they are not offering that, so I will forgo these HD channels rather than pay a heavy premium for a bunch more SD channels.

By the way, I didn't know the NHL playoffs were in HD until I read about it in this forum. It would be nice if Dish could let us know about these changes...

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Yes, but until this decision, the only HD channels that someone with the HD package didn't get were premium movie channels. This is the first time that Dish has applied an AT tier eligibility criteria to an HD channel.

I expected them to do this, but thought they might not since HD subs were already paying them $20/month for HD channels.

Now a lot of people who opted for HD Bronze are going to get nudged along to HD Gold.

That's a VERY stiff price to pay to get a couple of channels in HD, if one is not interested in any of the extra SD channels they pick up. Dish pushed AT180 over AT60 by offering dozens of extra channels for the $20 price increase. For someone who primarily watches HD, this is going to be a very irritating requirement.

And I guess those who opted for the HD Standalone package are going to be left out in the cold, despite paying $30/month for it.

 

[sonnyboy11]

Now a lot of people who opted for HD Bronze are going to get nudged along to HD Gold.

But Tom, OLN is only available if you have Gold or higher. So this is very consistent for them to only offer the NHLHD channel (which is basically OLNHD) to those who subsribe to Gold or higher. I definitely would like to see OLN available on a lower tier package, but that's a different argument, imo.

I had been on the fence about moving to a higher tier package until the OLN thing came back around. Starting last week, I just could not take it anymore- I am a hockey nut and all those playoff games during the week are on OLN. So I went ahead and took the plunge and upgraded to Platinum. Now that they have added the OLNHD feed, I have to say I am feeling pretty good about the decision (hockey in HD is a beautiful thing!). I had Bronze before. But I have to say I am enjoying the Platinum package. How long I will stay with it kind of depends.

BTW, the Edm/Ana game looked great tonight on my set. I only saw the third period, but I had no problem with macro-blocking or any drops. WAY WAY better than the SD channel, of course.

Edit- I just read the post above yours from from grb which basically says the same thing. Sorry- it's late!

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I fully understand the OLN is in AT180 package point.

HOWEVER, to this point Dish has not excluded HD channels, except for premium movie channels, from the HD Pack. If you subscribe to the Dish HD Pack, you get not only the TNT, Discovery, ESPN, and ESPN2 AT60 HD channels, you also get 15 VOOM channels, HDNET, HDnet Movies, and Universal HD all within the $20 HD fee. These are bonus channels that are paid for with your HD subscription.

But this decision now forces you to buy higher level SD tiers in order to get HD channels. You have to pay more money on top of the HD Pack subscription you are already paying extra for.

I realize this is the same as for HBO, etc. But few would expect Dish to bundle in an expensive HD channel like HBO into the $20 HD fee. OTOH, the cost of OLN HD is small, maybe 50 cents a month, maybe less. It is not unreasonable for one paying $20 a month for HD to expect to get this channel, without having to pay an extra $20 to go from HD Bronze to HD Gold.

It would be nice if Dish would offer something like an HD Plus Pack, where for another $5 or so, one could pick up the HD versions of the AT180 SD tier. This would eventually not be doable as so many of the AT180 channels will have HD. But for the next year or longer, we are only talking a few channels.

PS I don't have HD Bronze, Silver, or Gold. And I don't care to watch NHL HD. So I'm not arguing because I'm disappointed I can't get it. I'm arguing because I don't like this trend.

 

[grb]

It would be nice if Dish would offer something like an HD Plus Pack, where for another $5 or so, one could pick up the HD versions of the AT180 SD tier. .

I agree! And while they are at it, give us a premium (HBO/SHO/STARZ) HD Pack for another $10 or so...