Possibly switching to D*- Some questions

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kirbyhawk

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
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iowa
I am a happy Dish Customer, but am thinking of switching to D* because of the BTN. I am reluctant and a little nervous about switching, but feel like I am left without a choice as I need that channel. So I have a couple of questions about the DirecTV service. Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

1) Are the FSN channels going to be full time HD in mid-sept?
2) How much of the HD with DirecTV will be MPEG4?
3) Is the off-air tuner on the HR20 pretty good? (my locals are not provided in HD and I will need to pull them in with my antenna)
 
I am a happy Dish Customer, but am thinking of switching to D* because of the BTN. I am reluctant and a little nervous about switching, but feel like I am left without a choice as I need that channel. So I have a couple of questions about the DirecTV service. Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

1) Are the FSN channels going to be full time HD in mid-sept?
2) How much of the HD with DirecTV will be MPEG4?
3) Is the off-air tuner on the HR20 pretty good? (my locals are not provided in HD and I will need to pull them in with my antenna)

I can answer #3 for you. I live 56 miles from the towers I receive my locals from. Our HR20-100 pulls them all in with no problems at all. I do have a 40 foot tower with a large 10-12 elemnt antenna on it. But I did have the antenna sitting on sawhorses on the ground for awhile and picked up everything just fine.


Don't be worried about making the switch! I live in a rural area and nearly everyone who had E* has made the switch mostly because D* has the locals in HD and E* doesn't. I have not heard of any problems from them. I've been with D* going on 8 years and no problems at all!
 
I am a happy Dish Customer, but am thinking of switching to D* because of the BTN. I am reluctant and a little nervous about switching, but feel like I am left without a choice as I need that channel. So I have a couple of questions about the DirecTV service. Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

1) Are the FSN channels going to be full time HD in mid-sept?
2) How much of the HD with DirecTV will be MPEG4?
3) Is the off-air tuner on the HR20 pretty good? (my locals are not provided in HD and I will need to pull them in with my antenna)

I will answer #1 & #2
1) The volume of HD on the FSN's varies by channel and time of day. Those that have HD content should/will display as HD. Eventually the RSN's will be CONUS, but for now, if you get your locals in HD via D* (HDLIL), that should be an indication that you are good to go from day one. So I guess the answer is, while the content broadcast will not necessarily be 100%, the HD that IS broadcast will be HD on your end.

2) Everything on the new sat will be MPEG4. There is speculation as to whether the the MPEG4 will be mirrored MPEG2, or if the MPEG2 on the existing sats will be mirrored from MPEG4. Might be splitting hairs, but not 100% certain how the MPEG2's will be affected. Though, the MPEG2's will be cut off completely in the next 1-2 years, at which time D* will be 100% MPEG4.

And for #3, my HR20 does great except for PBS which is broadcast with just enough power to run a toaster, and they have two additional sub-channels running simultaneously. Other than that, I am in the upper 80's to 100% SS and about 25-30 miles from tower farm.
 
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Thanks for your help. I live in Iowa, and with E* right now I get any Twins/Cardinals/Brewers games in HD via FSN. I was hoping that would be the case with D* in mid-Sept, but as of this moment I would not get those teams games in HD via D*. And I was hoping to get the Cubs and White Sox in HD too.

The tuner on my 622 is pretty good, but I live only about 20-30 miles from the towers and I get everything at 90 or higher. I am sure the HR20 would get me similar numbers.
 
Thanks for your help. I live in Iowa, and with E* right now I get any Twins/Cardinals/Brewers games in HD via FSN. I was hoping that would be the case with D* in mid-Sept, but as of this moment I would not get those teams games in HD via D*. And I was hoping to get the Cubs and White Sox in HD too.

The tuner on my 622 is pretty good, but I live only about 20-30 miles from the towers and I get everything at 90 or higher. I am sure the HR20 would get me similar numbers.

At that range, you should be golden! And as for the HD RSN's, as long as your DMA is part of the "local viewing audience" for the teams you mentioned, then you should get HD games soon, if not immediately after D10 goes live.
 
I am a happy Dish Customer, but am thinking of switching to D* because of the BTN. I am reluctant and a little nervous about switching, but feel like I am left without a choice as I need that channel. So I have a couple of questions about the DirecTV service. Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

1) Are the FSN channels going to be full time HD in mid-sept?
2) How much of the HD with DirecTV will be MPEG4?
3) Is the off-air tuner on the HR20 pretty good? (my locals are not provided in HD and I will need to pull them in with my antenna)

Since all 3 of your questions have been answered, I will just add this. I switched from E* to D* about 2 years ago and I am very happy that I did.As a sports enthusiasts you cant help but be :)
{NFL-ST/MLB-EI/MARCH MADNESS PACKAGE/YES NETWORK/NASCAR HOT PASS/starting tomm. BTN} Plus throw in all the upcoming HD channels set to launch in a few weeks,including all the RSN`s. All I can say is "Sweet"!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I am still not sure what to do. I really enjoy a couple of the VOOM channels(Equator and Gallery particularly), but I need the BTN to watch my Hawkeyes, especially wrestling which I really love.

And realistically, Dish has more sports than I can usually watch right now - it's just the BTN is now screwing everything up. I have the Twins in HD on FSN North already, and I get enough NFL on the weekend without ST too. I just need the BTN to watch the Hawkeyes.

I am not willing to give up all the HD I have right now until DirecTV lights up their new satellite. When that happens and the BTN goes HD, then I might have to switch. So I guess I am giving Dish a couple of more weeks to work out an agreement. If they don't, I am going to DirecTV.
 
I am still not sure what to do. I really enjoy a couple of the VOOM channels(Equator and Gallery particularly), but I need the BTN to watch my Hawkeyes, especially wrestling which I really love.

And realistically, Dish has more sports than I can usually watch right now - it's just the BTN is now screwing everything up. I have the Twins in HD on FSN North already, and I get enough NFL on the weekend without ST too. I just need the BTN to watch the Hawkeyes.

I am not willing to give up all the HD I have right now until DirecTV lights up their new satellite. When that happens and the BTN goes HD, then I might have to switch. So I guess I am giving Dish a couple of more weeks to work out an agreement. If they don't, I am going to DirecTV.

You might want to jump on that soon if you're going to leave E*, because once that sat lights up, you might find your self on a nice long waiting list to get set up since equipment might be hard to get then.

If you leave now, you have a couple weeks of free time with D* as far as the contract goes, if you don't like it you can bail and go back to E* without obligation.

Just a little FYI
 
I am still not sure what to do. I really enjoy a couple of the VOOM channels(Equator and Gallery particularly), but I need the BTN to watch my Hawkeyes, especially wrestling which I really love.

And realistically, Dish has more sports than I can usually watch right now - it's just the BTN is now screwing everything up. I have the Twins in HD on FSN North already, and I get enough NFL on the weekend without ST too. I just need the BTN to watch the Hawkeyes.

I am not willing to give up all the HD I have right now until DirecTV lights up their new satellite. When that happens and the BTN goes HD, then I might have to switch. So I guess I am giving Dish a couple of more weeks to work out an agreement. If they don't, I am going to DirecTV.

And I could be wrong on this, but isn't D* a "financial backer" for BTN?
 
I would go with both for awhile until you feel comfortable dropping E* entirely.

I did that with Charter Cable and it gave me a chance to compare their lousy Moxi DVR with the HR20. :)
 
Thanks for your input everybody - I appreciate your insights. I think I am still going to wait another week or two. It looks like Insight cable just inked a deal with the BTN, so maybe more deals will follow. Who knows, I am thinking optimistically. I have a place to watch all of the Iowa football games (have season tx for home games), so I am good for fall I think. If I had to be on a waiting list that is fine, as long as I would be hooked up by November-December for Iowa wrestling meets. In the mean time, I am pretty sure Dish will have as much HD as DirecTV will, minus the BTN. But as I mentioned earlier, it's a deal breaker for me.

I'll wait until I hear a firm answer from Dish, like they did with Extra Innings.
 
FWIW kirby I signed up for D* today (current E* sub) because of the BTN. My hunch is that E* will wait for the FCC to decide whether or not BTN should be classified as an RSN. After that, my biggest fear is that E* will only add the sd channel or will only make one feed available as opposed to D* making every feed available.

I firmly believe that E* will have BTN sometime in the future but i'm not willing to go through another HD RSN fiascal like I did with FSN North (waited 11 months for it). I love the 622 DVR and the PQ from E* but when all is said and done I feel like I pay enough money to them each month to not have to call, email, whine, complain and beg for every channel that I want.
 
I would like the overflow channels as well. FWIW, I am expecting to switch, but I probably am sounding like I am finding excuses not to. I keep mulling in mind whether or not the VOOM channels are worth it to me as well. I love equator and gallery, but don't care much for the rest of them. I suppose the BTN is an even trade for those two channels, but I will miss their content if I switch - especially during the spring and summer when there isn't much Big Ten content to watch.

If everything goes well in mid-sept. when DirecTV lights up their satellite, then I will probably make the call and switch.
 
If you wait too long it might be a month or so before you can get installed, some people have said they've been given install dates 3 to 4 weeks out. It might get even worst once D10 lights up and the folks that have been waiting to see what D* does decide now's the time to switch. You might want to call and see what the install date would be for your area.
 
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