RDBS, Ka, 4K, SD duplicates...what is the future for Dish?

JosephB

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 21, 2004
1,255
160
Atlanta
So I've only recently been back into the Dish customer family after living in a location that could only get cable. I'm also getting back into FTA and just interested in the industry in general again.

I picked Dish over DirecTV because I really, really like the Hopper over the Genie, but DirecTV seems to have Dish beat on channel selection, especially with 4K coming. Cable and IPTV/U-Verse also has Dish beat with switched video that gets an almost endless amount of bandwidth.

DirecTV has Ka band and the Reverse Band. DirecTV has announced their plans on phasing out SD MPEG-2 duplicates.

I haven't done the math on transponders between each one, but Dish has two arcs that they utilize, and seemingly way more satellites.

The question I'm posing for discussion is: what's next for Dish? Is Charlie really just letting Dish run into the ground until he can get it and the terrestrial spectrum sold off? Does Dish/Echostar have any plans to utilize Ka or Reverse band? Any talk of dumping SD duplicates and going full HD-only/MPEG-4 only? Any hope we'll ever see *any* linear 4K over satellite or filling out of missing HD feeds? Is there *any* expansion of capacity on the horizon for either WA or EA?
 
So I've only recently been back into the Dish customer family after living in a location that could only get cable. I'm also getting back into FTA and just interested in the industry in general again.

I picked Dish over DirecTV because I really, really like the Hopper over the Genie, but DirecTV seems to have Dish beat on channel selection, especially with 4K coming. Cable and IPTV/U-Verse also has Dish beat with switched video that gets an almost endless amount of bandwidth.

DirecTV has Ka band and the Reverse Band. DirecTV has announced their plans on phasing out SD MPEG-2 duplicates.

I haven't done the math on transponders between each one, but Dish has two arcs that they utilize, and seemingly way more satellites.

The question I'm posing for discussion is: what's next for Dish? Is Charlie really just letting Dish run into the ground until he can get it and the terrestrial spectrum sold off? Does Dish/Echostar have any plans to utilize Ka or Reverse band? Any talk of dumping SD duplicates and going full HD-only/MPEG-4 only? Any hope we'll ever see *any* linear 4K over satellite or filling out of missing HD feeds? Is there *any* expansion of capacity on the horizon for either WA or EA?

i counted about 35 to 40 channels that have HD feeds if dish can add those to the lineup and get rid of the SD yes i know folks SD will never go away it will eventually. 4k is going to become the future i read in a article on tvnewscheck that the fcc is making atsc 3.0 voluntary and most americans could see it before the end of the year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AKGolf
The thing with SD duplicates isn't that they should wait until no SD customers remain, they should do what DirecTV is doing...just swap all SD-only boxes with HD boxes that have SD outputs that downconvert from HD to SD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pattykay
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)