What happened to the all-MPEG4 service?
- Thread starter Jim S.
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I just wonder if with the split to two different seperate companies: DISH and Echostar Comm. corp , that the total mpeg 4 DISH relaunch has been scuttled? Maybe last years plans were created before the sat launch delays and then the business split were conceived.
My thoughts exactly. I was always thinking Charlie was talking about their upcoming service at 85W for commercial headends.
IT was announced to the public at TEam Summit last May by Charlie Ergen himself , but you are right it was never in a press release.
I've always thought they could add a few of the remaining popular SD only channels as mpeg4 SD channels for those with vip receivers. I think that would go along way towards providing the best available SD picture without a whole lot of transponder space. They could likely fit 15-20 really nice quality SD channels on one transponder. Then remove them as they become HD channels.
Now they have talked about in the past on Charlie Chats and Tech chats that the entire line of hd would go all mpeg 4 by the end of this last year and that all the sd customers would be changed over to an mpeg 4 receiver in the next two or three years . Meaning all subs would have an mpeg 4 receiver by the end of 2009 or 2010.
THis would mean to me that they do indeed plan on converting all present programming to mpeg 4 to save bandwith and provide more hd channels. If hd is indeed the future as we all say it is, then they will have more and more hd channels , which will be in mpeg 4. THis will mean that the need for the sd versions will go away as the hd channels take their place and the mpeg 2 receivers are changed out. So the announcement made at team summit last May by CHarlie ERgen was indeed in line with that thought line.
UNless Charlie is now planning on selling out DISH to the highest bidder to avoid doing the full mpeg 4 conversion and just starting over with the Echostar fixed satellite services. Maybe CHarlie is tired of trying to be a video provider and just wants to sell receivers and services to other cable providers etc.
So it looks like by the end of the year we will have an all mpeg 4 service for DISH. The question is where will the sat(s) be and what kind of dish do we need? So if it wasn't for the launch delays on the new sats we might of been watching DISH in mpeg 4 in the second quarter .
Charlie is smart. He probably figures that by splitting the company, Dish Network can be sold off separately. By doing this he is not putting all of his eggs in one basket. He can have contracts to be the exclusive hardware provider and exclusive rights to lease the satellites to Dish Network. If Dish Network goes broke then Charlie won't because he will have diversified into other areas. He knows that satellite has gotten aweful ripe and that growth is going to slow. He also knows that this would be the best time to sell before the growth halts.
He could sell Dish Network while starting his own new MPEG-4 service at the new slots. This would save him from having to pay for all those upgrades. Dish Network would lose money with the swapouts but Echostar would make money off of that since they would be the ones providing the hardware for those swapouts. Either that or Dish Network could remain an MPEG-2 service for whoever buys them.
He could sell Dish Network while starting his own new MPEG-4 service at the new slots. This would save him from having to pay for all those upgrades. Dish Network would lose money with the swapouts but Echostar would make money off of that since they would be the ones providing the hardware for those swapouts. Either that or Dish Network could remain an MPEG-2 service for whoever buys them.
MPEG4 PLAN will EMERGE after sats are launched, tells me that it will be delayed, after the delayed plan, after the delayed sat launch
Why even bother to think about it at this time?
THat is why Charlie said he didn't want to talk about it till the satellites were launched. He then said the plans would emerge and they would speak. THe point is the plan for the all mpeg 4 service are still there and the reasons for the late delivery were due to the delays in the launch of the 3 sats. THat is what this thread is about : "What ever happened to the all mpeg4 service." It is nice to know that he is not denying it, or just saying that they won't deliver at all. So far most of what was announced at last Mays team summit have come true now , even the 612 release next month. We all know now that the plans will materialize later this year. THis gives me hope for the future with DISH or possibly with Echostar if that is where he is headed with the mpeg 4 service.
Heck they probably don't even know EXACTLY what they are going to do or how they are going to go about it, but know roundabout plans of what they are going to do. Remember the SuperDish HD plans? That turned into "get SD locals into as many markets as possible" plans in which the last SuperDish markets to have locals on are now being swapped out.
Except the future IS mpeg 4 so they will have to do this if they want to survive to compete. The mpeg4 usage helps save bandwith and increases the amount of channels that they can add in hd and makes the pq look better even on sd shows. So to be able to compete in the market DISH will have to do this. THey have done just about every thing else that Charlie said they were going to do last May at team summit. The all mpeg 4 service is the last thing that they said they would do. The question is will it be a relaunch of DISH or a new mpeg 4 version by Echostar and you have to sub to their service as opposed to staying with DISH?
IF I had to choose I will go with Echostar. Especially now that they will have a dual tuner dvr for ota that can record both sd and hd channels and output hd and sd at the same time, for NO DVR FEE! If they start producing these Echostar TR50 dvrs in mass , they will cause a problem for TIvo and even for DISH. How can either sat service continue to charge a dvr fee , much less per receiver , if the alternative is no fee ota dvrs? A lot of people could get by with just ota , especially since it is in hd and no dvr fee. You can do everything you can do with a 622 /722 receiver , including the external hard drive out of the box, except for satellite reception. You could even go with a Tr50 for ota and partner that with any other service for your basic cable needs. THe best of both.
IF I had to choose I will go with Echostar. Especially now that they will have a dual tuner dvr for ota that can record both sd and hd channels and output hd and sd at the same time, for NO DVR FEE! If they start producing these Echostar TR50 dvrs in mass , they will cause a problem for TIvo and even for DISH. How can either sat service continue to charge a dvr fee , much less per receiver , if the alternative is no fee ota dvrs? A lot of people could get by with just ota , especially since it is in hd and no dvr fee. You can do everything you can do with a 622 /722 receiver , including the external hard drive out of the box, except for satellite reception. You could even go with a Tr50 for ota and partner that with any other service for your basic cable needs. THe best of both.
Well if you have a current MPEG4 receiver 211,622,722 so forth and a Dish 1000 or one of the others should be fine. Dish already has the customer hardware out there it seems they just need to get the New Sats up is all..
