when all channels are HD

[rich67]

Do you think when all channels are HD, that everyone will be automatically upgraded? Or willl there aways be channels that are not HD.

 

[Tyralak]

Do you think when all channels are HD, that everyone will be automatically upgraded? Or willl there aways be channels that are not HD.

It will eventually happen, but I think it will be a long, long time before all channels broadcast an HD stream. It's a very expensive thing to do, and it has to make financial sense for a channel to do it.

 

[sundude90]

I also predict a very long time too. 10+ years.

 

[JosephB]

What will happen first, at least for DirecTV, is that they will switch everyone over to MPEG-4 equipment. Whether that means it'll have HD outputs (even if disabled) is another story. If/when they get everyone switched over to MPEG-4 equipment, then they can start shutting down SD channels, even for SD customers. It'll be a slow and arduous process since there's tens of millions of old receivers dating as far back as '94 and God knows how many 18" dishes that will have to be replaced. DirecTV will need to get their 99/101/103 setup stable where they know everyone will be there, won't be moving around, etc. before they try that though. These kinds of upgrades you only want to do once every 20 years.

 

[Rey]

like mentioned above it would take a long time. I'm a very patient person from what I'm told and even I don't have the amount of patience it would take to wait that long. just upgrade when you can

 

[stlpaul]

i would think hotels & places like that will probably take longer to switch... most hotels only got remote controls recently

maybe SD will cost extra instead of HD someday...

 

[john262]

What happens to all of the people who don't have HD receivers? A majority of TV viewers still have SD only. And with the economy as it is right now, I suspect that a lot of people could not afford to upgrade to HD equipment right now.

 

[Aridon]

I don't think we will see that for at least 10- 15 years. Hardware wise it's a nightmare replacing all the SD boxes and cost wise there isn't much incentive to hurry the transition up.

 

[JosephB]

The first step will be to give HD capable equipment to new customers and existing customers who add new boxes through any means (add'l receivers, upgrades, etc), even if they are only subscribing to SD. Through attrition that will take care of a lot. Next step would be switching customers market by market slowly. That way they could simply shut down SD locals in those markets and have the HD locals downconverted for those customers.

A full MPEG-4 switch for all customers nationwide could be done fairly quickly, especially if the channels themselves don't move. However, with the markets the way they are, they probably couldn't raise the money required to do it right now. There's something like 40 million receivers out there, and if you consider conservatively that there are probably 30 million that are non-MPEG4 compatible that's $6 billion if the boxes cost $150 to upgrade.

 

[jdmacor]

What happens to all of the people who don't have HD receivers? A majority of TV viewers still have SD only. And with the economy as it is right now, I suspect that a lot of people could not afford to upgrade to HD equipment right now.

As long as the receivers are MPEG4 capable, couldn't they just down-convert everything for the viewers setup from the box?

 

[JosephB]

As long as the receivers are MPEG4 capable, couldn't they just down-convert everything for the viewers setup from the box?

Yes, and IIRC there are one or two markets where they're doing this for locals.

 

[Ramy]

As long as the receivers are MPEG4 capable, couldn't they just down-convert everything for the viewers setup from the box?

Yeah, Dish will be able to do that quicker than Directv because of all the HD receivers out there.

 

[Jhon69]

As long as the receivers are MPEG4 capable, couldn't they just down-convert everything for the viewers setup from the box?

I'm seeing that now with my MPEG2 SD DVR whenever a channel goes HD,I am getting a downrezzed picture before DirecTV adds it to their HD lineup.Don't know if DirecTV is doing this or the programmer but it's definitely a better looking SD picture.

 

[JosephB]

Yeah, Dish will be able to do that quicker than Directv because of all the HD receivers out there.

I wouldn't think that Dish Network necessarily has more HD boxes out there. They might have a higher percentage out of their total number of boxes, but DirecTV has been around a lot longer so there was a longer lead time of old SD receivers (there are old old old old old very first gen RCA boxes still out there)

I'm seeing that now with my MPEG2 SD DVR whenever a channel goes HD,I am getting a downrezzed picture before DirecTV adds it to their HD lineup.Don't know if DirecTV is doing this or the programmer but it's definitely a better looking SD picture.

It's still SD/MPEG2, so it's not DirecTV. They *might* be increasing the bandwidth for those channels but I doubt it. You aren't getting downrezzed HD content unless you have an R22, and even then you're not getting it unless you're in one of the few select locals markets where they do that.

 

[riffjim4069]

It will eventually happen, but I think it will be a long, long time before all channels broadcast an HD stream. It's a very expensive thing to do, and it has to make financial sense for a channel to do it.

I agree...unless the non-HD channels are judged to be obsolete by the American public.

 

[Jhon69]

I wouldn't think that Dish Network necessarily has more HD boxes out there. They might have a higher percentage out of their total number of boxes, but DirecTV has been around a lot longer so there was a longer lead time of old SD receivers (there are old old old old old very first gen RCA boxes still out there)



It's still SD/MPEG2, so it's not DirecTV. They *might* be increasing the bandwidth for those channels but I doubt it. You aren't getting downrezzed HD content unless you have an R22, and even then you're not getting it unless you're in one of the few select locals markets where they do that.

Well I shall give you a prime example The Travel Channel.The colors I see on my 50"RPTV that has been calibrated.The colors are deeper,the faces have a little more definition and they look like the people are wearing a little more makeup.This is on my R22,but it didn't matter I saw the same type of picture on my R15 and we all know DirecTV has not put on The Travel Channel in HD on yet.

But I can go to any other channel that doesn't proclaim"Now in HD" and the colors and faces look normal.So no matter if it's DirecTV or the programmer DirecTV is receiving a "downrezzed" picture and so am I.

P.S. I am not in one of the select MPEG4 locals markets.