Dish adding 22 new HD channels

In article ,
wrote:

snip

I'd like to know if the picture quality of the locals HD programming is as
good via satellite as is via terrestrial (aside from your antenna issue).
I worry that both satellite and cable will try to over compress these.

OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
So OTA is the only option for me.

IN a word "no." I have DTV and OTA and OTA beats Direct hands down
almost everytime. The local stations have the option of either
compressing and having lots of subchannels or not compressing and using
the full available bandwidth. My local FOX affiliate shuts down all the
sub channels for major sporting events such as Football, BBall, and
NASCAR.

--
Matt
Delete nospam for email
"Where did you say we are going again, Dear?"

www.locoworks.com wrote:
On May 15, 4:37�am, wrote:

OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
So OTA is the only option for me.


directv will provide locals... but you have to get a letter from each
local station granting permission. This requires communication
between Directv and you as to which stations they require letters from
(they can have very strange beliefs about which station serves your
area), then letters from those stations saying that it's OK for
Directv to authorize you the signal. It took us about three weeks and
several phone calls, but we finally got some excellent quality network
programming on all three majors and on Fox. Persistance is the key.


Why should one need a letter granting permission for subscribing
to local channels?

Were you describing the process for receiving Distant Networks?
If so, do you get the feeds from both East and West coasts?

BTW, Fox is a major network.

HD Matt wrote:
In
wrote:

snip

I'd like to know if the picture quality of the locals HD programming is as
good via satellite as is via terrestrial (aside from your antenna issue).
I worry that both satellite and cable will try to over compress these.

OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
So OTA is the only option for me.

IN a word "no." I have DTV and OTA and OTA beats Direct hands down
almost everytime. The local stations have the option of either
compressing and having lots of subchannels or not compressing and using
the full available bandwidth. My local FOX affiliate shuts down all the
sub channels for major sporting events such as Football, BBall, and
NASCAR.


All HD signals are compressed.
The bandwidth for OTA transmission is limited to 6MHz.
Most OTA channels are 6MHz above or below an adjacent channel.

On Thu, 15 May 2008 05:04:24 -0700 (PDT) www.locoworks.com wrote:
| On May 15, 4:37?am, wrote:
|
| OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
| So OTA is the only option for me.
|
|
| directv will provide locals... but you have to get a letter from each
| local station granting permission. This requires communication
| between Directv and you as to which stations they require letters from
| (they can have very strange beliefs about which station serves your
| area), then letters from those stations saying that it's OK for
| Directv to authorize you the signal. It took us about three weeks and
| several phone calls, but we finally got some excellent quality network
| programming on all three majors and on Fox. Persistance is the key.

No they won't. What they will provide are New York City stations. What I
want are _my_ local stations. They refuse to provide those even if I get
any letters.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

On Thu, 15 May 2008 06:56:26 -0700 jack ak wrote:
| www.locoworks.com wrote:
| On May 15, 4:37?am, wrote:
|
| OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
| So OTA is the only option for me.
|
|
| directv will provide locals... but you have to get a letter from each
| local station granting permission. This requires communication
| between Directv and you as to which stations they require letters from
| (they can have very strange beliefs about which station serves your
| area), then letters from those stations saying that it's OK for
| Directv to authorize you the signal. It took us about three weeks and
| several phone calls, but we finally got some excellent quality network
| programming on all three majors and on Fox. Persistance is the key.
|
|
| Why should one need a letter granting permission for subscribing
| to local channels?

In my case, THEIR perception of what my locals are (based on my zip code
mapping to DMA 159) and what my locals _actually_ are (DMA 22) is different.


| Were you describing the process for receiving Distant Networks?
| If so, do you get the feeds from both East and West coasts?

I don't want the feed from NYC or LA. I want the locals from DMA 22 which
are on the spot beam that serves my location.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

On Thu, 15 May 2008 10:43:46 -0700 jack ak wrote:
| HD Matt wrote:
| In
| wrote:
|
| snip
|
| I'd like to know if the picture quality of the locals HD programming is as
| good via satellite as is via terrestrial (aside from your antenna issue).
| I worry that both satellite and cable will try to over compress these.
|
| OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the satellite.
| So OTA is the only option for me.
|
| IN a word "no." I have DTV and OTA and OTA beats Direct hands down
| almost everytime. The local stations have the option of either
| compressing and having lots of subchannels or not compressing and using
| the full available bandwidth. My local FOX affiliate shuts down all the
| sub channels for major sporting events such as Football, BBall, and
| NASCAR.
|
|
| All HD signals are compressed.
| The bandwidth for OTA transmission is limited to 6MHz.
| Most OTA channels are 6MHz above or below an adjacent channel.

And that is fine for HD. But when those signals are carried on the satellite,
they squeeze in dozens on the same transponder. They have to overcompress to
get them all to fit. If you can get the stations actually OTA, then doing so
will get you their signal best.

In the case described about Fox, if they have programming on a subchannel,
that takes away some of the 6 MHz (19.39 mbps) bandwidth, so the HD program
gets less. By shutting down the subchannels, the Fox affiliate can commit
the entire bandwidth to the one major program.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2008 06:56:26 -0700 jack ak wrote:
| www.locoworks.com wrote:
| On May 15, 4:37?am, wrote:
|
| OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the
| satellite. So OTA is the only option for me.
|
|
| directv will provide locals... but you have to get a letter from each
| local station granting permission. This requires communication
| between Directv and you as to which stations they require letters from
| (they can have very strange beliefs about which station serves your
| area), then letters from those stations saying that it's OK for
| Directv to authorize you the signal. It took us about three weeks and
| several phone calls, but we finally got some excellent quality network
| programming on all three majors and on Fox. Persistance is the key.
|
|
| Why should one need a letter granting permission for subscribing
| to local channels?

In my case, THEIR perception of what my locals are (based on my zip code
mapping to DMA 159) and what my locals _actually_ are (DMA 22) is
different.

| Were you describing the process for receiving Distant Networks?
| If so, do you get the feeds from both East and West coasts?

I don't want the feed from NYC or LA. I want the locals from DMA 22
which are on the spot beam that serves my location.

Directv doesn't determine your dma. They are told what
locals you get based on your zip code. Don't blame them.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

On 15 May 2008 11:37:20 GMT, wrote:


Are there tiers on the
HD programming? That's something else their web site was totally unclear about.

Don't know where your looking but it's there. There's HD Essentials
for $10 and HD Ultimate for $20. Ultimate included the Voom channels
and since they are gone it only means seven more channels--for now.
They also have an HD Only plan for $29.

Dave Clary
Corpus Christi, TX
http://davegetsfit.blogspot.com
Diet, Exercise, and Golf!

Too bad most of the programs are Analog source not Hi-Gef. Quality
sucks.

RS

On Tue, 13 May 2008 19:56:58 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 13 May 2008 06:45:47 -0400, "Tantalust"
wrote:

Appearing tomorrow, 5/14


ABC Family HD (DISH Network Ch. 180)
. Biography HD (Ch. 119)
. Bravo HD (Ch. 129)
. Cartoon HD (Ch. 176)
. Cinemax 5 Star (Ch. 314)
. Cinemax HD West (Ch. 311)
. Comcast Sports Network Bay Area HD (Ch. 419)*
. Comcast Sports Network New England HD (Ch. 435)*
. CNBC HD (Ch. 208)
. CNN HD (Ch. 200)
. Disney HD East (Ch. 172)
. ESPNews HD (Ch. 142)
. Hallmark Movie Channel HD (Ch. 187)
. MGM HD (Ch. 385)
. Sci Fi HD (Ch. 122)
. Smithsonian HD (Ch. 374)
. Tennis Channel HD (Ch. 400)
. Toon Disney HD (Ch. 174)
. Travel Channel HD (Ch. 215)
. USA HD (Ch. 105)
. Weather Channel HD (Ch. 214)
. World Fishing Network HD (Ch. 394)

http://www.dishnetwork.com/hdupdate/

Already on - 5/12.

But they dumped something like 10 Voom HD channels. They kept the
ones I watch the most (Equator and Rave), but they dumped World Sport
and two movie channels. All in all, however, I'm a happy camper
because they added the Travel Channel which was at the top of our wish
list. And that's on that DirecTv doesn't have. They still haven't
added anything from the Murdoch domain (FX, Speed, etc) but there's
some litigation going on there.

Dave Clary
Corpus Christi, TX
http://davegetsfit.blogspot.com
Diet, Exercise, and Golf!

On 15 May 2008 21:59:49 GMT wrote:
| wrote:
| On Thu, 15 May 2008 06:56:26 -0700 jack ak wrote:
| | www.locoworks.com wrote:
| | On May 15, 4:37?am, wrote:
| |
| | OTOH, neither DishNet nor DirecTV will provide my locals via the
| | satellite. So OTA is the only option for me.
| |
| |
| | directv will provide locals... but you have to get a letter from each
| | local station granting permission. This requires communication
| | between Directv and you as to which stations they require letters from
| | (they can have very strange beliefs about which station serves your
| | area), then letters from those stations saying that it's OK for
| | Directv to authorize you the signal. It took us about three weeks and
| | several phone calls, but we finally got some excellent quality network
| | programming on all three majors and on Fox. Persistance is the key.
| |
| |
| | Why should one need a letter granting permission for subscribing
| | to local channels?
|
| In my case, THEIR perception of what my locals are (based on my zip code
| mapping to DMA 159) and what my locals _actually_ are (DMA 22) is
| different.
|
| | Were you describing the process for receiving Distant Networks?
| | If so, do you get the feeds from both East and West coasts?
|
| I don't want the feed from NYC or LA. I want the locals from DMA 22
| which are on the spot beam that serves my location.
|
| Directv doesn't determine your dma. They are told what
| locals you get based on your zip code. Don't blame them.

However, once they have approval from the locals based on my zip code to allow
me to watch locals outside of the associated DMA, then they could let me get
the ones from Pittsburgh. When I read the SHVERA law, it did not require them
to deliver New York or LA. If they provided Pittsburgh to me, I see no law
that is violated. And they can as I am well inside the spot beam Pittsburgh
stations are carried on. They are choosing, by whatever internal company
reason that happens to be, to not do this. So I do blame them both for this.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |