DIRECTV Remains Clear HD Leader with 130 HD Channels

[DodgerKing]

ROFLMAO.............I knew it
Tried to tell ya'll and you said I was just a D* basher.
Now you know why

Knew what? Tell us what?

 

[mlb]

ROFLMAO.............I knew it
Tried to tell ya'll and you said I was just a D* basher.
Now you know why

Where else are you going to go? Sorry to say it, but it is still the best deal out there at the moment. I don't see anybody passing them up any time soon either, especially in my area of the country where we don't get FiOS.

 

[gadgtfreek]

D* claims it is going to have 130 channels with this latest bunch of adds and the fact that they claim 150 HD channel capacity leaves 20.

Plus if you break down what is being put on D11 realize that 14 transponders at 5 channels per equal 70 total slots on D11.

9 channels that are currently MPEG2
8 HD DNS that are currently on other satellites
23 RSNs
4 other national HD
3 HD PPV


That's 47 right there so that actually leaves 23 left which is a little bit off from the 130 current channels claimed by D* versus the 150 capacity claim.

So, 27 national (4 new + 23 cap left) off D11, bot bad. The 23 will take a hit if they add a lot of HBO's. Depending on how fast they dump mpeg2, they'll make some more space there too.

 

[ScoBuck]

After seeing what FiOS has lit up in the NY market today (89 HD nationals, not including PPV or RSN), and seeing their roll-out schedule, they have some claim to being the HD leader in NY right now, and soon in many other markets.

Made me decide to add it to one of my HDTV's to check it out. They are coming Friday. I don't intend to give up D* - FiOS still pales in comparison with sports - but their HD offering is indeed now substantial.

 

[juventuz]

If you pay for them you can

Yeah, I can watch the same thing I can watch on my RSN. I can't watch any of the live games, they're all blacked out.

 

[Rey]

Where else are you going to go? Sorry to say it, but it is still the best deal out there at the moment. I don't see anybody passing them up any time soon either, especially in my area of the country where we don't get FiOS.

+1. :up The only thing that's happening here is that some of us including myself aren't happy with the 1st set of launches. that doesn't mean they ain't adding more! they will and D will stay the leader in HD whether people like it or not. this aint directed at you mlb. if you're gonna bash D please do it intelligently.

 

[DodgerKing]

After seeing what FiOS has lit up in the NY market today (89 HD nationals, not including PPV or RSN), and seeing their roll-out schedule, they have some claim to being the HD leader in NY right now, and soon in many other markets.

Made me decide to add it to one of my HDTV's to check it out. They are coming Friday. I don't intend to give up D* - FiOS still pales in comparison with sports - but their HD offering is indeed now substantial.

Did you look at their HD lineup though? Many of the stations are duplicates (two ESPN and two ESPN2) and many are west and east feeds that they count separately (like TNT east and TNT west)

 

[gadgtfreek]

After seeing what FiOS has lit up in the NY market today (89 HD nationals, not including PPV or RSN), and seeing their roll-out schedule, they have some claim to being the HD leader in NY right now, and soon in many other markets.

Made me decide to add it to one of my HDTV's to check it out. They are coming Friday. I don't intend to give up D* - FiOS still pales in comparison with sports - but their HD offering is indeed now substantial.

PQ may even be better. I really do like D*, have been realizing it since I fired it back up. It'd take a good bit for me to look at another provider because every channel I car about is in HD on D* and has great PQ.

 

[Rey]

Yeah, I can watch the same thing I can watch on my RSN. I can't watch any of the live games, they're all blacked out.

true. if you pay for the sports package like I do you still get most of these games blacked out. you would have to subscribe to MLB,NFLST etc etc

 

[tigerfan33]

I will wait and see on Aug.14. It is hard to believe Direct will pass on all of the premiums out there that are hd to add more ppv. Who the hell watches these now with the time limit on them anyway.

 

[atp1313]

I will wait and see on Aug.14. It is hard to believe Direct will pass on all of the premiums out there that are hd to add more ppv. Who the hell watches these now with the time limit on them anyway.

Not only that, but with the new "Movies Now" the only ones on PPV that I would want to watch are already saved to my drive and I can watch when I want to. Still have to live by the 24 viewing rules, but so what.

And I know that the "Movies Now" option is only available on DVR's, but still, do we really need 4 showings of the same movie every 30 minutes? I can understand maybe 2 identical offset showings, but 4?

And I am not complaining about their choice of roll-out channels as anything in HD is good for me, and rolling out this many channels, along with FIOS rolling out their "100" HD channels will simply keep the push going for more HD as each provider keeps trying to add more than the next to keep the "HD Leader" claim alive.

 

[HD MM]

So has anyone confirmed which HD-RSN's D* is adding?

I'm crossing my fingers for a 24/7 FSN-OH and STO.

 

[iceturkee]

So has anyone confirmed which HD-RSN's D* is adding?

I'm crossing my fingers for a 24/7 FSN-OH and STO.

i'm guessing its the rsn's that p smith spotted on those test channels, don't recall fsn ohio or sto being 2 of them. i could be wrong!

 

[Rey]

i'm guessing its the rsn's that p smith spotted on those test channels, don't recall fsn ohio or sto being 2 of them. i could be wrong!

P SMITH is probably right since he called this out 1st about the addition of a bunch of rsn's according to the list he posted. i'm truly impressed with mr. p smith

 

[ScoBuck]

Did you look at their HD lineup though? Many of the stations are duplicates (two ESPN and two ESPN2) and many are west and east feeds that they count separately (like TNT east and TNT west)

Yes I have looked at the lineup - at my daughters house today.

And FYI your post is inaccurate. There is NO two of ESPN or two of ESPN2, and there is not a TNT east or west. The only channels with east and west versions are some of the movie channels (which is exactly what DirecTV counts as well in their totals).

I have seen with my own two eyes every one of the channels that FiOS has on in NY now.

But like I said, I am adding it on to 1 TV, and will keep DirecTV because FiOS sucks with its sports coverage.

 

[DodgerKing]

Yes I have looked at the lineup - at my daughters house today.

And FYI your post is inaccurate. There is NO two of ESPN or two of ESPN2, and there is not a TNT east or west. The only channels with east and west versions are some of the movie channels (which is exactly what DirecTV counts as well in their totals).

I have seen with my own two eyes every one of the channels that FiOS has on in NY now.

But like I said, I am adding it on to 1 TV, and will keep DirecTV because FiOS sucks with its sports coverage.

You are correct. The lineup I got of FiOS site was inaccurate. The true line-up for NY is very impressive. Too bad they only offer 40HD stations in my areas though.

 

[va_steve77]

Don't get me wrong, I love my HD sports. However, like many others, it is disappointing to see the news release mention that 23 new HD channels are RSN's. I watch MLBEI every day and see many games in HD prior to D11. I don't see a need to even count RSN's as "official" HD channels when most of them only broadcast in HD for their live sporting events. Of course, if we required a station to broadcast at least 12 hours of the day in HD (non-stretch-o-vision) before they could be called an "official" HD station, the list that now numbers over 100 would be drastically reduced.

D* should be broadcasting all of the available national HD channels before even thinking about adding any additional RSN's. I know that there are some of the national channels that I probably would never watch, but it is the principal of the issue as far as I'm concerned. I was a FiOS customer (along with basic D* for my sports packages) until last fall when the Fox Business Channel was launched. When FiOS failed to add the HD channel along with the SD channel (as D* did) it said a lot to me regarding the future of their HD efforts. I mean, they are supposed to have this limitless fiber bandwidth and can't add the HD Fox Business Channel when it launches? Turns out that there are many limits with regard to central office equipment that must also be in place in the regions in order to realize the capabilities of the fiber network and all regions aren't ramped up at the same time. Plus, with their reluctance to add MLBEI at all, let alone all of the HD games that D* includes in their MLBEI package (with superfan add on of course) and the fact that they can't even touch NFLST for at least a few more years, I had all of the information I needed to cause me to disconnect FiOS.

Now, if FiOS equals or betters D* in the national HD market offerings, I would definitely consider going back to them and cutting back to a basic D* package that would allow me to continue to get my sports fixes.

Like many others have said, the next few months should be very interesting as speculation becomes reality for our various content providers!

 

[Brewer4]

Thats true, there will be more. Personally, I am more excited about the mpeg2 to mpeg 4 conversion!!!!:up

Same with me. I dont have time to watch TV and I have all the HD channels I want. Better quality over the MPEG2 HD channels suites me fine. Now if only Comedy Central would get their HD butt in gear!!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Same with me. I dont have time to watch TV and I have all the HD channels I want. Better quality over the MPEG2 HD channels suites me fine. Now if only Comedy Central would get their HD butt in gear!!

Im with you there. Every channel I like in MPEG4 and D* passing it by at full 1080i. DONT compress anymore to gain more space please, keep it at 5 per TP.

 

[cwbuckley]

I am sure that just like everybody else, I am thrilled about D* adding more hd channels. Since I have Showtime, I am glad to see them adding 2 more hd channels. I am also pleased to see Planet Green being added. However, I will add that I am very disappointed. Instead of adding 23 regional sport channels, I would have liked to see them add more national hd channels. Especially channels like Travel HD, Fox News and I am sure there are a bunch of other good HD channels out there. Hopefully this is round one and there will be a roun 2 in the near future.