What we are hearing...

[anhmduk]

I'm new here, but so far I am very impressed by this site. I have been reading hourly and find the info very informative. Thanks to all for posting.

 

[chibul]

DBSTalk is reporting that there will be a half hour test of two HD channels at 1:00AM EST (ONE HOUR FROM NOW). Channels 9000/9001.

 

[NutFlush920]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'll be sure to keep reading. It's going to be nice to have these new channels. I can't wait.

 

[chibul]

It's now a THREE hour test!

 

[chibul]

9300 is NGHD, 9301 is DISCHD.

 

[Toofastgtp]

Ok....
Please do not bash me this is what i saw and thought. ( yes i know it is a test)

HGHD looked like crap was in 4:3

Now DISCHD looked good but could have been better. PQ looked less than what is shown now on other hd channels. Also there was about 1.5-2" of black bars on the side of the screen.

Now anyone who watched DISCHD. Did you noticed SD commercials looks better for some reason..not better than hd but better than the sd commercials that are out now.

 

[DarkNeo]

Ok....
Please do not bash me this is what i saw and thought. ( yes i know it is a test)

HGHD looked like crap was in 4:3

Now DISCHD looked good but could have been better. PQ looked less than what is shown now on other hd channels. Also there was about 1.5-2" of black bars on the side of the screen.

Now anyone who watched DISCHD. Did you noticed SD commercials looks better for some reason..not better than hd but better than the sd commercials that are out now.

U were like one hour late. At 10 pm, both channels were showing programs available in HD. At 11 pm NGHD was showing a program not available in HD and DSHD was showing an upconverted dirty jobs. 10pm was the happy hour!!!!! : ]

 

[Toofastgtp]

i just got home so i know i cought the tail end of it.

 

[DarkNeo]

i just got home so i know i cought the tail end of it.

Well the PQ quality was great:

 

[yourbeliefs]

Great idea... lets do a major test of PQ when over half of your potential viewers are asleep.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Best time for them to do it, as if they did it in the daytime, the phones would light up when they turned the test channels off.

 

[setiamon]

Shucks...I go away for 3 hours and during that time they actually put test channels up.

 

[gadgtfreek]

At least that means we are closer.

Thats what I get for going to bed after the Alabama-Georgia game without checking satguys first

 

[rad]

Best time for them to do it, as if they did it in the daytime, the phones would light up when they turned the test channels off.

IMHO they could leave them up 24x7 with the "Test Channel" discription and the info says for DirecTV testing, do not call customer service for any problems with this channel. How many 'normal' people would even see them unless they're not using favorits and then scrolling up to that uncharted territory.

 

[cr0mag]

IMHO they could leave them up 24x7 with the "Test Channel" discription and the info says for DirecTV testing, do not call customer service for any problems with this channel. How many 'normal' people would even see them unless they're not using favorits and then scrolling up to that uncharted territory.

I agree Rad. In the past they have run "Previews" of MTV HD and NGCHD. Unless it's a legal issue (which I guess it could be) I see no reason to pull the tests down. And you're right, most D* subs would never head that high in the channel lists. Why on earth would you scroll through all those XM channels just to see what's on?

D* should leave them on, so we can keep scanning the channel list for other ones! :up

 

[iceturkee]

well, i missed it. i'm not usually up that late and especially not checking my computer. this is the part where i'm thinking i've been a good enough girl this year to ask santa for a laptop!

anyhow, any chance they may test again late tonite or early monday morning?

 

[rad]

I agree Rad. In the past they have run "Previews" of MTV HD and NGCHD. Unless it's a legal issue (which I guess it could be) I see no reason to pull the tests down. And you're right, most D* subs would never head that high in the channel lists. Why on earth would you scroll through all those XM channels just to see what's on?

D* should leave them on, so we can keep scanning the channel list for other ones! :up

If it was a legal issue then just put up the D* info program that runs CH201, no legal issues there. All we need to do is verify that we're actually receiving programming.

 

[Fish Man]

You are messing with IF after LNBF, in coax to receivers/switches.

There is a talk about tpns at satellite - totally different story !

['seperate' is wrong word, should use 'separate']

I am abundantly aware of that.

I design satellite uplink systems for a living.

I was specifically describing how the DirecTV LNBF's block convert the entire Ka band into two seperate (and quite frequency diverse) downlink IF frequencies, which they call "A-Band" and "B-Band".

IOW, I'm saying the same thing as you, and you misread what I said (I've edited the post a bit to be clearer).

I was responding to a specific question about their IF stacking scheme.

The fact that the IF downlink frequencies that the DirecTV system uses breaks the Ka band into two blocks that are many MHz apart, results in the receiver displaying the two IF blocks as if they were two "virtual" satellites, which the receiver calls 103(a) and 103(b).

Here's a PDF whitepaper from Zinwell that describes the DirecTV stacking plan. Note how they divide the Ka band into a "low" (b) and "high" (a) block (yes, they call the low "b" and the high "a"). The BBC then, takes the "B" band ("low" in the attached whitepaper) and shifts it up from the 250 to 750 MHz chunk that it comes down the wire as to a new block above 2150 MHz (the highest frequency shown in the chart).

 

[harshness]

I was specifically describing how the DirecTV LNBF's block convert the entire Ka band into two seperate (and quite frequency diverse) downlink IF frequencies, which they call "A-Band" and "B-Band".

If I'm not mistaken, the A-band and B-band designations reference the Ka band downlink frequency ranges. At the IF stage, they call everything L-band and it starts at just above VHF channel 13.

 

[Fish Man]

If I'm not mistaken, the A-band and B-band designations reference the Ka band downlink frequency ranges.

Exactly what I said. In fact you quoted me saying that the A-Band and B-Band refer to chunks of the "IF Downlink frequencies". Re-read what you actually quoted! and...

Click on the link in my post above.