When Will Dish Give Us Network Hdtv??

[BFG]

Then you should move

 

[SteveinDanville]

Then you should move

I see you winkin' at me! CC&R's are what keep my neighbors from pulling transmissions out of their cars on the front lawn...but seriously, after dropping all that $$$ on a Fuji 55" plasma, and only getting 8 HD channels, including the West Coast feed of CBS-HD, I'd like to have more content.

 

[j5races]

Garypen- Since when is Directv broadcasting HD locals for fox, abc, etc. I thought it was ED???

Steveindanville- Can you get 61.5? I thought i would never be able to see it in So. Cal. but it comes in fine at high 80s-90s. Have you tried? Also have you tried an antenna? Your CC & R's cannot deny you an antenna or a second dish, They can make you place them in an inconspicuous place though. Have you tried with an antenna? you might be able to get Sac or San fran locals.

Jon

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Speaking of amplified coat hangers, I was playing around with a Silver Sensor - moving it around my room, reading signal strengths. I do have it connected to an amplifier. I had it on the back of a chair and it fell off, landing on its side. I noticed that my station was still at around 75, maintaining a good lock. So I tried the other 5 HD stations in my area and I still was able to lock on all of them. The tower is about 11 miles away from my home, and I sit just behind a small hill that rises about 100' between me and the tower.

Just before it fell, I had had to adjust it by changing the direction it was pointing in, as it was losing its lock. Perhaps it fell into a "magical" zone. I would have never tested putting it on the floor.

 

[BFG]

Yeah I'm using one of those silver sensors in the room I'm now and the towers are less than 10 miles from me. I'm on the 1st of a 3 story building with tons of concrete all around me. There's also an FM station transmitter a half mile south of me. I constantly have to adjust the thing for each station I watch. Some times I find the oddest places to get a lock, like hangning from the bed rail etc..

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If you aren't using an amp on the Silver Sensor, then I advise trying one. It made a BIG difference for me. Before using the amp, I got only 2 of the 5 local stations. With the amp, it is relatively easy to get all 5.

 

[Grandpa J]

For LA people -
I live so 60 miles west of transmitters with all the hills etc between me and transmitters. If you ask any rat shack or other store in my area they tell you that you can't get OTA signals here. But I got a real 1st rate installer who put a 5ft mast on the roof with a wingard antenna & amp and I now get all the OTA digital LA channels. Note no analogs only digitals. I do not get LA analogs from Dish as I am grandfathered for NY DNS so this really works for me.
What I am saying is it might be worth a try with a really top antenna installer if you want available LA HD and (digital sub carries) including Fox, CBS, ABC football etc.

 

[SteveinDanville]

Steveindanville- Can you get 61.5? I thought i would never be able to see it in So. Cal. but it comes in fine at high 80s-90s. Have you tried? Also have you tried an antenna? Your CC & R's cannot deny you an antenna or a second dish, They can make you place them in an inconspicuous place though. Have you tried with an antenna? you might be able to get Sac or San fran locals.

Jon

I'm in a valley surrounded by hills and 61.5 is not only blocked by the two-story house next door, but the eastern ridge of hills. That bird is VERY low on the horizon, so no VOOM for me. There is not an antenna made that could get me either SF or Sacto OTA signal. I grew up in Lafayette, in the bottom of the same kind of valley, and we never got any TV until cable came to town in the 60's. Like I said, I can't even get FM reception.....

 

[M Sparks]

Well, I only read the first few pages of this thread, but I'll throw in my two cents. Forgive me if this was covered...

Regarding antennas- I am absolutely in agreement. Every Dish owner should have a GOOD rooftop antenna if at all possible.

BUT- they don't help if there are no signals to get! I have a $100 10 foot antenna 15 feet in the air just to get ONE analog station. (I pick up a couple others, but I don't watch spanish or religious.) That station's digital signal currently isn't strong enough where I live- they are operating at low-power. Even if I could get it, it doesn't broadcast anything in HD, so what's the point?

I agree HD LIL is a waste of bandwidth, but it's the only way around the stumbling blocks set up by the affiliates, lawmakers, and satellite providers.

DirecTV has taken at least one positive step- offering distant HD feeds for all four major networks to at least some people. Dish only offers CBS for some reason...I don't qualify (not that I ever watch CBS anyway). If I had DirecTV, I would only qualify for Fox. But there is NO OTA HD here. It's not a matter of putting up the right antenna. It just doesn't exist.

I should be able to get a Network HD feed for every network- a low wattage UHF analog translator 25 miles a way should not count as a local HD feed. The network feed should not be a distant channel- it should just be a network feed. Only my timezone- no time shifting. At the end of primetime, the feed goes black until late-night starts.

If the affiliate wants me to watch, they should have to provide me with a proper OTA HD signal. Theoretically, my local NBC affiliate will some day go full power and HD- when that happens, turn off my feed.

Oddly, neither DISH nor DirecTV ( nor the government) have any problem feeding me an NBC channel from Phoenix, even though there IS a local Flagstaff NBC affiliate I can recieve in Analog SD.

DISH could provide 3 timezone feeds for each network that broadcasts in HD. That's 21 channels. Broadcast ONLY programs in HD- otherwise it goes black. THAT'S an effecent use of bandwidth. But the affiliates and will never allow it. Until the lawmakers grow a set and allow this, HD-LIL is the only way.

 

[Jimmy J]

I'm so sick of the blanket "put an antenna up" response to questions about HD DNS. Apparently many of you just assume that because you get your networks digitally OTA that everyone else can too. It's so typical of how self-absorbed society has become.

The majority of people posting about HD network channels do so because they CAN'T get an OTA signal. Either because of geographical limitions or their locals are refusing to broadcast full power digital for long as they can get away with it. I happen to face both problems in Vermont and my only chance for HD nets is if Dish decides to provide them.

Amen to that Walt!!!

 

[Spike]

I left DirecTV for exactly what you've described.

You are right on! Walt

:

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Sparks,

Yes, everyone would rather have the FCC allow for direct network HD feeds. We would all stand up and applaud their entry into the 21st Century if they did so.

However, from a business standard, HD-LIL is not the only way to go. For now, the only thing that makes sense from a financial standpoint is to not offer HD-LIL. Or perhaps to offer it only in the largest markets. There simply are not sufficient numbers of HD sets (i.e. likely subscribers) out there to recoup the cost of offering the service.

Now as the number of HD sets grows, and as mpeg-4 becomes available to reduce the number of transponders needed to provide HD-LIL, at some point it will be economically feasible. But that point is probably a couple years off, at best.

Eventually, unless the FCC changes their position, both E* and D* will have to provide HD-LIL as the marketplace will demand it. As HD sets become the mainstream, they won't be able to compete without HD-LILs. That's why we see both companies taking the early steps to position themselves to provide them.

But if there are more than a handful of HD markets being served by E* a year from now, I will be greatly surprised.

 

[NightRyder]

This would all work out if the FCC would get off their ass and define digital white areas as provided for in the satellite bill. I see no reason (besides resistance from the NAB) they couldn't use the existing analog white areas as a starting point.

NightRyder

 

[BobMurdoch]

Dont hold your breath waiting for HD locals from Dish 95% of the population can get them OTA, put up an antenna and get them for free!!!!

Not quite. There are still many broadcasters not transmitting at full power. I'd put the number closer to 50% from a geographic standpoint. From a population standpoint maybe 65%.

 

[Airblair]

So is network HD happening soon, or what? Especially given what Scott G said this morning in one of the ESPN-U threads?

I have been hearing so many start dates its not funny. I have also heard some heavy buzzing of ESPN2 which would be carried on 148, 61.5 and 129, however these plans seem to be in the air now as it appears that Dish is uplinking ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX in HD in the space where ESPN-2 was supposed to go.
I am not complaigning though, I think Dish has an exciting fall in store for us, and to me thats a good thing.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=648086&postcount=46

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I wouldn't be surprised if E* started offering network HD soon as they are at an competitive disadvantage vs D* on this one. Not that it would do any good for most of us but a small minority of E* subs would be happy.

 

[Mike May]

I don't have line of site to the station transmission towers atop Mt. Wilson in the Los Angeles area, so I need HD locals to be delivered via satellite.

Just wondering... whereabouts in Rancho are you? I'm using an OTA antenna and I get KCBS, KNBC, KTLA, KCAL, KTTV and KCET, along with many other PBS stations... all in HD. I can't get KABC regularly, so I gave up on it. I live near Baseline and the 15 fwy.

- Mike

 

[Jimmy J]

...but a small minority of E* subs would be happy.

Amen to that!!! No OTA signals here. If I have any chance of getting any networks in HD, it's gonna have to be via satellite.

 

[waltinvt]

Amen to that!!! No OTA signals here. If I have any chance of getting any networks in HD, it's gonna have to be via satellite.

I hear ya. Although the local NBC did recently go digital & HD, most of us in Vermont don't have a prayer at network HD unless we get it from satellite.

I wonder how the qualification proceedure will go.

 

[Jimmy J]

I hear ya. Although the local NBC did recently go digital & HD, most of us in Vermont don't have a prayer at network HD unless we get it from satellite.

I wonder how the qualification proceedure will go.

Hey ya Walt, how's it hangin'...good to hear from another Vermont woodchuck.