Unless you've been under a rock, or subscribed to Cable, you are likely intimately aware of DirecTV's promise of having 100 national high definition channels in service by the end of 2007. Sounds good, doesn't it? 100 National channels of HD content! As you might imagine, this raises more than a few questions. Some of the more frequent ones I've heard are:

• What channels will these be?


• Will {insert favorite channel here} be among them?


• How will they carry 100 HD channels if there aren't 100 networks with HD content?


• How much will this cost me?

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Hello Shane....

HAVE there been any "HINTS" that DIRECT will

offer a respectable HD Hard drive DVR upon which

to take advantage of their "...100...+" new HD channels? I.E.- TIVO Ser 3 agreement? eliwhitney

I've seen nothing to that end. But anyone who has followed DirecTV for a while knows that they rarely "hint" at anything. They are up there with Apple in terms of confidentiality and secrecy.

Realistically, I don't see them doing any deal with TiVo, as it would directly compete with their own DVR line.

- Shane

Unbelievable. Those statements by DirecTV are, in my opinion, one of the greatest examples of "spin doctoring" that I have ever heard come out of any place other than Washington, DC!


"Technically," I guess the count is 100 but does anyone really think that some of those east/west identical feeds should be counted twice? Why don't they, say, count a station like USA as twelve stations if it repeats each weekly episode of "Monk" a dozen times - to carry this analogy out to its ridiculous conclusion. And counting a lot of stuff that's not 24/7 (not to mention those that are only part of a premium sports package that co$t$ a lot extra) is another example of padding the numbers for the average viewer.

Finally, the people at DirecTV dismiss the VOOM channels as "not being of high quality." Could this be somehow related to the fact that DirecTV doesn't offer VOOM? Nah, of course not! I haven't heard too much from the experts over there regarding all the "HD Lite" channels that DirecTV offers.

About the only thing I've seen that is more misleading than this current DircTV campaign are the ridiculous claims by cable (Optima TV) in my neck of the woods that they are the "Leader in HD programming."

Yeah, right. That makes the DirecTV HD technobabble sound like gospel in comparison.

Give me a break.

I think the main problem is that when people heard "we'll have 100 HD channels by 2007", they assumed it meant new, unique, 24x7 programming ... which was never even alluded to by DirecTV. They were reading what they wanted to read, and not what was said. Am I disappointed? Absolutely! But I'll take what I can get.

I cannot comment on Voom, as I have never seen it.

- Shane

I wasn't trying to shoot the messenger, Shane, but merely to poke a few holes in DirecTV's "reasoning." As you know I'm a Dish subscriber and have been for many years. I consider their (real, not imagined) 30+ full time HDTV channels (including a bunch of VOOM channels) excellent. And, of course, the Vip622 HD 2 channel DVR is, in my estimation, the nicest DVR out there. I have 4 of them.

VOOM channels offer a lot of stuff not found on other channels and are an eclectic mix. The sound is almost all 5.1 and the pictures look great on my variety of HDTV sets (2 1080p sets and 3 720p sets).

DirecTV talks the HD talk, but Dish walks the HD walk. In my area, cable is not even in contention.

I wish all HD content providers well since competition breeds further improvements. If DirecTV somehow convinces people that they have "100" HD channels I'm sure Dish won't stand still. Their claims up until this point have been that Dish is the HD provider leader and it has been fact, not creative accounting. They probably don't intend to rest on their laurels and I expect to ask the appropriate questions at CEDIA 2007 (where I assume that I'll see you and Dale, right?)

And with Verizon Fios TV lurking in the wings (I already have superb FIOS Internet service) this could bode well for the aware HD subscriber.

I agree with rfowkes - as a former D*TV subscriber who got tired of all the talk (reminded me of old Hubert Humphrey - much talk, little do). The crack about VOOM and not being quality struck me. Yes, the VOOM channels do tend to focus on certain viewer groups - collectors, art enthusiasts, pop music lovers to name several - but then, what channels DON'T?? And channels like EQUATOR (crappy name for a channel that deals in travel and such) are not much different from DISCOVERY HD or The Travel Channel. And all are always high quality pictures. Yes, they repeat a lot of programming, but again, what network DOESN'T?? And one of the neat things that DishNet does is it doesn't beam it's locals just to one area. So, if your account is in Colorado for example, and you go somewhere on vacation and take your dish along, you'll still get the Denver locals (yes, and in HD) at the new location. Try THAT with D*TV.

Sorry but IMHO D*TV is overrated. Or is it just that they overrate themselves?

Jerry

I'd like to say I'm excited but I'm not. Cablevision of NJ already provides more HD than DTV, and the quality is much better - no blocking, excess compression, and so forth.

If DTV can get the qualitiy on current HD channels up to where is was a few years ago, I might stay with them. But I've been considering moving to Dish for some time and I suspect that's the way I'll go.

BTW - does anyone know who the "experts" were that are quoted in the DTV ads as saying the picture is superior to cable? None of the common folk I know would agree with that statment, and I'd think that experts would have a mi\ore discerning eye.

Rick

Hi-
I wasn't clear -- I MEANT that they should GIVE UP

on their own "in-house" HD DVR versions!! eli whitney

Apparently Comcast is simply deploying Tivo software to their existing DVR hardware. I'm sure DirecTV could do the same with their HD DVRs. It should be obvious to them after the HR20-700 fiasco that their software engineers aren't up to the task.

I'd settle for regular DVR software with Tivo being an upgrade. I'd gladly pay $5 more per month for Tivo software. One reason they ditched Tivo was the $1/month royalty they had to pay Tivo. Split the $5 and give Tivo $2.50 and keep $2.50.

I'm an D* subscriber and I know there isn't much love for them on this site. But, as the original post points out, more HD is good for everybody. Some channels have not switched because no one would carry them.
A rising tide lifts all boats and if D* gets this Sat up and working you know Dish is going to increase their HD and Cable will too. We all win. Now if something goes wrong then all of our providers can just rest on theur laurels for another year. I want to see every one of us with every HD channel available and it will happen sooner or later. Hopefully this lauch will cause it to be sooner.

I'm glad I switched to Dish a while ago. VOOM has some great channels such as RUSH, EQUATOR, SOUNDSTAGE, MONSTERS. I believe they still have significant capacity to keep adding HD channels in order to continue to be the HD leader. Directv needs to offer a good product, not a bunch of fluff. How stupid do they think we are? Yes it is good that Directv is improving their HD. It will give Dish motivation to continue to offer a superior product.

Great analysis Shane. I believe it is right on target. I am wondering if you could provide similar analysis to project when HD locals will be available in the markets that currently are SD only (via DTV). The Scranton/WilkesBarre market is the one I am most interested in, but I'm sure other would have interest in all the reamining markets.

ivanl3 wrote:I am wondering if you could provide similar analysis to project when HD locals will be available in the markets that currently are SD only (via DTV).

That's next!

- S

Good Afternoon...

Maybe I 'missed' something in your post....BUT...
after checking just now on ....antennaweb....you ALREADY
have HD for NBC / CBS / PBS / ABC (all) at compass heading 229 & under 18 miles!!!

Should be PERFECT for O.T.A. "HD" via a most plain or simple antenna, I'd think.

.....antennasdirect.com....has plenty of help as well if you don't happen to have an old one handy -- YES,
our old 'YAGIs', etc. for Ed Sullivan ARE just fine for "HD" as long as they are UHF, too.
eli whitney