View Full Version : DirecTV in Argentina
I'm currently watching the Bills and the Patriots down here in a hotel in Patagonia, Argentina, complete with play coverage in Spanish. Not sure why D* thinks there's Spanish speaking NFL fans down here. They seem to carry a lot of NBC stuff in English w/ Spanish sub-titles as well: Criminal Minds, Monk re-runs on Universal this afternoon. HBO in English and CNN, too.
Nothing but round dishes seen here so far. Very strange to see dishes pointed NW.... I'll have to find someone with their own receiver while I'm here and thoroughly check out the Guide.
litzdog911
11-18-07, 11:09 PM
Lots of American stuff on DirecTV Argentina, even NBA games ....
http://directv.users.wiroos.net/home/index.php
Thanks, L.D. I see an HR20-700 promo shown at the top of their Argentine website, so maybe they have some extra 700's down here!
Stuart Sweet
11-19-07, 07:27 AM
Well if they're all down there, well, don't cry for me. ;)
Thanks, L.D. I see an HR20-700 promo shown at the top of their Argentine website, so maybe they have some extra 700's down here!
Where do you see HR20-700? All I see is SD DVR no HD. It does not appear that they even have any HD programming there.
Bob Coxner
11-19-07, 10:33 AM
The Wikipedia article is slightly out of date but informative:
Argentina
Argentina selected the ATSC standard back in 1998 (Res.2387/98) and has been conducting experimental broadcasts since 1999 but the government later overruled the decision. The current government in Argentina appears to be reconsidering its earlier decision. ATSC and DVB-T are apparently both being considered, but there appears to be no interest in ISDB-T. The governments of Argentina and Brazil had decided independently which digital TV standard each nation would deploy, but have recently agreed to work together to implement a single standard for the Mercosur customs union. While HDTV-ready TVs sales are increasing in this country, no single HD feed is currently available. Local cable company "Cablevision" will start HDTV transmission on January 20, 2007. Major TV broadcasters, namely Canal 13 and Telefe, started to show some HDTV samples in electronic shows. Canal 13 has invested in ATSC equipment, and the recent decision by the government to review this in favour of DVB added some turmoil in an already clogged scenario for such decision. Due to lack of clear directives, consumer electronic market offers LCD and Plasma equipment without digital tuners, only NTSC/PAL analog ones are included at the moment (may 2007). At the same time, some equipment were marketed as "HD-ready" when, in fact, they offered only a 852x480 pixel resolution, clearly insufficient to fulfill that claim.
Doug Brott
11-19-07, 10:45 AM
All I could see on the site was an SD DVR and an SD Receiver .. not sure what the model number is, though.
tonyd79
11-19-07, 12:57 PM
Lots of American stuff on DirecTV Argentina, even NBA games ....
http://directv.users.wiroos.net/home/index.php
Even NBA games? You do realize that Manny Ginobili is from Argentina?
Not sure why D* thinks there's Spanish speaking NFL fans down here.
that would be because it's a Spanish speaking country.
duh.
Well they're back at it tonight with the Titans and the Broncos here in Argentina. And the Spanish language coverage is very enthusiastic indeed, I must say, with multiple commentators. Maybe the NFL is in fact trying to develop an interest in NFL football here in South America, as improbable as that seems, as opposed to D* simply re-broadcasting in English for the American expatriates down here. This is no small investment on someone's part: the Panamericanization of American football. Wonder if Chinese will be next?
This Philips flatscreen CRT has so much overscan, I can't read the score....
elguevon
11-20-07, 12:34 AM
Well they're back at it tonight with the Titans and the Broncos here in Argentina. And the Spanish language coverage is very enthusiastic indeed, I must say, with multiple commentators. Maybe the NFL is in fact trying to develop an interest in NFL football here
Are you living inside of your television box? The NFL has been promoting its product to the Spanish-speaking world, with obvious emphasis in Latin America, for more than 3 years.
http://www.nflatino.com/
For a person that resides in Florida, have you never heard Spanish sports commentary? GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Dude, you are in Argentina....what the hell are you doing sitting inside watching TV and posting on DBS Forums about an NFL game being simulcast in Spanish IN a Spanish speaking country? Vete afuera por Dios!!!!!!!!!
Bob Coxner
11-20-07, 07:57 AM
Even NBA games? You do realize that Manny Ginobili is from Argentina?
Also Carlos Delfino (Detroit), Andres Nocioni (Chicago) and Fabricio Oberto (San Antonio).
cweave02
11-20-07, 05:49 PM
I just got back from a cruise to the Western Caribbean - Tampa to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Honduras, and the "local" network channels were out of Denver. The roads were practically non-existant in Belize, but I did see numerous D*TV dishes perched on the sides of houses, hotels and stores. I guess the hurricanes did not disrupt that system.
Stew - go out and climb some Myan ruins or something! Did you take your HAM radio equipment with you??
techrep
11-20-07, 06:54 PM
Don't be to hard on Stew, he is really an "Appalachian American." ;)
.........GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OL.......
I freely admit I am ignorant in some areas of knowledge which seem commonplace to others with different interests. NFL football and professional sports in general is not a primary, nor even a secondary, interest of mine, so it is perhaps understandable why I was surprised by Spanish language broadcast of American football outside of the USA. I am much more comfortable dealing with Fibonacci numbers and Elliott Wave Theory. Sorry to have offended you.
cweave02
11-20-07, 08:22 PM
Don't be to hard on Stew, he is really an "Appalachian American." ;)
I can relate, coming from that area myself, and would rather watch Numbers and CSI Miami than the NFL or NBA anyway. (Now, the PGA and LPGA are another thing, and seeing a golf ball in flight on HD is great!) Enjoy your vacation Stew!
cweave02
11-21-07, 08:07 AM
[QUOTE=K4SMX;1294732]I freely admit I am ignorant in some areas of knowledge which seem commonplace to others with different interests. QUOTE]
I am also ignorant in terms of geography - don't think the Maya made it to Argentina! Have a good trip, whatever you do down there.
firedog1
11-21-07, 09:11 AM
I am much more comfortable dealing with Fibonacci numbers and Elliott Wave Theory.
Ahh, so you're a trader.......
BTW, when are you gonna post your numbers in the other thread :lol: ???
I am also ignorant in terms of geography - don't think the Maya made it to Argentina! Have a good trip, whatever you do down there.
Thanks, Cindy! My son and I are doing lots of walking around in the excellent weather.
Fortunately, geography's not one my problems, having contacted by shortwave radio nearly every habitable and quite a few normally uninhabited places in the world over the years where amateur radio is permitted. I used to go on expeditions to uninhabited islands back in the 70's for the sole purpose of operating from these arcane locations. Usually about 15k contacts in about 3 days of 24/7. I would definitely choose "Geography" over "Sports" on Jeopardy, or whatever that TV game show was....
Today, however, it's "Aspen South": San Martin de los Andes in "Patagonia Norte." Went out this AM to the hardware store to get a local-type power strip so my son and I can charge all of our cellphones, computers, and the satphone simultaneously. This is a working vacation. Wi-fi everywhere here, very up-to-snuff. The EL on the D* dishes pointed NW is very low. All the dishes look almost horizontal.
Tomorrow we're heading up to the far NW - Salta Province.
techrep
11-21-07, 05:39 PM
Ahh, so you're a trader.......
BTW, when are you gonna post your numbers in the other thread :lol: ???
He doesn't want to "tick" you off cause, in florida, he has no signal strength lower than 94. :nono2:
firedog1
11-21-07, 07:08 PM
He doesn't want to "tick" you off cause, in florida, he has no signal strength lower than 94. :nono2:
"Tick" me off?? K4SMX is my inspiration, my mentor. I worship the ground his WNC 5-LNB is mounted on :lol:
Ahh, so you're a trader.......
BTW, when are you gonna post your numbers in the other thread :lol: ???
COMEX seat #202, finally sold this year in the great frenzy at the NYMEX.
I will never post my 119 numbers, firedog1. You'd be on your roof all winter re-tweaking, "as is your wont," and all of your friends in the other thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=104141&page=15) are in agreement that your KU numbers will see you through the worst of times.
techrep
11-22-07, 11:22 AM
"Tick" me off?? K4SMX is my inspiration, my mentor. I worship the ground his WNC 5-LNB is mounted on :lol:
While most of us do not "worship" K4SMX, we do have him up on a pedestal. :D
Easy there, techrep, re-read the post. That was the ground under the dish. I did, however, see a bunch of generalisimos and other folks actually on pedestals today in a giant, old cemetary late this afternoon in Buenos Aires between flights. Of course, anyone placed on a pedestal is immediately suspect in my book of "having feet of clay." As I've said before, I'm just another "bozo on the bus" who has simply been on a lot of electronic buses. Fortunately, on a forum like this, with so many highly-qualified folks participating, every single bit of bad, partially-bad, or incomplete advice I've ever given was immediately nailed. This is the great benefit which this forum provides: people actually get accurate answers to their technical questions - fast!
So, we were traveling since 4:30 local this AM. Three hours on a gravel road over a mountain pass, two 2 hour airplane flights with a 4 hour layover in B.A., the usual departure delays, half hour in a hot aircraft transit bus, another half hour in a hot airplane until after the take-off roll, etc. No strikes or canceled flights, however, so all-in-all it was a good day. The new hotel in Salta has the exact same DirecTV line-up as all the others. There must be a "hotel package." I picked up the Argentine DirecTV brochure at their local office yesterday. Quite a bit more US stuff in English available to local subscribers than I have seen in the hotels, mostly movie channels. I guess their marginal cost of providing that is probably pretty low.
It's easy to become immediately re-accustomed here to the old ways of airport security in the US. So easy, you sometimes just forget all about it like it was a bad dream. So my son tried to go through the scanner with his just-purchased, boxed Tandil meat carving set in a shopping bag. Inside were a giant knife and fork. Now in the US, he would have spent the rest of the day with the TSA folks, arrested, jailed, and maybe would have "bonded out" in the morning. But here the gal watching the scanner just shook her head, "No," and sent him back downstairs to add it to the rest of the checked baggage. Very civilized.
cweave02
11-23-07, 08:17 AM
One warning about coming back into the US - on a Delta fligt from Tokyo to Atlanta last month, they had a decent deal on perfume and alcohol in the "Duty free" magazine, so I bit and bought. In ATL you get off the plane, pick up your luggage, go through custioms, send your luggage back onto the conveyor which will take it from Concourse E to Baggage claim, then you go through security again before you can do the same thing. So when he camera bag went into the machine, out came the liquior and perfume - liquids, so no go. After a q4 hour overnight flight and my checked bags already gone, I was not a happy camper. Delta does not tell you that your purchases will be confiscated at security.
Ah Cindy....you "bit and bought," then you were bitten! I'll be returning day after tomorrow and fortunately have no subsequent US flights to contend with the TSA.
No more DirecTV in Argentina at the current location in Cafeyate. It's a local cable system, complete with the usual crummy PQ on some channels. I had forgotten how "wonderful" cable TV is, complete with rolling horizontal bars. The "Chica 2" show on FX was quite interesting, however....
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