Am I the only one who's ready for the channels to be renumbered?

[Devo1237]

So I've been a DirecTV customer for almost 10 years now, and like you most of you I've spent a good deal of time remembering the three digit channel numbers of my favorite channels. That being said, it drives me nuts trying to find something to watch on live TV because all the channels of a similar ilk are spread out all across the stupid spectrum. If I'm looking for a game to watch I have look in the low 200's for the ESPNs, the low 600's for NBA and VS, and the mid 600's for the RSN's, not to mention TBS/TNT in the mid-200s. Wouldn't it be easier to throw all those sports channels into the 600s? Then for Movies we have HD stuff in the 70's, then random AMCs and TCMs and MGMs in the 200's and 300's, and of course the sub channels in the 500's and IFC hidden behind the lot of them. I say pack them all into the 500's with the basic ones in one batch and the subs in another.

I also hate CNN being so far away from the other news channels, the history/science/home channels mixed up in all kinds of crazy ways and everything in 100's being PPV and other info junk. Can't we stash that garbage in the 900's or something? Sheesh.

I know a lot of these channels haven't moved for years, and any changes would be met with some serious uproars from people like my grandparents who only watch 1 channel 97% of the time and can't be bothered to learn a new 3 digit number, but I think in the long run, a reorganization would really help.

What do you think? Am I crazy? Honestly, this is probably my biggest beef with DirecTV.

[brimorga]

So I've been a DirecTV customer for almost 10 years now, and like you most of you I've spent a good deal of time remembering the three digit channel numbers of my favorite channels. That being said, it drives me nuts trying to find something to watch on live TV because all the channels of a similar ilk are spread out all across the stupid spectrum. If I'm looking for a game to watch I have look in the low 200's for the ESPNs, the low 600's for NBA and VS, and the mid 600's for the RSN's, not to mention TBS/TNT in the mid-200s. Wouldn't it be easier to throw all those sports channels into the 600s? Then for Movies we have HD stuff in the 70's, then random AMCs and TCMs and MGMs in the 200's and 300's, and of course the sub channels in the 500's and IFC hidden behind the lot of them. I say pack them all into the 500's with the basic ones in one batch and the subs in another.

I also hate CNN being so far away from the other news channels, the history/science/home channels mixed up in all kinds of crazy ways and everything in 100's being PPV and other info junk. Can't we stash that garbage in the 900's or something? Sheesh.

I know a lot of these channels haven't moved for years, and any changes would be met with some serious uproars from people like my grandparents who only watch 1 channel 97% of the time and can't be bothered to learn a new 3 digit number, but I think in the long run, a reorganization would really help.

What do you think? Am I crazy? Honestly, this is probably my biggest beef with DirecTV.

As a new subscriber, I just wish all of the HD channels were bucketed together. It takes forever to scan through the entire guide.

[fwlogue]

All you have to do is select a channel filter and then select the category you want and it filters the other channels out. Depending on how you have the guide setup it is either a single press of the guide button or a double press then select the category you want.

[Upstream]

My original DirecTV receiver (Sony, and still the best receiver I've had), allowed you to sort the channels in the guide in alphabetical order. So if I wanted to watch ESPN, I'd look under E.

[crashHD]

Honestly, this is probably my biggest beef with DirecTV.

Your mountain is a molehill.

[PCampbell]

They renumbered them in 1999 and boy did pepole B&*^%, . They do need to move ESPN and CNN but they did not move in 1999 so I think it might be in there contract that they can not be moved.

[crashHD]

I've read in some other threads that a few channels, like CNN and maybe also ESPN have some stipulation in their contract that they get to be the first channels after the PPV's.
If I was in control of the channel lineup, I'd move the PPV's to the 8-or-9xx's, and make CNN/ESPN ride the "back of the bus" just to be spiteful:D
If they were to renumber them, I hope they would do them all in one fell swoop, and not a few channels this week, a few channels next week. Then again, that's just my personal opinion, and I tend to be a "rip the bandaid off" type person.

[ElVee]

I wholeheartedly agree.

As for people suggesting filters and such, that's not the same. Sometimes you just want to pull up the guide and browse for something to watch. It would certainly help to have the channels grouped better.

I'd like to see something like:

2-69 - Locals
70-99 - ???
100-199 - PPV, etc
200-399 - Basic Cable broken down by category in no particular order:
- Basic (ie: TBS, TNT, USA, Comedy Central, FX, etc...)
- News (ie: CNN, MSNBC, FOX News)
- Business (ie: CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, etc...)
- Shopping
- Music
- Childrens
- Religion
- Classic Movies
- History/Science/Documentary/etc..
400-499 - International
500-599 - Premium Movies & Adult
600-799 - Sports and sports packages
800-899 - XM

And whatever else I've missed.

[Stuart Sweet]

Sure I'd like to see channels renumbered but I think there would be a lot of unnecessary complaint. As far as CNN and ESPN I believe that there is an agreement in place for their position.

I am glad that some of the channels in the 70s moved.

[tcusta00]

I think all TV providers are reluctant to move channels around for the reason Stuart mentioned - a lot of potential for customer complaints.

Maybe instead of that they can just create a new feature to make a custom channel order - now that would be cool. Is it feasible? No clue.

[LarryFlowers]

Yeah, like DirecTV is going ot open this can of worms...

The last time they made major channel lineup changes, people went nuts.

[hdtvfan0001]

This is a classic case of "pay me now or pay me later".... :D

Sooner or later, they'll have to re-adjust their channel numbers, and they'd probably be better off doing it sooner than later....the more channels, the tougher and more time consuming it gets later.

But that's a business decision they'll have to make.

[JeffBowser]

I c ould care less where the channels are. What I like is stability, so I don't have to keep re-training myself.

[tonyd79]

My original DirecTV receiver (Sony, and still the best receiver I've had), allowed you to sort the channels in the guide in alphabetical order. So if I wanted to watch ESPN, I'd look under E.

That exists in a fashion.

Search by Channel is in the search for programs menu.

It isn't superfast but I recall my old Sony was slow moving around by channel name.

I do think some cleanup is necessary. Especially in the sports channels (600s/700s).

[ThomasM]

My original DirecTV receiver (Sony, and still the best receiver I've had), allowed you to sort the channels in the guide in alphabetical order. So if I wanted to watch ESPN, I'd look under E.

Hah! That's nothing. My original Hughes receiver let you press the ACTION key and then enter on the keypad the LETTERS of the channel you wanted and the guide would go there!!

Whatever happened to all the clever features DirecTV boxes used to have when they didn't have the DirecTV name on them??

[ChrisPC]

I also hate CNN being so far away from the other news channels, the history/science/home channels mixed up in all kinds of crazy ways and everything in 100's being PPV and other info junk. Can't we stash that garbage in the 900's or something? Sheesh.


That's just where USSB put their premium and PPV channels before D* bought them out. After the buyout, D* rearranged all the channels and all hell broke loose. They're never going to move them all at once again. They've been slowly moving channels around like Spike, TruTV, and the HD channels that were in the '70s.

[DodgerKing]

For the most part they are grouped, with the exception of the CNN's. TNT and TBS should not be with the sports as they have more in common with other stations like USA and SPIKE.

All locals are between 2 and 70 matching their OTA channel

All DNS locals are in the 80's

All DTV information channels are in the 110's

All PPV's are in the 120's through 170's

All ESPN's including their alternates and BTN are in the 200's through 220's

All shopping channels are in the mid 220's

All home, lezure, and fix it channels are in the high 220's to low 230's

All national "cable stations" such as USA, Spike ex are in the 240's

All "Women" channels are in the low 250's

All "cable" movie channels such are FMC are in the middle to high 250's

All science channels are in the 260's through 280's

All kid and family channels are in the 290's to 300's

All music channels are in the 320's to 330's (including 101 mirror)

All news are in the 350's to 360's (except CNN)

All religious stations are in the 370's

All RSN's are in the 600's

All Sports packages are in the 700's

Most importantly. All HD's are next to their SD's. Simulcast stations are the same channel number and non-simulcasts are the same channel number followed by a "-1". I [prefer it this way.

[Devo1237]

That's just where USSB put their premium and PPV channels before D* bought them out. After the buyout, D* rearranged all the channels and all hell broke loose. They're never going to move them all at once again. They've been slowly moving channels around like Spike, TruTV, and the HD channels that were in the '70s.

I honestly think the main reason for the uproar was that they rearranged them wrong. If they really have some sort of stupid agreement with ESPN and CNN, then it'll never work. But if they gave people plenty of warning, and then reorganized everything into their proper groups with a few extra slots for any new channels, I really think they'd improve customer satisfaction in the long run.

Maybe the difference is in the amount of TV I'm watching. When I'm too busy to watch anything but my favorite shows I just want them to be recorded, but when I have a little extra time and want to find something new/interesting the channel numbering drives me nuts.

[Thaedron]

Could they accomplish a channel renumbering simply by mapping EVERYTHING into a 1XXX, 2XXX or other range? Still not sure how or if you can ever get the original channel numbers out of the picture without a huge uproar, but it would allow for a more logical channel grouping to be implemented.

The major downside to this would be that every direct channel change would be one more button push, which I'm sure would send an equal number of people off the deep end... :eek2:

[bruinfever]

We have a better chance of seeing MRV and DLB by Memorial Day before we see DirecTV renumbering their channels. The cost of reorganization (notifying customers) and transitioning as well as the amount of complaints they would get for customers would make the govt's shutoff of analog transmissions in 2009 look like a walk in the park...

[highheater]

My original DirecTV receiver (Sony, and still the best receiver I've had), allowed you to sort the channels in the guide in alphabetical order. So if I wanted to watch ESPN, I'd look under E.

The early Sony receivers also had the ability to set up 5 groups of 7 channels on a separate menu page. Each group could be populated with 7 channels of the same type (CNN, CNN Headline, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX business, CSPAN). Each of the 5 pages (NEWS, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, KIDS, MLB EI) could be displayed and cycled through very quickly for channel selection.

What was really nice was that the channel changed QUICKLY (<1 sec) as you moved about the various tabs letting you quickly scan the various lists.

This old Sony system was ideal for the channel surfer that was only interested in about 35 channels. Unfortunately all of the new receivers keep the display of the current channel as you motor through the guide instead of showing you the new one. An unfortunate consequence of much slower channel changes due to HDMI handshaking.

[highheater]

Could they accomplish a channel renumbering simply by mapping EVERYTHING into a 1XXX, 2XXX or other range? Still not sure how or if you can ever get the original channel numbers out of the picture without a huge uproar, but it would allow for a more logical channel grouping to be implemented.

The major downside to this would be that every direct channel change would be one more button push, which I'm sure would send an equal number of people off the deep end... :eek2:

The answer isn't to reorder / regroup the channels. The answer is to come up with a more customizable guide by subject that can be accessed without multiple button selections. The user can then group the channels as they please.

I understand that the channel filter attempts to do this - but there are so many channels that each subgroup is way overpopulated.

A simple ONE button push that called up NEWS channels, a separate button to call up SPORTS channels, etc. where each list was customizable would be nice. (Hey can't we get those colored buttons to do a little more for us.)

I don't want ONE favorites list. I want multiple favorites (channels each independently assignable) to be accessed by a single button or a cycling of a single button.

This is what was so nice about the old Sony recievers that hasn't been duplicated in the new ones. Essentially it had 2 list buttons. One for the entire collection of channels. Another to cycle through your customized lists.

[Howie]

I say leave them where they are. I'm getting to old to memorize them again.

[Retro]

I think the channels are grouped pretty good now.. Plus, I've memorised my favs and just enter the number and have any channel i never watch blocked out..
I like to call Sunday night - "Education night" as i tend to want to watch something from History or Discovery channels as usually there is new programming on that night on those channels thus i stay in the same general area so i feel they are grouped right. Same with USA, TBS, TNT, etc.

There is one change i'd like to see made.. All the PPV channels now have clutter for the first 20 channels of various events and promos.. I'd like to see this stuff moved elsewhere and only have PPV First run movies in their own area.. Leave the special events, concerts, mix channels, etc. to another place.

[CTJon]

I'd like a re-org but I'm not sure it would ever satisfy everyone. Plus someone would have to come and listen to my spouse complain since it would be my fault.

I'd also like to have better (or some) description of the station when you go through and pick your favorites so you'd have some idea if it is a channel you might like.
How about the ability to delete a channel directly when viewing the guide so you could manage favorites from the guide.

[Neural762]

There's really no reason they couldn't change the receiver software to allow you to assign your own channel numbers. That would be kind of a cool feature, but I wonder how many people would actually use it.

[JoeS]

ESPNU on 609 is the most out of place to me. Since its 'somewhat' new moving it to 210 or 211 shouldnt be too hard.

[ohpuckhead]

ESPNU on 609 is the most out of place to me. Since its 'somewhat' new moving it to 210 or 211 shouldnt be too hard.

I'd like to have the capability to be able to make more than two favorites lists. I also would like the guide to not revert to "all channels" when filtering by category.

[raoul5788]

I'd like the favorites to look like the LG3200a, with a grid showing the channel icons.

[JoeS]

Is it just me and my receivers or does D* have icons for only like 40% of the channels and small percentage of the HD ones?

[scottchez]

Yes please renumber.

Why is CNN not with the other news. Put them together. If CNN wont move, then move the others.

Put all Sports togethere even the regionals foxes please

[inkahauts]

A couple things...

One... I think it would be nice if they mirrored stations like CNN, all the ESPNs and BTNs and NHL and NFL network into the mid 300s and 600's respectively so they are next to the other sports and news channels as well... This would keep their contracts valid and satisfy those who don't like to have to channel surf that far away.

Otherwise, most of the channels are well layed out with a few exceptions. I think its safe to say the 70s and 80s will be gone soon enough, and we all know where they are going....

I did see one other thing mentioned though, and that was that it would be nice to see the HD channels separated..... I'm all for mirroring HD channels in the 2000's as well as next to their SD counter parts. That way they could still keep their overall number base just like they did with the DOD channels, and have them all out on their own without making customers create favorites list. Either that, or give us more favorites lists.

[Bowtaz3]

Yeah, like DirecTV is going ot open this can of worms...

The last time they made major channel lineup changes, people went nuts.

I agree, I think it should be left like it is

[dishrich]

About the only goofy numbering problem I think D* needs to fix ASAP, is move IFC out of the premium channel block & down with the rest of the "basic" movie channels like AMC, TCM, etc.

[hdtvfan0001]

Once they are up over 100 HD channels, and with the added PPV channels too, it would seem imminent that they will have to reassign some logical new channel groupings.

But if that will happen, we should know about it perhaps as early as late summer, about the time the D11 sat is ready to go live.

[Carl Spock]

I don't want ONE favorites list. I want multiple favorites (channels each independently assignable) to be accessed by a single button or a cycling of a single button.

This is what was so nice about the old Sony recievers that hasn't been duplicated in the new ones. Essentially it had 2 list buttons. One for the entire collection of channels. Another to cycle through your customized lists.
Agreed, completely.

If they do this, it should be for the LAST TIME! Do you realise the strain it puts the custom home install industry? There are a ton of remotes & control systems with preset stations in them. All of those would have to be redone, and over the period of just a few days. Last time DirecTV did this (which was, what, 8-10 years ago?), it was big pile of horse pitute for me. Now, with a lot more sophisticated systems out there, it would be an unbelievably huge pile.

[Stuart Sweet]

...and considering you could never promise that it would be for the last time, well it should be very carefully considered.

I would think that more UI customization, and easier UI customization, would make the channel numbering less important.

[armophob]

I vote to leave it alone. I have just started getting to know all of them.

[ShinerDraft]

As a new DTV customer this bothers me too...

The problem with renumbering the channels is that at best, 10% of viewers will be happy with the new arrangement. The other 90% will complain about the new arrangement. Heck, look at this thread, there are 7 or 8 different thoughts on how things should be arranged..

Custom channel numbering is a noble idea, but it's not going to happen. Although most folks here refer to networks by their name, I'd guess that a very substantial number, if not a majority, of people still go by channel number.

I would think that more UI customization, and easier UI customization, would make the channel numbering less important.
My idea is along the lines of Stuart's suggestion...

"Channel folders.."

The user creates their own classifications for channels. They organize and order the channels within those classifications as they please.

The nice thing about this is that it wouldn't be a big jump from some features they already have. It's very similar to the "channel categories" that DVR's already use (really it's the exact same thing, just customizable). Also, they already have a folder/file type structure within the list of recorded programs.

If something like this were implemented, it would also be *really* nice to do the actual customization work on your PC where you can drag & drop.

[JeffBowser]

That gets me on my local HD forum (AVSForums). When someone calls a station by their letters, or by their network affiliate, I never know what the heck they are talking about - but I do know 5,12,29, etc.... Of course, there are exceptions - HBO, CNN, and the like.



Custom channel numbering is a noble idea, but it's not going to happen. Although most folks here refer to networks by their name, I'd guess that a very substantial number, if not a majority, of people still go by channel number.

[ShinerDraft]

I think the channels are grouped pretty good now.. Plus, I've memorised my favs and just enter the number and have any channel i never watch blocked out..

Can someone point me in the right direction to do this? I thought I was able to because of the "my channels" checkbox on the website listings, but I can't figure out how to configure a list of "my channels" and exclude the junk i'll never watch..

[Steve]

After this (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=96690) poll, Channel renumbering was added to the Wish List, but was removed after a couple of months due to lack of voter support.

It was surprising, because 75% of the poll respondents voted in favor of renumbering the channel line-up, but the Wish List voters are apparently a different audience.

/steve

[David MacLeod]

Can someone point me in the right direction to do this? I thought I was able to because of the "my channels" checkbox on the website listings, but I can't figure out how to configure a list of "my channels" and exclude the junk i'll never watch..

click guide then yellow then change fav lists. then edit settings then pick the profile to edit.
then use select button to mark channels to show in that profile.

[gregjones]

As a new subscriber, I just wish all of the HD channels were bucketed together. It takes forever to scan through the entire guide.

All 100 of them? On an HR20 you can pick only HD channels.

I say leave them in their content areas. For special cases, create a mirror in the relevant content area so that I can deal with it using favorite lists (getting rid of CNN in the wrong place, putting T101 with other music channels only, etc.)

[n0aaa]

I like Dish's numbering better than DirecTV's. What they need is an ergonomic control. Whoever designed the present one was articulated differently from me. I'm usually good at these things... but this control stops me cold and requires me to look down at it far too often. Common sequences are illogical and awkward.

[scottchez]

Please, group the Kids, Sports, News, Movies, Shopping, and Sitcom channels all in there own tier.

Like 100s 200s 300 400s

I cant find anything.

[SamC]

This goes back to the early days of cable boxes. Most early cable boxes reset back to "channel 2" every time you turned it off. Channel providers realized that, in those pre-on screen guide days, ratings were actually higher for lower channels, since most people would start at the "bottom" and "surf up" until they found something.

Channel providers started providing a small discount for "premium" channel slots. This translated over into DBS, and then to so-called "digital cable" as placing channels low in the base tier range, which in DirecTV's case is 200. ESPN even has a specific desire to have the less popular ESPNews and ESPN Classic placed BETWEEN "the mothership" and "the deuce" since people will probably "surf" between the two main channels and notice the stuff in between.

I personally think the whole theory is BS, but I don't run ESPN, CNN, or any other channel provider, so what I think doesn't really matter.

DirecTV has moves this or that channel, such as moving Spike, which was in the legacy "music" channels position from when it was TNN, recently. When it bought USSB, it moved all of those channels (USSB had channels in the 900s).

If you look at the 600 series sports channels, they kind of try to start in the northeast and go south and west from there. But they have Cleveland last. Odd.

But, at work, among those that have cable, I am shocked at the number of people that comment on this or that show on "channel 74". People will even say they say something on the "channel 7 news", even though the mike flag on the "channel 7 news" has a big 8 on it, since most of the local cable bandits move the VHF locals from their real channels to prevent ghosting (so much for it really being "digital" cable).

[scottchez]

I know its hard to move channels as most will not be happy about it.

If they could at least get the news channels together I would be happy. CNN is all by itself. Either move CNN or move the others please.

Dish has the news together.

[spartanstew]

Doesn't matter to me.

I rarely use the guide and don't know the number of any station anyway (except 206) as I never pay attention to that.

On the occasions when I do "surf" the guide, I only have 30 - 50 channels in my favorites anyway, so it's not that hard to scroll through them no matter what the numbers are.

And I don't think any of them are SD, so grouping HD wouldn't matter either.

[scottchez]

Speaking of the guide. Any one know if they will be gettng an HD version of the guide?

One that can use more of the space and resolution that you get with HD TVs

I see one of there competitors has that option.

[Steve]

Speaking of the guide. Any one know if they will be gettng an HD version of the guide?

One that can use more of the space and resolution that you get with HD TVs

I see one of there competitors has that option."HD" or not, an "OPTION to display more GRID GUIDE information. More channels and hours" is one of our longest-standing Wish List requests. :) For those of you who haven't already let DirecTV know how you value this request, you can do so here (http://www.sizethis.com/index.php?module=survey&survey=28). TIA. /steve

[Msguy]

Yes please renumber.

Why is CNN not with the other news. Put them together. If CNN wont move, then move the others.

Put all Sports togethere even the regionals foxes please

Yeah, CNN needs to be up in the Mid 350's-360's Range along with other News Channels Like MSNBC (Channel 356) and Fox News (Channel 360) And Channels Like ESPN, ESPNews, ESPN2, and ESPN Classic should be moved to the Sports Tier up in the 600 Channel Range. And I am all for doing away with the Home Shopping Channels to give more bandwidth to more of the premium services that many people subscribe to like NFL, MLB, and Premium Movie Channels.

[w3syt]

I wonder what will become of locals that are now "PI" channels on the HR-10's after Feb, 2009 ?

[crashHD]

what's a pi channel?

[trainman]

what's a pi channel?

Much as pi is a non-repeating decimal, pi channels are a non-repeating viewing option -- you try watching them once, but the picture quality is so awful that you never go back.

(Okay, I have no idea what the previous poster actually meant.)

[GregLee]

D* could look at the TitanTV on-line guide as a model. I often use it instead of the IPG on my HR20, because it's so much nicer. In addition to HD and many customization features, it has program filters instead of channel filters -- that is, if for example I set it to Sports, I see displayed all and only those channels currently carrying sports programming.

The numbers don't make much difference to me, personally, since I don't use them. I pay attention to channel names and order in the guide only.

[DawgLink]

Eh, I agree that I would like to see them re-ordered but it isn't THAT big of a deal as I have gotten used to the current channels

If they do, great

If not, no biggie

I do wish some channels were moved way down and others way up

[Steve]

In addition to HD and many customization features, it has program filters instead of channel filters -- that is, if for example I set it to Sports, I see displayed all and only those channels currently carrying sports programming.You probably already know this, but just in case... :)

A second press of GUIDE allows you to filter the current GUIDE channel list by one of several broad categories: HDTV, sports, news, movies, etc.

A press of YELLOW while in the GUIDE allows you to choose "category sort", where you can browse a chronological list of showings filtered in a much more granular fashion, by category and sub-category. I'm running the latest CE (0x023D), and this feature has just been tweaked so it runs much faster than it did before, and even then, it wasn't bad. :)

/steve