Dish not the same since HD

[Baywoof]

Having been a generally satisfied E* subscriber for the last 5 years, my opinion on Dish has changed since upgrading to an HD system. About a month ago I took the plunge and upgraded to an HDTV (60 in. GW II) and a Samsung OTA digital receiver. Living in the Houston area, most all TV stations broadcast digitally. I have yet to go HD with Dish, figuring to make that call when the upcoming hardware introductions such as Superdish, new receivers, etc., happen. Since the upgrade, I tend not to view as much satellite broadcasts and watch a whole lot more DVD and local HD, and local digital broadcasts. I guess this is normal considering the new hardware but I must say I am very disappointed with the quality of satellite transmission VS local broadcasts via the OTA, even when it is not an HD feed. With my old analog TV, I thought the PQ was great with Dish, but now, digital locals are far superior in quality. Even after being over the "wow" factor, I doubt I will be changing my new viewing habits.

The point I am making is this: As the HDTV and digital market keeps growing, Dish (and probably cable) can no longer claim superior image quality to local broadcasts. If indeed satellite and cable providers will want users to spend more money for HD or improved PQ via new hardware and premium HD subscriptions, they will also need to consider upgrading their standard subscription channels. For me, HBO, ESPN, Discovery, and maybe HDNET, may not be enough of an incentive to spend the extra bucks just to view these channels in high quality. If one can receive local digital broadcasts for free such as myself, Dish, DirectTV, and cable must realize that their competition, local broadcasters, have changed the playing field, and it will be interesting to see how they respond. Opinion?

[Ken_F]

Baywolf,

I agree, but the transition will be slow. It will still be many years before the majority of Dish's customers have HDTV displays. I personally don't think we'll see adoption by the tens of millions until wall-hangable, two inch think plasma and OLED screens are available in 40" to 50" sizes at around $1000. But we will get that sooner than some people think--certainly within the next decade. In 10 years, I expect you'll be able to buy a wall-hangable 55" widescreen display at the same price as a 32-35" directview set today. All digital video and audio transmissions will be over wireless IEEE1394, so there will be no cables aside from a thin power cable matched to the same color as your wall.

[Bob_Roth]

Had the same reaction about PQ when we went HD (OTA). Am a Dish customer but now find it difficult to go back to viewing satellite TV after watching HD. We get 7 channels (all the majors) in HD OTA in Atlanta. The point is never to watch a satellite feed immediately after an HD program...

Even the PQ of programming in SD is so much better OTA thru the HD channels than what either DirecTV or Dish give us. CBS OTA in Atlanta is great - CBS thru a satellite feed is horrendous. Night scenes are crisp in HD whereas they are difficult to view on the normal satellite or cable feed (especially for shows such as Hack that have a lot of nighttime scenes).

Several days ago, due to poor weather, we kept losing the satellite feed continuously that night - during final programs my wife did not want to miss. Thankfully the OTA signal continued with dropouts only when severe lightning was around. But the OTA reception would recover immediately. The satellite feed would stay down for half an hour or so.

Given HD OTA in Atlanta, the satellite feed of local channels becomes irrelevant for us. We just keep it for PVR recording purposes until the 921 comes out. Then we will funnel our OTA thru the 921. Dish will then become a provider for us only of those channels we cannot get locally OTA (hopefully we'll be able to get ESPN-HD from Dish).

One thing about HD OTA - it's free!!! Can one imagine something like this in our economy - free and superior quality over a bought or rented product.

[Mike123abc]

Of the 3 stations here with digital broadcasting (CBS/NBC/FOX ABC supposed to be 3 months from now), only CBS is doing 1080 the rest are in 480i. But, I must say it is a delight to be able to just get such a nice pristine image at 480i compared to cable (not available on DBS) and again a step above the SD OTA.

SD OTA looks great until you see it against the 480i Digital. You see the increased color resolution.

[Cyclone]

I too rediscovered Network television when I went to HD. I had previously had only been watching History, Discovery, Fox News, and the like. Once I had HD, I of course was seeking out HD programming (mostly found on the networks) and now I find it hard to watch SD programming.

[wmayo]

I also used the think the SD Dish signals looked great on my 40" analog set. Looking at it now (on Mits 55" widescreen), it is pretty bad compared to my cable, on just about every parallel channel. Of course, the HD is great (some compression noticed, esp. on water scenes). Unfortunately, our new locals in Roanoke don't measure up to the east/west feeds of the networks.
So, I agree with first post - am considering HD only packages with dish while all SD I'll just get on cable. Unless ... Dish makes the big decision to up the SD quality. Yes, I know, MOST of the viewers out there can't tell with the sets they have, so Dish will likely have no changes in this area for a long time, or until they go 480p or something with such channels.

[abospaum]

SD better on cable? Wow, either you have an unusually good cable service or remarkably bad satellite reception.

I have never seen a cable signal that did just to satellite feed other than one of the few cable providers who offer HD output. Most digital cable systems are having major issues with PQ and one of the major reasons for going digital was the analog system also gave poor quality.

I have a 57" set and I can definitely see that my sat images are not HD but after some basic tweeks the shows are definitely viewable to all but the supreme videophiles.