OK, what will the Charlie Chat announce concerning HD and SuperDish?

[RAD]

OK, in about 24 hours the guessing will be over and we'll know if Charlie finally made his HD customers happy or if it's another month of frustration. So I though I'd put a poll out there just to see how good the DBSTalk family will be in guessing what Charlie will do.

[gpflepsen]

Wow, folks have a bunch of faith in Charlie.

[John Corn]

I hope it's all of the above, but I got a feeling we ain't gonna here anything. :nono:

[BobMurdoch]

He announces NOTHING until he is ready. And he ain't ready.

[Cyclone]

Charlie loves all of us Cutting edgers. He'll announce all new HDTV programming will start at the end of the week and they are now taking orders to Free SuperDish installations. :D

[Raymond Simonian]

I predict he will say that 921, 811 and superdish will be available some time in the fourth quarter of 2003 and that there will be more HDTV information discussed in the next chat. At least one half of the chat will be devoted to a guest speaker. About five minutes will be devoted to HDTV.

[cj9788]

He is going to tell us this new technology is expensive to develope so it will be expensive to bring to our homes.

He will reinforce what the bozos said in the tech chat and give us more corprate mumbo jumbo on why dish has to start chargeing a PVR fee(screw TIVO).

And he will do it all with a smile on his face.

[Darkman]

that was an easy Poll to answer - hehe - WTF is "firm" nowadays anyhow...
Maybe "firmware" (and that's about it) :)

[Dave]

that was an easy Poll to answer - hehe - WTF is "firm" nowadays anyhow...
Maybe "firmware" (and that's about it) :)


Glad to see that Darkman has his hero up there. Good job. Darkman!

[Darkman]

hehe - hero :)

specially for Charlie Chat..

When Charlie Chat is over - i ll change the Avatar again :)

[Mike123abc]

I bet he has a firm date now on launch of the HD package and SuperDish. They have been testing AMC-2 now in orbit at 105, so they have to know it works (or does not... talk about a dissapointing CC if it does not work).

I do not think they have a firm date on the 921, swith DPP4:4, etc. But, by now they should have all the contracts done and the satellite tested out.

[cbusbee]

I want to be an optimist and hope to hear Charlie make us all very happy that we chose Dish over Directv because Dish will again soon be the #1 provider in HD programming.

I expect a package to include ESPH-HD, HDnet and HDnet movies (I'm even hoping that he pulls a rabbit out of his hat and announces an agreement with ABC (MNF) similar to the CBS one). I expect these 3 channels to be offered on a current satelite until a certain date which will give time for current subscribers to get a Superdish installed. I also hope to hear about a special promo for current HD-subscribers to upgrade to the Superdish and the new receivers (maybe half-price with a 1 year commitment). We have already invested more in Echostar hardware than one would to have HD with Directv.

I just cannot believe that Charlie will make us wait until later this year to have ESPN-HD. He will lose all new subscribers to Directv, especially considering that Best Buy is running ESPN-HD during football season and will be pushing customers to whichever provider has ESPN-HD. I think HDTV sales will really take off this fall (holiday season) and I don't think Dish wants to lose their leadership position in HD television.

If I'm wrong, I think that Directv and cable tv will push Dish aside and they may never catch up. I also think more Dish customers will make the switch to Directv if ESPN isn't available very soon. Once football season begins, the churning will begin. Dish has to have better business sense than to drop the ball on this channel. It cannot wait until Superdish. Drop one of the other HD channels that are hardly being used (demo, events, ppv) or use some of the capacity on the core dishes.

Most important of all, I hope Charlie and Dish give us some real information. Dates, prices, channels, etc. This blowing smoke has to stop. Give us results...If I don't get some solid information for me to make plans and decisions with I may have no choice but to switch providers and get what I can for my Dish equipment on Ebay.

[Chris Freeland]

I bet he has a firm date now on launch of the HD package and SuperDish. They have been testing AMC-2 now in orbit at 105, so they have to know it works (or does not... talk about a dissapointing CC if it does not work).

I do not think they have a firm date on the 921, swith DPP4:4, etc. But, by now they should have all the contracts done and the satellite tested out.

Thats kind of my thinking too, I am not real confident and may be wishful thinking on my part, however I did go out on the limb and voted all of the above.
:)

[Jerry G]

Wow. 71% say nothing of significance will be announced. Yup. Sure seems like Dish has managed to cause many of us to lose confidence in them.

[newsub]

hehe - hero :)

specially for Charlie Chat..

When Charlie Chat is over - i ll change the Avatar again :)

it's better than your last avatar you had. Yuck I hated reading your posts cause your avatar mooned me everytime.

[Cyclone]

Wow. 71% say nothing of significance will be announced. Yup. Sure seems like Dish has managed to cause many of us to lose confidence in them.

I haven't lost confidence, I just don't think its time for the announcements yet.

[jeffwtux]

Charlie better not make the mistake of just ignoring the NFL season and assume that anybody who cares about NFL on ESPN-HD already has DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket. If the only people who watched Sunday night football were those that had Sunday Ticket, then ESPN/Disney would never have paid as much as they did for the rights to the NFL. There are millions of HARDCORE NFL fans(with the emphasis on HARD CORE) that don't have Sunday Ticket. After all Sunday Ticket is a rippoff if you have real season tickets. I'm betting that there are as many hardcore NFL fans who don't have sunday ticket as there are who do.
Do the math 70,000*32= 2,240,000 million people at NFL games a week. Figure that about 3 million or more go to at least 3 Sunday afternoon games a year. I wouldn't pay $200 for Sunday ticket unless I was going to watch football every Sunday on tv from 1-7. If I miss 4 Sundays(because I'm at a game for real), that makes the $200 package cost me like $15/week. I could go to a bar for less than that. However, if I have an 42 inch HDTV monitor, I will demand ESPN HD especially when you consider that I'll be home for probably every Sunday night game(unless I go to one, but it will never be more than one).
I'm just trying to explain that way to many people write off the NFL fans as a lost customer base. Sunday Ticket subscribers are a tiny minority of NFL fans.

[harsh]

I haven't lost confidence, I just don't think its time for the announcements yet.

In view of the unanswered cries from a few here, you're clearly missing something. At the same time, those who are doing the crying are probably missing something too.

Too often it seems that the bleeding edgers are forging ever onward and upward with creeping featuritis while the rank and file are just looking for something that works smoothly.

There are a number of issues with the existing services that apparenlty aren't working as expected. Before they delve into largely uncharted territory for a few dozen rather vocal hardcore HDTV or sports fans, Echostar should not forget that there are a quite a few existing customers who are being pressured to make a change in their entertainment providers.

Comcast is literally making fools of themselves in their feeble attempts to make people believe that they are your local friends. They know that the big money is in the hands of those who are swayed by good service.

Here's some observations that I've made in the last week or so that I believe that need to be addressed:

1. ALL Customer Service representatives need to be fully informed with respect to upgrades, special offers and problem resolution paths. Too often you have to keep hounding them to get a satisfactory answer. The answer should always be the same regardless of who you get on the other end. It is difficult to fix something that you can't easily reproduce.

2. Programming flexibility must remain the hallmark of Dish Network offerings. DirecTV went the "less confusion" route but I think they missed the boat with their customers who are seeking programming other than sports packages.

3. Receiver functionality needs to be kept on par with the feature sets and capabilities of competing offerings from terrestrial as well as extra-terrestrial offerings. Improved guide handling at all receiver levels, competitive DVR functionality and delivery of multi-tuner units (with all of these channels, PIP/split screen is imperative) should be a high priority.

4. HDTV is real for many. Expectations probably far exceed what can reasonably be delivered, but a plan needs to be in place so that everyone is on the same page. You need to set up a straw man upon which priorities can be established and poorly conceived ideas set aflame as new models are derived.

5. Don't hint about new products until they are subtantially ready for retail. Giving out model numbers and preliminary specifications only provides search engine fodder for the discussions about late delivery and "failed promises".

Obviously there are lots of additional observations that can be made and many will conflict with mine but it helps to have some cairns every once in a while so we can tell of we're not running around in circles.

[Scott Greczkowski]

BTW I heard from the Producer of tonight's Charlie Chat and was told that your comments have not fallen on deaf ears, she things most will find tonights chat enjoyable.

I don't know what that means but I will tune in and find out. :)

Join us tonight in our Chat at http://chat.dbstalk.com

[JBar1017]

I hope that tonight's Charlie Chat will announce some new channels for AT 150. Just Hopefully! :)

JBar1017

[Steve Mehs]

Anyone that is new here, if your able to, I highly encourage you to join us for all the fun in the DBSTalk Chat Room that Scott linked above. We always have a great time, and it seems to make the Charlie Chat go faster during the boring parts (promos or boring special guests).

[Cyclone]

That Chat room window is too small. Once everyone starts tallking at once, it will be impossible to carry on a conversation in there. I wish we could resize that window or use an external IRC client.

In view of the unanswered cries from a few here, you're clearly missing something

I stand by my comment. I bet we'll get a "There's more HD coming on SuperDish" announcement from Charlie, but not much more than that. No pricing, start dates, hardware availability. Its coming, just not yet.

[Scott Greczkowski]

That Chat room window is too small. Once everyone starts tallking at once, it will be impossible to carry on a conversation in there. I wish we could resize that window or use an external IRC client.

I guess you haven't looked at it lately. :)

Last time we had 100 people in there with no problem. :D

[Cyclone]

Well, I'll be there tonight. I did just try it out. Its empty so I can't really gauge it properly now. It does look wider though :D See you tonight.

[Mike123abc]

AMC-2 works. It was working at its old slot, and they have used it enough to know it works now.

My opinion (worth every penny you paid for it!) is that the hold-up is the availability of the SuperDish. I believe Dish's thinking is that there is no sense starting up on 105 until it is possible for significant numbers of subscribers to actually subscribe, and that will not happen until SuperDish is available. If they start earlier, they are paying for transmission rights for channels no one (in their view) can subscribe to.....


I guess I should clarify... AMC-2 with 8PSK and SuperDish all working together. AMC-2 is about half the power AMC-15 will be next year. Question is if they will be able to use 8PSK and still avoid rain fade with SuperDish. They may have to use QPSK and lots of error correction until the replacement makes it into orbit. If they use QPSK a lot of people will feel ripped off because they did not need the 8PSK module for the 6000 until sometime late next year.

[Greg Johnson]

I'm sorry but I think almost everybody who bought the 8PSK feels ripped off. I know I do.

[Mike123abc]

Interesting after the CC tonight, I wonder if they decided to scrap using AMC-2 and just use E9 at 121 until AMC-15 goes up next year... So, they delay HDTV another month until they can test out E9. At least E9 is in orbit.

[Darkman]

hehe - i knew last choice (for the Poll) would be pretty safe bet :)

Nothing is "firm" any longer anyhow (nowadays)....

Maybe only some parts of female's anatomy... (not the place and time i guess for this discussion) :) ...
But that's about it...

[Darkman]

BTW I heard from the Producer of tonight's Charlie Chat and was told that your comments have not fallen on deaf ears, she things most will find tonights chat enjoyable.

...but I will tune in and find out. :)



So was it enjoyable 'nuff for you, Scott? :lol: :lol:

[rowdymon]

BTW I heard from the Producer of tonight's Charlie Chat and was told that your comments have not fallen on deaf ears, she things most will find tonights chat enjoyable.



I think you ought to email that producer back and send her a link to this thread. She can see just how much we enjoyed it. :(