What are the D* and E* designators that I see?

[spinnaker]

What are the D* and E* designators that I see? I think that D* means DirectTV? What does E* mean? Am I breaking any rules by not using themor are they just shortcuts? I want to make sure I am not breaking any rules around here.

[TNGTony]

E* stands for Echostar. Echostar is the parent company for Dish Network.

Why the "*"?

It came from the abreviation of the word star. The *=star.

This is from the old days when there were several DTH (Direct to Home) satellite services all ending in "star":
Primestar P*
Alphastar A*
and Echostar E*

The DirecTV/USSB users had DSS as their abreviation (Digital Satellite System). But another group had already registered a DSS trade mark and won a court case forcing DirecTV/USSB to discontinue its use. It then lost favor with the internet crowd shortly after the DirecTV buy-out of USSB.

Some started using DTV, but that quickly became confused with Digital TV. Then slowly people began using D* to mean DirecTV even though it is a "garbage" abreviation. Many people resisted the useage for years. but finally I guess it gained acceptance and it a common term now.

The biggest problem with the D* abreviation is that some people think it may stand for Dish Network.

See ya
Tony

[spinnaker]

E* stands for Echostar. Echostar is the parent company for Dish Network.

Thanks but do I need to use these shortcuts or are they optional?

[TNGTony]

Absolutely they are optional

[TimL]

Absolutely they are optional
In all my time here and at DBS Forums (well over 200 posts combined) I have never felt the need to use the abbreviations to get a point across, though I think its partly because all I've ever dealt with is Dish network.

Tim Lones

[AndyMon]

.....and soon you can add V*, for Voom, to the list.