Question

[SBacklin]

I got a question for some knowledgable people. Some in the forum on DirecTV's page asked about what is going to happen when the local channels go digital. I know the question may seem a bit odd, I'm not sure if I understand it completely. Someone replied saying that DirecTV is going to be launching new satellites for the whole local digital channel thing and that customers should be looking for specials on new equipment offers. My question is, can anyone figure out what exactly this person was aking because it got my curiosity spiked and I wonder if it will affect me in any way. My particular situation (satellite setup) is that I have one round single LNB dish and I get my local channels through the same satellite as the rest of the channels. Anyone have any info? Thanks.

[deraz]

SB,

From what I understand, and others please correct me:

The new satellites are for the delivery of your local stations in HD to your home as well as additional HD channels as they become available. There is a new technology (MPEG4) that they will be using and this also will require a new dish and a new receiver. D* will be swapping the 12 largest markets initially: current HD customers first, then DVR customers and then SD customers.

I hope this somewhat helps.

[SBacklin]

SB,

From what I understand, and others please correct me:

The new satellites are for the delivery of your local stations in HD to your home as well as additional HD channels as they become available. There is a new technology (MPEG4) that they will be using and this also will require a new dish and a new receiver. D* will be swapping the 12 largest markets initially: current HD customers first, then DVR customers and then SD customers.

I hope this somewhat helps.
Even SD customers? I don't subscribe to any HD television, just the regular. Is this because of the new compression that they will be using with their entire service? Assuming it is, does that mean that they will come out and replace the receivers? And also the dish? I got the standard round dish.

[deraz]

Yes, my understanding is that even SD customers will have to be switched to a new larger oval dish and a new receiver.


A discussion of the new dish is here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=46087

[greywolf]

SD programming will surely be the last to change so we're probably talking about years here.

[grandprixgtp02]

Where is the list of the order of markets getting locals in HD??

[deraz]

From http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/aboutus/headline.dsp?id=01-06-2005A

The first group of DMAs to receive local HD channels is: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Tampa. These markets represent nearly 36 million homes or 32.8 percent of all U.S. TV households. Additional markets to receive local HD programming this year will be announced at a later date. Today, DIRECTV offers local channels in standard definition in 130 markets, including these 12 markets.

[deraz]

Also Robert reported here (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=45955) that Detroit will start in Oct with the other 11 in Nov.