New HD locals

[keng52]

Are we gonna have to pay extra for HD locals or will we get them instead of the locals we pay for now or will they be part of the HD pak? What about those who get the Superstation pak will New York and LA be in HD too?:confused:

[James Long]

No fee structure has been announced. Your guess is as good as mine!

JL

[TNGTony]

It's gonna cost extra eventually!

See ya
Tony

[Stewart Vernon]

The answer is probably yes, no, and maybe.

I suspect that yes we will have to pay extra now... but then at some point in the future when the HD locals replace the SD locals for enough markets... they maybe will drop the SD locals packages and just have the HD locals... so you will pay less than you would for SD+HD but more than you pay for SD now.

[Link]

So to get our HD locals, we'll have to get new receivers so basically the current receivers such as the 811 and 921 and 942 won't be any good???

Also, what satellite will the HD locals be on?? Like in Chicago, most of our area has Dish 500s, will those need replaced too??

[James Long]

Chicago locals are also on 61.5° --- and are mirrored on 129°. If I were E* I'd be putting HD locals on one of those two locations. With the potential use as "distants" it would probably be .....
129°

Note that a market's digital locals MUST be together on the same dish but DO NOT have to be on the same dish as the analog locals or core programming.

JL

[Link]

Chicago locals are also on 61.5° --- and are mirrored on 129°. If I were E* I'd be putting HD locals on one of those two locations. With the potential use as "distants" it would probably be .....
129°

Note that a market's digital locals MUST be together on the same dish but DO NOT have to be on the same dish as the analog locals or core programming.

JL

I figured in some of the large markets they would try to put as much on 119/110 as they could to avoid having to change out a lot of dishes and move things around in the smaller markets with fewer subscribers. But that would make too much sense for them I suppose!

What satellites are Directv's new HD locals on???

[James Long]

D* HD Locals are on Spaceway Ka.

I believe E* is going to try to stay on high powered DBS satellites as much as possible. Core stations and most SD locals on 119-110-129 (mostly 119-110) and HD locals "where locals used to be". That's 61.5, 148, SD105 and SD121. Plus using 129 for SD and HD in the markets that have partially moved there.

Of course, we are a long way away from June. Some of those markets already mirrored on 129 MAY end up on E10. :)

JL

[Chris Ruhl]

I have only had Dish for one week, so I am a bit new to the whole satellite numbering scheme etc....

We will have to purchase new receivers to get local HD channels? I called customer support and they couldn't answer any of my questions. Also, is there a specific order they are going to start introducing the local HDs in? I seem to recall that they were doing the Neilsen top 15 first, but I'll believe it when I see it. Since I'm in Minneapolis, I would imagine that local HDs should be coming within the next 4-5 months?

Sorry for the NOOB questions, but I would really love to have local HDs as soon as possible. I took for granted that locals would be in HD and then went out and bought a $2500 TV.... guess it pays to do your research first.

[scooper]

If you REALLY want to watch your locals in HD - get them OTA. It's going to be awhile before HD locals are generally available.

And don't worry about HOAs saying you can't have an outside antenna...

[Bill R]

If you REALLY want to watch your locals in HD - get them OTA. It's going to be awhile before HD locals are generally available.

I'll second that advice. And getting them OTA (if you can) means that you will see them in the resolution that the broadcaster sends them (not "HD lite"). Also, you will get ALL the sub-channels (neither cable nor satellite carry all the sub-channels). In my market there are 8 digital broadcasters with a total of 22 channels (14 sub-channels including a full time local weather RADAR channel, music channels, and a lot of educational stuff on the PBS sub-channels).

[James Long]

:welcome_s Chris
The answers for HD have not been written yet - all we have are hints - so you're not that far behind the rest of the world. Minneapolis isn't in the first five for January, but with possibly 60 markets out next year there is a chance. No order has been announced other than the first five (NY, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, LA). E* (EchoStar/Dish Network) hasn't released any details such as receiver needed (although it WILL have to be a HD receiver).

If you are close to the city a decent OTA antenna will do you well.

Did you take the HD upgrade when you subscribed? Are you leasing?

JL

[dwcobb]

Eventually dish will have to rethink its pricing strategy/packages for HD.

I can't imagine that if you can get "HD locals" you would have to pay for both regular locals AND HD locals. I can see paying extra (maybe $1-$2/month) to get HD locals when available, non-HD when not.

Same again for their current pricing scheme to buy an "HD Package" and then a "Voom Package." As they add more HD channels, I am not sure this approach will continue to make sense. Right now, because of what satellites channels are on, it kind of does. But if they get to a point where they have some HD in MPEG4 and some in MPEG2, I can see them breaking out their charges that way - people with an MPEG2 receiver could buy a cheaper package of only those HD channels they can see on their receiver, and if you have the new receiver you can pay more and get the additional channels.

Something like that.

At any rate, they can't keep "adding a little more" each time they add new HD options. They don't have a cafeteria approach to the rest of their programming, and people are not going to want to have 4-8 different line items all for HD. The only way that can end is with HD being really, really expensive for consumers, which won't work over time.

[Chris Ruhl]

:) Thanks James-

I did actually get the HD pack (even though I didn't have a HD TV until last Friday night). I can only pull in one OTA signal, the rest are out of range (I live in rural Minnesota). And yes, I am leasing. I didn't know you could outright purchase the receiver, and to be honest, that option was never presented to me.

I guess the only thing I am missing in HD are NBC, ABC and FOX, but I do manage to pull in CBS. What else am I missing? I didn't get the VOOM pack, I wanted to see if HD was really that good (and it is). So I may be upgrading sometime in the future.

I've only been here a couple of days, but I've learned a lot . Thanks for all the info.

[cyberized]

Thank God - with a Zenith Silver Sensor inndoor antenna I get ALL my Local Digital/HD Channels...............and they will soon be my ONLY HD Channels because my FREE deal on the HD Pack runs out at end of this month and I plan to CANCEL the HD Pack and VOOM both at that time. SAVE $15 a month - I don't think those 15 channels are WORTH it. Wish I had the $100 back I paid for the extra DISH to get VOOM. I can hardly wait till my 2 year contract is up with DISH so I can return to Cable or hopefully Verizon will be offering TV service by then.:mad:

[Bill R]

:) I can only pull in one OTA signal, the rest are out of range (I live in rural Minnesota).

Chris,

Have you checked out http://www.antennaweb.org

Put in your zip code and see what it tells you. You may be able to pull in more stations with a better antenna.

[James Long]

I did actually get the HD pack (even though I didn't have a HD TV until last Friday night). I can only pull in one OTA signal, the rest are out of range (I live in rural Minnesota). And yes, I am leasing. I didn't know you could outright purchase the receiver, and to be honest, that option was never presented to me.At this point I would not recommend the purchase of a HD receiver if a lease option is available. Four weeks from now we will have announcements galore on HD ... probably even a list of cities ... and information on what receivers will be needed in the future.

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org/ as Bill R suggested and enter at least your zip code.

The site will tell you how big of antenna you need to get what you want. Hopefully you have a place to put it up.

JL

[Chris Ruhl]

Yep, I was waiting till I knew one way or another about local HD before installing an antenna on the roof, but it is looking like that is the way to go.

[BoisePaul]

I spoke with one of the "local" (if you can call 90 miles away local) station engineers today about getting a waiver so that when the NY HD locals launch, I might stand a chance of getting it in the manner that I currently receive CBSHD. I know that we're not sure how DISH is going to handle "distants", but I figured it couldn't hurt to start making preparations as I initially thought that my DMA would likely be way down the line (DMA #54, Wilkes Barre/Scranton, PA). Well, the engineer outright would not consider granting a waiver, but did provide me with a ray of hope. He indicated that someone, I'm not sure who, from DISH was at the station surveying for HD reception and backhaul sites. They ended up choosing the same site that is used for analog reception, which is no suprise. In any case, this sounds like good news and that just maybe the top 60 DMA's might be up before the end of 2006 as Charlie implied. Gotta figure that the wheels are in motion if they're already doing site visits for a DMA in the 50's.

Of course, maybe I'm getting my hopes up for nothing and this is just DISH SOP regardless of timetables, but I hope that it really is as promising as I'm convincing myself that it is.

[ClaudeR]

Thank God - with a Zenith Silver Sensor inndoor antenna I get ALL my Local Digital/HD Channels...............and they will soon be my ONLY HD Channels because my FREE deal on the HD Pack runs out at end of this month and I plan to CANCEL the HD Pack and VOOM both at that time. SAVE $15 a month - I don't think those 15 channels are WORTH it. Wish I had the $100 back I paid for the extra DISH to get VOOM. I can hardly wait till my 2 year contract is up with DISH so I can return to Cable or hopefully Verizon will be offering TV service by then.:mad:

I only had a 1 year commitment, so I cancelled HD pack, Voom, and locals yesterday. Had to get the locals back though, no 921 guide data if you don't sub locals :( They will nickel and dime you to death at every chance they can.