Why does DirecTV have 2 of the same HD channels

[oldschoolecw]

Why does DirecTV have 2 of the same HD HBO channels 70 & 509 and 2 of the same HD Showtime 71 & 543?

I was thinking since most of us here are HR20 beta testers ur I mean owners, who bought a product that we thought was complete but instead has been forced out of a high school work shop to the public.

Would you not think say taking away say channels HBO 509 & Showtime 543 and giving us 2 other HD channels instead would help ease the pain of all the bugs we have?

And please don’t get me wrong I love D* and have had it since 1999 but have had more problems in 1 month with 2 separate HR20 replacements then I have ever had in the first 8 years with D*.

[jdspencer]

There aren't two actual channels. The receiver just maps 509 to 70 and 543 to 71. Same as your locals, if you have them. The locals get mapped to their OTA channel assignments from the 800s and 900s.

Here's an interesting web page that shows the actual channel for locals.
http://www.tivofan.com/directv/channels.html

[Greg Bimson]

There aren't two HBO's in HD. There is one HBO HD, and it is assigned to both 70 and 509. Technically, if DirecTV wanted, they could put HBO HD on 70, 509, and the hundred channels that cover 700-799. That would be 102 channels of the same HBO HD, but they are only broadcasting it once.

They make the receiver find the one copy, even though there are two channel locations.

[oldschoolecw]

Thanks for the help