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DIRECTV HD Channel Anticipation (Official Q4-12 Thread)

160K views 807 replies 150 participants last post by  Mike Bertelson 
#1 ·
Please use this thread to discuss your feelings about upcoming national HD channels.

This thread will not be as tightly moderated as the rest of the site, but here's the tradeoff...in exchange for being able to rant a bit more, you can be assured that absolutely no one at DIRECTV will be using this thread for reference.

You can ask for all the new HD you want, but DIRECTV's marketing department knows that the 100-150 contributors to this thread are only a small part of the nearly 20,000,000 total subscribers.

*Please remember that all forum rules are still in effect.
*Please do not "bump" this thread.
*Other threads that do nothing but anticipate HD channels for which there is no information will be closed.
*This is not a DIRECTV vs. Dish thread, there are other threads for that.

If you have any questions as to what belongs in this thread or an individual channel thread please read the latest DIRECTV Programming Forum Rules (Link).
 
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#77 ·
Titan25 said:
They didn't say they would deliver the HD versions of all channels, only that all channels will be delivered VIA HD. They even mentioned "up-conversion" of SD. This is simply the long awaited phase out of duplicate HD/SD delivery. All the SD channels that have HD duplicates will be eliminated, and the remaining SD only channels (or channels for which the HD contract is yet to be signed) will be "upconverted" so they can be fed through the stat-mux devices along with HD channels. This would free up most of the Ku bandwidth on 101/110/119.
Yup.

Those are just the kinds of details people can't skip over in reading such "announcements".
 
#78 ·
inkahauts said:
I'd guess they will not get everyone off mpeg2 by 2016, but will have moved enough markets to have a channel or two of 4k
I wonder if we'll start seeing space freed up by dropping the MPEG2 SD feeds of lower rated channels... and yes, I realize this is already happening.

~Alan
 
#80 ·
"Alan Gordon" said:
I wonder if we'll start seeing space freed up by dropping the MPEG2 SD feeds of lower rated channels... and yes, I realize this is already happening.

~Alan
I think when they do start the move, it will be like they did when the ended mpeg2 Hi Definition. They will start by moving sports plans etc, and then by city, more so than simply ovine random national channels.
 
#81 ·
inkahauts said:
I think when they do start the move, it will be like they did when the ended mpeg2 Hi Definition. They will start by moving sports plans etc, and then by city, more so than simply ovine random national channels.
They've already started with some sports channels like NASCAR, UEFA, and like you, I expect some of the sports packages to be transferred over first.

... but I'm intrigued by their plans beyond them. HBO? Cinemax?! Starz?! Some of the LiL markets on 119 are smaller and less expensive to transfer over, so will they go that route, or will we see more aggressive moves?

~Alan
 
#82 ·
"Alan Gordon" said:
They've already started with some sports channels like NASCAR, UEFA, and like you, I expect some of the sports packages to be transferred over first.

... but I'm intrigued by their plans beyond them. HBO? Cinemax?! Starz?! Some of the LiL markets on 119 are smaller and less expensive to transfer over, so will they go that route, or will we see more aggressive moves?

~Alan
I was unaware the NASCAR was only in Hi Definition. Interesting.
 
#84 ·
coolman302003 said:
Here is the source of where Swanni originally received the info from --> DirecTV commits to Ultra-HDTV
And I think they already announced 2 years ago they would be "ready" for Ultra HD, so they are now announcing that they are indeed preparing for it.
 
#85 ·
inkahauts said:
Read that again, he specifically says talks about freeing up the bandwidth taken up by sd channels for use for 4k channels. I think the new stas are all about getting every markets lil and all other channels in Hi Definition so they can begin the conversion.
I see now.... I should probably read better. :D

Still, I think they will convert to HD first on the new D14 and D15 satellites, but not yet immediately drop SD. They can pretty much keep SD going until the first Ultra-HD broadcasts are launched, and then - perhaps also as an incentive to SD customers that still exist by then - start dropping 20% of all SD, and launch a number of Ultra-HD stations. They don't have to drop everything all at once, and it is probably smart to do it that way so they can gradually convert everyone. Drop some, back-fill it with Ultra HD. - Now some customers will start to migrate. Drop some more, backfill with Ultra HD, now more customers will start to migrated. Etc, etc, etc.... until you reach the bare basics with SD to provide to the last hold outs.

And you can continue doing that as long as the SD bandwidth is not immediately needed.
 
#90 ·
maartena said:
I see now.... I should probably read better. :D

Still, I think they will convert to HD first on the new D14 and D15 satellites, but not yet immediately drop SD.
IF this is indeed their plan, I see a slow gradual change as well.

However... I believe we'll see more results of this plan prior to D14 being put into action.... whether it's sports channels, premium channels, local markets, etc.

~Alan
 
#92 ·
Drucifer said:
Well marketing would luv to advertise an all HD system. The first sat system there is going to strike gold.
Technically VOOM was first there, but they had some oddball channels and not enough bandwidth to ever make it viable to overtake Dish/DirecTV.
 
#94 ·
PrinceLH said:
I wonder how many Ultra HD channels will fit on a transponder? I remember when they could only put two to a transponder, in the early days. What are they up to currently? 5? 6? I wonder what technology they will have, in 2016, to make it viable.
They will probably start with a handful of Ultra HD channels like they are doing with 3D. Today's 4K sets are in the $25,000.00 price range. The average consumer doesn't have that type of buying power. So until these sets come down to a consumer affordable price the demand for Ultra HD will be limited.
 
#95 ·
Alan Gordon said:
IF this is indeed their plan, I see a slow gradual change as well.

However... I believe we'll see more results of this plan prior to D14 being put into action.... whether it's sports channels, premium channels, local markets, etc.

~Alan
I think the first step in the conversion to all mpeg4, which will mean all hd capable equipment, will be no longer selling any sd equipment to new subscribers, only hd equipment, and I think that is coming soon, very very soon. We will see though. Some of it will depend on how much more inventory they have sitting around right now.
 
#96 ·
Fox Soccer Plus in full time would be awesome. The rest of the premiums in HD like HBO Family West, The Movie Channel West, OuterMax, Encore Channels, Flix, Sundance, IFC, All Epix Channels. Others that I want include H2, Cooking Channel, Bloomberg, NASA, Fuse, Longhorn, Pac-12, and Time Warner Sports Network. Lastly C-SPAN 1,2,3, Fox Movie Channel, and Lifetime Movie Network later on.
 
#98 ·
HarleyD said:
So if 4K starts to take hold in 2016 what's the over/under on some number of the posters here starting to call HDTV "unwatchable"?
2016 is the target year to move all channels to HD, it does not mean that 4k launches by then, it only means that DirecTV is making room for it.

It is estimated there may be some commercial broadcasting in 4k by 2016, but I have also heard estimates of 2018. How many stations will convert to 4k? Who knows.... I am thinking it will start with some sports, then maybe some of the broadcast networks, and then channels like Discovery, perhaps HBO.

As far as people complaining..... there will always be complainers. :D
 
#99 ·
PrinceLH said:
I wonder how many Ultra HD channels will fit on a transponder? I remember when they could only put two to a transponder, in the early days. What are they up to currently? 5? 6? I wonder what technology they will have, in 2016, to make it viable.
CURRENTLY, and I put that in CAPS on purpose, a 4k HD feed takes about 100 Mbps in testing scenarios, but that is only lightly compressed and served more as a showcase than anything else.

4k HD is basically, using Clinton's arithmetic, 4 1920x1080 resolution screens in a 2x2 square, resolution wise. One could then surmise that if a current HD station on DirecTV takes roughly 6.5-7 Mbps in MPEG4 compression, that a UltraHD station would be around 25 Mbps. Perhaps with better compression algorithms and faster unit processors, by 2016 they would probably be able to place a crystal-clear Ultra HD picture in about 18-20 Mbps bandwidth, so from a transponder point of view, based on current setups, that would mean about 2 Ultra HD per transponder.
 
#100 ·
People adopt new TV technologies very slowly. It's taken about a dozen years for Direct'v HD penetration to get to 50%. So even today, nearly half of highly progressive Directv's customers are watching SD.

Even if D* launches a small number of Ultra channels in the 2016 timeframe, it will likely take years for a large enough customer base to build up before it becomes a real driving factor.

The move to HD had had two big advantages - an obvious selling feature in a much better picture - and the move to much larger displays. Back in the late 90s SD looked pretty good on common 27" sets. But by the mid 2000s 32-40" flat screens were increasingly popular, driving people's interest in the better HD picture. Ultra may be a better picture, but will it really have as big an advantage as the move to HD?
 
#101 ·
HarleyD said:
So if 4K starts to take hold in 2016 what's the over/under on some number of the posters here starting to call HDTV "unwatchable"?
I dunno on that one.

I'm not expecting 4k to knock my socks off the way 1080p vs SD does. But I haven't seen it in person yet, so reserve the right to change my mind later.
 
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