[Sixto]

A place for discussion of the technical aspects from the DirecTV National HD Listings/Maps thread ....

From: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=172899

 

[Curtis0620]

I would anticipate 12 PPV placeholders.

 

[JoeTheDragon]

I would anticipate 12 PPV placeholders.

that should cover the pac 12 channels and all the upcoming / missing RSN's

 

[tonyd79]

that should cover the pac 12 channels and all the upcoming / missing RSN's

Wouldn't be testing before a deal is reached.

 

[Hoosier205]

Wouldn't be testing before a deal is reached.

False. They can test feeds not under contract. They cannot retransmit them.

 

[cypherx]

There's plenty of other transponders with 5 HD on them. They can now encode 6 HD per tp, especially if it's a 720p feed as the 6th video stream as many sports rsn's are.

 

[inkahauts]

False. They can test feeds not under contract. They cannot retransmit them.

Yeah, but since these stations aren't even on the air yet and have yet to broadcast a thing, it'd be awfully hard to even test their signals yet. It's way to early for those channels.

 

[tonyd79]

False. They can test feeds not under contract. They cannot retransmit them.

They can but why would they. Especially as they don't exist. And are months away. I never said they couldn't. Said it made no sense.

 

[P Smith]

Actually, there is some sense in technical stand point: to test/check whole path from a point of receiving source signal to earth stations (our DVR/receivers). Just use duplicated channels from same station/provider and you will have pretty good test case.

 

[damondlt]

What channels are we waiting for?

Has Directv even announced anything?

Just wondering why so many are sitting here waiting.
Directv Launched 170 channels and you guys are still here waiting with a doggie bag.:lol:

When do you watch the channels we have now in HD?:lol:

 

[Sixto]

All discussion in the other thread please.

 

[cypherx]

So was D12 tp 9 and 10 there for awhile but you figured out a new way to detect them... Or did they actually just recently show up?

It was thought that they carried nothing before right? That is unless whatever it carried was coded in a way your script did not detect.
Maybe they are using them to test different (and existing) channels in a 6:1 compressed multiplex with new encoders. Once they find the secret formula for what combination of content that works well together in 6:1, they migrate those live channels to that configuration.

 

[P Smith]

So was D12 tp 9 and 10 there for awhile but you figured out a new way to detect them... Or did they actually just recently show up?

It was thought that they carried nothing before right? That is unless whatever it carried was coded in a way your script did not detect.
Maybe they are using them to test different (and existing) channels in a 6:1 compressed multiplex with new encoders. Once they find the secret formula for what combination of content that works well together in 6:1, they migrate those live channels to that configuration.

Did you find nothing in gct's tables about the D12's tp 9 and 10 ?

 

[Sixto]

So was D12 tp 9 and 10 there for awhile but you figured out a new way to detect them... Or did they actually just recently show up?

It was thought that they carried nothing before right? That is unless whatever it carried was coded in a way your script did not detect.
Maybe they are using them to test different (and existing) channels in a 6:1 compressed multiplex with new encoders. Once they find the secret formula for what combination of content that works well together in 6:1, they migrate those live channels to that configuration.

Prior to this week, there was nothing in the normal guide data for D12 transponders 9 & 10.

Nothing in the gct spreadsheet and nothing that I could see.

It was possible that it was being used in some way, just not showing up in the guide data that we look at. That has now changed.

It may also be possible that while it's now more visible to us, it might not be planned for regular linear HD, it's unclear at this time. Typically the "DTV" channels have been internal non-public channels, but I have seen situations where "DTV" channels turn into real channels, that happened with the SD channels on D12 (earlier in this thread).

It's also possible that they could add a 6th HD channel to the existing transponders, as they've recently done when they added TruTV HD and E!, but that may need to be balanced with the significant expense required and quarterly budgets.

 

[harsh]

PIt's also possible that they could add a 6th HD channel to the existing transponders, as they've recently done when they added TruTV HD and E!, but that may need to be balanced with the significant expense required and quarterly budgets.

What makes up this "significant expense required" that you speak of? Do the encoders really cost tens of thousands of dollars each to upgrade?

 

[Sixto]

What makes up this "significant expense required" that you speak of? Do the encoders really cost tens of thousands of dollars each to upgrade?

The general feeling within the industry is that the investment would be significant.

 

[P Smith]

What makes up this "significant expense required" that you speak of? Do the encoders really cost tens of thousands of dollars each to upgrade?

Perhaps one digit more... The point is - how MANY of them need to be upgraded/replaced.

 

[cypherx]

Because its such a specialized industry the suppliers who make the encoders and equipment milk multiple system operators for every last penny they can. They feel it's justified because they use this equipment to make money.

In any specialized industry who's bottom line is to make money, and have a core system or specialized application, you are at the mercy of the vendor. Basically if you make money with the software or hardware or it improves operational efficiencies that eventually improve your bottom line, these companies take advantage of it.

Sometimes the hardware itself costs a boat load of money but then they nickel and dime you in licensing fees for every single option or configuration. Add to it annual support contracts (premium or on site support) / service level agreements (hour or next day replacement) and it gets to be very costly.

And I didn't see anything in gct's tables either.

 

[harsh]

There seems to be a lot of nebulous generalizations flying around in support of DIRECTV's slow advance into six HD channels/transponder. Does anyone have a dollar (or Euro) figure?

The other guys seem to have been multiplexing up to eight HD channels into 67% of the gross bandwidth for a while now so I'm sure the technology has been there for a while to multiplex 6 or more HD streams.

In response to the vertical market arguments, I don't think it is reasonable to assume that DIRECTV and DISH are the only organizations on the planet that are multiplexing HD satellite feeds.

 

[Davenlr]

In response to the vertical market arguments, I don't think it is reasonable to assume that DIRECTV and DISH are the only organizations on the planet that are multiplexing HD satellite feeds.

Comcast (HITS) multiplexes their Distro feeds. http://www.comcastmediacenter.com/cmc-hits/hits-quantum.html
They are only muxing 3 HD channels per transponder tho.