HD newbie question

the HD channels in the 70-90 range are the old mpeg2 HD channels. They are being phased out. The HD channels in the triple digit range are the new mpeg4 channels.

There are some of the HD channels listed in the area of 50 - 100, these are the old MPG2 HD channels, the newer MP4 channels are the ones over 200, you will want to use these, they are the better of the 2 pix wise.

Also, channels are listed with their SD and HD equiv next to each other. in the guide. You can go into the setup function and select the receiver to "Hide SD Duplicates" if you don't want both versions. Its either under Menu->setup-> Display, or Menu -> Setup -> HD

(Sorry at work, doing this all from memory so my channel #'s and menu instructions might not be exact)

Ice Runner said:

Why do some HD channels appear in two places? There are a set of channels such as ESPN that appear in the double-digit set of HD channels and at another place.

I've been pruning my channel menu to eliminate channels to which I don't subscribe or ever watch and see no reason to have channels appear in two places.

Click to expand...

The HD channels in the 70's range use to be mirrored channels from their regular respective locations in the channel range. I believe, initially, they were set up that way for convenience and as a way to have the majority of HD channels in one small range (back when there were very few HD channels available). With the last new satellite, ESPN HD, for example, is now available under the new mpeg4 format and so the HD channels in the 70's ARE NOT mirrored copies any longer. These channels are mpeg2 and come from the older satellites. Eventually, they could either go away entirely or go back to being mirrored again but from the new satellite (mpeg4).

Thanks for the answers. Good to know which is going to give me a better picture as well.

What was weird. When the installer put in my HD DVR, he (for whatever reason) didn't put in the the little black converters. So, for one night until he came back the next day, I couldn't get most of the HD channels. But I could get the double-digit HD channels.