xVladx

Wait, so both DirecTV and DishNet have problems with image quality/compression? I thought that DishNet was supposed to have better quality than DirecTV, and that the MPEG4 stuff was supposed to fix that for both companies whenever they got it rolled out.

I'm still debating whether or not to upgrade my DirecTV service to HD, or just dump them and switch to DishNet...

kvrdave

I've looked into the HD from directv and it isn't worth it yet. The main thing I would want is the local channels (Portland, OR for me) and they don't have them yet. I'm 120 miles away so OTA isn't an option. I tried to get a waiver to get the general west coast feeds, but all were denied....even though I am 120 miles away. I don't think anyone gets waivers anymore, and I also think it is stupid that you even need a waiver.

SINGLE104

WOW! Buckeye Cablesystem have been broadcasting these local channels, and more in HD without an external antenna for a couple of years now, and they look pretty good. I'm in Toledo, OH

Adam Tyner

Let's keep the topic on DirecTV rather than try to sell people on switching to Buckeye Cablesystem.

Binger

What can I say, Belo Corp and LIN Television which own my local ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates along with Cox are pissing on thier customers. This has been going on for a couple of years now. At least I can pull in the locals from an antenna, but I can't DVR them at this time.

Back on topic, I used to love D*, but I just don't see their value anymore. I watch mostly premium channels and D* just is not delivering. They have about 30 something premiums, but 7 or 8 of them are just west coast feeds, so it is the same thing that was on 3 hours ago. As to their HD service, HDNet was amazing and I do miss it, but I can get D*'s other offerings like UHD, TNT HD (D* gets this next week) ESPN, etc. from Cox. They are bandwidth limited and they do compress the hell out of their network. They overcharge (should be included in their higher packages) for the HD service and they seem more concerned with their local market roll out than expanding thier national offerings. They require that you buy (more than likely lease) new equipment to get their new offerings and I just don't want to have to drill more holes and run more cables and buy expensive multiswitches to expand my service in my home. Last but not least, they are requiring two year contracts for any box added. If your current box dies and you have to replace it, that's two years your stuck with D*. If you add equipment that you had previoulsy used but just had sitting in storage, that requires a two year contract. That is why I left and I don't think that I am going back.

GIjon213

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but didn't DirecTV have a whole slew of commercials back in the beginning of 05 that was all about their HD content? You know, the one with the TV's all turning and looking out the window? And didn't it say that they were putting two more sats up by the end of 05? Now, I could be thinking of something completely different, but I am pretty sure that is was DirecTV. Did this not happen? Or are the dates pushed back? Or am I just completely off my rocker and these commercials I am thinking about were for hair restoration or something?

Jeremy517

The top 10 markets in terms of population can now get their local channels in HD over the satellites (with new hardware, of course). Most of the rest of the top 50 markets are scheduled to be able to get HD locals over the satellites in mid-2006. If I remember the commercials correctly, that is to what they were referring.

Jeremy517

The compression really bothers me too. When I first started with DirecTV, the picture quality was far above cable. Now, it is even at best. MPEG4 might help with that, but MPEG4 for channels other than locals doesn't seem to be even in the planning stages yet. Not to mention, that some people with HD locals in MPEG4 are reporting problems with picture quality. Some people are reporting that it looks identical to OTA, but I'm sceptical for now.

Price is the only thing keeping me at DTV right now other than DirecTiVo, since Comcast wants to rape me for $85 for a package equivalent to my current package. When TiVo finally puts out their boxes for Comcast, DTV will lose another advantage (especially if DTV refuses to put 6.x on HDTiVos). I'd be a much happier camper if I could get all my locals OTA, but NBC, Fox, and WB are too sporadic, and UPN is non-existant.

Binger

They won't do a switch over for years on the other channels. Just the locals and the newer HD channels that they add. They would put themselves in a bad situation if they told everyone that it was mandatory that people replace their equipment in order to watch D*. They would lose customers left and right. So for the time being, even with the MPEG4 rollout, they will still give everyone the over compressed feeds that they are broadcasting now.

Binger

I'm not so sure. I remember those commercials and I think they were aimed at braging about their current (at that time) HD offerings. There was no real announcement, at that time, about HD locals if I remember correctly.

Adam Tyner

No slight was intended. Please don't continually bump a thread by posting/deleting/reposting nine times over the course of four hours, though.

Edit -- :sigh: He did it a tenth time, which is why his reply is below this.

SINGLE104

You've totally perceived the wrong impression . I'm not endeavoring to persuade, or convert people to anything, and beside, I am not an official Sales Representative, in a position enabling to solicit business for any cable company for that matter. I was just relating what the local cable was currently offering in programming, comparison to others, that's all. Whether if forum members are presently subscribing to cable, or satellite, personally, it doesn't matter to me, I don't care, because we as individuals are entitled to make our own choices. I do apologize for the alleged digressions of this thread.

nazz

So is the addition of TNTHD going to be MPEG4 or MPEG2? It would really suck if we couldn't get it on our HD Tivo's.

Are they adding the new HD National Geographic channel too? I heard that was coming soon as well as TNT.

Jeremy517

Only HD locals are MPEG4.

nazz

Good news. At least they are not pulling the stunt that Dish is with their customers.

Spiky

Until 2007. Possibly 2008.

bralph

Nothing official about National Geographic, though DirecTV tends to hold announcements pretty close to the vest.

For myself, I dropped the HD package right after football season ended. None of the channels do much for me, even TNT since I don't watch the NBA. I swapped out the HD package for HBO package, which includes HBO-HD.

Jeremy517

Even when they start doing non-locals in MPEG4, they're not going to cutoff MPEG2 cold turkey. The HD channels currently in MPEG2 will be available for a lot longer than that.

Chew

From what I've heard, once all the local markets have been converted over to mpeg4, mpeg2 will be shut down. Given the fact they'll only have 50 markets done by the end of this year and there's about 210, it's a good bet it could even be pushing the "drop-dead" analog shut-off date of 3 years from now.

Jeremy517

They can't shutdown MPEG2 until they swap out the hardware for about 15 million customers.

The top-50 markets will be able to use MPEG4 by the end of the year, but 99% of the customers in those markets still won't. They won't have the hardware and 90% won't have any reason to switch.

Binger

Yeah MPEG2 is going to be around for a while, that's the problem. As you said, the MPEG2 channels will remain until all boxes are switched out, which will take a long time. The problem is that the compression and selection of channels will not get much better until the whole system switches to MPEG4. MPEG4 will be used for the locals and probably for additional national HD in the future, but the problems plaguing MPEG2 means that customer that don't or can't switch will not see an demonstrable improvement in their service.

Xytraguptorh

I have Directv's HD package. The selection is pretty poor, though I'm looking forward to getting TNT-HD if it's really going to happen. The picture quality is very poor compared to over-the-air HD. I get three of the networks OTA and the picture quality is so much nicer than what D* offers. I have D* only because of the NFL Sunday Ticket package. If not for that, there'd be no reason to keep subscribing. I had Voom when it was available and the picture quality for HD channels was much better than D*. Almost as good as OTA. Hopefully D* will improve PQ when they get more bandwidth.

As far as channel selection I do like HDNet Movies a lot, it'd just be nice if the PQ was actually better than what I see on DVD.

Spiky

I agree completely. I may be dropping the HD pack now that football is over. Although I do see HDNet as better than DVD. More detail certainly, if not sharper. HDNet is a bit better than HDNet Movies, but that may be due to basic HD transfers for many older flicks rather than full digital restorations.

Adam Tyner

DirecTV throttles the bandwidth of HDNet Movies so much that it actually has a lower bitrate than a lot of the DVDs you own, and the fact that they downsample to 1280x1080i doesn't help, I'd imagine. From a remotely decent provider, it can look spectacular -- their presentation of Quigley Down Under, to name one, looks as good as anything I've seen on any channel. I seem to remember reading that DirecTV is more 'generous' to HDNet in terms of bandwidth than HDNet Movies -- sometimes HDNet Movies will be allocated literally half as much bandwidth as HDNet.

Jray

Hi all, I'm going to be new to the world of DirecTV as of this coming weekend... at least I planned to until I started reading some of the horror stories here. I was all set to get the HD package and the HD receiver but now I'm wondering if I should. First of all, I see a couple of you mentioned an HD Tivo for only $200. Is that right? The deals they are offering now are either an HD receiver (no DVR) for free or an HD/DVR receiver for $400 after a $200 rebate. Is there a different box that can be bought somewhere else? I've been debating about the $400 box.

Also, I'm curious about how you can record OTA stuff on your DirecTV DVR. I didn't realize that was possible.

I've had HD from my cable company for about the last year... now it sounds like I'll be taking a step backwards in picture quality with DirecTV, which scares me. What's the sense of having an HDTV if you can't enjoy it in its full HIGH picture quality?