Dish Network adding four national HD channels
By Matt Burns 
posted May 22nd 2006 11:47AM
posted May 22nd 2006 11:47AM
Well, this is just a rumor right, but it looks like it is going to happen. Dish Network is adding Home & Garden HD, National Geographic HD, NFL HD and Starz HD to their high definition lineup in early June. Keep in mind that this is not an official announcement as it was found on SatelliteGuys.us forums but everything looks good for the move. Plus, we will take a rumor of more HD stations any day over a day with no rumor of HD stations. So, how many more high-def stations would Dish have over DirecTV? Has anyone stopped counting yet?
[via HomeTheaterBlog]
The problem is the quility. I tested out Dish for 2 days before running back to cable.
The voom channels are worthless. They play the same loop of programming every 30 minutes. Add to that the PQ and you really cant count any of the voom programming as content.
Quility vs Quanity is what im all about. Sure, dish had more so called HD content. But none of it looks as good PQ wise as it does on cable IMO.
Actually I'm interested in that idea about provider Quality. I'm in a contract with DirecTV that's about to expire and I've been considering the jump to Dish. I don't currently have HD programming since I was a subscriber before I had an HD set and the cost to move to HD was higher for subscribers than new accounts. But the point is quality. Which providers have the best HD quality programming and good DVR features. The cable provider in my area is Comcast, and of course I have DirecTV, and then there's Dish. Anyone with experience on these providers want to provide some input on picture/service quality?
In regards to comment number 2.
I have had Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, and now Time Warner. My thing is about picture quility. Im not any kind of cable fanboy. I simply want the best picture. In my experiance with all of the above, both cable comapanys, Comcast and Time Warner provided a better picture in both SD and HD content.
That might change when Direct switched over to Mpeg4 but right now DirecTV is by far the worst.
If you want the details about PQ definitely check out the SatelliteGuys.us site. Talk about overkill...I don't even understand what they are saying half the time.
DirecTV is behind in the HD Market and their DVR is terrible.
Dish has the most HD Channels...however PQ is questionable. Its MPEG4 encoded (whatever that means).
From personal experience I saw a Comcast HD broadcast. It was a hockey game on CSN and it was unbelievably clear. If I had to do it again, I'd go with Comcast. They have all the locals on HD (which is more what I watch) as opposed to Dish who has ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox on HD.
Also I live in the Philly area and Dish doesn't provide CSN. They give us MSG and thats not even in HD.
I've done quite a bit of research to find the best option for me.
Personally my oddball community has a DirecTV analog conversion as their system. It works fine, but has by far the worst quality I've ever seen.
My brother has DirecTV and his system seems fine, though the lack of HD content disappoints me.
My cable is Adelphia (probably the worst cable you could find) and they offer a pretty decent line up of HD stations (5 locals, 3 movies, 2 inHD, 2 HDNEt, discovery, NFL, and ESPN)
I'm personally switching to Dish for their HD content. They have tons more than either cable or DirecTV.
The only downside is the fact that they won't let you get an HD dvr at a decent price. One for 299 second for 799, a bit steap if you ask me.
Plus is all lease now, so I have no clue why they over charge so much.
Either way if they get these channels I'll be loving Dish just that much more!
Would it be fair to say DirecTV will pick up these channels soon?
This is what the market really needs.
Yeah, DirecTV needs to get their act together. I am starting to get really annoyed with the lack of HD content, and I wish they'd do the switch over the MPEG4 already.
I'm a long time Dish user & added HD this month. I've been nothing but happy w/ it.
First, Dish's HD DVR is bad ass & although $300 is steep if you haggle w/ them you can get a bit of a break (I got it for about $200). Although it's frustrating to have to pay up front for the DVR it is the most advanced one out ther from what I've read. & it's certainly light years ahead of the previous non-HD one I was using. I've seen that it has been hinkey for a lot of people but other than a couple of hiccups it has worked very well for me.
Second, regarding the programming, I've found VOOM to be worth it. Yes, the programming repeats intraday on most of the channels but not necessarily across days. So you may have 4 - 5 hours of programming per day that repeat all day but the next day new programming will repeat.
Lastly, regarding the picture quality, well I don't really have anything to compare it to because I'm the only person I know w/ HD. All I can say is that it looks excellent.
The only issue I have w/ DISH is that consistently their customer service is week. Usually you have to be persistent to get through the first line of basic representatives to get to the specialists that can help.