DirecTV 11 to launch this December?
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 17th 2007 3:16PM
posted Jul 17th 2007 3:16PM
Hot on the heels of the successful launch of DirecTV 10, it seems that the next satellite has already been dated for takeoff. According to Spaceflight Now, the "Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket will carry the DirectTV 11 direct-to-home television broadcast satellite" into orbit, where it will then be used to disseminate HDTV broadcasts to subscribers. The calendar was updated on July 15th, and current estimates peg the launch to take place sometime in December. You won't find us complaining about a delightful Christmas gift from DirecTV -- in the form of more HD channels, of course.[Via SatelliteGuys]
*sigh* IF it launches even on December 1st, the earliest D* would turn on HDTV channels on DirecTV 11 -- following positioning and testing -- would be about February 1st. Not really a Christmas gift, but rather an early Valentine's present.
And that's IF it launches 12/01/07.
*Double sigh* What does it matter? All these potential new channels, and I won't be getting most of them because I refuse to give up my Tivo HR10-250 for a crappy Directv receiver.
Don the HR10-250 is just the TIVO interface the receiver is I am correct is made by either Hughes or RCA. RCA actually makes one of the HR20s in the market, the HR20-100. If you want to stay in the past, be my guest. I have had both the HR10-250 and HR20-100 and yes it was a little painful but I have a 1 tb drive on my HR20 and I have hundreds of hours of HD recorded and at my disposal plus the upcoming VOD product for Directv. Yes you feel disinfranchised but get over it.
I love the Tivo interface as well (Two SD Tivos and one HR10-250). But the HR20-100s/700s are nice too. My favorite features are the External SATA port, free disk space bar, 10x faster scheduling of recordings and season passes, and of course the MPEG-4 recording.
MARK HOW DO HOOK UP BOTH THE HR20-100 AND THE HR10-250.NOW I HAVE THE HR20-100 COMPLETELY INSTALLED WITH THE NEW 5LNB SLIM LINE ANTENNA
My biggest issue with switching to MPEG-4 is that I won't be able to diplex my OTA signal onto the wire anymore, and running another cable from the roof is near impossible. :( I also love the TiVo interface, as it matches the interface of the other two TiVos in the house.
So do I want more HD from DirecTV, or do I want my OTA channels in HD? Tough decision. :(
Xyzzy,
You are misinformed. DirecTV is right at this moment beta testing what they call an SWM (Single Wire Module). This allows you to run all of your HR-20's and other compatible recievers plus your OTA on one wire, using standard coax splitters. You just diplex your OTA into the same wire carrying the satellite info from the Single Wire Module. It works great! ;-)
Xyzzy, Why won't you be able to diplex your OTA antenna into the one coax when D switches over to MPEG-4? I have the luck to have a one story house with a flat roof, so I already use seperate leadins.
I tried posting earlier, but nothing came through. I'll try again...
From what I've read, you can't diplex a signal with the 5-LNB dish, because it needs the entire bandwidth of the coax cable so that there's no room for the diplexed OTA signal.
I'll have to look into this SWM (Single Wire Module) since I haven't heard of it before. Right now I have the 3-lNB dish on the roof, along with an OTA antenna. I have the antenna diplexed onto one of the four RG6QS cables, and then the four cables go from the roof into the basement, where I break out the diplexed signal. If I can use this SWM and use a 5-LNB dish along with my OTA antenna, that'll soften the blow of migrating away from the HD TiVo...
Ok, found some links. I haven't read them all yet, but it sounds promising. My only concern is whether I'll need power by the dish - I haven't found anything one way or the other yet, but as I said, haven't read all the threads either.
Here's a couple:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=78249
(requires registration :( )
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=356098&highlight=Single+Wire+Module
Actually, SWM stands for Single Wire Multiswitch, by the way.
The 5 LNB dish moves the high frequency component from the Ka (MPEG4) satellite down to the OTA freq range, b/c high freq signals attenuate too quickly. If you diplex OTA on top, it will stomp on the Ka-band signals. Before you hook up the SAT signal to the reciever, you pass it through a B-band converter, which bumps the low freq part back up to it's original high-frequency location.
What you CAN do, until SWM's become readily available, is to move your B-band converter from the back of the reciever to where the SAT signal comes into the house... you can then diplex the OTA on top of the signal, without stomping anything, since the B-band converter just cleared out that frequency range. You'll not be able to run long lengths of wire, and you'll be more suceptible to rain-fade, but it's a temporary 2-wire solution until the SWM becomes readily available later this year.