DirecTV migrating West Coast locals to MPEG4 only
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 17th 2008 11:20AM
posted Jan 17th 2008 11:20AM
Shortly after getting word that Palm Springs, California residents can now look forward to getting their locals via DirecTV (if only in MPEG4 SD, for now), it seems that the satellite provider is urging all West Coast residents to make the switch to MPEG4. According to a note received by DBSTalk's Chris Blount, "customers with HD DNS channels will start to see crawls," which will purportedly encourage them to contact DirecTV in order to arrange for a 5 LNB dish and an MPEG4 HD receiver. Furthermore, we're also told that the new lineup will consist of CBSWHD on channel 391, NBCWHD on 393, ABCWHD on 397 and FOXWHD on 399. For whatever it's worth, the message will supposedly only reach those "in the Western half of the US" for now, but who knows when said alert will make its way east.[Thanks, Earl]
I'm pretty sure DirecTV will put Sunday Ticket on MPEG-4 next season... And that means I'll be forced to upgrade. :( I then won't be able to use my OTA antenna -- and won't be able to watch Smallville in HD since DirecTV doesn't have TheCW (in the Twin Cities, anyway). Darn! :(
i think youll be fine... i am willing to bet your tv has an ota tuner you can use. I know that means we have to use that dreaded "change input" feature but its better than the alternatives. Even if it doesnt the ota sidecar directv is coming out with is only supposed to be $50, or is that only going to be compatible with the hr21?
Xyzzy - The HR20 and HR21 HD DVRs both have OTA tuners.
"i think youll be fine... i am willing to bet your tv has an ota tuner you can use"
Actually, you'd be wrong - I use a projector and it doesn't have a tuner. Besides, that's not the reason I wouldn't be able to use OTA -- the reason is that I only have 4 cables coming from my dish; I current diplex the signal from the OTA antenna onto a line with the DTV signal to get it into my basement, but once I upgrade, I won't be able to diplex that anymore, so my antenna will be useless :( Running new cable isn't really an option either, since I ran it initially when the house was being built...
I meant to put a smiley after the "you'd be wrong." It wasn't supposed to sound like a jerky comment. Sorry!
There is a significant disconnection on the part of DirecTV. While they are promoting the MPEG4 technology, it is clear that the technology they use to deliver and interpret packets does not work more than 60% of the time.
As a new subscriber, I can't believe the horrific problems I encounter each day, regardless of whether or not the method of data compression encoding or decoding is MPEG2 or MPEG4. Pixels, picture and/or sound dropouts, and picture lagging behind sound make for a constant battle, and are experienced on my HR-10 better than 40% of the time.
Unless Direct can guarantee customers an environment as stable as their former TIVO environment, I think the Federal Trade Commission needs to have a look at this and compel Direct to let people out of contracts with no penalties if unsatisfied. After all, DirecTV may be committing fraud and is is certainly breaching their contract with customers when they do not deliver a service that can be viewed or heard as advertised and expected.
Indeed, how many would contract for any service, whether satellite or cable, if they heard that the technology is still experimental and only works 60 - 70% of the time?
Fix the technology, and then do your rollout.
"nd are experienced on my HR-10 better than 40% of the time. "
I think you must have bad dish aiming, bad wiring, bad multiswitch, or SOMETHING.... Because I have an HR10-250, and it runs flawlessly for HD from the antenna and from the dish... Never had a single problem, actually.
The headline of the story is completely wrong.
What DirecTV is moving at this point is HD DISTANT Network signals, not local.
This is why the quote in the article says "customers with HD DNS channels will start to see crawls,". This is NOT the same as your HD locals. These are channels 86-89 only.
Additionally the HR21 does not include an OTA tuner despite the comment submitted by "The Big Bad". That's why DirecTV showed an add-on OTA tuner (AM-21) at CES last week.
No, they are moving the LA HD Big 4 locals to Ka MPEG4 Conus, taking them off the LA Ka Spotbeam so they can put other LA HD Local stations in HD in their place on the spotbeam - so as it was 2 years ago - it will return - that the LA Network HD Locals will be serviced by the same feed.
However, the story, is slightly old - as I posted the same info 12 hours earlier than the original feed after the Palm Springs SD Story - and the channels are already up and operational.
The banner, which has run since at least yesterday, tells viewer to check out the details which are set up on Channel 85 as a barker channel.
It details all the information of what is needed and how to check if you can get 391/393/397/399 and a number to call if you cannot.
They'll have to pry my TiVo HD unit out of my cold, dead hands. No way am I putting up with that HR21 interface - yes, I've used it extensively, ugh.
Now if that rumored USB box is true, and HD, and you could combine it with a TiVo Series 3, well, then, I'll consider...
Keep your HR10. In 6 months the HR10 will have few or no HD channels.
The HR20/21 interface is superior to the Tivo in many ways. Yes there are some shortcomings, but the interface also exposes where Tivo lacks.
so has anyone figured out how to keep theit tivo hd250 unit and still get abc/nbc/cbs etc? an ota will not work for me...
this would be a good thing if they kept the same bitrate... but I'm thinking this is just a way for them to rationalize providing HD-lightER content.
More channels! Um... not if it means the existing ones will suffer visually.