ESPN-HD, DiscoveryHD & HDNET Movies on DirecTV July 1 (1 Viewer)

Part of DirecTV's new HD package for $10.99 a month

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030603/35747_1.html

OMG!


YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!


Almost kisses the messenger, then remembers he has to go buy an HDTV and upgrade his dish first.:b

Another $10.99 a month to DirecTV...

Hmmm. Buy HD-DirecTV receiver now, or wait for the HD-DirecTV-TiVo...

Finally! I just wish that DirecTV would offer their channels a la carte. I only watch about 25 channels, total.

I haven't heard anything since CES, during which they said it would ship either in the 4th quarter this year, or 1st quarter next.

UGH, didn't know next year was a possibility. May not be able to wait. Any idea on specs?

As of CES a few months back, the specs were in a state of flux. The alpha model they were showing was capable of recording one OTA signal and one DirecTV signal simultaneously, or watching one while recording another. There was no Firewire, though.

I'd guess they've upped the specs to at least be on par with Dish's vaporware solution, and they've most likely been solidified by now. Nothing has been made public beyond what was at CES, though.

I just looked over at Tivocommunity.com and a Tivo dealer over there believes we'll see the first units in January.

this is great news...i new something was up when directv called me to offer me the Sat C upgrade...getting it friday morning. anyhow where is cable in all of this?! i work closely with folks at comcast and have told them the reason why i have directv is because of high definition. i know that comcast does hd in a couple of cities already...if they dont have everything directv has and MORE by 1/1/04 and offer it to all their customers...then cable is SOL with my business! (unless of course they give it to me for FREE!)

Richard, I wouldn't be as quick to bash Comcast without doing an A/B test. Comcast has a lot more bandwidth potential due to all the dormant fiber in the ground. D*, on the other hand, has got to be doing some fancy compression on the HD channels in order to fit them in. I've got a 100" front-projection screen, and I've already noticed PQ degradation on HDnet and HBO-HD. Granted, it's only been a couple weeks since they started messing around with the HD channels, and I doubt they have all the kinks worked out, I just have a bad feeling that D* is going to consider this "normal" HD picture quality from now on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely a DirecTV supporter. I think it's great that D* is making a push for additional HD channels, and have been waiting to watch the new offerings for a while. I just give a higher value to picture and audio quality than I do to quantity.


Just wanted to edit this post to add that it looks like Comcast is starting to expedite their HD rollout. They introduced HD service to the Sacramento, CA area last month, and both the Bay Area and Southern California within the last couple weeks. I'm guessing Texas won't be far behind since that's where they started testing the program last year (along with Orange County, CA).

Got the receiver, got the dish... now to wait till July 1st!

Tim
Sat C upgrade was about $8 to install yourself from directv
It's pretty easy

So, does this mean they'll broadcast -- uncensored -- the Award-winning Canadian sex-science documentary "Sex Files" in HD?

Some DirecTV CSRs will tell you that you have to commit to 1 year of Showtime HD others will tell you that you have to commit to 1 year of Total Choice for this deal.

-Robert

i paid 49+8 handling for the sat c kit, plus professional installation. 'committed' to 1 year of total choice, blah blah etc... i dont plan on ditching directv for at least that, no big deal to me...

douglas a*r - i understand your point and would hope both directv and comcast would be committed to the quality of the video they are broadcasting...both are going to have to use compression schemes to make it work...directv is going to use a 3rd satellite for the next batch of HD programming...cable can upgrade the HFC so it can handle the bandwidth . both cost money. the only comparison i can make is OTA vs HDnet on directv. OTA has the edge, i doubt either satellite or cable will compare to OTA for awhile.

They will make you commit to another year of your current service. That was no big deal for me.

I probably won't commit to the HD package until football season. It may take three months to convince my wife to add $11 to my $58 bill. When the Sunday Ticket went up to $200 this year, it made it that much harder to sell.

Alot of people over at AVSforum.com have managed to get the Sat C install kit free-of-charge by getting connected to the customer retention department and raising a stink.


RichardK, we're on the same page. I thought, though, that D* was moving all the locals to the 3rd sat, not HD?

Edited to add that the I don't believe that the aforementioned AVSforum members were required to purchase any particular service or have any additional contractual obligation in exchange for the kit