Major announcement expected from Directv on June 15, regarding HD !!!

[Matt Heebner]

A far as I am concerned....any announcement by Directv has been voided and nullified by it's decision to jack the Sunday Ticket rate for HD viewers. I cruise the various forums and NO ONE seems to know what this great announcement is going to be. For every HD channel they have added, I have always heard prior to launch what is was going to be. I've heard nada...zip on this which leads me to believe that it is either:
The local HD rollout (again in my opinion absolutely boring)
Or the launch of the new satellite that actually wont launch till sometime this fall now.

Directv used to call themselves the leader in HD programming. They are behind everyone now and growing more stagnant as I type this.........

Matt

[hdtvtechno]

Major News Ahead
  Stay Tuned.

It will blow the socks off, the other Service providers  

[gparris]

Major News Ahead
  Stay Tuned.

It will blow the socks off, the other Service providers  

And the high-priestess of Directv said this, standing next to her Directv Dish and asked all her followers to "believe" (that more Directv HD national channels were coming very soon)
... and they laughed and walked away (from Directv, "the HD Leader"). :rofl:

Matt Heebner and mhz40 are right, the sky is not falling and it certainly isn't "raining"
Directv HD national channels, either...oh pleazzzz!

[Bluto]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting.  It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now.  but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?

[AndrewP]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting.  It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now.  but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?

You are just in denial. like a lot of D* fans.
TWC has all locals in HD (except WB).
Dish has 10 Voom HD originals.
D* is not a leader in HD.
Never was.
Voom was, now TWC and Dish are.
 

[Bluto]

I never said D* is a leader, Andrew.  But neither is their competition right now.

I get all the locals over-the-air.  So, TWC has nothing over D* for me.

And, one dish on the house is enough.  So, DishVoom's patchwork HD solution is doing nothing for me.

I see three pigs slopping around in the mud right now.  I'm waiting for one of them to come out.  Until then, I'm sitting tight with what I have.

[qawsed]

So, TWC has nothing over D* for me.

You might be surprised.  For me, TWC has better HD picture quality, INHD1 and 2, TNT-HD, and a HDDVR that isn't insanely priced and soon to be obsolete.  That's why I switched.

[hdtvtechno]

I guess I'll keep patiently waiting.  It's not like TWC or Dish are head and shoulders ahead of DirectTV right now.  but if that ever changed, I'd have to consider jumping ship.

hdtvtechno, can you at least give us a few hints as to why the announcement was delayed?

Problem with the Sateliite,/ satellite launching Company, launching the satellite.

[sp44again]

You might be surprised.  For me, TWC has better HD picture quality, INHD1 and 2, TNT-HD, and a HDDVR that isn't insanely priced and soon to be obsolete.  That's why I switched.

It might be insanely priced but it's well worth it. TWC people don't know what they are missing and that's probably good. You'll save some money. But for people that can afford the $699 it's sweet!  It's also not soon to be obsolete. If they delay satellite launches you think it will soon be obsolete?

[Bluto]

Problem with the Sateliite,/ satellite launching Company, launching the satellite.

Thanks for the info.  So does that mean we're looking at August now, based on what I've heard about launch delays?

[sp44again]

Yep, but it's not D* fault.

[hdtvtechno]

Yes,  thanks sp44again for jumping ahead of me,    

[borghe]

to clarify slightly for those in this thread who are not aware

directv was supposed to launch spaceway2 on wednesday. it was delayed because the company that was responsible for the launch, arianne, had boosters go bad on them. all of their launches (a lot more than just directv) are currently indefinitely delayed as they get new boosters manufactured and delivered.

no, the launch was NOT the big announcement. the technical stats of both spaceway 1 and 2 in operation together is around 500 HD channels (as in not theoretical, but as in there is more than enough to carry 500 HD channels with mPEG4 compression between the two). the big announcement was in direct relation to that 500 channel capacity. from what I heard it was not only most existing HD channels but also specialty HD channels a la Voom (oinly more value added). It would have made DirecTV the HD leader by a pretty far margin (especially taking into the Home Media Center which will be launching in a few months).

of course now all of that is on hold as arianne rushes trying to figure how to reschedule DirecTV and the other clients affected by the delay.

as to why DirecTV can't go ahead with some of those plans with Spaceway 1 up, the spaceway satellites are all spot beam, no CONUS. this is the way they were configured from day one when News Corp (before buying DirecTV) was going to use them for satellite broadband service. With both sats being spot beam, they needed both of them up to cover the entire country with spots. There are rumors of some testing that will still go on with just Spaceway 1 up, but all national plans are on hold until later this year when they can get the second sat up.

needless to say, DirecTV WILL be the HD leader as soon as they can get Spaceway 2 up. As far as anyone knows, no other provider has any sort of plans similar to the one DirecTV has ready. It is just a matter of getting that second satellite up first.

Anywho, I don't expect this to change any minds. Just a little clarification (beyond what I already posted) about what's going on. This isn't some sort of DirecTV delay tactic. Trust me, I guarantee if they could have spaceway 2 launched already , they would. they have to wait for arianne to either get the booster and get them launched, or wait for arianne to arrange for another launch with another company. even if the arrangement was made tomorrow, there is still delivery time on moving the satellite to the new launch facility. and it won't be tomorrow. for those who haven't given up on directv, the special announcement is coming. hopefully spaceway 2 will finally be launched within the next two months and this minor delay will mean nothing.

and to you time warner guys.. can you stop with the "ALL LOCAL CHANNELS" already. last time I checked, you didn't have WB. and last time I checked, I CAN get all local channels with my satellite box...

so why hasn't anyone sued TWC yet for false advertising on those stupid radio commercials? you still need extra equipment with TWC (a different box) and do NOT get all local channels in HD.

[Talos4]

and to you time warner guys.. can you stop with the "ALL LOCAL CHANNELS" already. last time I checked, you didn't have WB. and last time I checked, I CAN get all local channels with my satellite box...

Thanks I needed that. I stay out of the debate over SAT vs Cable. :bang:

I have the patience to wait out payload delivery problems.  The pay off will be worth it.

Patience Grasshopper!  :Smash:

[Matt Heebner]

Sure...just make sure your wallet is ready too because Directv's grand HD plans will not come with out a price.........


Matt