DirecTV Says 100 HD Channels In 07

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While I applaud DirecTV for saying they will have 100 HD channels by the end of 2007, I cringe a little wondering what they will be. Do you really need channels like The Home Shopping Network and The Weather Channel in HD just to say you have 100 channels?

These channels, expected to debut in the third quarter of 2007, will include HD versions of well-known networks including those owned by General Electric controlled NBC Universal and Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Networks, executives said.
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well, Food Network in HD is good.

Seriously though, the current HD lineup they have is shit (I know, I have it :mad: )

My problem is that the *few* decent HD channels that D* has aren't that great to begin with.

HBO HD (Not bad when they show a GOOD MOVIE, but most of the time they show crappy Real Sports with Bryant Gumble, or something equally non-entertaining)

ESPN & ESPN2 HD (Yay. Bass Fishing and obscure sports, broadcast in standard Def. with the "ESPN HD" logo tacked on the side to make it 16x9)
Most of the good games are blacked out anyway. (Although apparently YES broadcasts in HD, much to my dismay this season that I got to see the Yankees get trounced in glorious high definition)

ShowTime HD (Again, not bad when they show good movies, but they show the same good movie about 20 times a day for a month)

TNT HD. (Where to start. First, it's TNT. They'll edit the care bears for content if they could. Secondly, in their HD broadcast, they have SUPER ANNOYING crawlspace Ads during the entire show. They are huge, and they are pervasive. Imagine Shaquille O'Neal randomly popping up while watching Sleepy Hollow, or that ugly chick Kira something-or-ther from "the Closer" crossing yellow police tape every 30 seconds.
Thanks Ted, I needed that.

DiscoveryHD is decent, of course I am a Discovery Channel crack-whore. But I can only take so much of Austin Stevens and American Chopper. I'd love to see the Science Channel in HD though.

about the *most* interesting show on the HD channels is the Trailers bit on HDNet. They show movie trailers in HD. That's it. and that's quite sad.

The killer for me was Cinemax was showing the Star Wars set in HD. Of course, D* doesn't carry MaxHD. So I was mocked and annoyed at the start of every movie with "In High Definition where available"

Sorry for the rant. But this weekend pissed me off because I was looking at getting another HD box, and found out that not only do I have to replace my dish, box, various other "parts" (with a $200 piece of plastic) but I also have to spend so much more for mediocrity.

I bet I'll be needing that upgrade just to get the new stuff, with no incentive from D* either. (I had to purchase my own HD box, and I was an "early adopter")

I'm upset.
 
Steve said:
Do you really need channels like The Home Shopping Network and The Weather Channel in HD just to say you have 100 channels?
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Why not? When it comes down to it, most people don't need TV in the first place. People said something similar when cable was first introduced and there where only a few broadcast channels. I guess something is better than nothing.
 
I notice new HD channels added all the time, with my HD box, this is all without paying more.
 
Yeah, I can't wait for 5 spanish channels, 3 religious channels, and 8 home shopping channels all in HD! :D
 
In HD but not HD.

My cable company now provides A&E HD and so far it's just been the regular programs stretched to widescreen.....horrible. TNT does this a lot to. Just box it don't stretch it.
 
I seem to remember them saying that they would have like 1500 HD channels...in 2006. You know, when they get their new sats up, and they'll be in MPG4...so the current HD DVR will not be compatible....
 
I expect most of these will be like TNT Stretch-O-Vision as in standard def content that they stretch/crop/uprez to get that 16x9 fill your screen image. They do this with most movies since they don't have access to the HD masters.

Since most of the channels that I expect them to add aren't produced in HD and are running syndicated SD programming it will be awhile before they really are 'HD.'

Guess the silver lining is that they are laying the groundwork for those stations to start producing their programing in HD. The whole chicken and the egg scenario.
 
I can finally get rid of crappy FIOS TV. I swear Verizon can take any idea and run it into the ground.
 
I am definately for more HD channels. What they have now (Brighthouse) just isn't enough. They add channels maybe 1x in every 6 months, but they have also gotten rid of some channels. Hey Goaty, what is it about Fios that you don't like? They are laying new cable in my neighborhood as I type. Just curious because one of the selling points is that they have more Hd channels than cable.
 
KaosDG said:
DiscoveryHD is decent, of course I am a Discovery Channel crack-whore. But I can only take so much of Austin Stevens and American Chopper. I'd love to see the Science Channel in HD though.
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I like American Chopper, but since it's moving to TLC, is there a TLC HD channel? American Choppers is already shot on HD and looks great... but I'm afraid no one will ever see it again in HD.
 
I remember about this time last year when I upgraded from a Standard Def DirectTivo to a HD DirectTivo, the DirecTV website was claiming that they would have HD versions of The Food Network, and the Sci-Fi Channel (as well as several others) by Summer 2006. So a year later, they are announcing that in about another year they will have more HD channels. I wish I better understood why the transition to HD has taken so long and has been so painful.
 
IanG said:
Will these be actual 1920x1080 channels, or just 'HDTV Lite' ?
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Just for your reference: Nothing is going to be "Broadcast" in anything better than 1080i. Wish in one hand and sh!t in the other and see which one fills up first. :eek:

I guess I'm encouraged to hear that Direct TV isn't really "all that", though they are getting more HD channels. I have spastic Comcastic which at the lower tier features all of 6 HD channels. Of those, Only PBS even attempts to broadcast in HD, and at least 20% of their content isn't. I'm canceling this service and getting an HDTV Tuner card. My research indicates that I should be able to get 9 "HD channels" OTA, though I know they aren't really going to be all HD. That makes the price of the HDTV card worth about 5 months of Craptastic's digital service without HD. :mad:

ATM I've been watching football on Fox, and the channel keeps switching back and forth between HD and standard (fuzzy) definition. I don't think this is Fox's fault either. Last night I was watching a HD TV show and downloading a documentary via bittorrent, and out of the blue my cable modem shut down completely. My real problem is that I don't have any "real alternative" to Comcast for the internet. Overall, I would not be able to recomend Comcast on any account.
 
tikicult said:
I just hope we don't have to buy any new equipment for this to work.
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If you already have the 5-lnb dish / H20 type of receiver, then probably not, but who knows.

MScrip said:
I like American Chopper, but since it's moving to TLC, is there a TLC HD channel? American Choppers is already shot on HD and looks great... but I'm afraid no one will ever see it again in HD.
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That's my question, also. I would hope that they'd keep the show on Discovery HD, since TLC is owned by discovery anyway.

Cannydog said:
Just for your reference: Nothing is going to be "Broadcast" in anything better than 1080i. Wish in one hand and sh!t in the other and see which one fills up first. :eek:
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LOL my mom tells me that all the time.

I think the "broadcasts" will probably be in 1080i for the time being, simply for the lower bandwidth requirements (one frame of 1080i is 1920x540 vs. full 1920x1080)
lower bw = more channels.
 
Cannydog said:
Just for your reference: Nothing is going to be "Broadcast" in anything better than 1080i. Wish in one hand and sh!t in the other and see which one fills up first. :eek:
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If you read the link you'd have seen that directTV doesn't even broadcast in 1920x1080, it's some 1280x1080 interlaced crap - something a little bit worse than 720p. I'm sure they're going to be compressing the hell out of the new HD channels to squeeze them into their available bandwidth as well, though with the move to mpeg4 this might not be as big an issue.

/me wishes that dvb was the standard on this side of the atlantic.
 
This is great and all, but I'm willing to bet most of the 100 channels will be regional copies of already-existing channels (Like NBC New York HD or HBO-East HD and etc).
 
I am glad the UFC PPV events will be available in HD this year. Bring on the blood! If you have ever seen cage fighting on HD Net, it is the bomb.
 
tikicult said:
I just hope we don't have to buy any new equipment for this to work.
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Me, either. Two years ago, I bought a $900 DirecTivo. Now, it's obsolete because DirecTv has switched from MPEG-2 (supported by the DTV) to MPEG-4 and I can't get locals in HD.

The want $99 to install the new DVR and dish, even though I've been paying for a support contract since buying the other rig.
 
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