RSSDish Network rolls out MPEG-4 HD to more US markets
By Tim Conneally | Published October 24, 2008, 11:13 AM
Yesterday, Dish Network announced that 21 new markets will be transmitting content in MPEG-4, bringing the total US Markets using the standard to 52. In six of these added markets, local HD channels were added to content rosters.
The 21 new markets are: Abilene-Sweetwater, Sherman, and Waco-Temple-Bryan TX; Atlanta; Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa), and Huntsville-Decatur (Florence) AL; Chattanooga and Memphis, TN; Columbia-Jefferson City, Joplin-Pittsburg, and St. Louis MO; Des Moines-Ames, IA; Florence-Myrtle-Beach, SC; Ft. Myers-Naples, and Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach), FL; Jackson, MS; Lincoln, Omaha, and Hastings-Kearney, NE; Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk, IL; Ada, OK; South Bend-Elkhart, IN; and Topeka, KS. Of these markets, Nebraska, Illinois, and Iowa as well as Columbia-Jefferson City, MO; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas will receive high definition local channels.
Last August in a 10-Q filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Dish listed its prolonged transition to H.264/MPEG-4 as a factor potentially hurting the company. At the time, subscriber acquisition had dropped into negative figures.
The other main detriment to the company is its ongoing battle with TiVo over a DVR feature that TiVo claimed infringed upon its "Time Warp" patent. But earlier this month, Dish's former parent company EchoStar agreed to settle with TiVo for approximately $104 million after the US Supreme court denied EchoStar's appeal. TiVo continues to seek its permanent injunction upon EchoStar's infringing products.
Meanwhile, Dish continues what it called earlier this year "the biggest HD upgrade in pay TV history," for users of its MPEG-4 HD and HD DVR receivers, offering up to 150 channels in 1080p HD.
If TiVo is granted its permanent injunction, it would ostensibly only affect two Dish DVRs, known in the patent hearings as the "50X" and the "Broadcom," and not its current HD receivers.
I just got a DirecTV update that is supposedly going to give us 1080p output for select movie channels and shows. Like I can tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p anyways.
They did tweak the search menu and guide a bit, everything seems to come up a lot faster. The skip forward / back has also been imporoved.
Dish is low rent compared to DirecTV. It's like comparing Tropicana staduim to the Nationals new state of the art ball park.
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|Is this one of those HIGH COMPRESSION deals that ends up looking cruddy even though it technically meets the 1080p HD spec?
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|No, it's real and pretty incredible, esp. for sports events. There's no pixelation during fast-forwarding at various speeds or pausing. The only real problem I hate with HD is that it eats up so much DVR space. The down side is that you get to see how MUCH makeup actresses wear. All the CNN/MSNBC hags look like bingo night at the retirement village. They wear enough makeup to keep a tribe of performing drag queens going for years.
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|Dish should be able to get more customers now. now that they got there eastern arc sat system online which means the customers on the east coast can be pointed to these sats and get a stong signal unlike the other where it was hard to get one woth there old sats
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|OK so I live in the South Bend area and I have HD programming and pay the $5 for locals. I haven't seen the locals listed in HD on my guide, how do I get them?
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