Bad news if you have a 6000 or want HD

[mruk69]

As of Feb. 1st, 2006 to receive any HD programming from Dish Network you will have to have a Mpeg4 receiver.
They are looking to phaze out all current mpeg2 receiver with mpeg4 receivers. Obviously they won't do all of them right now, but are starting with HD. Subs with 921/942/811/6000 will get upgrades via a lease or may puirchase one.
They are eventually going to convert all programming to mpeg4 which has a higher compression and will save them a lot of bandwidth.
You can read more about it on /www.satelliteguys.us.

[#40Fan]

Bummer, that sucks.

[Dave411]

My understanding is that any NEW HD will be in mpeg4, but existing HD will remain in mpeg2 for now. Eventually, all HD, as well as all programming will go to mpeg4 and all cardless receivers, but that won`t happen overnight.

[riso]

That is correct Dave411. The Feb. 1 deadline is for retailers. They should not sell anymore mpeg2 HD receivers after that date, only the new mpeg4 receivers.

[kimmichael44]

What is a new HD DVR mpeg 4 receiver? They better get them out pretty fast if the deadline to stop selling the 942 is Feb 1st.

I'm going to be pretty pissed at DN when I've paid a good chunk of change for there top end HD DVR receiver 3 months ago and now it won't receive all the HD programming.

[neolan]

Getting MPEG-4 up and running is not something that is possible overnight. It requires completely new encoding equipment as well as subscriber set top boxes. New receiver designs capable of MPEG-4 reception and decoding are just being released by DirecTV (as of this update: Nov, 2005). MPEG-4 transmission of local stations is scheduled to roll-out in 12 major markets during Nov/Dec 2005. There is currently no news from EchoStar.

There is now a much larger HD subscriber base than ever before with a huge amount invested in HD receivers and even more expensive PVRs. To switch everything over to MPEG4 would instantly obsolete every one of these products. The service providers would then be either faced with tremendous customer ill-will (and risk loosing market share to cable which has no similar dilemmas) as their subscribers are forced to buy new equipment or take a big financial hit if they decide to subsidize the new receivers and PVRs all at once.

[mruk69]

They announced today that as of FEB all new HD channels which include new Voom channels, ESPN2 and Universal HD will be in MPEG4 only. This has pissed of a lot of Subs as the new VIP 622 Dual tuner receiver won't be available until the same date. This will be a nightmare for people trying to get hold of new receivers as they will probably not have enough receivers. 921's have now dropped to $349. The worst thing is if you leased a receiver like a 811 in July, you can not get another receiver upgrade until the year is up. Even worse, people who paid $250 to lease a 942 will probably have to pay $350 to lease a vip 622. Dish is currently offering the VIP 211 for 49.99 for all new subs and it is expected they will offer both the 411 and Vip 211 for $99 lease to current subs.
They are expected to announce this on the Jan9 Charlie chat.
But as usual knowing Dish they will probably avoid the real answers and leave their customers hanging in the air.

[dellsam34]

No it's not true MPEG2 HD channels will stay with us until about 2009 and we will see. the only new released HD channels will be MPEG4 which means the actual number of MPEG2 HD channels wil NOT increase.


They announced today that as of FEB all new HD channels which include new Voom channels, ESPN2 and Universal HD will be in MPEG4 only. This has pissed of a lot of Subs as the new VIP 622 Dual tuner receiver won't be available until the same date. This will be a nightmare for people trying to get hold of new receivers as they will probably not have enough receivers. 921's have now dropped to $349. The worst thing is if you leased a receiver like a 811 in July, you can not get another receiver upgrade until the year is up. Even worse, people who paid $250 to lease a 942 will probably have to pay $350 to lease a vip 622. Dish is currently offering the VIP 211 for 49.99 for all new subs and it is expected they will offer both the 411 and Vip 211 for $99 lease to current subs.
They are expected to announce this on the Jan9 Charlie chat.
But as usual knowing Dish they will probably avoid the real answers and leave their customers hanging in the air.