Verizon, Comcast Still Fighting Over Silly VOD 'Channel' CountsMy HD VOD count is bigger than yours! But what about prices? 04:54PM Friday Oct 23 2009 by Karl Bodetags: prices · competition · business · Op/Ed · consumersComcast and Verizon have spent much of the last two years bickering over who offers the most HD channels or video on demand "options." Despite being just as guilty as every other carrier in regards to artificially inflating HD numbers (and in reality having a lower HD count than most carriers), Comcast doesn't like Verizon's tendency to count cutesy instructional VOD videos (like how to fold a towel) as "choices" in advertisements for their VOD catalog. Verizon in turn doesn't like Comcast ads that point this out. Months have passed, and the two companies are still fighting over VOD program counts: Verizon Communications' claims that FiOS TV now offers nearly twice the on-demand offerings as Comcast are "absolutely untrue," Comcast senior director of corporate communications Alana Davis said. In an announcement Thursday, Verizon said it had increased the size of its video-on-demand service to more than 18,000 titles per month. "That's nearly twice the VOD offering from the country's largest cable provider," the company claimed. However, according to Davis, the majority of Comcast markets offer at least 17,000 VOD titles, and some -- including Philadelphia -- currently top 18,000. It's all been rather silly, given the average customer probably can't even watch a fraction of the content already offered to them, and couldn't care less if their carrier offers slightly fewer VOD options. In a year or so, as most carriers surpass 100 HD channels, carriers are going to have to start focusing instead on things that actually do matter, like picture quality and pricing. Imagine if Comcast and Verizon put the kind of effort they've put into bickering over VOD counts into fighting over who offers lower TV prices?
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 Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | satellite Direct tv has better prices, better picture quality and better dvrs with bigger HD then comcast and Verizon and they have VOD and push VOD as well with 1080p movies. | |
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PhonePower
Premium
join:2007-07-20
Winnetka, CA | Re: satellite DirecTV even has 1080/24P
Don't forget NFL  | |
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gy45
@comcast.net
| what directv has i would not call it vod. with comcast i get get vod without a high speed connection. can you. no i think not. the dvr has to have more space because directtvs so called vod has to download the movie onto it so you can watch it. if you dont have a dvr no vod. i have comcast and no dvr and guess what vod. and i dont have to wait for some of it to download because it starts. by the way how long does that hd movie take to donwload with that dsl connection. | |
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brobertsleo
join:2006-03-01
Sterling Heights, MI | Re: satellite Whoa, can Comcast please have their dick back. | |
| | | flashcore
join:2007-01-23
Lutherville Timonium, MD
| How many times have you tried to use Concast's VOD service only to find that you cant because all the QAM frequency's they use for it are in use by other people on your node? In my case there was maybe an hour a day I could use there VOD, that was 3-4AM! Guess what with FiOS I never have that problem, the VOD starts instantly every time.
Hey Verizon, maybe you should make a commercial about this issue with Concast, I just ask for $5000 for the idea or free service for life. | |
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John97
Over The Hills And Far Away
Premium
join:2000-11-14
Southampton, PA
| Re: satellite When I had Comcast before the availability of FIOS TV, our VOD never worked consistently. They would either replace the cable box, re-splice the connection between the aerial drop and my house, or both. Many service visits and replacement cable boxes later, the problem still persisted.
I eventually gave up and just waited for FIOS TV to go live.
--
So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time... | |
| | | rhexis
join:2002-05-18
Gilbertsville, PA | you sound a bit bitter. not surprising since its 2009 and you dont have a dvr yet. | |
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rahvin11
@hansonclan.net | Re: satellite It's not like he's missing much, he can pay more than a Tivo costs for a DVR that barely qualifies because of how crappy it is. | |
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scoopy03
join:2003-05-06
00000
 ·Verizon FIOS
| said by Joe12345678  :Direct tv has better prices, better picture quality and better dvrs with bigger HD then comcast and Verizon and they have VOD and push VOD as well with 1080p movies. that is only good until a storm knocks out your signal. comcast compresses their video. fios really has the better picture quality. comcast has had a good dvr for quite awhile now (my past experience with them). | |
| | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: satellite said by scoopy03 :said by Joe12345678 :Direct tv has better prices, better picture quality and better dvrs with bigger HD then comcast and Verizon and they have VOD and push VOD as well with 1080p movies. that is only good until a storm knocks out your signal. comcast compresses their video. fios really has the better picture quality. comcast has had a good dvr for quite awhile now (my past experience with them). with 20hours hd on there old box and I hear the new ones have hdmi bugs. and small 250g - 320g hd's in them direct tv is up to 500g in there new ones and all the HR2x have working e-sata. | |
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Steve Mehs
Go Sabres
join:2005-07-16
| Where on DirecTV can I find HBO 2 HD, HBO Signature HD, HBO Family HD, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Zone HD, Moremax HD, Actionmax HD, Thrillermax HD, Outermax HD, 5Starmax , @max HD, The Movie Channel Xtra HD, Encore HD, Investigation Discovery HD, RFD HD, E! HD, Style HD, G4 HD, Versus HD, LMN HD, MSNBC HD, Travel Channel HD, ESPN U HD, QVC HD, Fuse HD, AMC HD, WE HD, IFC HD, TCM HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, Outdoor Channel HD and HLN HD?
I get all of those in HD plus another 60 channels on my 'crappy' cable system, surely the almighty HD leader has all these channels I mentioned above, I must have missed them on DirecTVs website.
DirecTV is an absolute HD joke unless you like sleazy marketing and 30+ channels on PPV movies in HD. DirecTV is now dead last. Dish Network has more HD, Fios has more HD, U-Versus has more HD, hell I have almost 100 [REAL] HD channels on Time Warner. DirecTVs HD picture quality is no better than anyone else's, and they are the company that pretty much invented HD Lite. The 1080p gimmick is just that, a gimmick. A very limited selection of PPV movies in 1080p on a PPV basis, *yawn* call me there's actual 1080p broadcasts. As for HD VOD, does DirecTV have primetime network content in HD available On Demand? And I bet my 15Mb cable broadband connection would handle DirecTVs lame On Demand better then one of their telco partners DSL service at what 3Mb max.
DirecTVs HD DVRs do sure sound good though. I remember reading about all those problems with HDMI and missed recordings and then glanced over to my rock solid cable DVRs and laughed. Those issues may have been fixed by now, hope the brrrrrrp is still going strong.
Only thing DirecTV has going for them is their HD sports programming for the out of market sports packages.
After over 7 years with the pizza pans, going back to cable was truly a breath of fresh air.
Keep pumping out those lame, sleazy commercials DirecTV, you're all talk no actionKeep adding those HD PPV channels, while cable keeps adding real HD channels. | |
| | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: satellite said by Steve Mehs : Dish Network has more HD, U-Versus has more HD, Dish nework does not have Meny RSN in HD 24/7 and they have limed hd rsn over flow room and U-verse max of 2 HD at a time per house?
fios also wants $15/m per hd dvr. | |
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Steve Mehs
Go Sabres
join:2005-07-16
| Re: satellite When I do overall channel counts to compare I count national HD channels only, regional sports networks are not national channels. Dish Network sucks in that department in this area as they don't carry YES at all and they don't have MSG HD.
For HD DVR service from Time Warner I'm paying $7.45 for the digital terminal/remote rental and $10.95 for the DVR fee. Price is not a concern for me, it's dead last on the list of things I consider, but at least I am not paying for the same content twice, as there's no BS HD Fee. Thanks to satellites greediness, the price difference between cable and satellite is not that great. I pay more for hardware on a monthly basis, but there is no HD Access Fee. If I have a programming package that includes History Channel, I get History HD as well, without paying an HD penalty, and that's how it should be.
But here's the deal, I paid nothing upfront for my two HD DVRs. With DirecTV you pay $200 up front for the privilege to lease their hardware and then a lease fee. If you leave DirecTV, you can't even throw up your receivers on eBay now as you don't own them, even though you paid $200 for them. And what about those rip off insurance protection plans Dish and DirecTV offer? If any of my hardware, be it a digital terminal, remote, amp whatever malfunctions I can go to the office and exchange it for free, same day and be back up and running within the hour, or I could call up and have a tech come next day for free. With satellite they scam you into getting the protection plan for $6 or $7 a month extra.
quote:
likely to get them when the D-12 sat goes up at the end of year.
DirecTV could have all of them now. They have the bandwidth, they would just have to eliminate a few of those 30+ HD PPV channels to do so. Do they really need a few channels showing Hannah Montana: The Movie with start times differing by 15 minutes.
Their head got too damn big. For 6 months prior to the launch of D10, to 2 years after, all they did was brag about being the 'HD Leader'. They put up HD channels that had very little to no HD content (Viacom owned channels), tons of PPV channels, just so they could say they have the most HD channels. They played the numbers game and tricked foolish consumers into subscribing to their lackluster service.
And then you've got Verizon and their overrated Fios service, which is just cable TV by a different name. There's those made up HD channels from Entertainment Studios that more than likely won't be around in a few years, and all the movie channels west coast feeds. While those channels are more real then DirecTVs HD PPV channels, Verizon can say they have 124 HD channels, but when 17 of them are west coast feeds of premium movie channels they already carry the east coast feeds to, in the back of my mind that knocks their channel count down by 17.
--
Don't Blame Me, I Voted For McCain
Welcome to The SSA, The Socialist States of Amerika, Lead By Your Dictator, Hussein Obama
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, B. Hussein Obama
Obama = Terrorist | |
| | | | | rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT
| Re: satellite said by Steve Mehs :When I do overall channel counts to compare I count national HD channels only, regional sports networks are not national channels. Dish Network sucks in that department in this area as they don't carry YES at all and they don't have MSG HD. I can only speak to my market, but counting national HD channels DirecTV smokes comcast. DirecTV has nearly every HD channel available (approx 70) while Comcast in my area has only about 20 (and that includes the local broadcast networks)
said by Steve Mehs :For HD DVR service from Time Warner I'm paying $7.45 for the digital terminal/remote rental and $10.95 for the DVR fee. You are paying close to $20 for a DVR. On DirecTV I pay $5 for a DVR fee (which covers every DVR in my home), and a $10 HD fee (again which covers the entire account and I include in the package cost, not against the DVR cost). On Comcast (and I bet it's the same on TW) you pay per each, so if you have 2 HD DVRs (which I have) you will be paying close to $40.
said by Steve Mehs :Price is not a concern for me, it's dead last on the list of things I consider, but at least I am not paying for the same content twice, as there's no BS HD Fee. Yet price is all you talk about. Ironic or a lie?
said by Steve Mehs :Thanks to satellites greediness, the price difference between cable and satellite is not that great. So you admit Satellite is cheaper but because they are breaking out a few fees (so if you don't have HD you aren't paying for the new satellites) you consider it a huge negative? Ironic?
said by Steve Mehs :I pay more for hardware on a monthly basis, but there is no HD Access Fee. If I have a programming package that includes History Channel, I get History HD as well, without paying an HD penalty, and that's how it should be. Again, total price is cheaper but you nit pick the breakout? (again, a breakout that makes it cheaper for people that don't have HD TV's)
said by Steve Mehs :But here's the deal, I paid nothing upfront for my two HD DVRs. With DirecTV you pay $200 up front for the privilege to lease their hardware and then a lease fee. If you leave DirecTV, you can't even throw up your receivers on eBay now as you don't own them, even though you paid $200 for them. And what about those rip off insurance protection plans Dish and DirecTV offer? If any of my hardware, be it a digital terminal, remote, amp whatever malfunctions I can go to the office and exchange it for free, same day and be back up and running within the hour, or I could call up and have a tech come next day for free. With satellite they scam you into getting the protection plan for $6 or $7 a month extra. At $200 upfront (it's actually less and if you negotiate you can get the box for $0) and a $5 monthly fee (assuming there is only one HD Dvr) compared to $18.45 you pay it only takes 14.5 months to equal the price and after that you pay significantly less per month. I prefer the $200 upfront as in less than 2 years I'm paying a lot less, and as I said, if you negotiate you can get the box for nothing. Make it more than one DVR and the difference becomes outrageous.
said by Steve Mehs :DirecTV could have all of them now. They have the bandwidth, they would just have to eliminate a few of those 30+ HD PPV channels to do so. Do they really need a few channels showing Hannah Montana: The Movie with start times differing by 15 minutes. Boohoo, they still have more national HD channels and in 3 months (D12 goes up in December) they will have all the ones they haven't added yet because of NFL Sunday ticket. And just so you know, the PPV movie channels are used so they have space for the NFL (and other leagues) on Sundays. The number of PPV channels drops dramatically on Sunday. After all it makes sense to use the channels dedicated to NFL (and baseball and hockey and basketball) for something else when the games aren't on.
said by Steve Mehs :Their head got too damn big. For 6 months prior to the launch of D10, to 2 years after, all they did was brag about being the 'HD Leader'. They put up HD channels that had very little to no HD content (Viacom owned channels), tons of PPV channels, just so they could say they have the most HD channels. They played the numbers game and tricked foolish consumers into subscribing to their lackluster service. They've had more total HD channels, more national HD channels and Sunday Ticket and you complain about them advertising it? Want a little cheese with that whine? Or is it perhaps jealousy? Because that's all I read in your posts, complaints about advertising telling you that your more expensive service is inferior, something that's apparently made you mad (which is understandable, as it upsets most people to pay more for less but why you don't rectify it and instead complain is the head scratcher).
The reality that you don't even talk about is that DTV has more channels, is cheaper and has better quality video, and I'd rather commit suicide than use one of those cable DVR's (I don't even consider them DVR's because they suck so bad) again (Comcast in my area degrades HD by resampling the HD from 1900x1080 to 1300x900 something, and DTV has started broadcasting in 1080p (not ondemand)) but you have to justify to yourself your current arrangement of paying more for less with crappier quality and crappy service (ever waited all day for that "next day" (and 8 hour window) cable appointment that you brag about that didn't show up? DTV service windows are 2 hours and they call and tell you when they are coming) There is a reason DTV is near the top in customer satisfaction and all the cable companies are on the bottom. But keep complaining, everyone can see the irony.
The only thing Cable has going for it is the ability to use a real Tivo with cable cards or build your own DVR with cable cards. That's the ONLY positive. | |
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Steve Mehs
Go Sabres
join:2005-07-16
| Re: satellite quote:
DirecTV has nearly every HD channel available (approx 70) while Comcast in my area has only about 20 (and that includes the local broadcast networks)
DirecTV has nearly every HD channel available, really? What about all those channels I mentioned above? What about BBC America HD, WGN America HD, WFN HD, Fashion HD, Lifetime HD, Tru TV HD, Oxygen HD, HSN HD, Wealth HD, Centric HD, Logo HD, JTV HD, Mav HD, Wmax HD and TV One HD?
I just named over 45 HD channels DirecTV doesn't carry. I currently get 93 HD channels on TW, 84 of them being national, 6 locals in HD and 3 RSNs in HD. Real channels no PPV, no On Demand.
quote:
You are paying close to $20 for a DVR. On DirecTV I pay $5 for a DVR fee (which covers every DVR in my home), and a $10 HD fee (again which covers the entire account and I include in the package cost, not against the DVR cost). On Comcast (and I bet it's the same on TW) you pay per each, so if you have 2 HD DVRs (which I have) you will be paying close to $40.
The price of the first digital terminal and remote is included with digital cable, DVR fee is per box, but if you have more than one DVR the fee for the additional ones is $8.95.
For Top end packages, all core programming, all premium movie channels, and all HD channels, including in optional HD Premium Tiers and two HD DVRs, taking non promotional rates.
Dish Network -
America's Everything Pak - $102.98
Local Channels - $5.00
HD Fee - $10.00
Platnium HD - $10.00
Additional Receiver Fee - $4.99
DVR Fee #1 - $5.98
DVR Fee #2 - $5.98
TOTAL - $144.93
DirecTV -
Premier - $109.99
HD Access Fee - $10.00
HD Xtra Pak - $5.00
Additional Receiver Fee - $4.99
DVR Fee - $6.00
TOTAL - $135.98
Time Warner -
Digipic 1000 - $65.50
HBO - $13.95
Cinemax - $9.95
Showtime - $9.95
Starz - $9.95
Encore - $3.00
Sports Tier - $3.25
Digital Terminal # 2 - $7.45
DVR Fee #1 - $10.95
DVR Fee #2 - $8.95
TOTAL - $142.90
A less than $7 price difference between DirecTV and TW, which in the end I don't think is that much considering how much I'm paying for hardware. Would be $17 more if satellite followed cables way of handling HD and not changing for the same content twice. Plus there's no upfront costs.
If you add in those monthly service protection plans, cable is cheaper.
quote:
Yet price is all you talk about. Ironic or a lie?
My cable bill is over $200 a month. In addition to what I priced above I also have the Spanish Tier, NHL Center Ice and Road Runner Turbo. If wanted budget level program I'd have Dish Networks cheapest package and granny DSL. Price is not an issue, and when comparing my options, it is not a factor that plays heavily.
I brought up price because I think it is completely ASININE that satellite makes you pay for the same content twice. A portion of my bill already goes to NBC Universal for Syfy and USA Network, there's no reason to change another $10 fee to get them in HD.
quote:
So you admit Satellite is cheaper but because they are breaking out a few fees (so if you don't have HD you aren't paying for the new satellites) you consider it a huge negative? Ironic?
No irony about it. I'm glad you enjoy paying for the same programming twice, but I don't. Yes, DirecTV is cheaper but not by much as I posted above.
quote:
Again, total price is cheaper but you nit pick the breakout? (again, a breakout that makes it cheaper for people that don't have HD TV's)
I nitpick it on it based on principle.
More and more people are getting HDTVs, I don't care about those that don't have one yet.
quote:
At $200 upfront (it's actually less and if you negotiate you can get the box for $0) and a $5 monthly fee (assuming there is only one HD Dvr) compared to $18.45 you pay it only takes 14.5 months to equal the price and after that you pay significantly less per month. I prefer the $200 upfront as in less than 2 years I'm paying a lot less, and as I said, if you negotiate you can get the box for nothing. Make it more than one DVR and the difference becomes outrageous.
I'd rather not pay nothng upfront
quote:
Boohoo, they still have more national HD channels and in 3 months (D12 goes up in December) they will have all the ones they haven't added yet because of NFL Sunday ticket. And just so you know, the PPV movie channels are used so they have space for the NFL (and other leagues) on Sundays. The number of PPV channels drops dramatically on Sunday. After all it makes sense to use the channels dedicated to NFL (and baseball and hockey and basketball) for something else when the games aren't on.
Really they still have more national HD channels? WRONG! They are dead last. Dish, Verizon, AT&T and TW in my area all have more. The only HD channels I don't get that DirecTV has is NFL Network, NFL RedZone, HDNet, HDNet Movies and the 7 Viacom owed HD channels, that show very little HD content. The 30+ HD channels I listed in my first post are ones I get that I get that DirecTV doesn't carry. And out of the group of HD channels I posted in this thread, TW has contracts for 9 of those channels, and they will more then likely be added by years end, and they even announced a few of them for my area, but they arn't carried yet.
True, the bandwidth used for the HD PPV channels are used on Sundays for NFL ST, but there's at most 8 games going on at the same time. What about the other 22 HD PPV channels.
And this shouldn't apply to NHL CI, NBA LP or MLB EI as DirecTV already carries most of the RSNs in HD, so all they have to do is mirror the content from the RSNs to the sports package channels in the 700s. Thus using no additional bandwidth, unless they are getting an HD feed from an RSN they do not carry in HD, but they have the majority of them.
quote:
They've had more total HD channels, more national HD channels and Sunday Ticket and you complain about them advertising it? Want a little cheese with that whine? Or is it perhaps jealousy? Because that's all I read in your posts, complaints about advertising telling you that your more expensive service is inferior, something that's apparently made you mad (which is understandable, as it upsets most people to pay more for less but why you don't rectify it and instead complain is the head scratcher).
Again they do not have the most national HD channels. And I could careless about NFL ST. That package is so overpriced
What am I supposed to be jelious about?
A lackluster HD channel selection?
The worst premium movie channel line up around, in both SD and HD?
The brrrrp issue?
Rain fade?
Going outside to brush the dish off during a snow storm?
Having to pay extra for insurace incase THEIR hardware messes up?
quote:
The reality that you don't even talk about is that DTV has more channels, is cheaper and has better quality video,
They don't have more channels, they're not cheaper by a significant amount and picture quality is no better then what I have with cable.
quote:
but you have to justify to yourself your current arrangement of paying more for less with crappier quality and crappy service (ever waited all day for that "next day" (and 8 hour window) cable appointment that you brag about that didn't show up?
I'm paying slightly more and getting more. And no I've never waited all day for service. I've had Road Runner since 2004, Digital Cable since 2006, and had them come out here exactly 5 times. Once to install Road Runner, once to install digital cable, once to replace a dying cable modem, once to replace the main incoming cable line that got crushed by our newly put in concrete driveway and the last time to replace that incoming cable line again after a cotter pin on the lawn mower deck came loose and bottomed out on the ground and the blades chewed up the grass along with the cable line.
And let's see, both installs happened the day after I called to set up the appointment. The cable modem was replaced the next day, the cable line, I called about a Saturday afternoon, the tech showed up at 8AM sharp the next day, Easter Sunday to replace that. And the issue with the lawn mower, a tech was out here less the two hours later. Everything was done free of change, even though none of this was their fault. My account is residential, not biz class, they had no reason to take care of me that fast.
Install and service appointment windows are set up in 4 hour intervals. 8AM to Noon, Noon to 4PM and 4PM to 7PM. Time Warner has an On-Time Service Guarantee. If a tech is late or discourteous, you can call up and get a credit, you can also get credit for any service outages.
But the service has been so damn reliable, I don't need techs, so its a moot point. Next time a tech will be out here will be to install digital phone.
As for DVRs, I remember reading on the satellite boards about missed recordings and HDMI problems. My cable DVRs may not have a pretty UI, but they have never missed one recording and never had any issues with using HDMI. My cable DVRs have been rock solid.
Keep drinking the DirecTV Kool Aid, keep believing those commericals. Satellite TV used to be something cool, now NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV and barrage of over priced foreign channels are the only thing that makes DBS standout over cable.
--
Don't Blame Me, I Voted For McCain
Welcome to The SSA, The Socialist States of Amerika, Lead By Your Dictator, Hussein Obama
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, B. Hussein Obama
Obama = Terrorist | |
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digitalfreak
join:2005-12-09
49533 | Re: satellite You have the Fox News Channel logo as your avatar. That right there precludes you from any reasonable discussion. | |
| | | | | | | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs: | Re: satellite at first I thought it was a faux news logo , after pointing that out , I just completely blanked out everything he stated.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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SHABAZZ
join:2008-07-13
Seattle, WA | I was thinking the same thing. Shouldn’t he be out having a tea party and attending rallies to get his country back. | |
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Steve Mehs
Go Sabres
join:2005-07-16
|  Wow you two are pretty lame.
So you have nothing relevant to say on the topic? Last I checked news preferences weren't the topic at hand so keep your bullshit out of this thread. | |
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sapo
I eat meat
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Sacramento, CA | Hah, yeah... news preference is a complete reasonable argument here. Where are the real counterarguments.
--
DO DO | |
| | | | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| said by Steve Mehs : quote:
likely to get them when the D-12 sat goes up at the end of year.
DirecTV could have all of them now. They have the bandwidth, they would just have to eliminate a few of those 30+ HD PPV channels to do so. Do they really need a few channels showing Hannah Montana: The Movie with start times differing by 15 minutes. Their head got too damn big. For 6 months prior to the launch of D10, to 2 years after, all they did was brag about being the 'HD Leader'. They put up HD channels that had very little to no HD content (Viacom owned channels), tons of PPV channels, just so they could say they have the most HD channels. They played the numbers game and tricked foolish consumers into subscribing to their lackluster service.
They need a lot of them for NFL ST and all the other part time / overflow HD feeds. | |
| | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| said by Steve Mehs :Where on DirecTV can I find HBO 2 HD, HBO Signature HD, HBO Family HD, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Zone HD, Moremax HD, Actionmax HD, Thrillermax HD, Outermax HD, 5Starmax , @max HD, The Movie Channel Xtra HD, Encore HD, Investigation Discovery HD, RFD HD, E! HD, Style HD, G4 HD, Versus HD, LMN HD, MSNBC HD, Travel Channel HD, ESPN U HD, QVC HD, Fuse HD, AMC HD, WE HD, IFC HD, TCM HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, Outdoor Channel HD and HLN HD? likely to get them when the D-12 sat goes up at the end of year. | |
| | | Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN
| Most of the Channels you site Directv not having are pay or do not have the viewership in which they want to add currently. The exception is AMC and Travel. Directv had Versus until the dispute, so that doesn't really count. Many people are shying away from Movie channels, which is why Directv passed on Epix. Currently Directv has filled there Satelite capacity, cable co experience that with there nodes frequently.
Very soon Directv will launch D12. This will allow for them to launch most of the channels you mention. Given Directv is now advertising "Soon" to have 200 National HD channels, I suspect Directv will pass up cable once again. ESPNU HD has already been announced for no later than Feb. 2010.
I came from cable and prefer Satelite Picture, Sound and Pricing. I live in state with plenty of Snow. Since I went back to satellite, my signal has gone out a total of 30 minutes(Installed Nov. 1 '08). My In-Laws have Comcast and have had outages in storms that I have not with Directv.
Picture quality on Cable HD continues to get questioned as does Dish Network.
When is comes down to it is what you prefer to watch. I am like my sports. No one can compete with the HD Games I see on MLBEI, NHL CI and NFL ST. The Red Zone channel now carried by Dish and Cable Co's is not the same as Directv. Directv is much better, although I just watch the games live. | |
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Steve Mehs
Go Sabres
join:2005-07-16
1 edit | Re: satellite quote:
Most of the Channels you site Directv not having are pay or do not have the viewership in which they want to add currently.
That is BS. Three years ago when DirecTV launched D10, they added just about every HD channel around, there was no discrimination. The HD channels with no HD content (MTV HD), start up channels with zero viewers (Smithsonian HD, MGM HD), established channels with low viewership (Fuel HD). They didn't care they added whatever they could get their hands on to say they have the most HD. So what has changed between now and then? I'll tell you what their head got too big, and they figure since they got a bunch of subscribers they can continue to milk them and brainwash them.
As for the premium channels in HD, they should be there, who cares if you have to pay extra for them. DirecTV treats their high end subscribers like crap. Subscribers pay a pretty penny for Premier, they should get the bulk of the movie channels in HD. And to add value to their packages, look at Cinemax, I mean how much worse can you get. Cinemax, Moremax, the west coast feed of Cinemax and Cinemax in HD. I get all 8 unique Cinemax channels in SD, 7 of them in HD (Why we don't have Wmax HD yet is beyond me), Cinemax west and Cinemax on Demand for less then what DirecTV charges.
quote:
Very soon Directv will launch D12. This will allow for them to launch most of the channels you mention. Given Directv is now advertising "Soon" to have 200 National HD channels, I suspect Directv will pass up cable once again. ESPNU HD has already been announced for no later than Feb. 2010.
DirecTV also announced two years ago they would carry all the HBO HD channels 'soon' and that still has yet to happen. But they can't even carry all the HBO channels in SD, so who in their right mind would expect them to be there in HD.
And yep 200 HD channels. Let the marketing propaganda begin. According to my count, there are about 145 national HD channels broadcasting in the US currently. That includes every channel, all the west coast feeds if applicable and the 6 ES channels on Verizon Fios.
Just like they said they'd have 100 HD channels, when there was no where near that many available. Just more DirecTV lies.
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I came from cable and prefer Satelite Picture, Sound and Pricing. I live in state with plenty of Snow. Since I went back to satellite, my signal has gone out a total of 30 minutes(Installed Nov. 1 '08). My In-Laws have Comcast and have had outages in storms that I have not with Directv.
I live in the Buffalo area, we get our fair share of snow. Never any weather related outages with cable, hell since I've been back, no outages period other then what I mentioned above. Cable has been a hell of a lot more reliable then satellite ever was. And no, it was a signal problem on my end. On a clear day, all CONUS transponders on DirecTV were 95%+, and on Dish Network all CONUS transponders were 115 points or higher.
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Picture quality on Cable HD continues to get questioned as does Dish Network.
And picture quality on DirecTV never gets questioned? They were the ones that invented HD Lite for godsakes. I had DirecTV and Time Warner simultaneously on my own TV. Did A/B comparisons on many channels, overall TW was much better on SD. Much less compressed. I didn't have a DirecTV HD receiver so I couldn't do HD at the time, but so far I've converted 10 people to Time Warner from satellite. I have done A/B comparisons between TW and DirecTV and TW on Dish in both SD and HD at other people's houses. Same TV, same connection method, same color settings, same channels. DirecTV HD is no better no worse than TW in my area.
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When is comes down to it is what you prefer to watch. I am like my sports. No one can compete with the HD Games I see on MLBEI, NHL CI and NFL ST. The Red Zone channel now carried by Dish and Cable Co's is not the same as Directv. Directv is much better, although I just watch the games live.
The HD offerings for the sports packages are the only thing cable needs to work on. iNDemand needs to offer more in the way of HD for NHL CI, NBA LP and MLB EI, and MLS DK, if the MLS is even in HD. I know at this point in time, Comcast and Time Warner are the only two cable companies that have the bandwidth for this, but iNDemand should at least make the HD feeds avalable to cable systems that can carry them. And being that Comcast and TW are two of the three companies that make up iNDemand, they should push hard for this.
They are making improvements when it comes to the sports packages, Stats Channel, Mosaic channel and dual feeds of games, HD is the only missing piece of the puzzel.
And are you saying DirecTVs RedZone channel is much better then NFL RedZone? I've never seen either version, but some one on DBSTalk who has both DirecTV and Comcast compared the two. Funny he says they're nearly identical.
»www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=166146
And I didn't catch this until now, but what the hell is with Versus not couting because it was just removed? Time Warner removed HDNet and HDNet Movies a few months ago, and I mentioned them in the HD channels DirecTV carries that I don't have. Versus HD counts just as much as any other national channel.
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Don't Blame Me, I Voted For McCain
Welcome to The SSA, The Socialist States of Amerika, Lead By Your Dictator, Hussein Obama
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, B. Hussein Obama
Obama = Terrorist | |
| | 
kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
| said by Joe12345678 :Direct tv has better prices, better picture quality and better dvrs with bigger HD then comcast and Verizon and they have VOD and push VOD as well with 1080p movies. Directv stopped resampling and recompressing their signals? My FIOS is crystal clear, and with my flex package, I'm getting Extreme HD for $40/month. To get the same with DirecTV it would be about $35/month base from $10/month HD package. Could get close with the $30/month base, but that's still the same total price as I'm paying. Where are the better prices satellite offers? These are intro prices. After the promotion, Directv goes up $26/month. FIOS, only $18. At least you have bigger hard drives for the higher price. | |
| | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | Re: satellite and on fios HD Receiver $10/m per box HD DVR $16/m per box.
direct tv $5/m any box box one free. | |
| | jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
USA | Verizon has the best picture quality, though DirecTV is good compared to the cable companies and Uverse. | |
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comcastguy
@comcast.net | I love it when it rains and you have picture at all on satellite | |
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sapo
I eat meat
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Sacramento, CA
| said by comcastguy :
I love it when it rains and you have picture at all on satellite
Yeah, you probably never had satellite. Even when it got stormy (30mph+ winds) it still worked fine.
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DO DO | |
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crischen
join:2000-11-07
Anderson, IN | Re: satellite our DTV goes out EVERY time it rains.
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-Kinsey
Geeky chix0r | |
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sapo
I eat meat
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Sacramento, CA | Re: satellite I would call a technician, your dish must be loose or not aligned well.
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DO DO | |
| | np23
join:2005-10-28
united state | Don't you guys know by now that Steve "Lives-At-Home-With-Mommy" Mehs is never wrong, rich, has awesome credit, and brags every chance possible? | |
| | lovswr
join:2001-09-15
Stockbridge, GA
1 edit | said by Joe12345678 :Direct tv has better prices, better picture quality and better dvrs with bigger HD then comcast and Verizon and they have VOD and push VOD as well with 1080p movies. Well I'm a D* subscriber, but FiOS has the best across the board picture quality. No stat muxing for them (yet & possibly never)
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lovswr = good hivswr = bad | |
| 
Hpower
Roflmao
join:2000-06-08
Glendale, CA | TV? Don't need one. My computer keeps me entertained way more with much less commercials 
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The Internet is about to go down....it is actually. | |
| tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY | low cost? who cares about the count.. how about quality and price? having more of less quality and higher price won't be anything to brag about. let's not forfet all companies are increasingly going to have to compete with "FREE!" | |
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ht45
@comcast.net | Re: low cost? you mean like free hulu switch will not be free anymore after this year. | |
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jsz0
join:2008-01-23
Jewett City, CT
 ·Comcast
| You're assuming most people actually care about quality programming. I don't think that's even remotely true. You're also assuming that there's one standard of quality. If you really absolutely love game shows the Game Show Network is quality to you. If you love sports, ESPN is quality to you. Unfortunately most of the channels that would average out as quality programming or highly watched are among the most expensive. So maybe you could save consumers $15 or $20 a month but you've got to take a lot away to do it and alienate all these niches of programming that many people do want. | |
| yt
Premium
join:2008-06-03 | Yaawwwnnnn I literally yawned at this news. I bet several of you also did as well. Any +1's? | |
| | 
Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Yaawwwnnnn No "+1," but here's a link to submit news you think is more interesting. | |
| 
60529262
join:2007-01-11
Chicago, IL
1 edit | Yawn Who cares? This is about as interesting as watching Comcast's equipment fall off the poles around here. At least that pays off with a nice little fireworks display.
VoD count is one of those artificial differentiators companies use in their marketing to avoid talking about what matters: Price, price and price. Picture quality has already been thrown under the bus because they've figured out that many of their customers can't tell the difference between 480i and 720p so why bother to maintain the highest quality video? Just compress the shit out of it and squeeze a few more in there.
Pay TV is becoming irrelevant anyway, and they know it. | |
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b94ronmanve
@myvzw.com
| verizon idiots I have both directv & fios - fios wins in every respect except sports.....when comes to channels, movies, & HD - no one compares! if verizon ever figures out sports...directv & every other competor within a verizon market is done. Directv brags about all these HD channels but most are regional sports channels & distant nets that only select few can get. verizon has a marketing problem.....same as their wireless division...ATT blows but the Iphone kicks ass.....maps does not compare to apps...sorry....and this is big, fios big.....is F***king stupid - until they figure out a better marketing plan they will always be questioned, they should own the market they are in. | |
| 
ssj4android
Redefining Reality
join:2002-04-14
Wyoming, MI | Now if only AT&T would start competing on VOD Much much less free content than Comcast. And no (free) HD on demand (I don't know if Comcast/Verizon have that either). Not even widescreen, they'll send e.x. USA shows 4:3 letterbox. | |
| | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | Re: Now if only AT&T would start competing on VOD ATT needs to get rid of the 2 HD and @ SD limit per house first. | |
| 
Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ | Pricing I canceled my Cablevision service because it was too expensive. I don't give a shit about VOD. Just give me lower prices. $54 a month for 45 channels was too expensive. | |
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wwhhhaaaattt
@dslextreme.com
| No DN? Not one word about Dish Network? They've been doing their HD channels in full 1080p for months!!
Get real folks until these idiots stop compressing signal and go
to full 1080p you're all second tier.
So far every service anyone has mentioned so far compresses
their HD signal except Dish and DN has more HD channels than
anyone else right now. | |
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higer
@oakton.edu
| Re: No DN? said by wwhhhaaaattt :
Not one word about Dish Network? They've been doing their HD channels in full 1080p for months!!
Get real folks until these idiots stop compressing signal and go
to full 1080p you're all second tier.
So far every service anyone has mentioned so far compresses
their HD signal except Dish and DN has more HD channels than
anyone else right now.
Dish Network? does not have full 1080p and it's ppv / vod only.
also they count part time rsn HD as a full HD channel. | |
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