What is the rule on HD local feeds?

[calguy99]

Hi,

I live in an area in California where I can barely receive one Grade B local network NBC channel. I have the SD NY and LA network feeds since 1997 (grandfathered) I plan on getting an HDTV in the near future. My question is if I choose to get HD programming can I get just the LA HD networks and the NY HD networks. Or just the LA HD networks or can I choose between NY or LA. And is a PBS HD feed included with the networks?

Thanks

[Wirelezz]

You will only be allowed HD waivers from LA. Also it is up to your local network's discretion whether or not you will even get the HD waivers. Having the SD waivers is no guarantee that you will get the HD waivers.

Call D* and ask the CSR to transfer you to the HD DNS Eligibility Division . They are the people you need to speak to.

[JimSpence]

There is no PBS HD feed from DirecTV.

[Brillian1080p]

I would gladly put up an OTA antenna, but I'm 3 1/2 hours away from the nearest city that might transmit OTA HD signals.

I'm very frustrated at the local NBC. I have applied and been denied twice for the waiver. I understand why they won't give it if you can receive locals, but I'm not even close.

Why do they do this and what can I do. Like a lot of others I have put a lot of time and money into my system and I'm missing a large percentage of HD material!

Where I lived before I had an OTA Antenna and the closest transmitter was about 45 miles away. It was borderline acceptable distance and depending on weather conditions the channels would drop in and out. The antenna was about six feet above the roof line on my two story house with no obstructions.

[Dssturbo1]

i think you can request an OTA signal test at your location. IF it doesn't pass they wil give you the feeds you need.

[Wirelezz]

I'm very frustrated at the local NBC. I have applied and been denied twice for the waiver. I understand why they won't give it if you can receive locals, but I'm not even close.
Did you try contacting your local NBC station directly? I fought D* for 5 weeks to get my FOX HD waiver. Contacting the broadcast engineer & station manager at my local FOX station finally did the trick after I convinced them that I absolutely did not receive their OTA signal.

[Brillian1080p]

Usually I can be very persistant but we just moved here a couple months back and I've been very busy building fences and now a garage.

Thank you for the suggestion on the reception test and contacting the station directly.

It seems like testing the reception would be the logical common sense thing to do, but whenever I call Dtv they never offer any information other than there is nothing anyone can do if the waiver is not granted. I thought that was rediculous.

If the purpose is to make sure I'm only receiving local advertisement than they are defeating that purpose, I'm not getting anything on NBC HD.

Happily, their purpose gets defeated anyway, I rarely watch commercials.

Who will do the reception test, someone from the local station or a Dtv contracted installer?

By the way, thank you for your help.

[stevel]

Comments from others seem to suggest that if DirecTV is offering the HD locals from the MPEG4 satellites in your area, they will now refuse to submit waivers for the HD distant networks, even though DirecTV does not offer a DVR that can receive these HD locals from the satellite.

[Brillian1080p]

The last few times I talked to Dtv they say sometime in May all the locals will be offered by Sat.

Maybe they are talking about the same thing you are. They didn't mention that the mpeg4 was tied to the locals.

[GrnBayViper]

i think you can request an OTA signal test at your location. IF it doesn't pass they wil give you the feeds you need.


How do you request this? I know I would fail with flying colors being in a valley and would love to get FOX, ABC, and NBC NY feeds. Right now only CBS will grant me.

[Brillian1080p]

I'm asking the same question, so someone will make two of us happy!

[Wirelezz]

How do you request this? I know I would fail with flying colors being in a valley and would love to get FOX, ABC, and NBC NY feeds. Right now only CBS will grant me.
I'm asking the same question, so someone will make two of us happy!
Guys, I really hate to rain on your parade, but it's my understanding that the signal test for HD waivers is really more of a myth and doesn't even exist. There was a time when signal tests were done for SD waivers, but I don't think there's a way to signal test for HD waivers. I've been reading these boards for about 3 months now and I've never read a post by anyone who's actually had a signal test done for HD waivers. Maybe if there's someone who's actually "been there done that" they could weigh in on this.

If you really want to learn a lot more about this, check out <This Thread> (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=274928)

And it might be helpful for you to <FIND OUT IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE FOR DNS> (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx) by entering your location information on D*'s DNS Eligibility page.

Bottom line, if D* turns down your initial requests for HD waivers, your only option left is to contact your local stations and get them to grant the waivers. That's how I succeeded getting my HD FOX waiver after D* turned me down. My wife & kids would have killed me if I didn't (American Idol!!). :D

[ayrton911]

I have a question about this.

I have no ABC affiliate anywhere near me. None at all. Will DirecTV give me ABC HD? If so, how much will it cost?

[stevel]

It doesn't cost anything to get a distant network feed, as long as you have locals in your package. It isn't up to DirecTV to decide - they have to file a waiver request with whatever is considered your local ABC affiliate, and that would probably be whichever one they supply in the locals package for your Zip code, if in fact there is one.

[GrnBayViper]

I just talked to DirecTV and was told locals would be availabe in a lot of new markets including my area, Green Bay, WI, this fall. He also said that their HD DVR would be released in June or July of this year.

He told me I could request an equipment upgrade at that time to replace my HR10-250 so that when the switch is flipped I would be all set. The fee for upgrade will be around $99-$150 and will be a lease with a lifetime waranty. The installer may or may not take the HR10-150 during the upgrade.

So with that said, there is hope for all of us who can't get a signal OTA very soon. I am just going to stick it out. Once I have the new HD DRV and 5 LNB dish up I'll sleep a lot easier knowing all thats left is for the switch to be flipped giving me my local HD channels.

[Dirac]

Go ahead and ask for the NY distant HD nets... DirecTV will file the waivers for you, and in some cases they may be able to turn them on immediately. As Steve mentioned, it won't cost any extra. Here they have prearranged agreements with 3 of the 4 Mobile affiliates, so they turned those on right away and I'm just waiting for a response from CBS (WKRG).

Their HD DVR release in June or July is optimistic, but you might see it by the end of this year. Whether or not it is an "upgrade" is a subject of much speculation.

To the OP, which DMA do you live in? If you're in LA, the LA distant HD nets are part of your locals package; you don't need HD feeds "turned on" or even the HD package. Just the locals package is sufficient.

[ayrton911]

Question:

Will DirecTV use MPEG4 for things other than local HDs? They are never going to offer locals for me, so would a HD TiVo have a longer life for someone like me?

[nazz]

The fee for upgrade will be around $99-$150 and will be a lease with a lifetime waranty. The installer may or may not take the HR10-150 during the upgrade.

Is this accurate and if so please explain? We have expensive units that we own and we have to pay to upgrade to a lease?

[GrnBayViper]

What I know is that all of the HD channels will be going to MPEG4 according the the rep I spoke with in Retension. Thus everyone who wants HD will need the swap. I would assume this is DirecTV's way of getting everyone onto the lease theory. I agree that this sucks but there is really no choice. The only positive part to it is that there is a lifetime waranty. The units will not rely on the phone line either. The software upgrades will be done via satellite. The phone line will only be needed if you want caller ID is what they told me.

I was also told that there will be a lease fee of $4.99 per ird that will replace the additional reciever fee of $4.99. There may or may not be plans to allow the non HD recivers you own on your account to be continue receiving the mirror of your master reciver at no cost. They simply may keep the additional reiceiver fee on your account of $4.99. Why give people a break?? :mad:

Back in the day you could get Total Choice for $29.95 and over the past 5 years I think, it's gone up to $44.95. That's outradous in my opinion.

I guess all we can do is sit back and see what happens in the near future.

[nazz]

Thanks for the reply. I knew the need to swap was coming but I thought we were going to get a pretty much even swap and own the unit. I figured the lease situation would be for those who didn't invest in the way that we all did.

[ayrton911]

My issue with all these new ideas from DirecTV is they've taken the do it yourself out of satellite TV. I absolutely hate having those installers come to my home. Maybe I have bad luck, but the ones who come to me usually do a terrible job and know little or nothing about what they are installing. I love doing it myself. It is enjoyable to spend time working on something you want.

Furthermore, when you have to have an installer to swap out a receiver, it is absolutely ridiculous IMHO. Even my cable company would let me swap a receiver myself.

[Dirac]

Question:

Will DirecTV use MPEG4 for things other than local HDs? They are never going to offer locals for me, so would a HD TiVo have a longer life for someone like me?

If you can get the national HD feeds, the current school of thought is that DirecTV will be keeping them in MPEG2 for some time, at least until most of the local markets are available in HD. New national HD channels (the 150 they keep promising) will be on their new MPEG4-capable sats. However, just-added TNT-HD is in MPEG2.

The HD-TiVo will always be good for OTA HD broadcasts, and they will probably not be switching SD to MPEG4 anytime soon, as that will make almost every SD receiver out there obsolete. HD is a much smaller market so they could do the "forced" upgrade to lease like everyone's worried about. Whether they do and risk alienating those who spent $1000 on an HR10-250 remains to be seen.

At the very least, I hope everything that is currently HD MPEG2 will stay that way.