26 HBO channels in the next year - DTV carries 10

[TyroneShoes]

So HBO is stepping up and putting all 26 channels in HD by this time next year, and the service who has been promising that they will have capacity for 150 HD channels will only carry 10 of them. That sounds about right.


http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/hbo-expands-hd-commitment-0619/index.html

http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/directv-hbo-cinemax-hd-feeds-0619/

[scotzman]

The only channels DTV doesn't carry are HBO Comedy (East/West) and HBO Zone (East/West)... Cinemax is an entirely different channel.

Not following your beef here. :down: :down:

[drew2k]

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=355498

The promise of 150 channels can be met when both satellites are launched, but only one is going up this year and DirecTV has already announced over 70 HD channels, including the new HD HBO channels. Speculation is that DirecTV is starting off by matching their current HBO SD channels in HD, and that when the second satellite goes up next year, DirecTV can expand their HBO offerings.

(By the way, how many cable companies will be offering all 26 HD HBO channels?)

[vertigo235]

Actually I think D* is going to carry all of them by the end of next year.

[gio1269]

So HBO is stepping up and putting all 26 channels in HD by this time next year, and the service who has been promising that they will have capacity for 150 HD channels will only carry 10 of them. That sounds about right.


http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/hbo-expands-hd-commitment-0619/index.html

http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/directv-hbo-cinemax-hd-feeds-0619/

Who the hell wants/needs 26 HBO channels? There is nothing on with the ones that D* or Comcast carries now. The Sopranos is over now...

IMO, 99% of the movie channels suck!
It reminds me of that old Springsteen song....:26 channels and nothing on!" :mad: :rolleyes:

[TyroneShoes]

The only channels DTV doesn't carry are HBO Comedy (East/West) and HBO Zone (East/West)... Cinemax is an entirely different channel.

Not following your beef here. :down: :down:
Congratulations. You have successfully understood neither my post nor the news report connected at either link. If you had, you would have understood:

1. HBO has 26 unique network channels.
2. The Cinemax channels, also owned by HBO's parent company, are included among them.
3.That there is no need to instruct me or any of the rest of us as to which of them DTV carries or doesn't carry currently. We can read a EPG as well as anyone else can.
4. That I was merely reporting the news of these links, which has likely not been reported here before (but OK, I could have missed that, even though I check all new posts here daily).
5. That I neither have nor stated any "beef".

Hell, I don't even have HBO. The only way I would be excited about 26 HBO channels is if all of them had significant HD content that I was interested in. They don't, and it doesn't appear that they ever will. As it stands as far as content goes, HBO is a shadow of its former self in the "Dennis Miller Live"/"The Larry Sanders Show" days, "The Sopranos" nonwithstanding. Being generous, HBOHD is probably less than 70% HD, and I'd be lucky to find one movie a month that would make it worthwhile. The only content left is "Real Time", and that's not on right now, and never has been in HD.

[bonscott87]

Brave man posting that here since nobody with a Tivo can receive these new HD channels. I was going to post it here as an FYI when the news on this broke a couple weeks ago but I figured I'd get flamed for it so I left it alone. ;)

Good info in any case.

Quick correction though, DirecTV will carry 11 of them (they already carry 1). As for the rest, my speculation is that they will carry the rest once D11 goes up (those doubting DirecTV's 100 HD by the end of the year should note they are nearly there already and have D10 nearly filled up). However, I'm sure that HBO would insist that they carry the SD versions of these channels as well and for that they have no bandwidth to do so until they can shut off MPEG2 HD which is probably more then a year away yet.

So if their contract with HBO allows them to carry the HD versions and not the SD versions I'm sure we'll see the other 15 by next summer. If not we'll have to wait for MPEG2 HD shutdown.

[joed32]

HBO and Cinemax combined = 13 channels each with an East and West that adds up to 26.
D* announced that they will add 10. They already have one so that will total 11 out of 13. Not 10 out of 26!

[TonyTheTiger]

Who the hell wants/needs 26 HBO channels? There is nothing on with the ones that D* or Comcast carries now. The Sopranos is over now...

IMO, 99% of the movie channels suck!
It reminds me of that old Springsteen song....:26 channels and nothing on!" :mad: :rolleyes:

Not to be picky, but wasn't that "57 channels and nothing on"?

[Sir_winealot]

Brave man posting that here since nobody with a Tivo can receive these new HD channels. I was going to post it here as an FYI when the news on this broke a couple weeks ago but I figured I'd get flamed for it so I left it alone. ;)




Pretty certain that it was posted here on the very day the news came out ...and that yer brother Earl ( :D ) was the one that posted it.

[BOBCAT]

A lot of the junk movies that HBO and Showtime puts on HD are just up converted SD. No point in putting 26 channels of that up there. D* compresses the HD soo much, that they might as well leave it on the SD channels. The only thing you get from HD over SD is a 16x9 picture without stretching the picture like in SD. Discovery and HDNET are the most consistent in fair HD quality, but it could be better. Also, why bother putting STARZ on HD?
The big problem is that D* only broadcast in 1280x1080I, not in the 1920x1080I HD standard. So we really are not getting real HD unless we receive it directly over the air to our HD TV.
It seems like Quantity, not Quality is the order of the day.

[cowboys2002]

Haven't had HBO in over 8 years.

Grew tired of the east/west/central etc. feeds of the same thing. Same goes for Family, Espanol, etc.

I rent the HBP Originals when the DVD become available.

I'm really more interested in HD PPV movies and Sports.

[RunnerFL]

Grew tired of the east/west/central etc. feeds of the same thing.

That's kind of the point behind HBO East and HBO West. They are the same thing on just in different time zones.

[TonyTheTiger]

I had to let out a little chuckle last night when a "This program is sponsored in part by" ad came on and it was D*. What made me laugh was the tag "Soon to be the provider with the most HD channels".


"Soon to be". WTH is up with that???????

[TonyD79]

I had to let out a little chuckle last night when a "This program is sponsored in part by" ad came on and it was D*. What made me laugh was the tag "Soon to be the provider with the most HD channels".


"Soon to be". WTH is up with that???????

Uh, right now, around September.

[TonyTheTiger]

Ok, I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm willing to bet dinner on it not happening. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it does, though.

[Hoffer]

I would rather get 16 channels of non-HBO stuff. How many HBOs does a person really need. They play the same crap over and over again on their main channel.

[Cudahy]

Anyone with Tivo only needs one HBO & Showtime. If they had only added a Starz and Cinemax before dumping mpeg2 we would have had all new movies in HD.

[LoopinFool]

Also, why bother putting STARZ on HD?
Ummm, because I understand they show movies in OAR (original aspect ratio) and have exclusive rights to quite a few titles?
We find ourselves recording a lot more movies on Starz than HBO. I'd love just one StarzHD before any more HBOHD channels.

- LoopinFool

[bonscott87]

Ok, I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm willing to bet dinner on it not happening. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it does, though.

Mark your calendar for 2 weeks from today as that is when the new sat goes up. Assuming it goes up with no problems then you'll be paying for dinner. They aren't spending hundreds of millions to put up sats and complete their 3 year plan on time for nothing. ;)

[TonyTheTiger]

Much as I like D* (been with them since the PrimeStar takeover), I'm not holding my breath!!!

[drew2k]

Much as I like D* (been with them since the PrimeStar takeover), I'm not holding my breath!!!You're not holding your breath about what? That the satellite will launch? That new HD channels will be in service in September? That the new HBO channels will be in service this year?

I don't get the doubt. It's going to happen: New satellite, new HD. It's on the way.

[terpfan1980]

About the only HBO channel that I have any interest in and which DirecTV doesn't carry is HBO Comedy. Outside of that channel, I really don't feel the need for the rest of the channels that they offer.

I know HBO Comedy is mostly rehashes of old programs that HBO did in their past, but I'd like to have the option to see that stuff without having to get DVDs of it all, or without having to wait forever to see it come to another of HBO's channels.

Otherwise, I agree with comments above, give me 15 channels of something else to watch, rather than rehashes of the same stuff that is already available plenty of times on the 9 or so channels of HBO that is carried by DirecTV.

[bonscott87]

Otherwise, I agree with comments above, give me 15 channels of something else to watch, rather than rehashes of the same stuff that is already available plenty of times on the 9 or so channels of HBO that is carried by DirecTV.

I'm not sure why anyone would complain about more channels. I mean, I can make the same comment about any set of channels coming up. Disney HD? Whatever, don't need it. USA HD? Don't want it. And so on and so forth. But I'm not complaining about these new channels. If you don't like HBO, don't subscribe to it. Don't bash the fact that they are all going HD. :confused:

[bonscott87]

Much as I like D* (been with them since the PrimeStar takeover), I'm not holding my breath!!!

Yea, I'm also not sure why you'd be holding your breath.

Sat launch in less then 2 weeks.
Dozens new HD channels 3 months later.

All according to the plan started nearly 4 years ago.

No breath holding needed. :D

[terpfan1980]

I'm not sure why anyone would complain about more channels. I mean, I can make the same comment about any set of channels coming up. Disney HD? Whatever, don't need it. USA HD? Don't want it. And so on and so forth. But I'm not complaining about these new channels. If you don't like HBO, don't subscribe to it. Don't bash the fact that they are all going HD. :confused:

I'm not bashing the fact that they are all going HD, or that there is a healthy collection of those channels on DirecTV -- I'm saying I agree with the idea that I would prioritize a few other channels over getting a second copy (note that is a second HD copy) of the same stuff that there would already be an HD copy of.

With apologies to my friends and acquaintances on the left coast, I don't see the need to have West coast feeds of every HBO channel, nor Mountain, etc.

Get one each of the main HBO channels to HD -- including HBO Comedy plz -- and then worry about getting other HBO channels in HD after getting USA HD, Disney HD, and a bunch of other channels in HD.

Even when we do get the new satellite up there providing us with a lot more MPEG4 content, there are still going to be issues with limited space available to carry all of those channels.

DirecTV still has to be smart about managing what channels they carry and carrying every available HBO channel while not carrying other channels that more people would be interested in would be silly.

I want a lot of choice in my HD content, and that comes from having more *other* content available versus more content from the same basic channel suite.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Starz! HD (though Starz! is incredibly repetitive with their programming) and a few channels of same, along with USA HD, Disney HD, and a few other channels that I know I could watch in HD. I don't begrudge anyone else their choice of what they might want to see in HD, I just don't see the need to prioritize, or cry over, the supposed lack of HBO content in HD when a lot of other content isn't there yet and should be given a priority in the line to get there.

Finally, going back to the limited bandwidth issue, I most definitely don't want to see the status quo carried over once the new bird gets up there. Meaning I don't think we should be pushing for so much content that we have to suffer through more HD-Lite just so we can see a full suite of HBO channels when a lot of that full suite is repeats of stuff available elsewhere.