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View Full Version : DIRECTV Adds aMC HD

FilmCritic3000
09-10-2011, 03:13 AM
Finally! It's about time.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/damc090211.htm

The HD feed launched at 6AM Eastern this morning.
photoshopgrl
09-10-2011, 04:18 AM
It IS about time. Now I can get rid of Time Warner and go back to Directv.
IndyJones1023
09-10-2011, 07:22 AM
Now I don't have to bitorrent their shows!
TonyTheTiger
09-10-2011, 09:21 AM
OK for fans of the original TV shows, but not for movie fans.

How can ANY channel call itself a movie channel when it interrupts them with ads?

I don't care if it is HD, I still won't watch.

I'm waiting for BBC America in HD. I'll still torrent the shows to avoid the ads, but at least I can rewatch Dr Who and Top Gear as it's meant to be seen.
Gunnyman
09-10-2011, 10:06 AM
AMC was ad free in the beginning. Not sure when they switched to being ad supported.
Hoffer
09-10-2011, 01:14 PM
Cool!! Just added the show to my DVR's queue.
trainman
09-10-2011, 02:12 PM
How can ANY channel call itself a movie channel when it interrupts them with ads?

Officially, "AMC" no longer stands for anything -- so, technically, they're not calling themselves a movie channel.

Although the statement on their website is "...the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories," and one could argue the stories are being compromised by all those commercials.
photoshopgrl
09-10-2011, 02:14 PM
I'm to the point that with my networked bluray player, I almost always download my shows in 720p. I get no commercials and don't feel guilty about downloading them because I am still paying TW for every channel under the sun.
Wil
09-10-2011, 03:18 PM
AMC was ad free in the beginning. Not sure when they switched to being ad supported.About the time Turner Classic Movies started taking off.

AMC's library was more limited. It became clear to them that the type of audience that was willing to watch 1950s/60s B-minus westerns all week long (AMC was at the time referred to as the "Audie Murphy Channel"), was not exactly movie purist, and that commercials would probably be tolerated.
Mike_TV
09-10-2011, 03:30 PM
OK for fans of the original TV shows, but not for movie fans.

How can ANY channel call itself a movie channel when it interrupts them with ads?

I don't care if it is HD, I still won't watch.



Agree with you. They've had not one but two on screen "bugs" during the John Wayne film that they were showing and when they dropped to pillar boxed commercials, embedded the bugs inside the pillars.
FilmCritic3000
09-10-2011, 10:29 PM
AMC was ad free in the beginning. Not sure when they switched to being ad supported.

On September 30th, 2002.
Fleegle
09-11-2011, 02:05 AM
Now I don't have to bitorrent their shows!

This! I've torrented every episode of Breaking bad and The Walking dead that 've seen so far because DirecTV hasn't had AMC in HD. Sorry, I'm not going to watch an SD version of a brand new series in 2011.

The biggest plus for this is that I will see it in 1080i, (De-interlaced), instead of 720p. :)
analog4
09-11-2011, 11:48 PM
Does anyone know if they will re-air all of the Season 4 Breaking Bad episodes at some point before the finale? (Usually cable shows will (some, not all) will air all episodes leading up to the finale the day of the finale (starting around 6 - 9AM, and go until 3/6PM and wait a few hours then the finale)?

I have all of this Breaking Bad season in SD, but I'd gladly wait to watch it in HD. (I have other stuff in HD to watch anyway)
Michael S
09-11-2011, 11:53 PM
Does anyone know if they will re-air all of the existing Breaking Bad episodes at some point before the finale? (Usually cable shows will (some, not all) will air all episodes leading up to the finale the day of the finale (starting around 6 - 9AM, and go until 3/6PM and wait a few hours then the finale)?

I have all of this Breaking Bad season in SD, but I'd gladly wait to watch it in HD. (I have other stuff in HD to watch anyway)

If you have netflix they just added the first 3 seasons to instant yesterday.
analog4
09-12-2011, 12:26 AM
If you have netflix they just added the first 3 seasons to instant yesterday.I was referring to the currently airing season, Season 4. I clarified my original post.
DreadPirateRob
09-12-2011, 12:51 AM
Yes! Now I won't have to BT The Walking Dead (or Mad Men in the spring)!
Steveknj
09-12-2011, 07:50 AM
Now if AMC can do us a solid and have marathons of Breaking Bad (and Mad Men, I'd give that another shot I think...I watched the pilot and found it boring...and in SD it was too much to deal with). Did you say that both are Netflix streaming now?
pmyers
09-12-2011, 01:24 PM
Now if AMC can do us a solid and have marathons of Breaking Bad (and Mad Men, I'd give that another shot I think...I watched the pilot and found it boring...and in SD it was too much to deal with..

+1, especially with Mad Men. I didn't make it past the first episode because it wasn't in HD.
Gunnyman
09-12-2011, 01:42 PM
I agree I want to get into breaking bad, but I've missed too many seasons.
DLiquid
09-12-2011, 02:42 PM
Awesome news! :up:
Hoffer
09-12-2011, 02:58 PM
I agree I want to get into breaking bad, but I've missed too many seasons.

I didn't start watching Breaking Bad until half way through season 3. Definitely a show worth watching no matter how far behind you are.
Fleegle
09-12-2011, 05:14 PM
I'm so glad I'm not the only HD snob around here :)
DreadPirateRob
09-12-2011, 06:22 PM
I'm so glad I'm not the only HD snob around here :)

I used to look down on the HD snobs...


until I got HD. :)
FilmCritic3000
09-12-2011, 08:46 PM
I used to look down on the HD snobs...


until I got HD. :)

:D :up:
mattack
09-12-2011, 09:53 PM
How can ANY channel call itself a movie channel when it interrupts them with ads?
...
I'm waiting for BBC America in HD. I'll still torrent the shows to avoid the ads, but at least I can rewatch Dr Who and Top Gear as it's meant to be seen.

You do realize that Top Gear is *cut for more commercials*.. (Except apparently for the VERY FIRST airings on the premiere date.. they have a 1:20 running time, and I haven't tried to cut one down to see how long they really are.. Subsequent airings are in a 1:00 timeslot.)

Also, as for the first comment, even though nowadays I have netflix, I've always thought that something like "HBO with commercials" would be an interesting experiment. Sure, the vast majority of us would record and FF through the commercials. But if you showed *unedited* movies with commercial breaks that people had to sign up for (but would be a VERY low or nonexistent charge), it would be intriguing to see if it could at least break even.
TonyTheTiger
09-13-2011, 08:02 AM
You do realize that Top Gear is *cut for more commercials*.. (Except apparently for the VERY FIRST airings on the premiere date.. they have a 1:20 running time, and I haven't tried to cut one down to see how long they really are.. Subsequent airings are in a 1:00 timeslot.)

Yes I do, which is why I torrent the shows from the UK for the first airing! I merely meant that I could watch something other than the other mindless dross that's passed off as entertainment!

Also, as for the first comment, even though nowadays I have netflix, I've always thought that something like "HBO with commercials" would be an interesting experiment. Sure, the vast majority of us would record and FF through the commercials. But if you showed *unedited* movies with commercial breaks that people had to sign up for (but would be a VERY low or nonexistent charge), it would be intriguing to see if it could at least break even.

I bought a widescreen HD TV many years ago so I could duplicate the theater experience as closely as possible. While I don't consider myself an expert, I DO want to see a movie as it was intended to be seen. I hate the fact that regular network shows are interrupted by commercials, let alone the hack job they perform on movies so they can show R rated releases on a Sunday afternoon!
tiellv
09-13-2011, 11:06 AM
:up:
DougF
09-13-2011, 12:18 PM
+1, especially with Mad Men. I didn't make it past the first episode because it wasn't in HD.

I like HD, too, but I just don't get comments like that. It's a great show. Doesn't matter to me at all that it's not in HD.

What's even stranger is when someone says they watch a show they absolutely don't like because it's in HD.
DreadPirateRob
09-13-2011, 12:37 PM
I like HD, too, but I just don't get comments like that. It's a great show. Doesn't matter to me at all that it's not in HD.

SD looks absolutely terrible on my plasma. It gives my wife a headache after a minute or two, and I start to get one not long after.

It looks a *little* better on the LCD in the den, but that's a much smaller screen (32" vs. 50"), and I sit a little farther away.

Either way, I'd rather obtain the show in HD via an alternate source than watch an SD version of it on DirecTV. But now, I don't have to. Yay to DirecTV.
pmyers
09-13-2011, 12:54 PM
I like HD, too, but I just don't get comments like that. It's a great show. Doesn't matter to me at all that it's not in HD.

What's even stranger is when someone says they watch a show they absolutely don't like because it's in HD.

Because it looks like sh*t on a HD tv. Not to mention that HD is now the standard in the marketplace and there are way too many other shows I can watch that are in HD that I won't miss the ones that aren't.

Same reason I don't have dial-up internet anymore....
Steveknj
09-13-2011, 03:42 PM
Because it looks like sh*t on a HD tv. Not to mention that HD is now the standard in the marketplace and there are way too many other shows I can watch that are in HD that I won't miss the ones that aren't.

Same reason I don't have dial-up internet anymore....

ditto.
Hoffer
09-14-2011, 08:59 AM
It's one thing if a show isn't available in HD anywhere. If I can get a show in HD off usenet or bit torrent, then that is where I get it. I'll watch a show in SD if that is the only way I can see it. Thing is I don't remember the last show I watched in SD at home.
pmyers
09-14-2011, 09:33 AM
It's one thing if a show isn't available in HD anywhere. If I can get a show in HD off usenet or bit torrent, then that is where I get it. I'll watch a show in SD if that is the only way I can see it. Thing is I don't remember the last show I watched in SD at home.

yeah...I love Breaking Bad...but watching it in SD when I know it was available in HD just wasn't going to happen so I've had to get it via other means. I'm happy I can watch everythign in real time now.
RMBittner
09-14-2011, 10:35 AM
Glad for the AMCHD news, since we'll be switching from cable to DTV next month.

I have to agree with all of those frustrated by SD on an HD screen. We currently don't have AMC or Lifetime in HD, and they -- being in our lower, non-digital tier -- are absolutely terrible in SD. The sound is noisy and scratchy and, because they're widescreen shows that we have to zoom, they're incredibly dark and grainy on a 50" screen. (Sure, we could watch them in 4:3, but that's nearly as unbearable.) "Mad Men," especially, was often so dark that you couldn't tell what was happening in some scenes.

Just to show my wife what she was missing -- and to further my argument for the DirecTV switch -- I downloaded the latest "Project Runway" in HD from iTunes. Even played back from my iPad, the difference in picture/audio quality was dramatic.

Bob