[restino]

"reached orbit but hasn't become operational yet..."

(please, NO directv service reps need reply with their propaganda on this thread - its your statements that we are talking about )

does anyone find these comments aweful forward thinking and overly hopeful? i mean, why not wait until they get it all done. they are risking pissing off their customers. think of what happens if something doesn't work.

what company in their right mind has their customer service reps, tv ads and website tell people that a new service is coming, given the obvious complications of deploying a sat, and that its almost here, even though they are just getting the sat tested? no thanks. i won't be using vista anytime soon for the same reason.

everyone needs a new dish, new b-band convertors, new boxes, hope they have the system fully worked out, which they don't and they probably never will lol given their crappy HR20 software containted in a simple non-orbiting box hehe, etc, etc.

and YES, it is a very complicated process to get sats up and an entire new system working and programmed. if you don't realize this then think about it a bit longer.

i find it amazing that they are pushing so hard before all this is already up, tested, debugged and running. i'm going to LMAO if they have a total failure somehow hehe.

 

[dswallow]

Considering they currently are testing it with 80 feeds of HD video, I'd say it's going pretty well.

I do agree there were some substantial risks of their ad campaign running before the satellite had even launched, let alone was operational, but DirecTV was also facing some serious competitive issues and they apparently felt the risks were worth the opportunity to get people to choose to wait rather than jump on other services.

 

[joelq]

"reached orbit but hasn't become operational yet..."

(please, NO directv service reps need reply with their propaganda on this thread - its your statements that we are talking about )

does anyone find these comments aweful forward thinking and overly hopeful? i mean, why not wait until they get it all done. they are risking pissing off their customers. think of what happens if something doesn't work.

what company in their right mind has their customer service reps, tv ads and website tell people that a new service is coming, given the obvious complications of deploying a sat, and that its almost here, even though they are just getting the sat tested? no thanks. i won't be using vista anytime soon for the same reason.

everyone needs a new dish, new b-band convertors, new boxes, hope they have the system fully worked out, which they don't and they probably never will lol given their crappy HR20 software containted in a simple non-orbiting box hehe, etc, etc.

and YES, it is a very complicated process to get sats up and an entire new system working and programmed. if you don't realize this then think about it a bit longer.

i find it amazing that they are pushing so hard before all this is already up, tested, debugged and running. i'm going to LMAO if they have a total failure somehow hehe.

LOL! Your ignorance makes it clear that you've obviously never been involved in the implementation and marketing launch of a new product or service. Software companies, car companies, consumer electronics companies, etc typically announce their products months ahead of time, even though they know there's a risk the schedules may slip. Apple may be the only large company that announces products the day they are available, but they're definitely in the minority.

The bigger question in my mind is, though - just exactly WHY are you SO upset and almost wishing failure on DirecTV? There's something behind this, I just know it. Somebody poke a stick in your anthill? LOL!

 

[joelq]

Considering they currently are testing it with 80 feeds of HD video, I'd say it's going pretty well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think the actual HD video feeds were available yet, in engineering/testing mode or otherwise. From what I've read, all that's available are guide placeholders for the new channels, but no video yet.

 

[dswallow]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think the actual HD video feeds were available yet, in engineering/testing mode or otherwise. From what I've read, all that's available are guide placeholders for the new channels, but no video yet.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=364286

 

[joelq]

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=364286

Thanks, Doug. I did see that thread, as well as the original thread at AVSForum, but my interpretation was that the channels were merely on the guide in engineering mode and that there was no programming being transmitted yet. But I could be wrong.

Either way, I _do_ think they are real close and (back to the OP's point), if DirecTV were thinking they'd slip, they probably wouldn't be ramping up the marketing as it appears they've done the last few days.

 

[narrod]

If you've ever been in sales you will understand that if you don't have what the customers wants tell them what you are going to have. Think of a preacher telling his flock how good things are going to be in the promised land.

 

[Jon J]

i'm going to LMAO if they have a total failure somehow hehe.

It seems assured your butt will stay firmly attached and if you laugh you'll laugh alone.

 

[restino]

LOL! Your ignorance makes it clear that you've obviously never been involved in the implementation and marketing launch of a new product or service. Software companies, car companies, consumer electronics companies, etc typically announce their products months ahead of time, even though they know there's a risk the schedules may slip. Apple may be the only large company that announces products the day they are available, but they're definitely in the minority.

you are trying to create a reality that doesn't exist. even microsoft didn't sell you computers without operating systems and say "hey, we will send you the OS when we have it ready" and they are the worst offenders. also you are not understanding the complexity of deploying a sat. they are seriously hedging their bets.

and yes i will be laughing my butt off if it fails horribly hehe. if i were running the company i wouldn't have placed tv ads saying "the sat is in orbit and almost operational". i'm sure many people heard that commerical and are probably saying the same thing i did.

go research "HUBBLE" on google and you might see what is being talked about.

 

[JoeyJoJo]

you are trying to create a reality that doesn't exist. even microsoft didn't sell you computers without operating systems and say "hey, we will send you the OS when we have it ready" and they are the worst offenders. .
.

First, microsoft doesn't sell computers.

Actually that's EXACTLY what they did though -- Most of the PC's sold a couple of months before the release of Vista came with coupons to upgrade as soon as it was available.

 

[royy13]

even microsoft didn't sell you computers without operating systems and say "hey, we will send you the OS when we have it ready" and they are the worst offenders.

Microsoft did sell computers with Vista before it was offered. I work at Costco in the electronics department and this is what they did. They sold the computer with XP in it, but put a sticker and littered the place with literature that stated you will be able to get a free upgrade to Vista once it was released. That is selling a computer using Vista to push the sale before the product was released.

Roy

 

[ebonovic]

To the OP's point...

Just about EVERY company out there follows this model...
They announce, what they have reasonable belief to happen...

The Current generaiton of gaming systems XBOX360, PS3, Wii all announced a LONG time before they were released.

TV networks... promote the heck out of shows that are not goign to air for months... and may only last a week.

Sports teams... actively sell season tickets for the NEXT season, which has ZERO guarantees to it.

Automanufaturers... they show you their next years model car, about a week after the current model is released

...... and so on

This is no the first sat they have launched, I think it is their 14th or 15th....
They have a pretty good handle on what to expect for it.

They even have a "backup" one ready to go, if there were significant problems.... sure things may have been delayed (As seen by the SeaLaunch explosion, which has pushed back some of their plans to 2008).

 

[Fish Man]

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=364286

Following through that thread, and the two threads at other forums linked to it, many of the channels showing up in engineering mode are either placeholders or on only part time.

That being said....

DirecTV-10 has reached its position at 103 and is undergoing test. The mapping of about 20 new transponders labeled "103(b)" in the signal strength screen are visible to all customers who have Ka/MPEG4 capable receivers.

These transponders, if you are nerdy enough to sit there and play with your signal strength screen, can be seen lighting up with signals of various strengths for a time, and then shutting back off.

Perhaps, some of the content of these 80 mapped channels pops up on them when they do light up. (I wouldn't know, as I don't have an "engineering" access card and am not authorized to see them).

The bottom line is, things are starting to happen at the 103 orbital slot. Those things look all good and none bad, and strongly confirm that lots of new HD from DirecTV is coming very, very soon. Albeit, not viewable on the TiVo based DVR, but coming none the less.

This makes the OP's statements and position little more than trolling, IMHO.

 

[joelq]

...
and yes i will be laughing my butt off if it fails horribly hehe. if i were running the company i wouldn't have placed tv ads saying "the sat is in orbit and almost operational". i'm sure many people heard that commerical and are probably saying the same thing i did.
...

So let me get this, obviously you are a DirecTV subscriber, and probably paying the HD Access fee, unless you're just using your HR10-250 for OTA. Why again would you wish failure on the company YOU are paying to deliver an improvement to the service YOU are already paying for? Could this be wishful thinking hoping some kind of failure would delay the likely imminent obsolescence of your MPEG-2 equipment?

You're right, Fish Man, this is a troll.

 

[restino]

many of you are wrong. you are loosely comparing what is going on with directv with your simplistic 'marketing plan' stories. yes, yes, we all know people try to sell things before it gets made. that gives the buzz. yes, yes we understand that.

but sony didn't sell the games before the box was out. do i really need to go through each example or can you re-think it before doing another comparison.

sat deployment is a much tougher job. and they could run upagainst major hurdles, aren't there yet but have some guy on a sat channel saying its up and floating so get your box now lol.

see the difference yet?

trolling? no, i don't think so. there is a major difference here and most everyone does see it if you closely examine how directv is going about with their plan. again, sony's box isn't orbiting the planet and sony is know for quality equiptment. directv isnt.

thanks for all the replies however because it is a very interesting hedge on their part and on the off chance it fails then its going to be a huge problem for them.

 

[dswallow]

It was risky prior to launch; with the satellite in orbit and in operational testing, it's really minimal risk something will go wrong affecting the entire satellite; these things are designed with a whole lot of fallback capabilities so a problem in one area can be isolated and its effect minimized to a small portion of the overall capability of the satellite. A total failure is just really a tiny, tiny, tiny possibility.

 

[restino]

you have a good point. there is a sliding scale of risk that gets less each day they move forward.

 

[ebonovic]

trolling? no, i don't think so. there is a major difference here and most everyone does see it if you closely examine how directv is going about with their plan. again, sony's box isn't orbiting the planet and sony is know for quality equiptment. directv isnt.

Really... could you please give us the history lesson on DirecTV failed SATs...
I don't recall any of them failing, or not functioning to their specifications.

In fact, some of them are allready past their expected life expantacy, and and are still looking like that they will continue to function for a whiles to come.

So please... can you provide us with the track record for DirecTV's failures when it comes to that Sats...

 

[restino]

don't have to even drudge that info up. let's start with directv software. and that doesn't even orbit. it just sits there and waits to be debugged

 

[Billy66]

I think restino's thoughts on this topic have "reached orbit but haven't become operational yet."