Canadians Raped for HD Content..

[modded46]

Just so you guys know.. Canada is getting totally raped for HD content by providers.. Take a look at what HD is offered by Dish with a brand new satellite launched Friday which will include the following..

News
DN's HD Satellite Launches Friday
The satcaster plans to offer 100 HD channels by year's end.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (March 11, 2008) -- DN is scheduled this Friday to launch a new satellite that will expand its High-Definition programming capacity.

Once operational, Dish is expected to begin adding high-def channels, increasing its current total to roughly 70 to 100 by year's end.

The satcaster has said it would launch three new satellites in 2008 to expand its capacity for high-def. Dish also plans to offer local HD channels in 100 markets by year's end.

During last night's "Charlie Chat," a live Q&A session broadcast on Dish, company CEO Charlie Ergen said the following channels will be added this year:

ABC Family: AMC: BET; Biography; Bravo; Cartoon Network; CNN; CMT; Disney; ESPN News; HBO2;
IFC; MGMHD; MTV; MoreMAX; Nickelodeon; Sci-Fi
Smithsonian; Starz Edge; Tennis Channel; Toon Disney; USA Network; VH1; WGN; and The Weather Channel.

A few of those channels, such as Disney Channel HD, have yet to launch HD networks. Ergen also did not give specific launch dates or timetables for when the additional channels would be added.

The Americom-14 (AMC-14) satellite, which will launch Friday, is an advanced, high-powered Ku-band BSS satellite that consists of 32 24 MHz Ku-band transponders.

tv predictions.com

This is in addition to the 40 channels they have already.. All for 29.99/month w/no hardware rental fees. :banghead:

[ZorroAMG]

Interesting...although EVERY channel I watch now is available by shaw in HD, so I could care less. AND I bought my DVR 2.5yrs ago outright...sooo...


meh..

[JordanAndrew]

Yeah I'm with starchoice and I feel that they don't have enough HD channels to offer.

[RotaryPower]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
Interesting...although EVERY channel I watch now is available by shaw in HD, so I could care less. AND I bought my DVR 2.5yrs ago outright...sooo...


meh..
Same here... but wouldn't it be nice to have another 90 channels of HD?:drool:

[lint]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
Interesting...although EVERY channel I watch now is available by shaw in HD, so I could care less. AND I bought my DVR 2.5yrs ago outright...sooo...


meh..

You're paying a lot more than $29.99/month and getting a lot less than 70 HD channels

[lexIS300]

well when we dont even get most of US standard definition content how do you expect them to give us HD? we are getting raped because we live in canada.

[ZorroAMG]

Originally posted by lint


You're paying a lot more than $29.99/month and getting a lot less than 70 HD channels

Do you not READ? I already have all the channels that I (ME, MARK, THE GUY TYPING THIS) really ever watch. I couldn't give a shit about 50 more HD channels.

I pay $85 for HD, standard cable and Internet. Not exactly a raping when you consider all you are getting is tv for $30

[modded46]

Once you've watched HD, it's really hard to watch anything else IMO.. someday all channels will be HD and life will be good :)

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by modded46
Once you've watched HD, it's really hard to watch anything else IMO.. someday all channels will be HD and life will be good :)

Would we still call it HDTV or would we just call it TV when that happens? :D

[rage2]

I've had 150 HD channels for months now. DirecTV > *.

[MackDawg]

Originally posted by rage2
I've had 150 HD channels for months now. DirecTV > *.

haha same. we have a couple addresses in the states, so we can purches Direct TV.

[Xtrema]

Really, with PVR, how much TV can you watch? And whatever you don't catch on TV, bittorrent is your friend.

[rage2]

You can watch way more TV with a PVR. Shows like Moment of Truth, 1 hour long, can be done in 10 mins. I have tons of wicked concerts recorded from MHD channels, good background audio/video when working. So ya, 150 HD channels is a necessity!

[lint]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG


Do you not READ? I already have all the channels that I (ME, MARK, THE GUY TYPING THIS) really ever watch. I couldn't give a shit about 50 more HD channels.

I pay $85 for HD, standard cable and Internet. Not exactly a raping when you consider all you are getting is tv for $30

I read you just fine. Since you don't have the channels, you don't feel the need for the channels, thereby justifying the price you pay for HD.

I would rather pay $30 a month for 70 HD channels, instead of paying $65 for a bunch of SD channels just so I can pay and another $10 for 20 HD channels.

[ZEDGE]

HD has spoiled me. I can't stand watching SD programming.. especially hockey games. Fuck it pisses me off when Flames games are not in HD. :banghead:

[rage2]

Originally posted by lexIS300
well when we dont even get most of US standard definition content how do you expect them to give us HD? we are getting raped because we live in canada.
We're getting raped in Canada because of CRTC's archaic programming rules for Canada. The rules were created back in the day to protect our Canadian culture, but now it's pretty much used to protect CBC, Bell and other friends of CRTC from US competition. It essentially gives CBC a license to print money... buy US programming, substitute Canadian commercials, watch bank accounts grow.

Blame Canada!!!


Originally posted by ZEDGE
HD has spoiled me. I can't stand watching SD programming.. especially hockey games. Fuck it pisses me off when Flames games are not in HD. :banghead:
Get center ice or something. About 60% of flames games have been in HD this year so far. On a lot of the away games, center ice carries the HD feed for the other team. FSN FTW!!!

[heavyD]

Originally posted by rage2
Get center ice or something. About 60% of flames games have been in HD this year so far. On a lot of the away games, center ice carries the HD feed for the other team. FSN FTW!!!

I believe if you get center ice from a Canadian provider they black out feeds from other teams coverage. So if you are in Calgary and watch the Flames you are stuck with the SN, CBC, or TSN cast unless its not televised then you get the other team's provider.

[rage2]

They black out local coverage. So tell Bell you're in Toronto, and you'll have blacked out Leafs coverage :rofl:.

[googe]

It goes by billing address IIRC. You have to find one of the sweet spots in Canada that aren't near any hockey teams, and give an address from there. Do they do paperless billing? :D

[rage2]

Originally posted by googe
It goes by billing address IIRC. You have to find one of the sweet spots in Canada that aren't near any hockey teams, and give an address from there. Do they do paperless billing? :D
Yes they do paperless billing, and I don't believe there is an area that's not covered... it's not like US Distance Networks to find a sweet address in the middle of nowhere to get the LA/NY network feeds. The only network with regional NHL contracts would be Sportsnet, and they cover all of Canada. Pacific, West, Ontario and East. I guess that doesn't cover Montreal... which is covered by RDS, so I dunno how Montreal addresses work with CI blackouts. I guess if there was a flames vs montreal game, you'd have to watch it in French? LOL

But ya, best bet is to choose an address in Ontario, because every leafs game is on TV, so you get that on local channels when there's a flames vs leafs game.

[googe]

Just don't miss and land in the Senators zone, they are actually worth watching.


Unrelated question, which american provider has the best HD video quality? I was unimpressed with bell, starchoice, and shaw. Are any of them on mpeg4, and is it much of an improvement?

And yeah, if anyone decides to go for an american provider, give them a washington address. No one here even knows what hockey is. They call it "ice hockey" :rofl: No NHL blackouts.

Is there any reason to avoid blackouts besides not being able to see flames PPV games? You should be able to see them all locally otherwise, correct?

I am moving to the bay area shortly, which is san jose sharks blackout zone, and I gotta figure out what that means before I get screwed out of half the playoffs :rofl:

edit: since there are no sharks ppv games, looks like I am fine. only reason to fudge the address would be if its not in HD locally, but is in HD on the other team's network or nationally.

[rage2]

Originally posted by googe
Unrelated question, which american provider has the best HD video quality? I was unimpressed with bell, starchoice, and shaw. Are any of them on mpeg4, and is it much of an improvement?
DirecTV hands down. My boss has Dish Network for the Indian channels. Dish HD needs some insane massive dish that points to 6 sats haha. DirecTV HD is a single dish that's only slightly bigger than the Bell dish and sees 5 sats. DirecTV has way more channels, and is slightly better for image quality. A lot of Dish HD channels were "pretending" to be MPEG4 at one time (not sure if that's still the case)... it was just a MPEG4 stream with MPEG2 video. Dish is still struggling for bandwidth, while DirecTV seems to have more than they need at this point.

[beecue]

So for DirecTV do you only need a U.S address and buy the receiver online?