MPEG4 Transition - What does it mean for BEV subscribers?

  • Thread starter Thread starter I_Want_My_HDTV
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Starchoice must be doing something similar, upconverting 720p to 1080i! When I was with Starchoice, I never saw anything other than 1080i. On my 720p television, that's just as bad. I guess they're just as guilty.

-Mike
 
For the consumer, it means they need a MPEG-4 capable receiver. There is nothing more the consumer needs to understand about MPEG-4 so this isn't really THAT complicated. The only thing in question is what Bell will charge for that new receiver. Or will it be free?

ARR, you're the only one spreading FUD.

-Mike
 
So now it's 150 HD channels coming from Bell.

Perhaps, with 8PSK, MPEG-4 and a third dedicated satellite. That assumes they are still in the satellite business by 2011.

I think it's safer to stick with the current realities: MPEG-4 hardware will be in market sometime in 2007 (I think Q4 was the last date) but MPEG-4 channels won't be available until 2009 -- all this according to Bell. In the meantime, MPEG-4 is fairly meaningless since all HD signals for the foreseeable future will be in MPEG-2 and limited to somewhere around the current number of channels.
 
bell certainly has ALOT of stock. some people spoke about shortages, or were told that there were shortages, one example being when they were looking for 9200 close to superbowl. bell always had surplus stock on all their receivers.

also, i've been told they are mainly purchased from echostar, including the new 6141,9241 and 9242.
 
Actually he said ...up to 150 HD channels.

Starchoice is charging some of their customers to upgrade equipment, just to continue getting what they already have, so it can't be illegal, immoral perhaps.

-Mike
 
Either in small organizations that are in startup mode or as in my example, when an astute enginnering personel reach out and make the effort to communicate timelines and other relevant technical details of use to marketing types.

Unless I'm mistaken, I suspect THAT type of opportunity may not exist due to the arms length relationship between ExpressVu Marketing and Echostar Engineeing being accountable to Dish Network and not BEV.
 
I can understand why you'd like to be optimistic in the face of all this sorrowful news, but I think our astute friend Sensual Poet has hit the mark on this one.

Good Grief, they missed the boat, even your friends over at *C have now seeded their customer base with 100's of thousands of MPEG4 ready receivers with their DSR505 & DSR530.

And on top of that, short of a minor time delay, their 8PSK migration is scheduled to complete this year.

With the Nimiq's crippled power status, I don't think the link budget is there to even support an interim 8PSK migration, let alone MPEG4 which will require more margins.

With the possible changing of the guard, you may be dead right, they could potentially be out of business before the birds get off the ground.

That the problem when you're on the top, everybody is trying to knock you off and eventually it happens.

Time to start sizing up your new TV provider.
 
You don't have to enlighten me , I know that most fta receiveres are used to watch pirated tv , You know that to , but don't have enough balls to admit that...
 
But I'd rather have ALL my pixels ALL of the time and twice as many pixels SOME of the time than have HALF the pixels MOST of the time!
 
HD programming on a iPod is a novel notion.

Personally, I am interested in what plays on my main HDTV where I can put my feet up, surround myself in a visual and aural feast ... with a martini, or my huney, or both at my side.
 
Again - can someone point to anything that actually states BEV is at its channel maximum?

I think you *C folk are sizing up the corpse before it's dead.
 
I posted "exactly" what I was sent, I got that info in a Microsoft Word Doc. It did not come from within Bell to me anyways.

I do not receive the "Retail News".

Nimiq 1
 
Suppose I want service from someone other than my cable company? Perhaps I want to download a movie over my Internet connection. MPEG-4 could make a big difference in terms of bandwidth, storage requirements, and download limits imposed by ISP's. Not everyone has access to cable. It is significant to the consumer, even if they don't understand the technology.

-Mike
 
Since equipment of some sort is likely involved, it could be logistically handled the same way the previous card swap was done, that is by tiers of subscribers.

The first group are those that will 'upgrade' to NEW programming,
then those that will need it to MAINTAIN existing programming and
finally, all the rest of the masses in groups based on packages.

Pricing is anyones guess.
They could be FREE
They could be FULL priced.
They could be partially subsidized.
Maybe different pricing depending on packages and contracts and rentals.
 
Hey Bro, YOU were the one to draw those two together, good work! Thanks



I think the DSR500 count was around 8-12K and many have already been replaced.
Other than a few complainers, it seems to be going quite smooth with most thinking the terms pretty fair.
Nice thing is for the next technology shift for them to MPEG4, they need only mail out a user installable module.
It's conceivable that this could be free if you subscribed to new HD content for a term, not unlike the early Dish 6000 8PSK upgrade if you sub'd to Discovery for a year, it was free.

What will Bell do with customers who own 9200's, can they still keep and use them as SD PVR's or will they need to be returned?

Sure I paid $800 for my 6000 and it's still in fine working order, but as long as it does they job I bought it for, I wouldn't want to ante up just for the same programming unless there was some incremental value along with it.



As for the 530 mess, that's old news and pretty much under the bridge.
I still see folks having issues with their 9200's.
Having a plan? They ARE executing it as we speak, I appears Bev also has a plan, (I Think), it's just they can't/wont execute it for business or technology reasons until some later date and who knows if it will even be relevant by than due to the delays and changes in the marketplace.
 
Bell ExpressVu has indeed started to market "refurbished" HD receivers (I don't recall about HD PVRs specifically). Are you saying the refurbs have the 102 ROM cards in them? Aren't those relatively easy to "flash" and turn into illegal "open" boxes? If that's the case it certainly seems counter-productive.

The key here is Bell appears to be prepared to continue marketing non-MPEG-4 units for a few more months before gradually switching to MPEG-4 enabled units. It sounds like the switch will begin in July. One wonders why Bell wasn't able to negotiate a deal to start this process last fall. Management follies?
 
So you're okay with Starchoice breaking the "rules", just not Bell. Typical of you.

-Mike
 
I am already missing HD movies due to the lack of MMore HD. This will result in the cancellation of TMN soon and I will let TMN know about it. Unlike MC2 HD, which is just a time shift of MC HD, MMore HD has different content than M HD and results in a greater loss of service. As for the rest, if they don't show up soon after, I am leaving EV and there will be a bunch of equipment on eBay. I would guess that a lot of other EV subs feel the same way. :mad:
 
Well done ARR that brought him out of the woodwork.

At least now bevfan you are saying "most" receivers and not "all", well done, you sound like you are mellowing.

Nimiq 1
 
But, with respect, that's not TV. That's an alternative to DVD.

Satellitecos, telcos and cablecos deliver hundreds of channels/programs are at any given moment, already streamng, ready to play with the click of your remote. Downloading a movie over the Internet -- regardless of encoding technology -- is a non-sequiter in this discussion.
 
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