I have been looking for a better HDTV offering for broadcast tv, and I have found that DISH has the best coverage. They finally got their new HD lineup up and running.

There are four packages available.

DishHD Bronze and DishHD Silver
Animania HD
Family Room HD
GamePlay HD
Discovery HD Theater
Equator HD
DISH Network PPV in HD
Film Fest HD
HDNet Movies
Kung Fu HD
Monsters HD
World Cinema HD
HDNews
Rave HD
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
NFL Network HD
Rush HD
WorldSport HD
Gallery HD
HDNet
HGTV HD
TNT HD
Treasure HD
Ultra HD
Universal HD

With Bronze you get 80 standard-def channels, with Silver you get 200 standard-def channels.

Bronze is $49.99 per month
Silver is $59.99 per month
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Move up to Gold and add:

National Geographic in HD and 40 more standard definition channels.

Gold is $69.99 per month
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The Platinum Package takes the Gold package and adds:

HBO HD
Showtime HD
Starz HD

Platinum is $99.99 per month

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Add your local HD channels, where available, for 5 bucks per month.

Dish currently is running a special for new HD customers:

Save $200. You get $20 off per month for 10 months, and get the Starz moviepack free for 3 months.
Plus you get a free upgrade to an HD receiver.

That brings the prices down to:

$29.99 for Bronze
$39.99 for Silver
$49.99 for Gold

That is currently the best deal for HD television.

Visit Dish to find out more.

DISH network is to add several more HD channels to their lineup, bringing the total to 25 HD channels. Expect to see 5 more VOOM HD channels, ESPN2 HD, Universal HD as well as adding local major network affiliates (CBS, NBC, FOX, etc.) in many markets.

The addition is scheduled for February 1st.

Their current HD lineup consists of the following channels:
——————–
Discovery HD
ESPN HD
HBO HD
HD Net
HD Net Movies
HD Pay-Per-View
Showtime HD
TNT HD
Animania HD
Equator HD
Film Fest HD
Rush HD
Gallery HD
Ultra HD
HD News
Kung Fu HD
Monsters HD
Rave HD

The new additions will include:
——————————————-
ESPN2 HD
Universal HD
HD Locals
Family Room HD
Gameplay HD
Treasure HD
World Cinema HD
WorldSport HD
and Major Network Affiliates where available.

That’s the best HD lineup I’ve seen yet, I may just have to drop my cable provider.

Vist Dish Network to find out more.

Source

Need a local OTA HD tuner to supply your new HD Ready TV with some High Def love?

The unit includes DVI and digital optical audio outputs. Resolutions supported are 480p, 720p and 1080i.

This is a great deal at $109.99.

Got an HTPC? Have a PC but no OTA HD tuner? This gem is your answer. It plugs in via USB and and tunes your local HD stations for viewing through your PC.

The review wrap-up:

“The bottom line is this: if you have an HDTV set and a XP or Media Center PC attached to it, you owe it to yourself to get the FusionHDTV5 USB Gold. The signal strength was impressive, the setup was mostly painless and the device is compact and easily transportable. And for only $149, it is one of the least expensive external HDTV options currently available.”

eHomeUpgrade Review – Via engadget

HDBeat give us the answers for our most pressing questions about DirecTV’s switch to MPEG-4.

MPEG4 requires new equipment for the new tech, but allows for better compression of the digital signal.

Who can get the MPEG4 signal?
Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco and Atlanta.
More are coming, they’re rolling out by each market.

Why equipment do I need?
The H20 receiver coupled with the 5 LNB satellite dish.

Can I use the H20 with the older HD dish?
Yes, but you won’t receive the new MPEG4 channels.

Will the new dish work with older boxes?
No. Don’t go to this dish unless you get the receiver as well.

Read

Last September, DirecTV told their current subscribers that they would get a free upgrade for new HD hardware.

Recently though, HD subscribers have been billed $99 for the new system.

“DIRECTV spokesman Robert Mercer said the free upgrade would not happen until the company converted from its current MPEG2 transmission to MPEG4. Mercer said it was unclear when that transfer would happen, but it would likely occur in most cities sometime in 2006.”

Ah! So, it’s free once they convert their entire network. You must pay to get in early. Sounds fair enough, had it been properly explained beforehand.

Some customers have reported getting refunds if they complain enough. (Squeaky wheel and all.) Seems a bit underhanded to this dude.

Article

Oh boy, here we go. It seems like every time our Government gets involved with anything tech, they end up not quite “getting it.”

I’m getting that weird vibe now…

The federal government wants to pay for some U.S. residents to be able to watch television — the only question is how much.
The Senate’s budget bill, which passed last week, contains a $3 billion subsidy for owners of televisions that are not ready to handle the eventual transition to digital television.
The House budget bill, which ran into trouble Thursday but which will be on the floor this week, contains slightly less than $1 billion.

Both bills set a date when broadcasters must return their current licenses and instead broadcast a digital signal on a different part of the electronic spectrum.

The subsidy would go to pay for converter boxes, which would take the digital signal from the broadcasters and convert it so that it can be displayed by analog TVs. Televisions hooked up to cable or satellite would not need the converters, nor would televisions capable of receiving a digital signal.

Something tells me that 1-3 Billion could be put to much better use. But what do I know?


News Article
via TVsnob

More news about MTV in HD this week.

In a rare attempt to put music videos back into MTV, the new channel will carry, believe it or not, actual videos and music.

The channel will have “hip hop, rock, country, pop, reggaeton, soul and other music, original music-based programming and other content.”

Hmmm… “original music-based original programming” and “other content.” Let’s hope it’s more about the music videos this time.

The channel is due to launch on January 16.

Source

Another step in convergence, you can now pick shows to record on your TiVo from Yahoo’s website.

What you need:
A valid Yahoo! account. (free)
A valid TiVo user account.
A TiVo Series2 recorder.
Broadband Internet Connection (Dialup works but with a 36 hour delay – unuseable!)

The dialup lag doesn’t make sense to me, but this is new. Maybe we should be understanding?

Additional “content sharing” due later between these two: Traffic, weather and user photos.

ZDNet

Wow, maybe MTV can get back to showing actual Music Video!

MTV Networks is to launch its first all-high-definition network, MHD, on January 16, although no carriage agreements have been announced yet. The network will feature an array of music genres – rock, country and hip-hop – with programming taken from MTV as well as MTV2, VH1 and CMT.

And even CMT – Yeehaw! 😉

As concert films rather than music videos are traditionally shot in HD, a large portion of MHD’s schedule will be filled with concert acquisitions and repurposed series, including MTV Unplugged, the MTV Video Music Awards and VH1 Storytellers.

Please guys, no more reality shows, we beg you…

Source