SolveYourProblem
HDTV Article Series
Buying
a High Definition Television (HDTV)
Getting
HDTV Programming Via Satellite
One of the ways that HDTV programming can
be obtained is via satellite. Receiving HDTV through
the use of a satellite feed has both its good and bad points. The first
HDTV satellite launched was by DirecTV and was soon followed
by Dish Network. By subscribing to either one of these service
providers HDTV is available practically anywhere in the United
States, even if you live in a remote area. That’s good news
for those interested in getting their fill of HDTV programming.
DirecTV offers to its customer some satellite only broadcasts.
An example of this would be the NFL Sunday Ticket.
But there is a down side to all of this. When
it comes to satellites, bandwidth is at a premium and each individual satellite
has its work cut out for it- all local channels, often totaling
in the hundreds, must be broadcast separately, not together.
Due to these two negative aspects of satellite, consumers require
an over-the-air antenna add-on in order to receive their HDTV
signals. Being well aware of this fact, providers of satellite
HDTV try to come up with ways to encourage their customers
to want to invest in the service. Many offer a variety of HDTV
channels broadcast nationally, examples being the East and
West coast feeds of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The only problem
with this option is that these feeds are only available in
a legal sense in certain rural, suburban and metropolitan areas.
Changes
are in the works to greatly improve upon the satellite
style of television broadcasting. A new product called MPEG-4
AVC has just made its appearance and it is sure to make inroads
in the industry. What MPEG-4 AVC is basically a “video compression
technology” that allows for twice as much HD video in the same
amount of bandwidth as is currently available in the HD compression
standard (or MPEG-2). The insurgence of the MPEG-4 makes it
possible for the bandwidth available on satellite television
to be greatly increased. Another development that also guarantees
more success in this area is the fact that new satellites have
been deployed into space within the past few months. To give
two examples, Dish Network has recently obtained a satellite
from the VOOM service that is no longer around and in April
2005 DirecTV launched the first of a proposed four satellites.
Satellite
subscribers will reap many benefits from the introduction
of MPEG-4. DirecTV has plans in the works to make 1,500 local
HDTV stations as well as 150 national HD networks a reality
by the year 2007. What this means for customers is that everyone
everywhere would have access to every national HDTV network
and every local HDTV channels that are available. Dish Network
has not made any MPEG-4 plans public as of yet but representatives
for the company have promised their customers that good things
are in the works.
The satellite service provided by both DirecTV
and Dish Network presently employs the use of satellite dishes and set-top boxes
but with the advent of MPEG-4 these will not be compatible
and will have to be replaced. It is unclear at this point whether
both companies’ subscribers will have to pay a fee for the
upgrade or whether the new equipment will be provided to them
free of charge. DirecTV began to introduce their new MPEG-4
services and hardware for HDTV via satellite during the fall
of 2005. The first twelve markets to be privy to DirecTV’s
MPEG-4 service included New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago,
Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas,
Washington, D.C., and Tampa. Dish Network has not as of present,
released any information to the media about its plans in regards
to MPEG-4 services in HDTV programming.
If you are interested in subscribing to the satellite service
provided by either the Dish Network or DirecTV, your first
step should be to get in touch with your local satellite installer
and request an HD-capable installation. Some companies will
extend deals or value packages such as free installation for
HDTV to new customers while some will go even further and will
provide HD-capable receivers free of charge. If you are already
a satellite customer you need to ascertain if the satellite
dish you currently have installed is capable of receiving HD
signals. If it is not then a change is in order. After you
have worked through the above situations it will then be necessary
to obtain an HD receiver in order to decipher the satellite’s
HDTV signals.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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