[opendtv] Re: News; Dish to Expand HD Roster, Offer 1080p Movies

  • From: maitken@xxxxxxxxxx
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 13:24:46 +0000

And your excitement is??? 1080P? 24? Sorry Craig, what is the orchestra playing?

Mark
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>

Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 09:03:20 
To: OpenDTV Mail List<opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [opendtv] News; Dish to Expand HD Roster, Offer 1080p Movies


While broadcasters fiddle with M/H...

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6583200.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228

Dish to Expand HD Roster, Offer 1080p Movies
I Am Legend will be first title in Blu-ray quality.

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/31/2008 11:22:00 AM

Dish Network traded the latest body blow with satellite competitor 
DirecTV and its cable foes by announcing Thursday that it will 
deliver 150 national channels of HD programming by year-end and that 
on Friday, it will also begin offering HD on-demand movies in the 
1080-line-progressive format used in Blu-ray discs, with Will Smith 
vehicle I Am Legend as the first title.

The 150-channel announcement came less than one month after Dish said 
it would launch 17 new national HD channels Aug. 1, meeting its 
previously stated goal of broadcasting 100 national HD channels by 
year-end some five months ahead of schedule, and that it would begin 
selling an HD-only programming packed called "TurboHD" that starts at 
$24.99 per month.

It also came just three days after archrival DirecTV announced that 
it will launch 30 new HD channels starting in mid-August, bringing 
its total to 130 channels, and that it will offer 1080p movies later 
this year.

Dish delivered a software download to its new MPEG-4 HD 
digital-video-recorder set-tops that will enable them to receive HD 
video encoded in the 1080p/24 frames-per-second format -- the same 
format that Blu-ray movies are mastered in.

To promote the 1080p movie service, Dish is offering I Am Legend at 
the discounted price of $2.99. Normal 1080i HD VOD movies, which Dish 
has been providing since last February, go for $6.99. Future 1080p 
titles will be offered at that same $6.99 rate, Dish chief marketing 
officer Jessica Insalaco said, adding that Dish has deals for more 
1080p movies in place but it isn't announcing titles yet.

Dish won't reveal what bit rate it will transmit 1080p//24 movies at; 
Blu-ray movies are usually encoded at bit rates ranging from 16 to 24 
megabits per second.

"It's the same standard and same format as Blu-ray disc, and it looks 
great," Insalaco said.
Offering 1080p picture quality is a way for satellite operators to 
differentiate themselves from cable's HD offerings and take full 
advantage of the new capabilities offered by the MPEG-4 transmission 
systems they have invested in.

Encoder manufacturers like Harmonic and Tandberg Television have said 
for more than one year that their MPEG-4 equipment could support the 
delivery of 1080p/24, and they have demonstrated the capability at 
trade shows like IBC and the 2008 NAB Show.

In order to take full advantage of the 1080p/24 quality, viewers will 
need a late-model 1080p HD set capable of displaying 
24-frames-per-second pictures; other sets will convert the video to 
other frame rates to display it.

Whether average consumers will be able to truly appreciate the 
technical nuances of 1080p/24 delivery is open to debate, and 
Insalaco admitted that most viewers are focused more on HD quantity 
than quality. But she said the move to 1080p should help to make 
Dish's positioning stand out versus its competitors.

"The conversation right now is all about HD, and we want to be the 
leader in the high-definition experience for our customers," she 
added.
 
 
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