DirecTV extends their HD lineup, again
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Nov 15th 2007 at 10:11AM
- Nickelodeon (Channel 299 )
- Spike HD (Channel 325)
- Country Music Television (Channel 327 )
- MTV HD (Channel 331)
- VH1 HD (Channel 335)
13 game time only high definition Regional Sports Channels
- Comcast Sports Net New England HD (Channel 620-1)
- FSN South HD (Channel 630-1)
- SportsSouth HD (Channel 631-1)
- Sun Sports HD (Channel 632-1)
- FSN Florida HD (Channel 634-1)
- FSN Ohio HD (Channel 637-1)
- FSN Cincinnati HD (Channel 638-1)
- FSN North HD (Channel 641-1)
- Altitude HD (Channel 644-1)
- FSN Rocky Mountain HD (Channel 645-1)
- FSN Arizona HD (Channel 649-1)
- FSN Northwest HD (Channel 651-1)
- FSN Bay Area HD (Channel 654-1)
Gallery: DirecTV's new HD Channels
Filed under: Satellite, New content
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David @ Nov 15th 2007 10:29AM
What's up with Dish Network?!?! They are about to lose a customer.
JVirg6 @ Nov 15th 2007 10:40AM
Now if some of these channels would actually start broadcasting HD content. Has SciFi HD actually broadcast anything in HD? And how about when they have a letterboxed movie on, has anyone else noticed instead of making it full screen on an HDTV channel they put black bars on Top and the sides? I mean, I am not that picky I would settle for an up converted wide screen presentation of standard def stuff. It is better to watch it stretched on the standard def channel. We should not be paying for that crap.
joe @ Nov 15th 2007 11:08AM
Stargate Atlantis, Flash Gordon, Bionic Woman, and several of their cheesy made-for-tv movies (which can be pretty fun).
Pillar boxing of letterboxed isn't a problem-- just use the zoom on your tv.
Kevin Murphy @ Nov 15th 2007 11:35AM
Only a fool watches SD stretched and thinks it an improvement (and only idiot jerks of broadcasters present it that way: I mean you TBS, TNT & A&E).
As for windowboxing, try the zoom button. Window boxing is an artifact of SD. When you make a 16:9 SD program, then send it to 4:3 sets, you letterbox. When you take that 4:3 material and present it to 16:9 sets as "HD" (joke), you pillar-box it. The result is window-boxing.
Most sets can remove windoboxing with the zoom button. If you are in the market for a new HDTV, make damn sure it can stretch, zoom and squeeze 1080 inputs. Apparently some schlock still can't.
Insomniac @ Nov 15th 2007 10:49AM
"But for the last month they only added two"
What 2 channels were those?
JVirg6: I don't watch SciFi much, but I did see they were showing Bionic Woman (rebroadcast from NBC) in HD.
Ben @ Nov 15th 2007 10:49AM
NBA and NHL
Shape @ Nov 15th 2007 10:54AM
Stargate Atlantis is in HD. So are their other 1st run shows.
I'm not sure why their re-runs and some movies are letterboxed.
daryl austin @ Nov 15th 2007 10:57AM
man, dish better get on the ball, or it will lose alot of customers to direct tv. It would be awhile before i switch, dish still offers the best hd/dvr that i have every used.
Ben @ Nov 15th 2007 1:31PM
"It would be awhile before i switch, dish still offers the best hd/dvr that i have every used."
Have you used the HR-20? It is excellent. eSata port for upgraded storage, ethernet port for VoD.
Very reliable, very easy to use.
I come from 8 years of Tivo, so to me everything else is inferior, but the HR-20 is no slouch.
JVirginia5 @ Nov 15th 2007 11:00AM
Well, I guess what a lot of them are doing is broadcasting only things that are actually in HD in HD. Anything else they are not bothering to up convert, etc... I know DVD's upconverted on my TV look pretty great. There is no reason they can't take a letterboxed show and present it without the black bars. I mean who wants to watch a show with black bars on top and bottom with a little square picture in the middle? And perhaps I just need to look out more for the HD content, but everytime I put it on one of these channels lately it seems the HD channel is not HD at all.
Galley @ Nov 15th 2007 11:05AM
Hold the presses!
DIRECTV has a few more HD channels for you:
Games Only Regional Sports Networks:
669-1: RSNaHD
648-1: FSN Midwest HD
646-1: FSN Utah HD
639-1: FSN Houston HD
642-1: FSN Wisconsin HD
Jeff N. @ Nov 15th 2007 2:43PM
I would imagine BSG movie Razor will be shown in 16:9 HD on Sci-Fi HD Channel which is to be Braodcast on November 24th. Correct?
domerdel @ Nov 15th 2007 11:14AM
VH1 and MTV! YESSSS!!!
Kevin Murphy @ Nov 15th 2007 11:37AM
What is this "upconvert" nonsense. There is no such thing. There is reformatting, which can be done anywhere, but you cannot add resolution, you can only lose it.
JVirginia5 @ Nov 15th 2007 3:59PM
I actually realize that up converting does not change the resolution. But let's not get so technical shall we? I mean there are literally 100's of DVD players out there who advertise they up convert, perhaps you should email every one of them and inform them that you cannot change the resolution? I never said change the resolution I simply said up convert. If my HD DVD player can up convert a 480p movie to look a little bit better than I don't see why these networks can't do the same thing. But what I am more concerned with is that they are simply doing nothing. For instance I was flipping through the channels a few weeks ago and one of the channels was showing Joyride. A good movie that I know has a wide screen version on DVD and looks great unconverted. On the standard channel they show it letterboxed. So one would assume on the HD channel it would at least be shown full wide screen. Nope they showed it with black bars on the tops and sides so all you saw was a little picture in the center. You could zoom it but then the picture looked worse than the standard def channel. There was absolutely no reason (accept they don't care) for them to show it like that. I just turned the channel and watched something else. And I am finding this over and over on most of these new so called HD networks.
LK @ Nov 15th 2007 11:51AM
Will I get any of these on my less than a year old Tivo box that CS sold me when I joined on or am I still dropping these clowns the week after my NFL package ends?
YouFaceTheTick @ Nov 15th 2007 1:27PM
No. Why is it their fault you got an mpeg-2 box? did you not do any research?
Dario @ Nov 15th 2007 12:20PM
The UFC in HD sounds good to me. I saw the Nuggets on 644-1 last night and it looked fantastic.
The Fuzz 53 @ Nov 15th 2007 12:25PM
Now I just need Comedy Central, G4 and Fox Sports NY in HD and I will be able to watch everything that I care about in HD.
Matt @ Nov 15th 2007 3:22PM
The Fuzz, you must be one of G4's five viewers nationwide. All kidding aside, don't count on G4 HD on DirecTV anytime soon. After all, G4 is a Comcast-owned channel, so its likely going to become like Mojo, which is owned by Comcast and some other cable company, and therefore is only available on cable.
BTW, is DirecTV's HD lineup a good indicator of candidates for the 50 additional HD channels Verizon is expected to add to FiOS in a few months?
The Fuzz 53 @ Nov 15th 2007 12:28PM
You know what is complete horsehit? TBS shows reruns of The Office during the week, a show that was shot in HD from day one. Instead of showing the HD episode, they stretch the letterboxed SD version on the HD channel. There is no excuse for that considering that show is available in real HD.
Big Sam @ Nov 15th 2007 12:34PM
Ok that does it. Looks like I will be calling DirecTV today.
TrentD @ Nov 15th 2007 4:48PM
I called my cable company (jonesing for a discount on service) and asked why I should be expected to stay with them and pay $75 a month for cable w/ 12 HD channels when I could get 70 HD channels with DirecTV for $65 a month. They basically said sorry, and tough luck.
It'll be their tough luck when they lose my business - so there!
Jeff N. @ Nov 15th 2007 1:52PM
Yeah, I was surprised that the HR20 was pretty good. I had an HD-Tivo for a good while and was lead to believe I would hate the HR20. But that has not been the case.
Dario @ Nov 15th 2007 3:15PM
I just got the HD21. It looks slick and I don't miss my DirecTivo as much as I thought I would. I wish the guide could be set up like Tivo so I could see future programs quicker and I miss being able to pause one input and switch to the other. I'm not sure you can do that on the HD21 dvr but it doesn't seem like you can.
Earl @ Nov 16th 2007 5:07PM
Dario -
When in the GUIDE: Highlight the channel number. Hit INFO.
It will give you a list of all the programs for just the one channel.
Similar (not the same) as the TiVo List style guide
Michael @ Nov 15th 2007 4:10PM
Amen to TiVo. If DirecTV brings back TiVo, they will take the market by storm.
But I do have the HR20 and I am pretty happy. It isn't TiVo, but pretty good.
Still, I miss the distinctive beeps and more intuitive interface of TiVo.
Cap'n Jack @ Nov 15th 2007 4:51PM
Any news on a software upgrade to automically remove the SD channels from the HR20 and H20 when there is an HD channel also?
beaz @ Nov 15th 2007 4:59PM
Cap'n Jack, I got an HR20 and mine already does. It's in:
Menu>Help & Settings>Setup>Display>Guide HD Channels>Select/Hide SD Duplicates
ChrisHarrington @ Nov 15th 2007 6:23PM
Is anyone else in the Boston/Providence area having trouble with 620-1? I'm not getting any programming yet.
Cap'n Jack @ Nov 15th 2007 6:33PM
Beaz, doesnt that just hide the guide and not the channels from using the up and down of the remote?
Chris Harrington @ Nov 15th 2007 6:39PM
I have the H20 and deleted the SD channels for the HD ones, but if you hit 212 say for NFL Network, it will still go to the SD channel, not the HD one. You then have to hit channel up and then channel down again to get to the HD version of NFL Network. I wish this could be fixed.
Teddy @ Nov 15th 2007 10:22PM
Meanwhile, Time-Warner Cable here in New York added two HD channels today, National Geographic HD & Fox Sports Net New York HD. Wow, now we have almost 20 HD channels.
Doc @ Nov 15th 2007 10:54PM
The math is simple IMO, I have cox cable in OKC and I think the service is not so bad ,but when you compare 20+ to 55+ and more on the way... DirectTV just added another customer! Sorry cable, you might want to take notice, HD is the future and you better catch up!
beaz @ Nov 16th 2007 2:00PM
Cap'n Jack: my HR20 ignores SD duplicates in the guide as well as channel up/down.
Aj @ Dec 11th 2007 5:40PM
plz guide me for the best deal on HD channels, worth the buck, in SFO. There r so many other providers claiming to b better than the big names like Direct TV or Dish N/W. Is $10 a std fee for HD access? and does it ve to b a 2yr contract for HD revceiver??
WelshGap @ Dec 21st 2007 3:38PM
Directv claims to have the most channels. However, you must watch what they do closely. They state in there agreement that they can change the content of packages as they want to, but will notify you if they are going to. Don't believe it. They just recently removed channels from their HD package and put them in a HD Enhanced package for an additional $5 per month. No notification. If you signed a 2 year agreement with them in order to get the HD receiver and the understanding that you would receiver certain channels and as your basic channels got updated to HD you would receive them. Don't believe it.
Ron C. @ Dec 15th 2007 9:43AM
When will DirecTV have Comcast Philadephia?
Ron C. @ Dec 15th 2007 8:45AM
Comcast has a monopoly on the Philadelphia Sports market. They refuse to put Comcast Philadelphia on the satellite, and I believe this is illegal. DirecTV says it is up to Comcast, and Comcast told me that they would not put Comcast Philly on since DirecTV does not allow Comcast to have the NFL package. And the customer is stuck in the middle of these Hatfields and McCoys. Comcast must be stopped! I have notified the FCC, and they pass the buck and say it is not illegal.