 JeepMattC'mon the UPremium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
kudos:2
 ·Comcast
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to WhatsHot
Re: New HD channels coming anytime soon? said by WhatsHot:They aren't converting existing channels. You can speculate all day long, but it's not happening this or next year and time will prove that, so no point in arguing.
So then can you elaborate for us customers who have been painstakingly sitting here waiting for 2+ years now on how you're going to create capacity for the 50+ HD channels you are missing?
C'mon, you must have some insight... 
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
|
| I like FiOS. It is the most reliable of any cable service I have had and is the most economical for me when you have to outfit 6+ TV's with HD. But I think we have pretty much seen the last of any big HD channel rollouts. We may get one or two here or there but that's about it. Given Verizon's comments about lack of FiOS expansion beyond the current regions I see no real incentive for them to improve offerings much beyond what they have. In fact I fully believe that one day I will wake up and see where Verizon has sold FiOS to some private investment group or to some existing provider, like Dish. I think they will slowly exit the cable and land line business and concentrate on wireless, mostly because of labor issues and the constant increase in the content provider fees. They will then concentrate of providing entertainment via wireless devices over their wireless network and transition some of their carrier rights exclusively to Verizon wireless.
I just do not see any upside for them to roll out new hardware and new HD just to service their existing markets. They are not likely to get that much of a net gain, with constant churn. They are continually faced with rising costs driven by content providers. Hardware advances put continuous pressure on them to keep updating boxes and software. It is a losing battle that can only be mitigated by increasing the number of subscribers, which they have effectively ruled out with no more expansion plans.
I will just be happy to have what I have and enjoy it as long as I can.
--
Go Heels! |
|
| ^ that the most sensical thing ive read from a unc guy in a long time.. you must not have been one of those UNC afro studies grads who got good grades for doing nothing? ha ha |
|
| reply to JeepMatt
There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.  |
|
| said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
what else is there, IPTV? |
|
| With little capacity to spare, the only other options are IP, 3:1 compression, do nothing (few/no channels), or he/she's wrong. |
|
Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
1 edit | reply to Tarheel72
said by Tarheel72: In fact I fully believe that one day I will wake up and see where Verizon has sold FiOS to some private investment group or to some existing provider, like Dish. I think they will slowly exit the cable and land line business and concentrate on wireless VZ's biggest "want" is the 45% of VZ Wireless that Vodaphone owns. That's where they want to spend all the cash they make every time they sell a line of business.
But the Brits won't budge on that. From across the pond, all they see is a cash cow that they don't have to do anything with, knowing it's in VZ's capable hands..
--
"My hat, my cane, Jeeves". |
|
JeepMattC'mon the UPremium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
kudos:2 | Wait! That's not my quote! I'm calling the grammar police!
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
|
Reviews:
·Comcast
| reply to WhatsHot
said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
So in short, nothing is happening, what we have is what we get. Take it or leave it. |
|
|
|
RBost
join:2009-07-07
Richmond, VA | Plans mean nothing at all. I plan on being filthy rich one day.
It is time to crap or get off the pot. |
|
JPLPremium
join:2007-04-04
Downingtown, PA
kudos:2 | reply to nowayout
said by nowayout:With little capacity to spare, the only other options are IP, 3:1 compression, do nothing (few/no channels), or he/she's wrong.
Those aren't the only options. There's a whole thread on the mpeg-4 conversion that they're doing. Just migrating HD channels to mpeg-4 will free up some 50% of the bandwidth. Then there are other options which they CAN opt for, but probably won't. Like SDV. Or expanding their QAM spectrum to 1 GHz.
Also, not to nit-pick or anything, but on the one post (wasn't written by you) that there's no incentive for them to increase bandwidth because they've stopped their expansion... I disagree completely. Why have they stopped their expansion? What was their stated reason? They want to increase their penetration in markets that they currently serve. How do they do that, exactly, but not improving their product?
I'll also counter that the development of 1.9 (with all its flaws) was another example of them willing to devote a decent investment in improving their product. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it gave them one of the first HD guides in the industry, and improved the overall functionality of their service considerably (adding features like multi-hub). While there are many features that I would still like, and while it's far from perfect, the fact that Verizon devoted that much time and energy into the development of new guide s/w tells me that they're not interested in just letting their product wither on the vine. |
|
| reply to RBost
said by RBost:Plans mean nothing at all. I plan on being filthy rich one day.
It is time to crap or get off the pot.
Well, it's not only that plans mean nothing at all but that you can't verify, objectively, that anyone even has plans. I mean, when TJ (late, lamented by some) used to say channels were "in the pipeline", or "planned", or something like that there was no way to prove or disprove the statement. It was therefore something that could be said regardless of what was or was not true.
The only thing that is important is if VZ themselves feel it is time to, as you say, ahem, s**t or get off the pot. Who knows, but my guess is that at least some existing HD channels will be migrating to MPEG4. This is consistent with the Verizon forum post linked to above that only says Verizon is not doing so today. That was posted to make the ineffectual moderators of those Verizon forums, who like to exert their "power" by censoring/deleting/moving posts, feel better about themselves. |
|
3 edits | reply to JPL
said by JPL:said by nowayout:With little capacity to spare, the only other options are IP, 3:1 compression, do nothing (few/no channels), or he/she's wrong.
Those aren't the only options. There's a whole thread on the mpeg-4 conversion that they're doing. Just migrating HD channels to mpeg-4 will free up some 50% of the bandwidth. Then there are other options which they CAN opt for, but probably won't. Like SDV. Or expanding their QAM spectrum to 1 GHz. Also, not to nit-pick or anything, but on the one post (wasn't written by you) that there's no incentive for them to increase bandwidth because they've stopped their expansion... I disagree completely. Why have they stopped their expansion? What was their stated reason? They want to increase their penetration in markets that they currently serve. How do they do that, exactly, but not improving their product? I'll also counter that the development of 1.9 (with all its flaws) was another example of them willing to devote a decent investment in improving their product. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it gave them one of the first HD guides in the industry, and improved the overall functionality of their service considerably (adding features like multi-hub). While there are many features that I would still like, and while it's far from perfect, the fact that Verizon devoted that much time and energy into the development of new guide s/w tells me that they're not interested in just letting their product wither on the vine. I was commenting on WhatsHot's insistence that h.264 conversion wasn't going to take place. IF it were true, those are the other options. (I should have quoted it to be clear.)
SDV was discussed in the past and there was some belief at the time by folks smarter than me that it wasn't compatible with the Fios network, but who knows. If it is compatible, then yes I guess that's an option too.
Raising the spectrum means replacing even the new 7-series STBs. They don't even want to replace the 6-series if they can avoid it. But I'm not sure if they can do this even if they wanted to, as that might run into moca interference. Maybe someone can chime in on that... |
|
| reply to WhatsHot
said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
Read between the lines "don't involve conversion of existing channels" can easily be read as "new channels will be added as MPEG4" |
|
| Yes, that's what came to me at first, but the problem is: if there is no space now, how do you add channels without converting existing ones?
Of course, we on these boards know relatively little of the real situation is so I suppose there could be a feasible plan that doesn't involve conversion of existing channels. Just have to wait and see. |
|
 KCrimsonPremium
join:2001-02-25
Brooklyn, NY
kudos:1
·Verizon FiOS
1 edit | reply to WhatsHot
said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
I'd be willing to devote a portion of my data bandwidth (which, if rumors are correct will be ~75 Mbs in a month's time!) to an on-demand HD application similar to what's available for XBox/Epix/HBO etc. If Verizon offers every TV subscriber digital internet access to additional HD streams, then everyone should be happy - no? The question remains whether the on-demand channels will be available on mainstream devices like Boxee - THAT would be something that I'd be on-board with. Otherwise, only computer or proprietary hardware viewing would be available. |
|
 icemannyr1
join:2001-04-11
Township Of Washington, NJ | reply to sbernstein5
said by sbernstein5:said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
Read between the lines "don't involve conversion of existing channels" can easily be read as "new channels will be added as MPEG4" If thats the plan then FiOS is being counter productive.
All of the HBO and Cinemax channels, with a few exceptions, are MPEG4 being converted by FiOS to MPEG2. Those channels should be MPEG4. |
|
prisaz
join:2008-08-11
Germantown, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| said by icemannyr1:said by sbernstein5:said by WhatsHot:There are plans. They don't involve conversion of existing channels.
That's as much as I'll elaborate.
Read between the lines "don't involve conversion of existing channels" can easily be read as "new channels will be added as MPEG4" If thats the plan then FiOS is being counter productive. All of the HBO and Cinemax channels, with a few exceptions, are MPEG4 being converted by FiOS to MPEG2. Those channels should be MPEG4. The old QIP-6xxx and earlier hardware does not support MPEG4. Thus the problem here. We all pay for verizon to upgrade others hardware.
»[DVR] Set Top Box price increase |
|
