ElJefe
18 Sep 2003, 08:23 PM
As of this past Tuesday, HDnet (your HD home of MLS games) is now on DISH Network.
On Tuesday, DISH launched its new HD Package for $9.99/month, which currently includes Discovery HD, HDnet, HDnet Movies, and ESPN HD.
For the time being, those channels are on the 110 degree satellite, so anyone who's got the 6000 HD receiver, the 8PSK module, and a regular 20-inch DISH 500 satellite dish can get those channels. However, some time next year, DISH will be moving those channels to another satellite and you'll need to install their newer SuperDish, which they'll be release in the next couple of months.
They've said that they'll add more channels to the package, but I'm sure that they won't add them until they start selling the SuperDish, and even then, I'm sure they'll add those new channels on the new satellite, to get more people to get the SuperDish.
I signed up for the new HD pack the other day and here are my first impressions:
* Discovery HD is nothing like regular Discovery Channel. For one thing, they're 100% HD and there's not much HD stuff out there, so on any given day, they'll show that day's block of programs about four or five times. But the stuff they're showing is high quality.
* Other than the MLS games, HDnet shows a lot of crap. Again, not much HD content is out there, and HDnet is still kind of a low-budget operation that can't develop a lot of its own programming, so they show some of the cancelled shows from the past few years that the networks filmed in HD, they show some documentaries, and they show some sports other than MLS. Not anything major league though. They do show some college football.
* HDnet Movies is a bit uneven. On the one hand, they show a few good movies. On the other hand, I turned it on the other day and they were showing Stroker Ace in HD.
* Finally, there's ESPN HD. They pretty much show what ESPN is showing. But unlike most of the over-the-air channels who show their SD content with black bars on the side, ESPN HD s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s it out to the 16:9 format. And right now, they only show a few games a week in HD (and Playmakers -- how could I forget), so for the most part you're basically seeing ESPN stretched horizontally.
So, is it worth $9.99 a month? I guess so, but just barely. If you want to see the MLS games on HDnet (which are really well produced -- Fox Sports World should take notes) or the few things a week that ESPN HD actually shows in HD (http://espn.go.com/espnhd/schedule.html), then yes.
As for the rest, it depends. If you're a movie buff,HDnet Movies (http://www.hd.net/movies_schedule_sevenday.html) will hardly make you forget HBO or Showtime, both of which are carried on DISH in HD. A similar criticism applies to HDnet (http://www.hd.net/schedule_sevenday.html), which has interesting documentaries, but a bunch of reruns of shows that were cancelled by the big networks in the last few years.
About the worst thing I can say aboutDiscovery HD (http://dhd.discovery.com/schedule/weekly.jsp?channel=DHD) is that it repeats its daily fare of programming ad infinitum. However, the programs that they are carrying are top-shelf stuff.
In the end, however, I signed up, at least for a while.
On Tuesday, DISH launched its new HD Package for $9.99/month, which currently includes Discovery HD, HDnet, HDnet Movies, and ESPN HD.
For the time being, those channels are on the 110 degree satellite, so anyone who's got the 6000 HD receiver, the 8PSK module, and a regular 20-inch DISH 500 satellite dish can get those channels. However, some time next year, DISH will be moving those channels to another satellite and you'll need to install their newer SuperDish, which they'll be release in the next couple of months.
They've said that they'll add more channels to the package, but I'm sure that they won't add them until they start selling the SuperDish, and even then, I'm sure they'll add those new channels on the new satellite, to get more people to get the SuperDish.
I signed up for the new HD pack the other day and here are my first impressions:
* Discovery HD is nothing like regular Discovery Channel. For one thing, they're 100% HD and there's not much HD stuff out there, so on any given day, they'll show that day's block of programs about four or five times. But the stuff they're showing is high quality.
* Other than the MLS games, HDnet shows a lot of crap. Again, not much HD content is out there, and HDnet is still kind of a low-budget operation that can't develop a lot of its own programming, so they show some of the cancelled shows from the past few years that the networks filmed in HD, they show some documentaries, and they show some sports other than MLS. Not anything major league though. They do show some college football.
* HDnet Movies is a bit uneven. On the one hand, they show a few good movies. On the other hand, I turned it on the other day and they were showing Stroker Ace in HD.
* Finally, there's ESPN HD. They pretty much show what ESPN is showing. But unlike most of the over-the-air channels who show their SD content with black bars on the side, ESPN HD s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s it out to the 16:9 format. And right now, they only show a few games a week in HD (and Playmakers -- how could I forget), so for the most part you're basically seeing ESPN stretched horizontally.
So, is it worth $9.99 a month? I guess so, but just barely. If you want to see the MLS games on HDnet (which are really well produced -- Fox Sports World should take notes) or the few things a week that ESPN HD actually shows in HD (http://espn.go.com/espnhd/schedule.html), then yes.
As for the rest, it depends. If you're a movie buff,HDnet Movies (http://www.hd.net/movies_schedule_sevenday.html) will hardly make you forget HBO or Showtime, both of which are carried on DISH in HD. A similar criticism applies to HDnet (http://www.hd.net/schedule_sevenday.html), which has interesting documentaries, but a bunch of reruns of shows that were cancelled by the big networks in the last few years.
About the worst thing I can say aboutDiscovery HD (http://dhd.discovery.com/schedule/weekly.jsp?channel=DHD) is that it repeats its daily fare of programming ad infinitum. However, the programs that they are carrying are top-shelf stuff.
In the end, however, I signed up, at least for a while.