What's with HD in the DR?

Golfer

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Apr 7, 2002
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Here in the states practically all programing is offered in High Definition yet in the DR it's like the cable companies haven't even heard about it. Most technology finds it's way to the DR quite rapidly but this seems to be a real exception. Tube TV's sell like hotcakes and the average Dominican doesn't even know what high def is. It looks like it's still 10 years out. Anyone have any insights? Am I going to have to watch my beloved Packers in grainy low def for the forseeable future?

Additionaly, here in the states I can recieve high def programing with just a small dish and a HD decoder box. I've got two Dish Network HD boxes available to take to the DR but from what I've read here on DR1 I'd need a series of large dishes to capture a high def image and even then it's a crapshoot. Hardly worth the effort. The new high def projectors are cheap and portable and give fantastic high def images but apparently in the DR they're only good for DVDs. Say it ain't so.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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It is so.................. (For the most part)

Dominicans can barely afford regular TV?s, many don?t even have TV. If the stations were to spend all that money to go HD, there would be nobody that could watch the HD TV channels in the DR (again, for the most part).

Of course you need large Satellite dishes to receive DirecTV and Dish Network signals. Those providers do not transmit their signals in this direction.

Am I going to have to watch my beloved Packers in grainy low def for the forseeable future?
Yes and no. Depends on whether you go for the crapshoot. (Also, where would you watch your beloved Packers in the DR in grainy low def?)

Some people watch HD in the DR everyday, Showtime, HBO, ESPN Sports, HD NET Movies, etc.

7 come 11, Snake Eyes!


Don SantiagoDR
 

cuas

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May 29, 2006
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What do I want? To live in a place with no HD where I can still relax, still can afford luxuries like a maid, meet with friends to have a beer, no rushing like US, see people playing domino or just chatting, people smiling, greeting
OR
HD

Maybe it is a good business idea. GO AHEAD. Put some money together and invest in it, but can Dominicans afford it.

You have to know your market. Here in US I have 4 TV with cable. In DR my sister has only one TV in the livingroom and her husband is an accountant.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
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He he he!!!
The DR has a little secretive way of doing things different. Whilst here HD is the facto the technology to know and use, in the DR just like when Beta and VHS were at each other's throat; nobody was rushing for either one. By the time VHS squeezed the life out of Betamax, the DR enjoyed VHS recorders with two heads and then four. They had third generation VHS instead of the bazillion of homes in the US who had bough early and had to recap their investment for long before going and getting with the times...

Just like now many people are still buying 720p sets, but 1080p 120 Hz should be the standard by now. If you look to Japan where real HD lives in 1080p since way before the US, now they are on a collision course with a greater ratio than that.

The DR will wait on the sidelines and buy the hardware of the last standing man...

Recently Indotel was proving the local radio market to switch to HD radio, but the market is smart enough to know that it must wait at least a new generation more around the corner.

Not ever since the 8track fall from grace so disturbingly rapid in the DR to the Cassette tape, has the DR market trusted early adoption of any new technologies like those for masses.

So keep enjoying HD from your Dishnetwork or DirecTV dish for now...
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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What do I want? To live in a place with no HD where I can still relax, still can afford luxuries like a maid, meet with friends to have a beer, no rushing like US, see people playing domino or just chatting, people smiling, greeting ..............

The more people that get TV?s and video games seems to correspond to the less of the activities you stated being seen in the DR.

Go to a more expensive area such as Cerro Alto in Santiago and you hardly see anybody in the streets.

People out and about is to me one of the valuable charms of being in the DR.
 

Golfer

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Apr 7, 2002
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OK, I give up!

I guess I can't have it all. I'll catch the Packer games in the Sports Books that seem to be in every town, or bars like Eddy's in Sosua and Irish O'Shay's in Cabrete. Come to think of it that will get me out and mixing instead of being cloistered in my condo.
I guess the push for HD will eventually come from the big retailers like La Sirena, Plaza Lama, and Jumbo that want to sell everyone a new generation of TV's. Some things you just can't rush.
 

americanized

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Nov 17, 2004
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how?????

"Some people watch HD in the DR everyday, Showtime, HBO, ESPN Sports, HD NET Movies, etc."

and how are they doing that now???
(I have the setup in Miami: Dishnet with an 18 inch dish) does that work in the DR?
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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"Some people watch HD in the DR everyday, Showtime, HBO, ESPN Sports, HD NET Movies, etc."

and how are they doing that now???
(I have the setup in Miami: Dishnet with an 18 inch dish) does that work in the DR?

In the DR you usually need a 6 foot dish.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
893
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
In the DR you usually need a 6 foot dish.

And bigger yet for decent HD or else lots of Pixelization boxy patches will be normal occurrences.
TV_with_Pixel.jpg
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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And bigger yet for decent HD or else lots of Pixelization boxy patches will be normal occurrences.

I have excellent HD using a 6 foot dish, a Chieta 2041 switch, and the new CB2008A LNB (Both the switch and LNB have lower insertion loss and the LNB has a 0.3db low noise figure).

The Channel Master dish gets a better signal then the Dominican one.

Excellent HD reception, no pixelization / boxy patches.
(Pardon my picture taking ability with the digital camera of the TV)
6y51n3n.jpg
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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Is your HD reception interlaced or Progressive?

Now that I will have trouble answering as I forgot to bring the manual for the satellite receiver. The TV is a Toshiba 32" LCD 1080P.

I am using the HDMI input signal from the satellite box. I also have the Component (Red, Green and Blue) cables connected.

This is my first HD TV and was not sure if HD and regular broadcasts would both come through the HDMI cable.

Satellite Receiver Technical Specifications

* Enable to decode QPSK satellite and ATSC terrestrial transmissions.
* Mpeg2 and Mpeg4
* HDTV, SDTV display support.
* Teletext close caption.
* Video : HDMI, S-Video, Ypbpr, Composite
* Audio : AC3, SPDIF (Optical)
* Aspect ratio adjustment 4:3 (16/9 crop), 4:3 (16/9 letterbox), 16:9 (4/3 pillar box).
* Output format 1080i, 720P, 576P and 576i. (Europe@50hz)

A custom job I gather with the switch and LNB, not the regular supplied Dish or Directv hardware...
I do all the work myself.
I chose the new switches and lnb?s to help compensate for being so far out of the foot print of the satellite.
 

bryan1258

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Dec 24, 2007
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pssssst.....Hey Golfer. You better call ahead if you want to see NFL at Eddys. I was by there two sundays ago and they were watching football alright. Thats soccer to you and me. The same game on four screens. Five only patrons all wearing the same jersey. It must have been an important game.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
893
113
Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
Now that I will have trouble answering as I forgot to bring the manual for the satellite receiver. The TV is a Toshiba 32" LCD 1080P.

I am using the HDMI input signal from the satellite box. I also have the Component (Red, Green and Blue) cables connected.

This is my first HD TV and was not sure if HD and regular broadcasts would both come through the HDMI cable.

Satellite Receiver Technical Specifications

* Enable to decode QPSK satellite and ATSC terrestrial transmissions.
* Mpeg2 and Mpeg4
* HDTV, SDTV display support.
* Teletext close caption.
* Video : HDMI, S-Video, Ypbpr, Composite
* Audio : AC3, SPDIF (Optical)
* Aspect ratio adjustment 4:3 (16/9 crop), 4:3 (16/9 letterbox), 16:9 (4/3 pillar box).
* Output format 1080i, 720P, 576P and 576i. (Europe@50hz)


I do all the work myself.
I chose the new switches and lnb?s to help compensate for being so far out of the foot print of the satellite.

So I guess that my friend was not mistaken when he said that for some reason HD Satellite reception gives trouble when using 1080p but is pretty much trouble free on interlaced mode as your Sat box output rates the 1080i not 1080p by default...

Must make a switch on my setup down in Santiago to test that theory.... HMMMM

Thanks for the quick answer...
Kudos to your hands-on style to get HD in the DR!!!! I checked your set up as provided and seem to be very good and above ratings over what's supplied by the Sat Company... [