DirecTV Launches 21 HD Channels

The day that many faithful DIRECTV fans have been waiting for has finally arrived. This morning at 6AM ET DIRECTV lit up 21 new High Definition Channels.

While I only had a short time to watch, I have to admit I was blown away with what I saw. Especially with what I saw on the new Smithsonian Channel HD network, I can describe this channel in one word -  amazing! The picture quality and the content were both breathtaking.

While it was hard to judge the picture quality on many of the new channels (many of the channels were showing upconverted programming or infomercials) but from what I saw it appears DirecTV is doing HD the way it should be done, in its original full resolution at high bitrates.

There were a few channels surprisingly missing from today’s rollout, and these channels are MHD and National Geographic HD. Both channels have been having preview on DirecTV over the past few months, in addition National Geographic HD was being used by DIRECTV as a test channel earlier this week. According to the DIRECTV website we should see those channels in October.

Below is a list of new HD channels which launched today on DIRECTV.

A&E HD
Animal Planet HD
Big Ten Network HD
CNN HD
Discovery Channel HD
History Channel HD
NFL Network HD
Sho Too HD
Showtime West HD
Smithsonian Channel HD
Starz Comedy HD
Starz Edge HD
Starz HD
Starz Kids & Family HD
TBS HD
The Movie Channel HD
Science Channel HD
The Weather Channel HD
TLC HD
Versus HD / Golf HD

If you’re a DIRECTV HD customer, I want your feedback on the new channels! Tell me what you like and don’t like about them, give me your honest feelings on these new offerings. You might even see your name and comments here in “The Satellite Dish” in my Friday column. Please send your feedback to feedback@satelliteguys.us. (Note by submitting feedback to this address you are giving me permission to repost portions of your email as well as your name here in “The Satellite Dish”.)