Who has more HD?

The Scoop on HD

This is just a shot in the dark, because if anyone of you did the research I’ve just done I’d have liked you to share it with me. Every person in the world is claiming they have the most HD channels. It’s not possible, one must have more, or else, they’d be equal. So, here is an extensive look at all the channels that Comcast, DirecTV, and the Dish Network are offering. (All of the information contained in this article is available on the perspective websites and the information was current as of the writing of this article.)

Keep in mind; this research does not take into consideration On Demand content, installation costs, how many rooms you can have it in, standard definition channels, or DVR size. This is just an HD content comparison.

So, The 3 packages I looked at were:
(I’m not listing any promotional pricing for any of these either)

Comcast Digital Premier Package
HD DVR rental is $13.95 a month; monthly rate is $117.24 a month.

DirecTV Premier Package
HD DVR retail is $5.99 a month; monthly rate is $104 a month.

Dish Network SD + Platinum HD
HD DVR rental is free, monthly rate is $69.99 a month.

Alright, on the channels, this first list contains all HD channels that ALL THREE above packages have in common. So, no matter who you go with, you will get all of these channels in HD.

A&E
ABC Family
Animal Planet
Discovery Channel
Disney Channel
ESPN
ESPN 2
Food Network
Golf Channel
HD Theater
History Channel
Home and Garden TV
National Geographic
Science Channel
Sci-Fi
TNT
TLC
USA Network
All Local Channels

Alright, with all those channels being said, here is the REMAINING channels that each company has left to offer:

COMCAST
MOJO/Select FSN HD
EventsStarz
HBO

DISH NETWORK
HD Net
Lifetime
Palladla
Bio.HD
Hallmark Channel
Times
MGM
NBA
Smithsonian
Universal
WFN
Big Ten
Bravo
Cartoon Network
CMNBC
CNN
HDnet
ESPN News
NFL Net
NHL Network
TBS Super station
Toon Disney
Weather Channel

DIRECTV
The 101
Biography Channel
CBS College Sports
Cinemax Wes
Country Music Television
Fox Bus. Network
Fuel TV
FX
HBO
The Movie Channel
MTV
Nickelodeon
Nick at Nite
Planet Green
Showtime
Showtime Extreme
Showtime SC
Showtime West
Speed Channel
Spike TV
Starz Com.
Starz Edge
Starz Kids
Starz Fam
Tennis Channel
VH1
Big Ten
Bravo
Cartoon Network
CMNBC
CNN
HDnet
ESPN News
NFL Net
NHL Network
TBS Super station
Toon Disney
Weather Channel
20 Full-Time Regional Sports Networks

DirecTV clearly, far any away, offers the most, and Dish Network coming in at second.

COMCAST: 31 channels.
DISH NETWORK: 47 channels.
DIRECTV: 55 channels (plus 20 regional sports channels)

Some things to consider:

Although Dish has more HD, they do not have the On Demand content that Comcast offers.

Also, I’m hearing a lot about Dish Company’s use of repressed resolution for their HD channels, so this may mean Comcast offers a clearer HD image. Although I’m not sure by how much, Comcast says on their website about having 2,073,600 pixels making up their images. HD is in 720p (rarely) 1080i (most usually) or 1080p (I can’t wait till they all are). Look, 1920×1080 (lines on your screen) is what it takes to make HD, so you multiply that and see where Comcast got this seeming HUGE number. And another thing, there is no real standard in how the industry measures it’s resolution. That’s like the time I saw this camera on sale, and they were bragging about how the camera takes pictures with a million pixels in them. Yea, that sounds like a big number, but that just means 1 megapixel. 1 mega pixel is terrible; the average Cell phone camera has 2 or 3 times that. I forgot where I was going with this.

So, in the end, it’s not about having the most HD channels, there are tons of worthless channels out there. Also from experience I know that unless it is blowing like hurricane satellite connections are rarely interrupted. Either way you go if you get the channels you watch, they are in HD and are reliable who really cares.