DIRECTV Now Offers the Largest Selection of 1080p Movies

[hugh]

Interesting news from South of the Border.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Continuing to sharpen up the HD viewing experience, DIRECTV is now offering the most movies in 1080p, the highest resolution format available for HD video enthusiasts and the same format used by Blu-Ray HD DVDs.

DIRECTV customers with DIRECTV Plus® HD DVR receivers have access to more than 30 new pay per view movies through the DIRECTV on DEMAND platform, and all new HD pay per view movies will soon be in the razor-sharp format optimized to bring the movie theatre experience to DIRECTV homes. Customers can also download additional movie titles via their broadband-connected HD DVR.

The movies available this month include: Transporter 3, Twilight, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Changeling, Body of Lies, Milk, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Dark Knight, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Wanted. New HD VOD titles such as Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, Marley & Me and Quantum of Solace will also be available in 1080p when they premiere on DIRECTV on DEMAND. For more information on 1080p and available titles visit www.directv.com/hd.

“This is fantastic news for all of our HD customers because DIRECTV HD in 1080p will enhance the HD viewing experience even if they don’t have a 1080p-compatible HDTV, and all HD DVR customers will have access to 1080p titles,” said Eric Shanks, executive vice president, DIRECTV Entertainment. “As the HD leader, we continue to push the envelope with unmatched HD quality and breadth of content. By offering the largest selection of 1080p titles, we further strengthen DIRECTV’s position as the premier destination for the most compelling and complete lineup of HD content.”

The DIRECTV on DEMAND service is available to customers with a DIRECTV Plus® HD DVR or R22 DVR receiver, and offers more than 7,000 standard-definition and HD titles, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The service allows customers to download the programming of their choice from the DIRECTV on DEMAND library to their DVRs to enjoy whenever they want. The service offers one of the easiest-to-use on demand interfaces on television, with unique features that make navigating through titles simple and quick.

[special k]

so is this like dishnetworks (dish on demand/video on demand) 1080p, where the provider sends it (i think?) 1080i to specific set top boxes/ird's ,and software in the ird up-converts it to 1080p????????

[dm_4u]

Wow 1080p...truely incredible...

I never thought it would get here so quickly...I guess delivering 7.1 sound and going to total HD content is DTV's final challenge.

They really do rock...

[jvincent]

Don't assume that because something is 1080p it is necessarily the best quality.

If they use a lot of compression then even though the final pixel count is 1920x1080 the actual resolution of the image may be much lower.

I'm not saying this is the case, but the folks in marketing have been known to stretch things in the past.

[james99]

Dish Network and Directv have been offering 1080P programming for many months. Seperate threads exist for both sets of announcements.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...ighlight=1080p

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=806299

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=89616

[peano]

Originally Posted by jvincent

If they use a lot of compression then even though the final pixel count is 1920x1080 the actual resolution of the image may be much lower.

They do and it is. But guys with 27" Dynex LCDs say it looks just as good as Blu-ray.

[tdti1]

It's not live broadcast 1080p it's downloaded, wont be surprised it they mess with it to use less bandwidth for downloading, still don't understand why cable was not the first to offer that.

[wlee15]

Remember that 1080p at 24 frames per second has a lower pixel count than 1080i30 and 720p60.