Tech Chat Recap, 2/11/08

[rockymtnhigh]

Tech Chat Recap -- February 11, 2008
Hosted by Mark Jackson and Dan Minnick

Tonight's Chat is recapped for SatelliteGuys members. We hope you enjoy this summary of this evening's Tech Chat on Dish Network. Thanks to Digiblur for the screen-shots.


Overview by Dan...
1) Awards at CES
2) Introduce Vip 612
3) Digital Transition
4) Details on archos Portable Media Players
5) Trivia Giveaways


1) Awards at CES
Dan Landreth (hey I know him! )
Video of CES highlights
Echostar wins Innovations 2008 for DVR Conversion product TR50

And on and on the video goes...

** Awards **
- TR 50 DVR. CNET Editors gave the TR50 the Best of CES Award, top consumer electronics that will impact the coming year.

Video on the TR50
- Echostar's Digital OTA Receiver w/DVR. 7 days of program guide; expandability, with USB port to connect external hard drives. Ethernet port to beam programming and customizable programming.

Mark: Digital transition is coming. Last year we talked a lot about Sling. Like the product so much, we bought the company. Sling won Best of Innovations Award for Sling Catcher, and Innovations Design Honoree for the SlingPlayer 2.0 Slingbox.

Call - 188-621-2078 with technical questions or email with tech questions, techforum@dishnetwork.com


4th Award, Vip211, won award for hooking up a hard drive to the stand-alone receiver, to turn it into a DVR. One time enabling fee. Coming out in Summer 2008. Doing final testing on it. Does all the DVR features.

(never said what the award was).

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Dish Network 622 was a pioneer as a DVR, the 722 is our top of the line receiver. What does VIP stand for? Video IP. If you connect to the Internet, you can use Dish Online to select from hundreds of movies.

Video on Demand movie features is one of the first VIP features.

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New Product:
VIP 612 Receiver. Dual Tuner for ONE TV. SD, 200 Hours, or 30 Hours of HD. OTA tuner/
- lower cost than 722, only supports one tv. Great for a Third room.

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Digital Transition and Public Safety Act. 2009 deadline is just around the corner. Next year, TVs all have to go digital -- on Feb 17, 2009. No more broadcasting analog signals permitted. Impacts those watching OTA.

Dish Network's solutions -- have Dan Landreth, VP Engineering, again...

1) What is DTV? Digital TV. Better quality picture.

David Goodfriend, VP of Governmental Affairs on the phone; spectrum that the govt gets back is being auctioned off for new services.

Mark: An idea whose time has come.

Dan: more features; program guides; broadcasters can have more than one channel.

(Rocky says: remember they are not saying HD is required, just Digital).

No impact for current Dish customers

What steps to people need to ensure they are not effected? Make sure TV has a built in digital tuner, or is digital ready? If TV is new after March 2007, it is digital.

(Rocky says: all this is a build up for the TR40.... )


Cost to consumers.... will need a converter box. Government has a program to buy the converter box. You can get a converter box for $40 - $70. Government program allows each household to get two coupons; each worth $40. Find more info from the govt at
www.dtv2009.gov

Get new antenna at
AntennaWeb

Mark: DTV = digital television; HDTV = high definition. Not all DTV is HD. To watch HD, need HD content, HD receiver, HD TV...

more on a converter box.... and finally..... Dish's product, the TR 40.

TR 40. Analog Converter Box. Retail for $39.99. Get it for free.

TR 50. DVR. Can record two digital OTA channels. Ethernet and USB Ports. Cost undetermined. Not eligible for the coupon program. Available July 2008.

Coupons expire in 90 days. So wait until MAY, when the product is available...


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CLUB DISH

$50 in credits, $5/mo, 10 months

One-time enrollment gifts, 5 free PPV, and a free Dish MOVER coupon...



1-888-920-GIFT (4438)

Incentives to help customers to bcome Dish subs

Friends get either:

1) Regular Digital Home Advantae, Free install and free DVR/HD-DVR

2) w/2 year vommitment, $39.99 credit for 3 months, 1st, 10th, and 20th month (ROCKY says: ok, I meant commitment, but this new word seems to have meaning, so it stays! )

$30 credit on first bill, free activation ($49.99 value), free install, free DVR

Go to Dishnetwork.com and select customer service and then Club Dish to learn how to get Gift Cards to hand out....


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Giveaway... VIP 612.

1-888-662-3474
Trivia question: In the US what channel between 2 and 83 has never been assigned?

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QUESTION: Gerald (phone)

How does the TR50 stack up to the 622/722?

A: It will only record Digital Terrestial signals. Only Local channels. i.e., OTA. Its a DVR for OTA. Guide won't be as robust, because locals don't give as much info.

It is not eligible for the coupon.


1-88-621-2078 or email

Q. EMAIL QUESTION: Dee Bought new HDTV, does 1080p. Everything works well except for locals. Watchable. Does not have a HD Reveiver.

A. A HD receiver would help. If you live in a city where we have HD LiLs, even better


Q. Marty: DVR Functionality with new USB connectivity. Will we be able to put content in Folders for USB HDD?

YES. Later this spring. Folder-functionality. (Rocky says: sweet!)


Q. Email: Largest External HDD that can be used?

750GB. Removing that limit in the spring.

Q. Email: Stuart. Have TV with Picture in Picture. Can't get it to work.

Two options: Dish has PiP receiver functionality. Upgrade to a 722. Without doing that, you would need a second Dish input source; i.e., a second receiver.

622/625/722 all work with PiP
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Q. Email: Michael Turn off Message 908. It is annoying.

Message 908 comes up when you have your Dish Remote with the aux button on. It tells you that the remote is controlling something else. Its meant to avoid calls to CSR to deal with problems from confused users.

Spring software releases will enable the user to turn it off.


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Q. Email. Replaced 811 with 211. 811 had local off air guide data. 211 doesn't. Seems like we downgraded.

A: 211, to receive local OTA guide data, need a local subscription. Probably are a subscriber who does not subscribe to locals. Were getitng problem when people were using an 811 as just an OTA receiver. Not economically feasible for Echostar.



Q. Email. Why does my TV turn itself off at 3am. I like to sleep with TV on. I hear the static.

No way to turn the feature off, just change the time. So the tv won't turn off in the middle of the night...



Q. Email. Have External HDD connected to my DVR. Can no longer use the HDD for perosnal use.

When you install a HDD, we put a warning popup, so we can format the drive, so we can talk to the drive. We have a file system for video. We notify that you won't be able to use it on a PC, without reformatting it. Each time you move between a box and a PC, it will get wiped.

Give clear warning at the beginning of the format. Fact of life.
Video is locked up to the Dish receiver.


PHONE Q. Josh: Looking for a HD DVR dual turner to output HD to both tvs.

Thinking about it. How do you get HD to the second tv? Can't use coax and analog. Have to build a thin client, and use wiring in the home ot get to the second tv.
Got a product in development....

PHONE Q. Tom: When broadcasting in 1080p?

If you do it in full 60 frames per second, takes about 3 times the bandwidth. Industry is struggling about how to do it. 1080p cameras are just coming out. Would not hold your breath, that it is coming out soon. Onerous bandwidth requirements. Would cost more.


PHONE Q. Randy: TR50 has HDMI output. Will it output to a HDTV?

Mark does not know. Will check. Does not want to say yes, not sure if it can do a full decode for HD. Think the answer is yes, but does not want to give a definitive answer. If Leslie says yes... (Rocky says: doesn't know his own product. Why on earth would it have HDMI if it could not display HDTV? )

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ANSWER TO TRIVIA. Bill won from TN

Ch 37 was reserved for radio astronomy use.


ANOTHER TRIVIA GIVEAWAY: second 612

Q. With analog broadcast the signal deteoriates the further away from the source. With Digital, you have it or you don't. What is this effect called on Digital Television, when you either have a signal or you don't.

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ARCHOS Portable Media Players

Now shipping 705 and 605 from Dish retailers, and BB/CC retailers.

Go to Archos.com and download a dishnetwork plugin. Then you can talk to a Dish receiver. Make sure you select US, so you get it in English.

Select Plugins. Download the Dishnetwork plugin. You'll need your receiver id to download for free. Go to front of 622/722 and press system info button. Type in the Receiver serial, and you can download to the 612/622/722, and can download 1 hour of SD content in about 5 minutes.

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Scott Higgins -- what's going on in interactive. IpTV: DishHome, Election iTV Program.

You Decide 2008 ipTV program. Quiz on which candidate you match up with.

Dish Decision 2008 program to learn about presidential candidates.

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MORE QUESTIONS.

Email: Robert. We are planning to upgrade from an older Dish box to a DVR box. Can we get a 612/622 box and use it as a SD box until we upgrade later.

Jan Johnson: Yes, you can do that. Use SVideo or Composite video output. HDMI or Component Video can be used for your HDTV.

Mark: There is a fee is you don't subscribe to a HD programming tier. $7/month. Fee goes away when you subscribe to HDTV.


Email: Bob. Got a new Dish 1000. Using 110, 119, 129. What is good signal strength?

It varies by market. Start losing signal around 12 - 10. Should see 20 or above on 110 or 119.



Email: Charles. Can I connect my laptop to my 625 DVR?

You could, but it would not do anything. Programmers do not want us to transfer content to set-top boxes to PCs...



Email: Robert. Why can't I download HD recordings to Pocket Dish?

It can not display HD resolution. It would require a transcoder. Not available for a portable device. Even if it could do HD, it won't look much better on a little screen. Just record it in the SD version.

Email: Carl. Are Dish Network customers going to need a upgrade for the digital conversion in 2009?

NO. You do not have to worry.

Email: Paul. Have 750GB HDD. Want to sort data on the HDD.

HE answered this earlier. Folders - coming soon....


Not supporting External HDD on older products.. Email from Craig...


ROCKY says: And then my DVR zapped the end of the Tech Forum to Record the Sarah Connor Chronicles... so that will wrap this tech chat recap

Enjoy folks!!!


EDIT: Answer to the Trivia Question: The Cliff Effect..

Then it ended. And as Forrest Gump says, "That's all I got to say about that."

[jdr01930]

"2) w/2 year vommittment,"

Was that a typo? That's the funniest thing I've seen all day.
Correct spelling would be "vomitment"

Or have people been calling these commitments "vomitments" forever and I'm just catching on?

thanks for the coverage, by the way!

[rockymtnhigh]

"2) w/2 year vommittment,"

Was that a typo? That's the funniest thing I've seen all day.
Correct spelling would be "vomitment"

Or have people been calling these commitments "vomitments" forever and I'm just catching on?

thanks for the coverage, by the way!

LOL. At the speed I was typing, just be glad there weren't more. Going to do clean up momentarily.

[jrp]

I think the only thing worse than watching that chat would have been having to type it up!

I think I'm lucky that I spent the hour in the chat chat while rebooting and doing a check switch because I couldn't get 101. After everything checked out I still couldn't watch it. Lucky me.

The chat chat, at least, was entertaining.

[Scott Greczkowski]

That chat SUCKED.

They talked for a half hour about the ATSC conversion and pushed their TR-40 box down our throats and then after all was said and done they said that Dish Network customers don't need to worry about the ATSC covnversion. Thanks for wasting 30 minutes of our lives showing us something we don't need.

Tonights questions (and answers) seemed to be way to scripted.

Dish had an hour to tell customers whats going on at Dish and instead we got fluff and zero substance. The friggen president of the company is so stupid that he didn't even know that the TR-50 (his big award winning box) could output in HD. Where is this guys head? Maybe he was dreaming about Cheeseburgers or something.

Its sad they had an hour to talk yet said nothing, and that for Dish Network customer to find out anything about Dish Network that they must come here to learn whats really going on. (Not that I mind that, but god damn stop wasting your customers time with the BS chat we had tonight, thats an hour of our life we can't get back.

At least we had a good time in the chat room.

[rockymtnhigh]

I kept thinking the same thing about the TR40. The only people watching this chat do NOT need it.

Oh well, it was par for the course.

[tigerfan33]

I absolutely 100% agree with the post above me.

[Foxbat]

Rats! I had to work tonight to make up the snow day that my son had (how is that fair?!??!)

I saw an interesting picture of the TR-40 in the last edition of Television Broadcasting. It was a TR-40, but it had the Sling Media branding. Any of the CES attendees see that one?

And I guess I need not ask if anyone asked about new HD?

[rockymtnhigh]

Rats! I had to work tonight to make up the snow day that my son had (how is that fair?!??!)

I saw an interesting picture of the TR-40 in the last edition of Television Broadcasting. It was a TR-40, but it had the Sling Media branding. Any of the CES attendees see that one?

And I guess I need not ask if anyone asked about new HD?

I did not see one with sling branding; but did not get to the sling booth either.


No questions about HD programming.

[ripnbigc]

I'm sure HD programming questions were put on permanent ignore.