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Day 3 has come and gone, and boy are my feet killing me.

The day started this morning with a Dish Network Press Conference, The conference was held in a room with a basic wooden podium.

The conference opened with Marc Lumpkin introducing Charlie Ergen, Charlie however was mingling in the crowd and acted like he did not know he was supposed to talk and came on stage.

Charlie did his normal Charlie thing in telling the press why his company was better then everyone elses. After Charlie talked he then took questions from the press.

When asked about MPEG4 Charlie did say that all HD receivers would need to be replaced, however he did say that a replacement could be done for little to no cost if the customer is a HD customer.

He also mentioned that while no new HD content is planned until the fall, he may "have" to put up some additional HD channels in MPEG2 format in the future.

Charlie for some reason did not want to take a question from me, Marc Lumpkin looked uncomfortable fearing he would call on me and I would ask a bad question.

After Charlie Spoke, Michael Schwimmer was introduced, Michael explained Dish's Video on Demand service which did not sound anything like Video on Demand to myself or any of the other press I spoke with after the conference. Instead it would be a "Dish Pass" which someone at Dish Network would program all DVR's to record their own pre selected TV shows and movies.

Michael also showed us Dish's "Mosaic" and touted they were the first in the US to offer the Interactive Mosaic (DirecTV just introduce its MIX which is the same idea but in my humble opinion done better) Dish will be copying DirecTV by offering a News Mosaic Soon.

We were also shown some new Interactive features, including Karaoke which is still listed as coming soon as well as a new horse racing wagering interactive service which operates in conjunction with the TVG Network.

Mark Jackson then came out and gave us the tech lowdown.

He told us about the new Dishplayer DVR 625, which is just a 522 with a larger hard drive and software which supports Video On Demand. The 625 can record up to 100 hours of video, and it can also record another 100 hours of Dish VOD programming.

Mark Jackson then told us about the great new 942. They showed a screen shot of its new program guide which was enhanced for 16 x 9 screens. This screen shot looked great and is a great use for a 16x9 screen.

Mark then showed us a couple of new items including two portable DVR's. As you may remember in the past Dish has shown a "Dish Pod" portable screen. The units shown were not the actual units which Dish will be making, infact one looked like a RCA or Archos unit I have played with before. I do not expect this product to make it to the market in 2005.

Mark then took questions and I managed to get one in, I ask Mark if the new 942 would be upgradable to MPEG4 and the answer was NO. Many of the news people noted this and the ones I talked with stated what I have been thinking for a long time, the 942 is going to be obsoluite before it hits the streets.

BTW they did announce that the 942 would be available for sale at a MSRP of $749, plus it will be available in select DHA packages.

They handed out a press kit which included the 2005 Dish Network Product Collection, and in it are the following receivers....

Dish 311, Dish 322, DishPlayer DVR 510, DishPlater DVR 522, DishPlayer DVR 625, Dish 811 HD, Dish DishPlayer 942 HD.

Gone from the product list from 2004 include the Dish 111, Dish 721 and the Dish 921.

No mention of the price increase was mentioned at the Press Conference.

After Dish Networks press conference ended it was a rush down the hall to the DirecTV Press Conference. This press conference was also in a room, however DirecTV had it all setup, with a nice glass podium with a Plasma screen in front of it and a big screen used for showing DirecTV videos, and they had a backdrop behind the stage with the DirecTV logos. In addition for making their press conference feel like a event, DirecTV also gave out boxed lunches to everyone in attendence.

Because it is getting late I will highlight the key points.

1 DirecTV will be launching HD locals this Summer in MPEG 4 format. They will launch HD locals in 12 cities at first. Those first cities are as follows...

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philidelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Tampa.

DirecTV will be introducing its own DVR and Home Media Option. (See attached photos for more details)

Plus they demoed the MIX channels and new Interactive channels, they also showed us a new MIX / Interactive channel for the NFL Sunday Ticket which puts you in the action, if your a football fan your going to love this!

After the DirecTV press conference I shot down to the VOOM Booth and was given an impressive demo of VOOM's upcoming DVR product, what makes the VOOM DVR unique is you make your own TV channels. For example if you like Sinefield you can set the unit to record all the Sinefield episodes and all the shows can be seen on their own channel (IE the Sienfield Channel, Channel 901) to me this idea is better then just having all recorded items in one area, and it also is better then having folders. When you want to watch Seinfield you know you can tune to channel 901 for Seinfield. (And its also listed in the guide with all the other channels.)

The VOOM DVR was not perfect, it had problems with basic functions, but it worked great on all the hard features. I am told that the software is 85+% done, the hardware is comeplete and ready. I honestly believe VOOM will be able to get the DVR out the door by the end of March.

As you may have seen VOOM also mentioned today that they plan on offering up to 70 HD channels by March. Things are looking up for VOOM.

It was a busy day, I must have walked 15 miles today, while walking around I stopped by the DirecTV booth and saw the first actual MPEG4 broadcast, this was an actual LIVE Satellite MPEG4 broadcast. I also ran into DirecTV's Tanya Meme who was nice enough to pose for some photos.

While walking around looking for SBC's booth to check out the new 2Wire receiver I ran into Tom Arnold at the XAVIX booth. This guy is one friendly guy who enjoys having fun. I got to spend about 5 minutes talking with Tom.

And that was my day today...

I never did find the SBC booth but I will look tommorow, and also I will be paying a visit to the TimeTrax booth as well. More tommorow.

Also look for video later this weekend and next week (I dont have time to edit video here and our broadband here is slower then a 1200 baud modem at times) Thanks for your understanding.

Here are some photos. Enjoy!