Dish Network Technical Forum 02/11/08
Hosts
Mark Jackson - President Echostar Corp.
Dan Minnick - VP Software Engineering
Overview:
- CES Awards for Echostar
- VIP612 DVR Launch
- Digital Transition Special Guest
- Archos Portable Media Players
- Trivia Giveaway
CES Awards:
First up, Dan Landreth, VP Engineering out of Atlanta
Showed his footage from CES
2008 CNET Best of CES Awards
Showed a lot of video from Echostar/Dish Network booth as well as various other booths all to music, no dialog
Dan then talked a bit about his favorite items
TR-50 DVR - Best of CES Award - Video Category - by CNET- Digital OTA receiver with built in DVR
- 7 Days of Guide Data
- Expandability with USB Port
- Internal drive size still TBD
- Ethernet Port for additional features
- Due out in the Summe
SlingCatcher - CES Best of Innovations
SlingPayer 2.0 - CES Innovations Design Honoree
ViP 211 Conversion - Adding USB HD to ViP211 HD Receiver Summer '08 - won a CES Awards as well- Trick Modes
- Extended Guide to 9 days
- Ability to record shows from Sat Tuner or OTA Tuner
Showed a slide of their awarding winning ViP622 and ViP722
What does ViP Stand for? Video IP
Can connect to the Internet and use DishONLINE movie service to download and view movies to your ViP products.
New Product:
ViP612 HD DVR- Perfect for Mult-HDTV Home
- Dual-tuner receiver for one TV
- MPEG-4 technology
- Record Time:
- Standard-Definition up to 200 hours
- High-Definition up to 30 hours
- View and record OTA digital/HD broadcasts
- Pricing and availability at www.dishnetwork.com
Digital Transition:
Digital transition and pubic safety act passed on 2005
By February 17, 2009 all full power United States TV stations will no longer broadcast an analog signal
This affects anyone watching OTA broadcasts.
Back to Dan Landreth ....
What does it mean?
Generally means a better quality pictures and it frees up spectrum.
David Goodfriend VP of Gov. Affiars via phone ....
in addition the spectrum the government gets back is being auctioned off to be used for new services.
What else? ....
Can have a program guide.
Broadcasters can broadcast more than one channel, i.e. an all weather channel or all news channel, some are splitting into 5 SD channels.
What do you need to do?- If you TV was shipped into US after March 19, 2007 it was required to have a digital tuner or be digital ready.
- If you bought a DVD Recorder or VCR after May 25, 2007 it was required to have a digital tuner or a warning.
- Need to check your TV and make sure it has a built in Digital Tuner.
- If you TV has DTV, ATSC, HDTV = Digital
- If it says something like Integrated Digital Tuner or HD Ready your fine.
- If you TV is not digital ready you need to get a converter box. Prices range from about $40.00 - $70.00. The government is giving out up to 2 coupons per household good for up to $40.00 off each towards digital converter boxes.
To get the coupons go to
www.dtv2009.gov. If you need an antenna go to
www.antennaweb.org for antenna solutions.
Difference between DTV and HDTV, not all DTV is HDTV. HDTV requires 3 things, TV, receiver, and content all need to be HDTV capable to get HDTV.
Digital Broadcast Solutions:- If you subscribe to Dish Network your fine.
- If you subscribe to other pay TV services your fine.
- Otherwise, Digital to Analog Converter Box or integrated receiver with a Digital OTA tuner
- TR-40 - $39.99 - Digital to Analog converter box.
- TR-50 - Records two digital OTA channels, Large hard drive for HD and SD, Ethernet and USB Ports, Cost to be determined. Not eligible for coupon program.
Coupon Program:
First thing to do is sign up -
www.dtv.gov, will direct you on how to order.
Once you get the coupon you can go to any participating retailer that has an eligible receiver and give them the number on the coupon they will credit you up to $40.00. If it's less than $40.00 it will not cost you anything but tax.
Coupons expire 90 day's after they send to you but the Echostar boxes will not be out until June so make sure you wait to order if you want those boxes.
Again if you are a Dish Network subscriber this is not an issue.
ClubDish:
What you get:
$50.00 in credits $5 per month for 10 months
One Time enrollment gifsts
5 FREE pay per view coupons and a free dishmover coupon
What your friends or family get:
Option 1:
Regular Digital Home Advantage (DHA)
Free Standard Professional Installation
Free DVR or HD DVR equipment upgrade
Option 2.
For DHA 24 (24 month commitment)
$39.99 credit for 3 months (1st, 10th, and 20th months)
$30 credit on 1st bill, free activation ($49.99 value)
Free Standard Professional Installation
Free DVR or HD DVR equipment upgrade
Call: 1-888-920-GIFT (4438) or go to
www.dishnetwork.com for more information.
Trivia Time - ViP612 Giveaway:
What is the only channel in the United States between 2 and 83 that has never been assigned?
Questions:
Gerald: How does the TR-50 stack up to the ViP622/ViP722?
Answer: It is scaled down. It will only record Digital Terrestrial Signals, OTA only. Guide will not be as robust as local channels to not always broadcast as much detail. It is also not eligible for the coupon program. No Dish Network programing.
Dee: I bought a new HDTV TV this weekend, 1080p, and everything works well but the locals channels don't look good, I don't have an HDTV receiver. Would an HDTV receiver help any and how?
Answer: Yes, if you live in a city that we carry local HD channels you'll get them and there is also a built in OTA tuner where you can hook up an external antenna to get them over the air if we don't carry them.
Marty: Question about the DVR functionality with the new external Hard Drive? Will there be folder support on the external hard drive?
Answer: Yes, we are looking at adding folder capability where the USB drive will show up a s folder in your DVR list in a release coming out in the spring.
Jerry: What is the maximum drive size for the external USB Hard Drive feature?
Answer: 750GB is the current, but the limit will be going up in a release coming out in the spring.
Stewart: I have a new LCD with PIP but it doesn't work. How do I get it to work?
Answer: 2 options, Dish Network has several receivers with PIP built into the receiver. Check to see if yours has it, or upgrade to one that does i.e. ViP722. The other option is you need a second video source like another Dish receiver or DVD player to hook up to another input on your TV.
Michael: I would like you to turn off permanently message 908.
Answer: Message 908 comes up when you press the aux button on your remote and lets you know that you need to press the Sat. button to control the satellite. It will be a feature you can turn off via the menu after a spring release.
Dennis: We just replaced our receivers from the 811 to the 211 the 811 had local off air guide data but the 211 does not. It seems like we downgraded.
Answer: With the 211 in order to see local guide data you have to have locals in your package, if you don't have the local package you will not see guide data. On the 811 you did not have to do that.
Dean: Why does my Satellite turn itself off every night at 3:00am
Answer: Nightly standby, it does this for updates and to refresh the guide data. You can either change this to different time or if you TV supports Sleep you can set your TV to turn itself off before 3:00am so you don't get static.
Daryl: I have an external HD connected to my DVR. You have formatted my hard drive so I can't use it for personal use. What format did you put on it? It's not your proprietary hardware, I don't feel this is right?
Answer: When you install it, we put a warning up saying that we have to reformat the drive. We do this to make sure it's setup to work with our video. We do put up a warning. You can take back to your PC and reformat but you'll lose any programming you have on it. Again, there is clear warning about this when you first connect it. Video will not work anywhere but on Dish receivers.
Josh: I was looking for an HD DVR that outputs HD to both TVs, do you know when one of those will be coming out?
Answer: We've been talking about this, but not sure how we would get that signal to your second TV. We need to figure out to do that with the wiring in your home. We are working on it, product in development, just started, but do not have a timeline yet.
Tom: You currently broadcast in 720p and 1080i, just curious when your going to broadcast in 1080p?
Answer: If you do it at full rate of 60fps it takes 3 times the bandwidth of what we do today. Right now the infrastructure is not there and nothing is broadcast in 1080p. Also the bandwidth requirements are large and would cost a lot more, which they are not sure customers are willing to pay.
Randy: On the TR-50 I noticed it has an HDMI output.
Answer: Dan says yes, and Mark says not sure, but wants to make sure. Lesile says it does, so yes, it does.
Winner:
Bill from Memphis, TN. The answer channel 37, it was reserved for radio astronomy use and was never assigned in the United States.
Another ViP612 Giveaway:
Question: With analog broadcasts the signal gradually deteriorates as you move away. With Digital broadcasts you either have a signal or you don't. What is this affect called where you either have a signal or you don't?
New Products:
Archos 605 and 705 - They are now available from our retailers or other retail stores.
To takes advantage of them with our receivers you need to go to
www.archos.com and download the Dish Network plugin.
Once you do that they will be able to connect to our ViP612/ViP622/ViP722 receivers.
This is free for Dish Network customers. In order to download you need to get your Dish Network receiver ID from the System Info screen.
ITV Update:
Scott Higgins
- You Decide 2008 ITV program to answer questions to find out who you line up best with.
- Dish Decision 2008 ITV to find out about the candidates and vote in the daily question.
- January had 3 special events, X Games mosaic, NBA Free Pass preview, and NHL Center Ice Free Preview.
More Questions:
Robert: We are planning to upgrade from an older box to a DVR box. Right now we don't have a HDTV but can we get a ViP612 or similar HDTV box now and use it as an SD box until we upgrade to an HDTV later?
Answer: Yes, the HD boxes we sell now support SD output as well. They will have composite and/or Svideo output for SD and will have Component and/or HDMI for when you do get HDTV. If you don't subscribe to HD channels there is a $7.00 a month fee for not subscribing to HD channels.
Bob: He has a Dish1000 antenna for 110/119/129 and wants to know what kind of signal strength is good/average/bad?
Answer: It varies per market. You will begin to lose signal around 12 to 10 on the new strength meter, you should see 20 or above on 110 and 119.
Charles: Can I connect my laptop to my 625 DVR?
Answer: No, our programmers would not allow us to move content from our boxes to PCs.
Robert: Why can't I download any HD recordings to my PocketDish?
Answer: The PocketDish does not support HD, they just don't have the hardware in the unit to display it. Their solution is to make sure you record the content from the corresponding SD channel.
Carl: Are Dish Network customers need to purchase new equipment or a new TV for the upcoming digital conversion?
Answer: No you do not. Dish will take care of the change between them and the broadcaster, you will continue to receive everything you get today.
Paul: I have a 750GB Hard Drive attached to my ViP722. I have loaded a large number of Modern Marvels. If there a way I can edit or sort the data on my hard drive?
Answer: In the future you'll be able to see your recordings in a folder in you DVR list and when you select it and do the different sort options. This will be in the spring release.
Tim and others: Are we going to support external hard drives on older products?
Answer: Right now we do not have any good plans on that. We will think about it but we recommend upgrading to one of our newer products. On the 625 and 721 they only have USB 1.1 which is much slower, which means it takes real time for SD content and it is not fast enough to support playback directly from the USB drive.
Craig: On the new Off-Air DVR can you give us a ball park estimate on retail price point.
Answer: Still trying to figure out the price-point and hard drive size, thinking smaller drive to bring the price-point down to be more cost effective.
Question: Why are my local channels 2 - 68 duplicated on 8200 and up?
Answer: Numerous markets use the same channel, i.e. 4. In order to get all these channels we have to have a unique number for all the channels and then map them down for your market.
Winner:
Bob. The answer the cliff effect or waterfall effect.
That's it, out of time.
Rebroadcasts on channel 101
Next Month, Charlie Chat March 10, 2008 at 9:00PM EST, channel 101.
