Tech Forum Summary - August 13th, 2007

[James Long]

Tech Forum Summary - August 13th, 2007

Tech Forum Hosted by
Mark Jackson - President of Echostar Technology
Dan Minnick - VP, Engineering

Product Updates
Guest: Seagate Technology
iTV Updates
Trivia Giveaways
Q & A

Two New High Def Receivers

ViP-222 ... similar to a 322 except the TV1 is High Def
Single Mode allows Picture-in-Picture
Dual Mode for independent viewing on two TVs

ViP-722 DVR ... replacing the ViP-622 DVR
Dual-tuner, two-TV High Def DVR
500 Gig hard drive - user partition 350 hrs Standard Def 55 hrs High Def
Single Mode allows Picture-in-Picture
Dual Mode for independent viewing on two TVs

Upgrades ...
Dish-n-it Up - $100 mail in redemption
Log in to your account at Dishnetwork.com for your price!

New HighDef Channels this week (August 15th)
AT100 w/DishHD and above
MHD: Music High Definition (MTV, VH1 and CMT videos in HD)
Discovery HD (the regular channel in HD, in addition to Discovery HD Theatre)
The Learning Channel HD

AT200 w/Dish HD and above
Animal Planet HD

AT250 w/Dish HD and above
The Science Channel HD
Golf/VS HD (combined channel)

New Software Features
For ViP-622 DVR ...
Group by Titles
Connect your 622 to the Internet ... and buy PPV!
$5 fee will be waived once you are connected (it may take a month).
Phone line apps (Dish Home customer service) will not work (yet) via ethernet.
New features coming such as programming your DVR via the Internet.
Visit http://tech.dishnetwork.com/ and download the Home Network Installation Instructions

Giveaway ... ViP-722 DVR installed!
Q: What is the true amount of space that is available on a new 100GB hard disk drive?
(Answer rounded to nearest 1000.)

Q&A
Q (Jason): More than one 622, can I move external storage from one receiver to another?
A: Yes ... initial software release allows you to do it three times. (Household key coming later.)
(On 622 and 722.)

Q (Martin): Pocketdish Archos ... DRM problems.
A: We must protect content. Move is required to pocketdish.

Q (Richard): Is a landline required to subscribe to Dish Network?
A: You do not need a landline to subscribe, but you do need it for special features.

Q (Scott): Download DVR to PC?
A: Not directly. Use a DVD recorder ... dub it!

Q (Tracy): Upgrade 322 to 222 ... Screen saver interrupts dubbing? 222 internet capable?
A: 322 can have nightly update disabled. 222 will have the same thing.
(Or use an auto-tune timer to wake up the receiver.)
222 can be connected later this year ... possibly USB to Ethernet on older boxes later this year.

Q (Leo): Will the 722 have a ATSC RF output?
A: No. Copyright issues prevent this.

Winner: Kim Riggs ... 93.132GB

External Hard Drive Feature
External library of content ...
For ViP-622 DVR and ViP-722 DVR - move programs to enjoy later and open up space on main drive.
ANY High Quality off-the-shelf single disk USB 2.0 between 40GB and 750GB
Dedicate the drive for external storage -- using on another device will destroy content.
One time activation fee ($39.99) to activate this feature on all receivers on your account.
(Special Number 888-241-2205 --- WAIT UNTIL 8/15 !!!)
Programs can be played from the drive or transferred back to the receiver.
Only one drive at a time ... this will be expanded later.
Connect the USB Hard Drive directly to the receiver. Hard Drive will be reformatted!
Only content from "My Recordings" can be moved (Movies on Demand and other rental content will not transferred).
This does not work swapped to a PC or with your buddies.

Guest: Seagate Technology
Rob Pait, Director of Marketing
Lots of good information on picking a good hard drive!

Giveaway ... Maxtor One Touch Drive and Seagate Free Agent Drive ... 750GB each (two winners)
Q: In GB, what was the maximum capacity of the world's first commercially available hard drive using perpendicular recording technology.

New Software ...
Signal Strength Screen - making it more consistent across all models.
Green and not less than 17. Yellow bar is potential problem. Red bar 10 or below is loss.

Scott Higgins (Director of Sales, Interactive TV) iTV update ...
Showing us the Mosaic we all know.
(DishOnline scheduling looks nice.)

Winners ... Seagate Q --- 160GB
Brian Reddy Providence RI and Pam Willard Windsor CT

Q&A
Q (Gary): Have Seagate and I formatted it for Unix? Is this right? Which port?
A: The receiver reformats the drive ... doesn't matter. USB Port. Any port works.

Q (Mike): Old Dish 300 ... I want to connect this for 61.5°?
A: Yes. It depends on your LNBs.

Out of time ...

Next Charlie Chat ... September 10th, 2007 - 9pm ET Channel 101

Replays (Eastern Time):
Thursday, August 16th, 5am
Saturday, August 18th, 5am
Sunday, August 19th, 5am and 7pm
Monday, August 20th, 9pm
Thursday, August 23rd, 9pm
Saturday, August 25th, 5am
Sunday, August 26th, 5am and 7pm
Monday, August 27th, 9pm
Thursday, August 30rd, 9pm

[Marriner]

nice job james, thanks

[Rob Glasser]

Thanks James, nice job. I got stuck at work and missed all but the last 10 minutes.

[SHADO 1]

"ANY High Quality off-the-shelf single disk USB 2.0 between 40GB and 750GB"

Will an internal HD in an external case also work if it has USB 2.0?

[Stewart Vernon]

The answer that really surprised me was the one saying a landline wasn't required. I hope the contracts folks are rewriting the terms & conditions of the residential agreement where it states you have to have a phone line connected... otherwise a bunch of folks will soon be mad at the guys from Tech Chat for their answer.

[DoyleS]

Originally Posted by SHADO 1

"ANY High Quality off-the-shelf single disk USB 2.0 between 40GB and 750GB"

Will an internal HD in an external case also work if it has USB 2.0?

The key is that it has to be USB 2.0. If your case is USB 2.0 then any drive between 40 and 750 GB that will fit into that case should work just fine. The receiver will reformat it. Sounds like you could take any drive you have laying around and stick it into the case and give it a try. If it works then buy a larger drive and put it into the case. 500 GB USB2.0 drives seem to be the best price point right now for ready to go boxes as they are just over $100 in a USB 2.0 case. Naked drives are obviously less but not by a lot.

..Doyle

[Mike D-CO5]

I guess they meant that you could look at your account on the 15 th to see what price for the 722 if you wanted to upgrade to it, and not today . It only shows me the price to upgrade to the 622 right now.

[James Long]

They stressed high quality and single drive ... and from 40GB to 750GB.

[DoyleS]

So, how much extra HD time does 100 GB provide? I do have a spare USB 2 case that I could stick a Seagate 750 in and maybe that makes the most sense. On the other hand, waiting to see what others report when they hook up their drives might be prudent.

..Doyle

[Rob Glasser]

Originally Posted by James Long

They stressed high quality and single drive ... and from 40GB to 750GB.

A single drive period. or a single drive at a time? I was under the impression you could have multiple drives, but only one connected at a time.

[P Smith]

A couple q - Golf channel or GOLD, the disk should be compatible ?

And HD usually is Hi Def, HDD - hard disk drive.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by Rob Glasser

A single drive period. or a single drive at a time? I was under the impression you could have multiple drives, but only one connected at a time.

Single drive per case. It sounded like some multiple drive cases might work (depending on how the manufacturer had set them up) but single drives were the preference.

[P Smith]

It was mentioned 'if the disk is compatible, then it will be formatted' - not direct quote, or I misinterpret that phase.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by P Smith

A couple q - Golf channel or GOLD, the disk should be compatible ?

Spel-chek didn't catch Gold for Golf.

And HD usually is Hi Def, HDD - hard disk drive.

Clarifications made for those who may not have been reading in context.

Originally Posted by P Smith

It was mentioned 'if the disk is compatible, then it will be formatted' - not direct quote, or I misinterpret that phase.

It is a good thing they are not reformatting non-compatible hard drives.
(Or at least I hope they wouldn't.)

Yes, I do recall that IF statement (or something similar) being made.

[BobaBird]

Nice job! The EKB Tech Forum Summary, 8/13/07 is now also available.

[juan ellitinez]

Originally Posted by HDMe

The answer that really surprised me was the one saying a landline wasn't required. I hope the contracts folks are rewriting the terms & conditions of the residential agreement where it states you have to have a phone line connected... otherwise a bunch of folks will soon be mad at the guys from Tech Chat for their answer.

Most peopel don't connect a land line..Its only really required if u have a dual tuner receiver or like to order pay per view

[4bama]

Originally Posted by juan ellitinez

Most peopel don't connect a land line..Its only really required if u have a dual tuner receiver or like to order pay per view

Don't forget the caller ID feature. If you have a land-line in your home caller ID will not work unless you connect a phone line to your receiver.

[djlong]

Would have been nice to hear if they had any news concerning the old, old, old announcement that they were working with Microsoft on something like a tuner card for Media Center/Vista PCs...

[datwell]

Originally Posted by SHADO 1

"ANY High Quality off-the-shelf single disk USB 2.0 between 40GB and 750GB"

Will an internal HD in an external case also work if it has USB 2.0?

Well, it seems to work with mine (Seagate 750GB PATA drive in USB 2.0 external case) - it recognized that it's there and formatted it. I'm now being prompted to call Charlie and give him $40 ("authorize") so the 622 can use it.

--Doug

[satguy06]

I have a vip 211. How much will it cost me to upgrade to a vip 222 or a vip 722?

[cyclone27]

I have two 622s. Will I be able to use the same HDD for both receivers and move it back and forth between each receiver?
Or do I need a seperate HDD dedicated to each receiver?

[P Smith]

Originally Posted by cyclone27

I have two 622s. Will I be able to use the same HDD for both receivers and move it back and forth between each receiver?
Or do I need a seperate HDD dedicated to each receiver?

See post#1 here.

[penguin44]

Does one need an mpeg4 unit to get these new HD stations?

[James Long]

Originally Posted by penguin44

Does one need an mpeg4 unit to get these new HD stations?

Yes.

[JohnH]

After the 15th, you will need an MPEG4 unit to get some of the old stations as well. That is all of the VOOMs.