Charlie and Technical Chat Highlights for 06

[dfergie]

SatelliteGuys.Us
Charlie and Technical Chat Highlights for 2006
*note some of the info is outdated...

DishHD

Added 5 more Voom Channels in addition to Espn2HD and UHD and we will carry a special Olympics Channel.

Also coming up later this year, second quarter, Home and Garden HD and Food Network HD

We plan to add 5-10 more during the year…

HBOHD and SHOHD ava with sub to their packages…
For additional channels you will need Mpeg4… Olympics will be ava free of charge to all Subscribers in HD…

DISHHD Channel Review
Discovery HD
TNTHD
HDNet
HDNet Movies
ESPNHD
ESPNHD2
UniversalHD
Dish PPV
VoomHD (15)



Voom Guest
Josh Sapan CEO, Rainbow Media explains the 15 channels that will be ava on Dish Network:
Animania
EquatorHD
Family Room
Film Fest
GamePlay
Gallery
HD News
Fu
Monsters
Rave
Rush
Treasure
Ultra
World Cinema
World sport

Local Networks HD
Los Angeles
Denver
Chicago
Atlanta
New York
Minneapolis
Launch by March 31st
Raleigh, NC (2 channels) (dish 1000+ required)
Pittsburg, Pa coming 12/14
Charlotte, NC coming early 2007


DishHD Local Markets

HD locals we added St. Louis and Detroit this Summer 47% of households.


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HD Launches

Starz HDTV
Channel: 9435
Available in:
DishHD Platinum or With a Starz Movie Pack Subscription and an MPEG-4/ViP Series Receiver

NFL NetworkHD
Channel: 9426
Available in:
. DishHD Bronze and Higher
Starting Thanksgiving: Live NFL Games Thursday & Saturday nights at 8:00PM
NFL Replay will select the best games of the week and edit to 90 minutes and show every week at 5:30PM and 8:30PM EST Tuesday & Wednesday.
NFL Game of the Week Friday Nights at 8:00 EST

HGTV HD
Channel: 9461
Available in:
.DishHD Bronze and Higher

NGTV HD
Channel:9429
Available in:
.DishHD Gold and Higher
Free Preview:


Our New HD package has 26 National HD Channels...
All the new channels added this year are MPEG4

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Dishnet has 164 local SD markets 97 % of markets

New / recent launches of SD Locals
Odessa / Midland Tx
Rochester, Mn
Beaumont-Port Arthur ,Tx (Abc not available)
Palm Springs, Ca.
Dothan, Al
Bangor Maine
Butte-Bozeman, Montana



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Regional Uplink Sites with Downlink

DISH NETWORK ENGINEERING "FIRSTS"

* First company to offer a satellite receiver for less than $200
* First to develop a UHF remote control
* First to offer an IRD for C-Band satellite TV
* First nationwide installation network dedicated solely to satellite TV systems
* First to offer satellite receiver with built-in digital video recording
* First satellite TV company to offer local channels to local markets in all 50 states
* First to offer an MPEG-4 multi-room HD and Dvr satellite receiver
* First pay-TV provider to offer a pre-paid televison platform, 'DishNOW!' - 12/31/05
* DISH player-Dvr 942, the first ever multi-room satellite TV HD DVFR 1/06)05
* DISH Network PRO 301-first in a new series of satellite television receivers
* World's first and only 500 channel satellite TV system - 7/19/99
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PocketDISH Updates:

Record link will link PocketDISH with a standard receiver such as a 311 or a 301 it will become a pvr device!
Hooks to RCA (composite) jacks… Settop box will control the PocketDISH…
PocketDISH currently works with the 942 or 622 Receivers via 2.0 USB (takes about 5 minutes to transfer an hour program)
Now it will work with the DISH Player-DVR522 and 625 via 1.0 USB 30 minutes to transfer an hour program)software will rollout to these receivers the first week of March…
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New Software features for 622, 625 and 942 and 522
Changed Dvr list sort options, moved Dvr date up and lets you swap between Alpha Numeric and Dvr numeric source.
Explaining how to hit the Dvr button twice to get to your recordings.
Added themes & Search function to all but the 622 ( already has) also lets you search by keyword. (next month or so)


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And now showing the available deals.

HD Bonus


DISH'n It Up: Upgrade to ViP 622 DVR

DISH'n It UP: Upgrade to ViP 211

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Charlie addresses the Distant networks
*There are 900,000 of you who get these.
*Distant Network channels are network channels (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) that originate from locations outside a consumer's hometown.
* We are in the process of taking them down before December 1st
*If the the court ruling goes into effect we will no longer be able to provide these distant networks.


Who is not affected
*171 Markets, over 96% of population.


Who is affected
*51 Unserved markets, where we don't do locals today.


Timeline of events
*Nov 1988- Echostar asks Court to confirm interpretation of law is accurate.
*April. 2003- Court finds Echostar's current practices meet requiremnts.. no shut-offs required.
*Oct. 20 2006- Court says stature leaves no choice but to shut off distant networks.
*Nov.13-16, 2006- Congress must hear from you.
*Dec. 1, 2006 Court requires all shut-offs must be completed.

Offer for Affected Customers
* In all local - into - local markets, consumers are offered local networks free of charge through December 31, 2006.
* Free satellite DISH upgrade where technically feasible.
* Free over-the-air antenna where technically feasible.


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New Dish Features
*Side by side Pip Mode 622 if you are in single mode and hit the pip button you can enlarge pip 3rd press will have side by side pip . With this new feature when you close pip window you will start your progam where you left off.
You can view 2 HD channels side by side with this feature.



* Now in your guide in the top left corner by the channel number we have marked HD to help you distingish HD programming from SD in the guide.

*New Timer uses original air date for its information.

Slingbox Video
*Guest: Blake Krikorian Co-founder and CEO of Slingbox
*Blake tells how the idea for Slingbox came about.

*How the Slingbox works: Take your receiver and hook the audio /video outs to the describes, hook up a ethernet cable and you can stream this video over IP to your laptop, desktop or even phone.
*Leslie Harper demonstrates a 622 hooked to a Slingbox pro box.

*Blake demonstrates how to get your laptop hooked to your Slingbox.

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Programming Remote with Lesile Harper, goto dish home.

Remote Help - dishhome


tech.dishnetwork.com
Addressing the Remote

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Special Topic: Distants Shut Off Friday December 1st

Welcome to the special edition Charlie Chat, there has been a lot of activity and we want to make sure you have the most current information for our customers.
If you are watching tonight it means you have lost one or more of your distant networks, the reason is that a Court order by a Judge in Florida goes into effect tonight, and by midnight tonite we will shut off all of our distant network channels which are:,ABC, NBC , CBS and FOX.
About 900,000 Customers are affected. 7%
Group A 300,000 Customers will lose channels from outside your city (time shifting capabilities)
Group B 300,000 or so 174 markets , do not sub to local channels, but they are available to you.
Group C 300,000 live in one of the 33 markets where neither DISH(no LIL's) network nor any other Pay TV provider offers local network channels,or are missing some channels... no simple solution...

OFFER FOR AFFECTED CUSTOMERS
* In all local-in local markets, consumers are offered local networks free of charge through December 31st , 2006

*Free Satellite dish upgrade where technically feasible

*Free Off-air antenna where technically feasible

* Another company not affiliated with DISH Network can provide Distant Networks to qualified customers

There is a new company that is not associated with DISH: All American Direct that starting tomorrow will be delivering to qualified customers Atlanta and San Francisco distant networks.

All American Direct
*C-Band dishes and satellite receivers for over 20 years
* Offers distant network channels from Atlanta or San Francisco to qualified DBS customers
*No Separate Equipment (for the most part)
*But* Broadcasters are challenging this

Contact All American Direct
www.mydistantnetworks.com
current info available for B or C customers here...

Another possibility DirecTV

Customers who were receiving these distant channels will not be billed anymore (credited for partial months etc)

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Off Air Tuners
Bob Howell From Wineguard
Chose the Right Antenna
. Detirmine frequencies
-Channels 2 – 13 are VHF
-Channels 14 – 69 are UHF
. Distance between broadcast towers = antenna beamwidth
. Detemine distance to the broadcast tower

Websites for Assitance
.www.antennaweb.org
-Antenna selection
.www.checkhd.com
=Local digital/HD programming
(goes into description of going to antennaweb…and hd.com)
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WildBlue CEO Ken Carroll and CTO' Erwin Hudson
WildBlue 2 way highspeed Internet Satellite service discussion

and

and


Showing coverage map


WildBlue Service Offerings


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ITV Update with Scott Higgins



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Links:
January Charlie Chat Recap
February Technical Chat Recap
February Retailer Chat Recap
10th Anniversery Charlie Chat
March Retailer Chat Recap
May Technical Chat Screen Caps
May Retailer Recap
June Charlie Chat Recap
July Retailer Chat Recap
August Technical Chat Recap
September Charlie Chat Recap

September Audio Clips
November Technical Chat Recap
November Audio Clips
Special Charlie Chat 12/1 (audio clips here also)
Related pdf's
December Charlie Chat

 

[corydbstv]

Thanks.

 

[dfergie]

Questions for Charlie and Technical Chats

Questions…Martin: FCC requiring all must carry by dish by May and he wants to upgrade to a dual tuner dvr but wants to wait for must carry so he can dish at same time… ( silence) short answer FCC deadline …tech problems

Jodie: I have a 510 and it records differently from my 942?… name base recording on 942 will adjust for time differences ( program extended) the 510 will not…that difference will go away when we roll out Name Based a little later in the Spring.
Phone Question: Jason: DISHnetwork broadband status? Not really sure, working on , too early to talk about
Steve: On local Channel mapdown options what is HD priority? If you select HD locals they will take precedence.

Contest Line not working…

What is status of 100 on 921 Receiver? They do not support Mosaic yet… not sure, get a 622 (Dan Minnick)
John: When are the SD 121 locals going to be switched to the 119 Satellite… (Silence) When Echo 10 Launchs and deploys (June 1st timeframe) they will be migrated.
Kandy: I just got a 211 and a DISH 1000 why is my 129 signal 80% and 119/110 are 100% tech put up a second single dish that is not tuned right… 129 from Pittsburgh is a low look, tech must have had issues…80% is not a bad signal from there…

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Questions:

Mike: will the USB port be enabled for the pocket dish for faster transfers for the 522 , or will it only work for the 942?
Answer: Faster than real time 522 Has USB 1.0... you want to upgrade to the 622 to take advantage of the faster speed.

John: when will you have faster internet?
Answer: We have signed an agreement with WildBlue just this week, will be available in the next couple of months.(next tech chat)

Caller- Charles: My question is I have the Abilene locals on 148 wondering when they will move to 110?
Answer: If we were moving them we would have done it.

David: Can you please add the new CW network?
Answer: Changes in SD will happen automatically, we are looking at the CW HD feed, hopefully we will have good news for you in the fall.

Lance: This is for HD programming obviously with the push for HD we want more and more...what can you tell me about regional HD sports?
Answer: The problem is they are all a little different, what we are trying to do is launch 24 Hour HD networks... we are looking at possibly (example) show a Baseball game for 3 Hours in HD then go back to Sd... Hard to put up a 3 hr channel every 3 days...

Valerie: We Notice D* has a channel called TV One, does E* have any plans to add this?
Answer: We are in negotiations, could not get a fair deal( comparable to Comcast and D*)no eminent launch.

Kevin: My receiver is about 6 years old will it work when every broadcaster has moved to HD? will I have to buy a new TV?
Answer: We believe we will have Down conversion rights so all HD will work on your current TV set... The Government is working on a subsidized STB that will also downconvert, you should be in good shape as this digital conversion takes place.

Charles: Are you going to carry anymore Japanese Programing?
Answer: We are always talking to , but no specific news now.

Robert: The model 625 has a USB jack on the back , can I transfer programs to my PC?
Answer: No the 625 USB port is not usefull to transfer to a PC, we do not allow you to go from one digital device to another that the content could be transfered to the internet. Get a pocket dish...

Caller- Arlene: I was wondering if you were going to get Caribbean programing?
Answer: We have some programming on dish Latino Dominico TV.

Thank you for Calling.

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Question:
What is the difference Between the Dish 500 and Dish 1000
The Dish 1000 allows you to get 129 ( 3 orbital slots)
Dish 500+ gets you 110, 118.7, 119
Dish 1000+ gets you 110, 118.7, 119 and 129 slots

Question : Francis Zimmerman
When pausing a program with 622 how do I disable the bluebar / pause bar at the bottom of the screen.
A: Right now there is no way to do this.

Question : Travis
Is there any advantage of getting Wildblue with dish? ie a Bundle option?
A: It's a couple of months away, we are working on this.

E-Mail Nancy
How can I archive from my 622 to Dvd recorder?
A: Use the Rca jacks to archive. We are working on the external HDD, will be out this fall, we uncovered a bug in the OS that set us back.
(Authors note; they did not mention it but it is better to archive from the S-Video jack, for better PQ)

Question: Jason
On the 622 the OTA guide does not give subchannel info is there any plan to add those and how about RSN's on Dish...
A: we will give some guide info on subchannels, unknown time frame. Yes we are working on RSN's 10? channels in HD very soon.

E-Mail from Donna:
If I record on TV 1 on my 622 can I watch on TV2?
A: Yes

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Questions:
Adrian and Darrin
Q: Very concerned about losing Dvr capability's,
A: Tivo sued us we sued them. The District court has found that we did infringe but its been blocked. No one is in danger of losing there Dvr capability's. We have Engineers tasking the problem just in case we lose. We actually invented the Dvr

Q:
Jennifer
Can you tell me when I can expect internet access thru your satellite company?
A:
Wildblue will rolling out in late October, High Speed Internet Access via a small dish
Oct 19 Ava thru local retailers
Nov 15 ava thru dishnetwork

Caller Q:
Chris
Do you have any plans to get the channel Logo?
A:
Talks with viacom in progress, no deal yet.

Q:
Dale
Will I lose my distant networks?
A:
A court of appeals has told us that the way we have been qualifying some customers is wrong, we may have to turn off some customers distant networks. We have reached agreements with all but one of the major broadcast networks.


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Technical Questions:
Question from Brian: I have the 622 and myself and the guys at SatelliteGuys.Us were wondering when you were going to enable the external 622 HDD storage.
A: Its coming out very soon possibly in the first quarter.

E-mail Question:-Tony : I have a 625 and have the timers set up to record all new episodes of several programs rather than using the DISHpass, and with shows switching times /days or being put on hold. Do I need to change the timers to DISHPass.
A: You do not have to do a thing, it( the 625) will automatically pick them up.
E-mail Question - Bryan: I have a 508 and it began running nonstop June 8th, what is the deal?
A: Basically what happened is that the software programmning takes awhile to fill up your HDD and that is what you are seeing.
E-mail Question - Tammy: Whats up with the Dish network format on the screen everytime the TV is turned on?
A: I think what you are seeing is Standby mode. You can shut it off in the Menu.

E-mail Question - Kwi : I would like to know if E* is working on new technology to avoid losing signal when it rains hard.
A: You will see some fade, we do have some larger dishes for specific areas. Call us and one of our CSR's will walk you through these issues and if needed send a tech out to check alignment.

E-mail Question - Cory: When is NBR coming out on the 5xx series?
A: Due to higher priority projects, maybe after the first of the year. (in beta testing)

E-mail Question - Gary: Will the Wildblue service be integrated with a Dish net dish .
A: No not yet.

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Questions:

E-mail question from Wilson
Q: When will the Hallmark movie channel be added?
A: Its in our family pack, only in ava in the family pack

Steven:
Q: I had my distants turned off 2 weeks ago, I had a antenna installed and the Pq is not good, I heard about a new company.
A: DirectTV, Lifeline cable or All American Direct (will not need new equipment with AAD) 1-800-909-9677 or www.mydistantnetworks.com to see if you qualify.
Q: Oscar: I live in Fairbanks Alaska and we dont get all the HD channels, apparently 129 has a weak footprint.
A: We have some special spotbeams on one of our satellites for Alaska, Anchorage will be on one of them. Fairbanks local HD lils will be on 148 satellite, prior to June. We will continue to improve and are launching a satellite late next year. Hawaii will be up also before June of next year.

Q: Wes: Kevin what is your favorite game for the Wii?
A: Lots of great games, Wii Sports(various) also Trauma Center a Japanese game also Zelda twilight princess.

Q: Danielle: How often do you do the free preview channel?
A: We reshuffle it on a monthly basis, check channel 290.
Q: David: I have 622 question the enhanced pip when will the split screen be enabled.
A: It is in the works, not quite yet.

Q: Vanessa: My husband put a password protect on our ppv and forgot the password help!
A: You can call one of our agents and they can unlock your receiver.


Q: Randy: If we get a free movie certificate, but pay over the internet is there any way to use this?
A: Yes Mail it in.

Q: Daniel: Why dont you have free upgrades for your customers who have outdated equipment?
A: For the most part for the last 5 years we have offered free equipment to customers to get them started, but we need to make a profit. We give you good deals, just call us up and see what you qualify for.

 

[lakebum431]

It's cool to look back at the year like that. Hopefully we will start seeing some new news soon!

 

[RandallA]

Nice job!

 

[dfergie]

It really was a busy year for E* when you look back...

 

[Rexorg]

Thanks for reminding me about Indianapolis HD locals coming "soon" aka "never".

 

[gdarwin]

Thanks for reminding me about Indianapolis HD locals coming "soon" aka "never".

Same with Louisville.......

 

[Dirtydan]

Has anybody seen the "Side by Side" pip yet?

 

[dfergie]

Has anybody seen the "Side by Side" pip yet?

I tried it following the instructions, not yet on my 622...

 

[MikeD-C05]

Has anybody seen the "Side by Side" pip yet?

Just saw it on my Mom and Dad's 625 dvr and it works very well. You could watch two different games and swap back and forth for audio. If you like sports that is.

 

[dfergie]

Replaced my Your Welcome! with Questions from the year in post 3....

 

[JohnTomFerg]

" E-mail Question - Kwi : I would like to know if E* is working on new technology to avoid losing signal when it rains hard.
A: You will see some fade, we do have some larger dishes for specific areas. Call us and one of our CSR's will walk you through these issues and if needed send a tech out to check alignment. "

Follow-up question, will the guy that comes out to check alignment arrive before the storm ends so that he sees the problem and doesn't just say "it appears to be working fine now, excuse we while I go back to my truck on this nice sunny day"