Monday August 14th Technical Chat

[jdr01930]

Back to USB support - more specifically my wining that DISH would come out with a proprietary (expensive) unit based on what was said in the chat...

Maybe they wont gouge us on price too bad, I just checked and the Pocket Dish AV700E goes for $400, while the Archos AV700, which I think is the same thing, goes for $600 at Circuit City. So, if this is any indication, a proprietary Dish USB HDD might not be to pricy after all...

 

[digiblur]

I wonder why it wasn't boosted at full power from the start Scott? And why did they let everyone suffer from the dropouts and crappy reception if they could have boosted it all along?

It's not that simple..just to crank up a dial and hit send... we are talking about a multi-million dollar piece of equipment.

 

[cebbigh]

They said the changes would not be made til Wednesday. According to my calendar its only Tuesday.

You made me go back and replay the Q/A section where they talked about this. Wednesday wasn't a hard date, just around Wednesday. And Mark Jackson specifically talks about boosting "predominant channels." All I know is when I look at TP10 now it's looking much better than in the past.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Hmm...Gonna have to look at 129 and see what's what. I know I haven't been having dropouts on Starz-HD for the past 4-5 days and prior to that, it was as prone to the 20-minute cycle as any other channel on 129...

 

[foghorn2]

This is from thier annual report (from March):




According to that, Echo V has about 2 years left in the tank..

I noticed transponder 3 which used to house Rush TV is no longer selectable on the point screen. I used to get 42 on that transponder and was the main reason they installed a second dish.

I check tomorrow to see if 129 is any stronger.

 

[MichaelC]

What's going on with local guide info for people that Dish does not offer local to? Come on Scott give more hints.

 

[MikeD-C05]

It's not that simple..just to crank up a dial and hit send... we are talking about a multi-million dollar piece of equipment.

Alright if you know so much then I will ask you : how are they going to crank up the power on that multi-million dollar piece of equipment and why didn't they do it sooner?

 

[mkephart]

Don't get what

Go ahead and make the trip.

They admit to the problem, announce they are going to boost power, talk about a bigger dish that we've been anticipating for months and you take this moment to vent on your 19th post? Sorry, I don't get it.

I guess I should vent about not getting the food channel in HD instead of venting about not getting any of the voom HD channels I've been paying for for the last 6 months.

The local installer wanted to install a 24 inch dish last Feburary but Dish would not allow it. I think I have a lot more to vent about than people who just can't wait for food HD.

 

[Stargazer]

If they crank the power up on the satellite then that would give them less capacity on the satellite (half the capacity) right (referring to 129 here). I would think that if something would happen to where they could not get another satellite up in time before 129 died then maybe they would try to launch those markets in HD and swap them all out to MPEG-4 receivers before anybody else. Maybe it would turn out to be a good thing instead of a bad thing. They know they have to do it eventually anyways so why not start with 129? They would also have fewer people to swap out than the larger cities.

 

[Stargazer]

I wouldn't think that they would have a combo package with wildblue and dish network if they are already getting lots of sales. Just look at how fast the spotbeam satellite filled up. If they do not have the space it would not do them any good anyways in select markets.

I imagine if they did a combo package deal then they might only offer it as $5 off if you already have dish or wildblue but want to get the other service and if you signup for both then get $10 off total. They might give you more off if you get a higher priced internet package (or maybe AEP if we are lucky). I do not see them discounting more than this though unless they really need the business. I imagine that Directv will have the same deal as what Dish Network will do on the combo deal.

 

[long_time_DNC]

It must be Wednesday at Echostar!

I've just spent 20+ minutes looking at all the TPs on 129 and not a single one dropped below 60 during that time and many (5 or 6 TPs) were in the mid-upper 70s, which I've only rarely seen, and then only the low 70s (at best) on TPs 10, 11 and 12!

The average fluctuation was 3-4 points over that 20-minute period, whereas prior to this evening, there'd easily be 20-point variations on a single TP over a 20-minute period.

Dang, this is quite an improvement! The lowest I saw was 60, on TP 4 and the highest was 78 on TP 19. In my previous observations of 129, I have never seen a signal strength of 78 on any TP on that sat and most were in the mid-upper 50s with the occasional TP in the low 60s.

Now, the big test (which I'll get back here about) - can I watch UHD or the VOOM channels without loss-of-signal?

The Mariners are behind 3-0 in the 2nd, so I think I can spare 20 minutes or so.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Nope...still not there yet. LOS after about 16 minutes on Rave. Bummer... I'll check it again tomorrow, but it may yet require the 24" dish to really resolve this issue.

 

[foghorn2]

Rehooked the 129 lnb on the 1000 and the weakest TP is 4. Between 6-7pm PST it fluctuated from 43-63 and back. Nothing new yet.

 

[topcats69]

So what is the downside of E* powering up the 129 to higher levels?

There must be one or they would have done it before. Does this increase the risk of other failures, like in the power supplies?

I think it cuts capacity down due to power load. And If there running the transmit Amps at full power I think it would use up energy from the batteries at rate the would hard for the solar cells to recharge to batteries.

Just some ideas.

 

[foghorn2]

Alright if you know so much then I will ask you : how are they going to crank up the power on that multi-million dollar piece of equipment and why didn't they do it sooner?

Di-litium Crystals

But maybe they have a plan for the slot and gonna kill off the current bird earlier

 

[mike123abc]

I can see 2 ways to "boost" the power on 129:

1. Change how the satellite points to earth. Right now E5 has a lot of problem pointing the earth since the momentum wheels broke and it has to be "thrusted" back to position at regular intervals. Perhaps they have come up with a better system they are going to try with the thrusters to keep it from wobbling off point so much.

2. Make some of the TPs 2x power. To make a TP 2x power they have to turn off a TP. But they are not using all the TPs right now. Perhaps they will make all the national HD programming TPs 2x power. If they make national HD 2x power the NW will benefit since they will get the TPs they need boosted.

Note: They probably resisted doing double power on TPs since they would have to cut back the number of markets they can use 129 for since they will have fewer TPs for LiL HD

 

[cebbigh]

129

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions on 129 dropouts and pixalation:
A: 129 in the N.W. is not as strong, we are working on a special dish solution using a 24" dish, contact your local retailer if you are having problems. We are going to try to boost the power Wed to help on the 129 NW transponders.

So after 6 months they decide to up the power. Than to top it off they say go see your retailer for a 24" dish. Strange as they would not allow 24 inch dishes 6 months ago when they took my money. Well 12 months and counting. I think I might make a trip to Denver to drop my equipment on Charlies door step..

Go ahead and make the trip.

They admit to the problem, announce they are going to boost power, talk about a bigger dish that we've been anticipating for months and you take this moment to vent on your 19th post? Sorry, I don't get it.

I guess I should vent about not getting the food channel in HD instead of venting about not getting any of the voom HD channels I've been paying for for the last 6 months.

The local installer wanted to install a 24 inch dish last Feburary but Dish would not allow it. I think I have a lot more to vent about than people who just can't wait for food HD.

OK. That makes more sense. I will take you at your word that the local installer wanted to install a 24 inch dish in February. That was a wise installer. If it was me and the installer had a 24 inch dish available for install, I would have paid whatever the cost was and not worried about Dish approving it. In the three visits I've had from dish installers since the 129 satellite was available, I've never had an offer to install a 24 inch dish. Do you know the name or model of the 24 inch dish offered by the installer?

I'm really not sure how the Food Channel ties into all this. And I'll guess that when you say you are paying for VOOM and not getting it, you really mean that you do get the channels but suffer from the 20-30 min signal drop that all the rest of us who have been posting about it have been experiencing. None of us is happy about that. But it seems Dish has finally admitted a problem and is owning up to it.

If I think I can do better elsewhere, I'll move on too. Good luck in your choices.

 

[cebbigh]

I can see 2 ways to "boost" the power on 129:

1. Change how the satellite points to earth. Right now E5 has a lot of problem pointing the earth since the momentum wheels broke and it has to be "thrusted" back to position at regular intervals. Perhaps they have come up with a better system they are going to try with the thrusters to keep it from wobbling off point so much.

2. Make some of the TPs 2x power. To make a TP 2x power they have to turn off a TP. But they are not using all the TPs right now. Perhaps they will make all the national HD programming TPs 2x power. If they make national HD 2x power the NW will benefit since they will get the TPs they need boosted.

Note: They probably resisted doing double power on TPs since they would have to cut back the number of markets they can use 129 for since they will have fewer TPs for LiL HD

I don't think they can do the first solution until they get a replacement sat in place. I think something along the lines of the second solution is where they are pointed for the time being.

 

[psumattDE]

I am sure we would read somewhere else that some "darkguy the hacker" figured out what was actually being uplinked.

Things are secrets too long in this industry.

Never one to flame anything - I find it amusing that over on DBSTalk they are trashing "the caller that asked about inHD being uplinked" during the Tech Chat. They claim that it was in poor taste and the caller should have known better.

Hmmmm..i'm wondering if they're more pissed about the caller stating "I saw on SatelliteGuys"...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Never one to flame anything - I find it amusing that over on DBSTalk they are trashing "the caller that asked about inHD being uplinked" during the Tech Chat. They claim that it was in poor taste and the caller should have known better.

Hmmmm..i'm wondering if they're more pissed about the caller stating "I saw on SatelliteGuys"...

Yeah I saw that and thought it was funny, first Chris dont even have Dish anymore, hes got DirecTV now. Also since the INHD news was actually first reported by JohnH (and I have never taken claim for his find) does this mean that posting uplink reports at DBSTalk is now a no no and in poor taste?

Lastly if the caller would have said "I saw on DBSTalk" would they be praising the caller?

Just some things to ponder.