Team Summit: General Assembly Notes

[drdroo]

A few friends of mine in Comcast regions see dirty blocky lines in their HD picture a couple times every few hours. I told them that I'd not pay for a service that gave me HD like that.

It's always going to be worse or better elsewhere. As it goes, it seems that Charlie is always upgrading his MPEG-4 encoders. For the most part, I think it shows in a positive way.

I'm really interested as to how MPEG-4 SDs are going to look on EA. I figure it can only go up.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Actually, if you read the relevant threads on AVS Forum, it is not true that D* HD PQ is better than E*.

It's amusing that evidently everyone's first inclination is to whine. It seems that even after the launching of satellites and bringing all these MPEG4 HD channels online, the D* fanboys on AVS whine about how some of the E* channels are nevertheless better in PQ. This leads one to quip:

" The grass on Sunrise Earth is always greener on the other satellite provider. "

Well, the last week of March I dropped D* and added Dish. The PQ DECREASE is noticeable. Channels like History, A&E, Food and HGTV look better on D*. Id love to know what channel people that have had both think E* does better.

 

[M Sparks]

Most techs I know won't perform this service. We, on the other hand, take ownership of our customers. We know that having a local guy to call is what makes the difference in who they choose for service. It really adds another dimension to customer service that people can't get anywhere else. Funny thing is, this type of service really ought to just be "business as usual". I really like being that "guy" that customers tell their friends about when they tell them "I got a guy".

OK, I'm sorry I picked on you. Though I STILL wouldn't call you to complain about programming changes. If nothing else, I wouldn't want to bother you with something you can't control.

However, I produce local TV commercials. Sometimes, my clients will voice a complaint about their placement or other traffic related concerns. I have nothing to do with this...however, I will often ask their advertising rep to call the client. So I get the attitude.

But you didn't come off that way in the original post. It was more like "Voom sucks, and I make sure people call me so I can milk some more money out of them." Hence, my irritation.

 

[vegassatellite]

OK, I'm sorry I picked on you. Though I STILL wouldn't call you to complain about programming changes. If nothing else, I wouldn't want to bother you with something you can't control.

However, I produce local TV commercials. Sometimes, my clients will voice a complaint about their placement or other traffic related concerns. I have nothing to do with this...however, I will often ask their advertising rep to call the client. So I get the attitude.

But you didn't come off that way in the original post. It was more like "Voom sucks, and I make sure people call me so I can milk some more money out of them." Hence, my irritation.

I get ya! It's not milking them so much as its just that we don't leave any money on the table. That's the difference between retail work and fulfillment work. You call DISH directly and you get 1 out of a hundred installers in your area and they can care less if they ever hear from you again. We see our customers often.

 

[vegassatellite]

Well, regardless of tv size and whether Ill like compression, they need to realize D* has better HD PQ. I would hope theyd at least want to rival it. Maybe not, if so, then I know where I can go to get the best PQ on sat.

Other upcomer is FIOS, they roll out in more areas and get a better dvr, then Dish has more issues.

Competition forces improvement. Satellite forced cable to improve its offerings. If not for satellite, cable would be charging a buck a channel for 50 channels and offering nothing else.

 

[Stargazer]

I guess I'm kind of disappointed here that the 722 customers will probably need a new box in order to have Sling built in or support two-way remotes.

You'd think the hardware platform wouldn't be that much different and we could have a software upgrade to enable some of this stuff.

Who knows, maybe they will offer a software upgrade but I think history suggests I'll be waiting for my 18 month to end so I can upgrade again.

This is why I have been saying for years that they need to make receivers upgradable (like desktop pc's). They STILL have not learned their lesson and still come out with receivers that are not upgradable. Whatever happened to the whole house solution where you just add a tuner or memory or tuner or module when another one is needed? This would simplify things and reduce the cost as well I'd think.

 

[Hall]

This is why I have been saying for years that they need to make receivers upgradable (like desktop pc's). They STILL have not learned their lesson and still come out with receivers that are not upgradable.

98% of their customers get a receiver and keep it 'til it dies .... they're not interested in "upgradeability". It's not cost-effective.

 

[Tyralak]

98% of their customers get a receiver and keep it 'til it dies .... they're not interested in "upgradeability". It's not cost-effective.

Exactly. Especially considering that the "upgrades" that happen would be so significant, that you might as well replace the whole receiver. Most new model receivers are so completely different, that there's no way to make them with modular upgradability.

 

[dishcomm]

I have a few questions about this. Many moving from OTA or cable (not counting Cablevision). Probably never heard of Voom. Did you tell them about these channels or did you just say you would get Voom?

Did you also program their map downs so they would never have to venture around the 9400's?

Every time I show friends and family some of the Voom's, they get very interested. Especially MonstersHD and RaveHD. But also they are not in a position (except for a few) to get satellite for various reasons.

Do you, as a retailer or installers working for you have a way to just turn these channels on for a little while and show them the channels? If not, they may not even have known they were there!

Did you activate 800 HD customers? I cannot believe none of those subscribers complained if they had those channels and knew they were there. Geez.. I hooked my mother-in-law up to HD over a year ago and she still just goes to the SD channels. (TWC in this case as she would just rather just go to channel 2 than 702). She is killing me. She wanted and pays for HD but looks at SD. Interested people need to be informed. Some of you HD subs may have just called Dish and not you to complain? I don't know.

We all know about all of this on this site but the average Joe or Jo Ann does not. Burying the channels in the 9400's did not help. Now the new HD without a SD counterpart gets a place in the upper 300's! Dam! That would have helped the Voom cause as they would have been easier to find.

If Dish and Voom had kissed and made up and a map down into the some hundred channel range and not way out in the 9400's would have helped expose them more.

Voom is no angel in this either besides the not spending enough on programming. They should advertise on main stream TV what they are so people would not know about them. I know most people never heard of Voom and that was the biggest problem.

The Voom channels were essentially niche channels and in asking customers on occasion about them I never really got the feedback indicating they were all that popular.
I miss them because after install I could show the customer the clarity of HD. Oh well there's always HD net...I think that channel is still there.....

 

[dishcomm]

Oh, probably about half of all subscribers.

Even though I remind every customer that billing and programming questions are to be refered to Dish Network, the still call our office. Jeez....

 

[dishcomm]

Most techs I know won't perform this service. We, on the other hand, take ownership of our customers. We know that having a local guy to call is what makes the difference in who they choose for service. It really adds another dimension to customer service that people can't get anywhere else. Funny thing is, this type of service really ought to just be "business as usual". I really like being that "guy" that customers tell their friends about when they tell them "I got a guy".

We do this for our retail customers as well. Just wanted to clarify an earlier post. However, with our DNS fulfillment work, once off site the customer is on their own with regard to programming changes.
The operative being "off site"..
If I am still on site and the customer wants programming changes after activation I will call dish for them and get it done.

 

[dishcomm]

I don't understand why you would wish for the end of VOOM. Isn't it better for your customer base if there are more true HD channels to select from rather than few. If the answer is more channel space for allocation of the "22 New HD Channels, then I don't understand the fact at one point both the VOOM and new channels co-existed.

Quite frankly Voom took up valuable space for it's seldom watched niche channels. The picture and sound quality is terrific. But the channels were viewed by few. Something had to give. I hope the Voom services return. But for now the addition of more popular channels in HD seems to be the way to go.

 

[alex82inca]

I guess I'm kind of disappointed here that the 722 customers will probably need a new box in order to have Sling built in or support two-way remotes.

You'd think the hardware platform wouldn't be that much different and we could have a software upgrade to enable some of this stuff.

Who knows, maybe they will offer a software upgrade but I think history suggests I'll be waiting for my 18 month to end so I can upgrade again.

I realize I'm a couple days late but just wanted to point something out. Slinging is not capable on current 722. It isn't just a software update to add this functionality. The reason is basically slinging requires an re-encode of the stream and there is no such hardware in the current 722.

 

[drdroo]

I realize I'm a couple days late but just wanted to point something out. Slinging is not capable on current 722. It isn't just a software update to add this functionality. The reason is basically slinging requires an re-encode of the stream and there is no such hardware in the current 722.

Sure but they could give us a USB Sidecar or something to help the process here instead of using the IR thing. There are ways around this.

In looking back though -

My beef was more about the 'new UI' and things like that though. I'm figuring this is just the death bell for the 722 for the most part.

I also made assumptions since they're stupid enough to call it a '722'. It should be an entirely different model since it's a different architecture.

 

[S-c-o-t-t-y]

"....... a 722 with Sling technology built in. Besides having Slingbox technology built in it also has Clip and sling which will let you send clips to friends. The 722s has a totally new interface, it has a guide with channel logos plus a totally new UHF remote, which features a touchpad and a trigger below it. This is a amazing unit." Quote: Scott

Any word on when this might be released? 2008/2009/2010???

Scotty

 

[Tyralak]

"....... a 722 with Sling technology built in. Besides having Slingbox technology built in it also has Clip and sling which will let you send clips to friends. The 722s has a totally new interface, it has a guide with channel logos plus a totally new UHF remote, which features a touchpad and a trigger below it. This is a amazing unit." Quote: Scott

Any word on when this might be released? 2008/2009/2010???

Scotty

You know it going to be said, so I may as well do it. *SOON*

 

[S-c-o-t-t-y]

You know it going to be said, so I may as well do it. *SOON*

Reason I ask: Hate to buy a slingbox then have one available on a new 722. Sounds like this is in the future - probably the CES in 2009....

Scotty

 

[tomcrown1]

Reason I ask: Hate to buy a slingbox then have one available on a new 722. Sounds like this is in the future - probably the CES in 2009....

Scotty

Or the upcomming CES(see I like to split hair)

 

[BobMurdoch]

If I were a betting man, I'd say 6/1/09 for the 722/Slingbox hybrid...

 

[S-c-o-t-t-y]

If I were a betting man, I'd say 6/1/09 for the 722/Slingbox hybrid...

I think you are right, and I'll wait.

Scotty