DISH Network to Offer Television Series in 1080p - Press Release

[Jason Nipp]

DISH NETWORK BECOMES FIRST PAY-TV PROVIDER TO OFFER TELEVISION SERIES IN 1080P RESOLUTION

A&E Network Delivers The Beast in Industry-First 1080p IP-VOD to DISH Network

Englewood, Colo. – Jan. 16, 2009 – DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), the nation’s third largest pay-TV provider and the digital transition leader, along with A&E Network, today emerged as the first pay-TV provider to offer a television series in 1080p resolution quality comparable to Blu-Ray disc™.
A&E’s new drama series The Beast is now available to DISH Network subscribers via its Internet Protocol Video On Demand (IP-VOD) platform in 1080p the day after a new episode premieres. DISH Network® subscribers with an MPEG-4 HD DVR receiver, a high definition television that is 1080p compatible, and a broadband connection will be able to access, download and watch The Beast.
“We are thrilled to work with A&E in pioneering these efforts by taking television to the next level using 1080p format,” said Jessica Insalaco, Chief Marketing Officer for DISH Network. “As the first pay-TV provider to first offer VOD movies and now offer a TV series in 1080p, DISH Network continues to lead the industry when it comes to delivering the best quality programming options, DVR technology and overall value for our customers.”
“We are excited to work with DISH Network to present The Beast on their innovative IP-VOD platform,” said Mark Garner, VP Distribution, Marketing and Business Development of AETN. “The Beast represents the best-in-class drama programming viewers have come to expect from A&E and was the ideal choice to be the first series presented in stunning 1080p.”
In The Beast, an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze) trains a rookie partner (Travis Fimmel) in his own hard-edged and psychologically intense style while being investigated by a secret Internal Affairs team. Set on the gritty streets of Chicago, Barker hazes his new partner as they work undercover, brilliantly manipulating situations, constantly testing him, and pushing him to delve deeper into his "roles.”
To access the DISH Network’s 1080p IP-VOD content, customers with an MPEG-4 HD DVR receiver need to select the “DVR” button on their DISH Network remote control and chose the DishONLINE feature. They can also access the IP-VOD service by selecting “Menu” on their remote, followed by DISH On Demand and DishONLINE. Subscribers will see a variety of content and must select movies with 1080p after the titles in order to get the comparable to Blu-Ray disc™ quality films.
DISH Network’s advanced HD DVRs lead the industry, winning more Editors’ Choice Awards* than any other receiver. DISH Network’s ViP®722 HD DVR operates two televisions in separate rooms and has up to 500 hours of DVR storage capacity. Additional storage space is available by connecting an external hard drive via the ViP722’s USB ports.
Consumers can sign up for the best high definition programming and service in the industry with DISH Network’s TurboHD programming packages, the only all-HD packages on the market, starting at $24.99 per month. TurboHD is available in three separate tiers and includes special “turbo-charged” features and benefits such as the best quality HD available including 1080p resolution where available and the most-watched HD channels that may be viewed on any TV – analog, digital or high definition.
Current DISH Network customers looking to add the industry’s best high definition experience can get a “turbo-charged” HD package for as little as $10 more per month.
For more information about DISH Network’s 1080p programming, new HD channels and TurboHD system and packages, visit www.dishnetwork.com (http://www.dishnetwork.com/) or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474).

# # #
About DISH Network Corporation
DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH), the nation’s third largest pay-TV provider and the leader in digital television, provides approximately 13.78 million satellite TV customers as of Sept. 30, 2008 with industry-leading customer satisfaction which has surpassed major cable TV providers for eight consecutive years. DISH Network also provides customers with award-winning HD and DVR technology including the ViP®722 HD DVR, which received the Editors’ Choice awards from both CNET and PC Magazine. In addition, subscribers enjoy access to hundreds of video and audio channels, the most International channels in the U.S., industry-leading Interactive TV applications, Latino programming, and the best sports and movies in HD. DISH Network offers a variety of package and price options including the lowest all-digital price in America, the DishDVR Advantage Package, high-speed Internet service, and a free upgrade to the best HD DVR in the industry. DISH Network is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and is a Fortune 300 company. Visit www.dishnetwork.com (http://www.dishnetwork.com/) or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474) for more information.

About A&E Network

A&E is “Real Life. Drama.” Now reaching more than 97 million homes, A&E is television that you can’t turn away from; where real life shows are dramatic and scripted dramas are authentic. A&E offers a diverse mix of high quality entertainment; ranging from the network’s original scripted series including “The Cleaner” starring Benjamin Bratt and “The Beast” starring Patrick Swayze, to signature Real-Life franchises, including the Emmy-nominated “Intervention,” “Dog The Bounty Hunter,” “Paranormal State” and “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” and the most successful justice shows on cable, including “The First 48” and “Crime 360.” The A&E website is located at www.aetv.com (http://www.aetv.com/). For more press information and photography please visit us on the web at www.aetvpress.com (http://www.aetvpress.com/).

[Taco Lover]

Nice score! Sounds interesting.

(but Patrick Swayze in 1080p?)

[ZBoomer]

Hmm, just tried to download the 1080p program from DishOnline, and it wouldn't let me. It said "Your TVs resolution MAY not be compatible with this event. Select yes to rent this event in a resolution compatible with your TV."

The options available are "yes, cancel, or no."

How about a "download anyway" button? Bozos. It didn't run a 1080p test or anything. Maybe I actually have to rent a 1080p VOD in 1080p mode first?

It won't even let me download it in 1080p, even though I am 100% 1080p/24 compatible. (I pass the test on VOD)

Here we go again, lol.

Update: I just tried it again and selected "yes" anyway, to go ahead and download it. Let's see what happens. Maybe that is just a warning that I might not be able to view it after downloading, and it will download the 1080p program anyway. We'll see, it's stuck "Authorizing. Please wait..."

[Hoxxx]

Nice score! Sounds interesting.

(but Patrick Swayze in 1080p?)


Scary thought indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grog]

Same thing here.
My LCD passed the 501 1080P Pay-Per-View thing last time I tried. My set showed 1080P when I hit the info button.

But with this 1080P event I only got 1080.

Yes my set supports 1080P/24 and that is the exact resolution I use from HDMI from my computer system (ATI 4850) as well.

Seems they need a little work on the download testing thing. Or should I say the lack of any testing thing.:lol:

Hmm, just tried to download the 1080p program from DishOnline, and it wouldn't let me. It said "Your TVs resolution MAY not be compatible with this event. Select yes to rent this event in a resolution compatible with your TV."

The options available are "yes, cancel, or no."

How about a "download anyway" button? Bozos. It didn't run a 1080p test or anything. Maybe I actually have to rent a 1080p VOD in 1080p mode first?

It won't even let me download it in 1080p, even though I am 100% 1080p/24 compatible. (I pass the test on VOD)

Here we go again, lol.

Update: I just tried it again and selected "yes" anyway, to go ahead and download it. Let's see what happens. Maybe that is just a warning that I might not be able to view it after downloading, and it will download the 1080p program anyway. We'll see, it's stuck "Authorizing. Please wait..."

[jpeckinp]

This is a joke right?

Seriously a few weeks back I downloaded a 45 minute show that was in SD and it took 6 hours on my 6Mb connection. I would hate to see how long this takes.

[HobbyTalk]

It downloads no faster on a 20Mb connection. Mine took 5+ hours.

[tedb3rd]

Hey! It's a press release that's not related to a lawsuit! Good job Dish Network!

[klang]

Are these 4 1/2 and 5 hour times for a one hour 1080P program?

[jacmyoung]

...How about a "download anyway" button? ...

It is called the "yes" button:)

Is the top speed capped at 2M for all VODs on E*? From my experience the HD VODs can be downloaded from my D* HR2Xs at about 15M speed max, but D*'s VOD is more mature now.

[Michael P]

Is there a PPV charge to download these programs or just a subscription to an E* package that includes A&E?

[grog]

FREE for this showing.

If you have broadband access to your VIP DVR then you should see the "DishONLINE" option. In the "DishONLINE" section you should see "TV Entertainment" ( Menu/9/5/4 ).

Select sort and sort by 1080p/HD.
Now the first item(s) will be the 1080p/HD content.

If you select the event you will see the price on the left hand side.
The show "The Beast: Episode 100" has a price of "FREE".

Once downloaded you can watch it using ( Menu 9/5/1 ).



Is there a PPV charge to download these programs or just a subscription to an E* package that includes A&E?

[Grandude]

It downloads no faster on a 20Mb connection. Mine took 5+ hours.
Shucks, this takes the cake. When the download started it said it would be ready for viewing in 22 hours. :( Then I thought that maybe this is similar to downloading a large file from anywhere on the internet and it says many hours left but constantly changes that guess until it gets to a more sensible time frame. Shucks again, it is still downloading and was started yesterday afternoon. Says 8 hours left.
I have Comcast internet and normally a 5gig download may take ten or fifteen minutes.

Does anyone have any idea about why this happened?

[SDiego]

for some reason my replacement reciever won't download anything from dishonline. been on the phone with dish, and escalated support and they think there having some issues. I get connection ok via broadband and phone.
oh well what can I say. buggy.

[jpeckinp]

Well I downloaded it and it looked good. A few little things show up to show you it's still not Blu-Ray but it does look a little better than 1080i. I'm not sure how long it took to DL though.

The show it's self wasn't bad. I was just going to DL it to see the quality of the 1080p but ended up watching the whole show.

[ZBoomer]

My experience with this so far was an utter failure. I have an almost new VIP722, Pioneer Kuro TV, 8mb internet service...

Like I posted above when I first tried to download the 1080p event, it told me my TV "may" not be compatible, so did I want to download in a lower res? (No option to force download in 1080p, although you'd think this wouldn't matter until it was ready to play anyway.)

So I told it "yes" anyway, to see what happened, and it seemed to start downloading. The NEXT DAY it was still going, but was seemed almost done. It still said "1080p" in the description, but when I started to play it, it played in 1080i, and never asked or tested for 1080p at all.

Not only that, the voice/video sync was WAY off, and it kept trying to start the program about 5 minutes in, and wouldn't reverse back to the beginning. To top it off, after playing about 5 minutes, it stopped and told me it needed to "buffer" more video; this after downloading all night, and appearing to be near done.

So I quit, and it appeared to be downloading.

Fast forward to later that evening, I figured I'd try to view it again, and it was GONE. Completely missing from my downloads, and not even listed in the history. It was if I'd never tried it.

Interesting.

Epic fail.

[Dario33]

I already watched the episode, but did not attempt to d/l it for 1080p. Sounds like a cool concept -- will definitely try it out in the next day or so.

[bobukcat]

[QUOTE=ZBoomer;1965516]My experience with this so far was an utter failure. I have an almost new VIP722, Pioneer Kuro TV, 8mb internet service...

Like I posted above when I first tried to download the 1080p event, it told me my TV "may" not be compatible, so did I want to download in a lower res? (No option to force download in 1080p, although you'd think this wouldn't matter until it was ready to play anyway.)

So I told it "yes" anyway, to see what happened, and it seemed to start downloading. The NEXT DAY it was still going, but was seemed almost done. It still said "1080p" in the description, but when I started to play it, it played in 1080i, and never asked or tested for 1080p at all.

QUOTE]

I also have a Kuro connected to a 622, downloaded the 1080P event and it will only play in 1080i. I didn't watch it very long to see if I had any of the other problems you described but instead wanted to find out why it wasn't playing in 1080P. I went into the HDMI setup menu of the 622 (don't remember exactly where it is at this moment) and it listed my TV correctly as a "Pioneer-TV" but the 1080i was the max supported resolution it reported. There's a good chance these problems have been mentioned in some other threads so I'm going to do some searches but it appears that the TV and 622 are not properly communicating the specs of the TV.

[ZBoomer]

I also have a Kuro connected to a 622, downloaded the 1080P event and it will only play in 1080i. I didn't watch it very long to see if I had any of the other problems you described but instead wanted to find out why it wasn't playing in 1080P. I went into the HDMI setup menu of the 622 (don't remember exactly where it is at this moment) and it listed my TV correctly as a "Pioneer-TV" but the 1080i was the max supported resolution it reported. There's a good chance these problems have been mentioned in some other threads so I'm going to do some searches but it appears that the TV and 622 are not properly communicating the specs of the TV.

I don't believe any TV's report 1080p in the screen you are mentioning (menu setup/diagnostics/analysis/hdmi test). As far as I know that is only used in the regular set-resolution screen in the receiver, (menu 6-8) not the 1080p VOD. They actually send a 1080p test out and don't see to use this HDMI information.

[ehb224]

I tried to download it 5 times and each time it would get stuck on the 'authorizing' screen and then go to live TV. When I check the download history it says download failed.

Make that 6 times. I just tried it on my 622 and it failed there also!

[badmans]

I have an extremely fast connection to the net, but the download speed was restricted to .66Mbs. The download took 22 hours which is prohibitively slow if Dish is trying to develop a sustainable business model for IPTV. I certainly won’t be rushing to try this again.

Also, DVR refused to believe that my Sony Bravia TV is 1080p capable. There is a known bug with the auto test routine. But seriously, do we need this auto test. Can’t we simply have a preference that tells the DVR to output 1080p when source content is available? That is what all of the Blu-Ray systems do and it works fine.

The overall picture quality was disappointing. There was a lot of noise / macro blocking, particularly in dark and shaded scenes. Also, I noticed audio sync issues.

[jdeitchler]

Anyone able to determine the file size after it was downloaded?

[Bill_K]

More failed Dish Technology. Guess I did not win the Dishnetwork Lottery.
1080p The Beast: Episode 100 FREE - Authorizing. Please Wait...then, Nothing! Never Downloads.

[RCFlyer]

This is all fine and good - but there are thousands of people out there, like me, with 1080P/60 sets that don't support 1080P/24 - is Dish simply going to forget those of us with older HD TV's? Go figure!

[nicedeboy26]

Anyone able to determine the file size after it was downloaded?

I don't know, but it took almost two days to freakin download! I'm running at 50/20 mpb fiber connection. I can download a blu-ray movie in about ten minutes from my PC!

[Jeff_DML]

This is all fine and good - but there are thousands of people out there, like me, with 1080P/60 sets that don't support 1080P/24 - is Dish simply going to forget those of us with older HD TV's? Go figure!

hardware doesnt support 1080p @ 60 fps




tried to download it last night, went to bed and it was about halfway done. Woke up this morning and no evidence of it, couldnt find it anywhere.

[bobukcat]

This is all fine and good - but there are thousands of people out there, like me, with 1080P/60 sets that don't support 1080P/24 - is Dish simply going to forget those of us with older HD TV's? Go figure!

You should be unhappy with the manufacturer of your TV for selling you a "1080P" TV that does not support 24 FPS as that is what BD and most other 1080P sources output, not 60 FPS.

[RCFlyer]

You should be unhappy with the manufacturer of your TV for selling you a "1080P" TV that does not support 24 FPS as that is what BD and most other 1080P sources output, not 60 FPS.

That doesn't make sense :confused: - why would I be unhappy with Sony considering that there wasn't a TV set avaiable on the market when I bought mine that offered 24 FPS - you need to realize that people purchased 1080P sets prior than a few years ago and aren't going to run out and buy a new $3000 TV everytime they are improved....

My point is Dishnetwork is not making their equipment backwards compatible like my brand new $400 Blu-ray player is which works great and looks great - they are simply eliminating half if not 75% of their customers - but they sure our advertising heavily that you can get 1080P - but fail to mention that your TV has to be a newer model that supports 24 fps.....!

[bobukcat]

That doesn't make sense :confused: - why would I be unhappy with Sony considering that there wasn't a TV set avaiable on the market when I bought mine that offered 24 FPS - you need to realize that people purchased 1080P sets prior than a few years ago and aren't going to run out and buy a new $3000 TV everytime they are improved....

My point is Dishnetwork is not making their equipment backwards compatible like my brand new $400 Blu-ray player is which works great and looks great - they are simply eliminating half if not 75% of their customers - but they sure our advertising heavily that you can get 1080P - but fail to mention that your TV has to be a newer model that supports 24 fps.....!

Your TV doesn't support all 1080P standards and neither does the 622/722, I bet when you bought your TV it didn't say "does not support 1080P/24" on it. I see your point but I argue that you can be just as mad at Sony as you can at E*. Sony was far from being the only culprit with regards to 60 versus 24 fps but I was able to hold off on buying a new TV until they supported 24 FPS as I knew it was coming.

[Jeff_DML]

pulled down the movie finally and it was 1080i. My tv is a Pioneer Kuro that accepts 24fps and passed the 501 verification test so it looks like they have a bug in their firmware. I didnt notice it doing any resolution test.

Anybody get 1080p to work?

[Bill_K]

More failed Dish Technology. Guess I did not win the Dishnetwork Lottery.
1080p The Beast: Episode 100 FREE - Authorizing. Please Wait...then, Nothing! Never Downloads.

Follow-up:
1. The program did download after a very long wait.
2. Recognizing this was going to be a very long download, I attempted to cancel. However, Once you commit to the download there is no way to cancel it!
3. My download took almost 24hrs to complete
4. Viewing - After 2 minutes into the program the video pixilated briefly accompanied with audio dropouts
5. After 10 minutes into the program I lost video, audio, and my Vip622 shutdown!
6. Required a hard reset to restore programming
7. Goes without saying…..this will be my last VOD download!

[ebaltz]

Just shows people that download of quality HD material is a LONG way off still. A LONG way off.

[Brandon428]

Just shows people that download of quality HD material is a LONG way off still. A LONG way off.

Yeah,I agree. If you want real Blu-ray quality you better have Fios or something comparable.

[Jeff_DML]

watch it last night, thought it look pretty good, better then normal DISH "HD". Too bad I cant say the same for the show, thought it was pretty lame. Also a couple of glitches in the video, when they where trying to get the bazooka from the police lockup was glitch.

[ZBoomer]

Just shows people that download of quality HD material is a LONG way off still. A LONG way off.

Agree, but my PS3 downloads, and plays HD online material 1000x better than my 722, not even close.

This hardware can barely do 1080p, that's the bottom line. They are kludging it in, just to say it does it.

[RollTide1017]

Can the ViP612 do 1080p? I downloaded the only "The Beast" episode I could find but, it was only 1080i. I never even got the 1080p test message and there was no 1080p/HD sort option in the sort menu (as someone mentioned in this thread).

[Jim5506]

Can the ViP612 do 1080p? I downloaded the only "The Beast" episode I could find but, it was only 1080i. I never even got the 1080p test message and there was no 1080p/HD sort option in the sort menu (as someone mentioned in this thread).

Yes, if your display can handle the exact type of 1080p that the 612 outputs via HDMI ONLY.

[GPM]

Here's what happened to me:

I have a 722 and a Panny 42" plasma capable of the required format. When I selected the download I got the warning about format. I went ahead with the download and after around 26 hours or so it completed. I started the show and it was displayed at 1080i per the Panny info button. At that point I stopped viewing the show.

Now, I have never watched one of the 1080P VOD movies and thus have never gone through the compatibility test. I decided to give that a try and see what happened. I selected the Dark Knight from the 1080P VOD. I went through the purchase process and did not notice any delay for the 1080P test. Once the movie started it was displayed in 1080P.

This afternoon I decided to watch the rest of the downloaded show. Since I'd only watched a couple of minutes, I selected 'Start Over'. The show now displayed in 1080P. There were quite a few drop outs and pixelation issues.

So, for those having trouble getting the show to display in 1080P, have you gone through the compatibility test via a 1080P VOD?

I don't have a clue why it worked this way, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....

[Jeff_DML]

Here's what happened to me:

I have a 722 and a Panny 42" plasma capable of the required format. When I selected the download I got the warning about format. I went ahead with the download and after around 26 hours or so it completed. I started the show and it was displayed at 1080i per the Panny info button. At that point I stopped viewing the show.

Now, I have never watched one of the 1080P VOD movies and thus have never gone through the compatibility test. I decided to give that a try and see what happened. I selected the Dark Knight from the 1080P VOD. I went through the purchase process and did not notice any delay for the 1080P test. Once the movie started it was displayed in 1080P.

This afternoon I decided to watch the rest of the downloaded show. Since I'd only watched a couple of minutes, I selected 'Start Over'. The show now displayed in 1080P. There were quite a few drop outs and pixelation issues.

So, for those having trouble getting the show to display in 1080P, have you gone through the compatibility test via a 1080P VOD?

I don't have a clue why it worked this way, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....

I will try it out tonight...

drops out are interesting seems like a bad encoding or the decoder is having issues with it.

[ZBoomer]

So you have to successfully watch a 1080p VOD before you can watch 1080p DishOnline. Makes total sense.

Riiiiight...

[GPM]

So you have to successfully watch a 1080p VOD before you can watch 1080p DishOnline. Makes total sense.

Riiiiight...

I simply told you what I observed. Are you saying that I'm lying?? I have no idea why it worked the way it did. That's just what happened.

[Jeff_DML]

I simply told you what I observed. Are you saying that I'm lying?? I have no idea why it worked the way it did. That's just what happened.

I tried the 1080p VOD test (Dark Knight) and passed then replay the beast and still 1080i:(

[ZBoomer]

I simply told you what I observed. Are you saying that I'm lying?? I have no idea why it worked the way it did. That's just what happened.

NO, apologies if I came across that way. I believe you, I was being sarcastic toward dish, in a sorta pissed off at them kinda way. :)

I believe you entirely! Sad it works that way though.

[GPM]

No problem Boomer, I obviously completely misinterpreted your response. Sorry about that. :blush:

So, what happened in my case doesn't work in all cases. You have to admit that Dish is at least consistent in their lack of consistency.

Its a good thing this new series is on weekly and not daily. The download process would never complete.

[fbara]

My experience was the same as Jeff_DML. I have a Sony KDL-46W4100. It passed the 1080p/24 test with the Dark Knight rental, then I did the Beast download. It played in 1080i. Sad....

[RollTide1017]

Anyway to run the 1080p test without renting The Dark Knight? I have it on Blu-Ray and really don't want to pay Dish for something I have no intention of watching.

[GPM]

I don't think so. My intention was to get it to run the test and decline to rent the movie. I didn't get that option.

I think that if your set fails the compatibility test you get the option to cancel. If it passes, you get the move. Not a big deal for me since I hadn't seen the movie and would have watched it eventually anyway.

[ZBoomer]

Anyway to run the 1080p test without renting The Dark Knight? I have it on Blu-Ray and really don't want to pay Dish for something I have no intention of watching.

Yes, I've posted how a few times, latest time was here; http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1969783#post1969783

[DustoMan]

So I finally got around to trying this out, and my experience has not been too bad I'd have to say. I fired up the DISHOnline app and found the first two episodes to download. The download went along at a pretty good clip. 4.18Mb/sec The first download was done in about 3 hours. Fired up the video and I was pretty impressed. No artifacting or pixelation like some other have been reporting. I did notice that this show must be shot similar to Battlestar Galactica where the director intentionally puts some filters on the camera to induce "noise" on the picture to achieve a certain look, but overall it was quite excellent. I know people here will say that it's still not as good as blu-ray, but on my TV it looks pretty damn close. Checked my "Display" function on my TV and saw that it was in 1080i. Which is what I was expecting since my TV only accepts the 24fps signal not displays it at that rate. One thing I did notice though is that the downloads only occur while the 722 is on and not in standby mode. I would have liked it to continue in the background even while the unit outputs were turned off. Overall I'm happy, if DISH sent out shows that I actually watch this way and in this format (And free). I would watch them.