Dish new sat and mpeg 4 plan?

[mikec73]

I was chatting with a dish rep online today about hd at dishtv.com and he told me that they recently launched a new sat and that it actually hitched a ride with a directv one citing "Its cheaper that way". Anyone else heard this?
He also said that some of the current receivers were software upgradeable to MPEG 4 and others would need be replaced. I thought all had to be replaced. Sounds like they've been secretly planning this for some time. :confused:
Anybody else heard of this?

On a slightly different matter: The orginal question in this session was about their dish tvs. A radio shack manager had told me if I bought a dish hd receiver, dish would give me one of the dish branded hd tvs free. The dish rep said they've never had this promo or any other with their tvs. Anybody else heard this?

[Mike D-CO5]

Nope sounds all like bull sh*t to get you to go with Dish at Radi Shack. As far as the mpeg4 receivers , there are none yet. The 411 is the new mpeg4 hd /sd receiver that will replace the 811 /311/301. We haven't seen a mpeg4 dvr yet. WE all think it will be the same 942 with the mpeg4 chip. They might change the number but it will still be a 942 or based on the same software, menus etc. I don't know what the dishtech is talking about since Directv and Dish are two seperate companies. We have heard from Scott at the satguys website that Dish might put all mpeg4 hd programming at the 129 slot.

Believe it when you see it.

[Cyclone]

Wow that is triple dis-information.

You won't get a free TV from Dish for buying a HDTV STBs. They did have a combo deal a few months back. I haven't heard much about it in a while, so all the TVs might have sold out. You could get a 811 and a 40" HDTV for $999, and a little more for a 921 instead of the 811.

They did not piggy back a ride with DirectTV. Both new E* satellites rode up on their own recently. Same with the DirectTV satellites. No carpool here.

Finally MPEG-4 will be implemented with Hardware chips, not software. Software decoding for MPEG-4 can be done with software, but it would require a powerful CPU do decode this, especially at HDTV 1920x1080 resolultions. Thats just a heck of a lot of bits per second. The CPUs that are currently in the STBs are just used to provide menus and such, (even the Video is handled on a MPEG-2 chip) so they aren't powerful enough to even think of MPEG-4 decoding.

Besides, why would dish want to put a powerful $400 General Purpose CPU in a STB, when they can get a MPEG-4 only chip for about $10 to do the job.

[Jacob S]

Dish Network had better provide all of their customers with a free MPEG-4 DVR or be left behind due to the fact that DirecTv is going to provide all of their customers with one.

[Mark Lamutt]

Yeah, the Directv DVR with the massive160GB hard drive, of which 80 GB will be visible and available to the user for recording, with the other 80GB reserved for VOD services...what a waste...

[onegojoe]

How will the MPEG4 switchover be done? Will dish just ups a new receive to you to replace your old receiver and you send your old receiver back to them?

[Ron Barry]

Details for the The MPEG-4 Dish switchover at this point is pure speculation. Dish has made no formal announcement of their plans and the effect on the user base.

[Jacob S]

Dish Network may be waiting to see what DirecTv does before acting so that they will be able to match or make better what they will offer their customers.

[mruk69]

Actually, according to an email I received from Dish Network, they offered me a 942 for lease at $250.00 plus 5 bucks a month and it clearly states that it is upgradable to Mpeg4 but the 811 is not. My inquiry was regarding upgrading to HD and what happens when Mpeg4 comes out.

[Jacob S]

The 942 is NOT upgradable to MPEG-4. A new HD DVR is being launched later this year.

[Jordan420]

Actually, according to an email I received from Dish Network, they offered me a 942 for lease at $250.00 plus 5 bucks a month and it clearly states that it is upgradable to Mpeg4 but the 811 is not. My inquiry was regarding upgrading to HD and what happens when Mpeg4 comes out.


I would love to see a copy of that e-mail

[mraspen]

At TEAM SUMMIT 2005 in Nashville DISH announced 2 new receivers and mentioned a 3rd.
DISH 411 (single tuner, no DVR), DISH 422 (2 tuner, no DVR) and DISHPlayer DVR 962(2 tuner, DVR, @ 100 hrs HDTV?). These receivers are MPEG4 Compliant. (The 962 has been talked about since 2002.)

ECHO. 10(??) should come on line late this year/early next. It will decrease the need for the Superdish, except for international markets. It'll be some kind of MP4 Super Spot Beam that'll feed the whole country! This will allow DISH to broadcast local markets to a greater area.

A satellite bill passed earlier this year should allow DISH to broadcast distant locals to more people.

DISH expects to be almost completely converted to HDTV by late 2007.
DISH has added 10 HDTV Channels from VOOM on the 61.5 satellite location. There will be another 11 channels by the end of the year. I figure they'll be MP4.
DISH will let everybody who'll purchase at retail buy MP4 Receivers. You'll have to have to have MP4 for the additional VOOM Channels and the "10 HDTV local markets" that should be available.

They'll add additional HD Channels in MP4 over time, then, 1 day, they'll convert all the HDTV Channels to MP4. That's when they'll start a promotion.

Once they get all the HDTV Channels in MP4, they'll do the AT180, then do AT120, then finish with AT60. They'll offer promotions to customers in the said categories as they go.

MP4 receivers will take MP2 but MP2 receivers won't take MP4.
I think everything they do in MP4 will be HDTV.

I don't think any existing receivers will be upgradeable to MP4.
DISH or E* as some call it has basically said they'll have to replace every receiver they currently have on the market and what kind of opportunity it will be for us retailers.

I think the 411 could be available as early as late summer and possibly not until after the 1st of the year. ("Anything but the 811!")

This is a bit of speculation fed by inside information combined with both deductive and inductive reasoning but it should be fairly accurate.


Mr. Aspen

[mruk69]

Here is the email, i had sent it to the Charlie Chat is this is what they had responded:-

Dear Mr. xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your email. We are excited to announce that at this time, we do have exclusive promotions available to our existing customers, which offer discounts on equipment and installation! With these promotions, existing customer are able to take advantage of the new technology available. The release of the MPEG layer 4 codec will be compatible with the DISH Network 942 HD DVR receiver; however, its compatibility with your 811 HD receiver is not yet known.

As a current customer, you may always use our website to view your current or previous billing statements, add services, or make payments to your account. Please use the link https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/customercare/UserManagement/login.jsp to visit our Online Customer Support Center.

Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com <http://www.dishnetwork.com/> or reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Ryan P.

DISH Network eCare



Forgot one thing the the 942 lease offer was in another email.

[mruk69]

Guys, why the hell would I want to lie about something like that. One thing they say in the email is that I have an 811 which I do not, i have a 301. If they bothered to read my email properly I wanted to know what promos they had for a 8 year customer who wants to upgrade to HD. Also, will the current new HD receivers be compatible with Mpeg4. Thats it nothing else.

[SimpleSimon]

I believe that you got the email, it's just that you are yet another victim of untrained CSRs.

Those "in the know" around here have confirmed multiple times that the 942 is not and will never be MPEG-4 capable.