Tech Forum Summary - February 9th, 2009

[James Long]

Tech Forum Summary - February 9th, 2009

Tech Forum Hosted by
Mark Jackson – President, Echostar Technologies
Dan Minnick - VP, Engineering

Tonight:
* A sneak peek - SlingLoaded High-Def DVR
* Cool gadgets from CES
* New ways to organize your DVR list
* Sling Media guest
* Prizes!
* Q&A

CES 2009
Quick video ...

ViP 922 DuoDVR
1TB HD - Touch Bezzel - 1080p
SlingLoaded Placeshifting/SlingGuide/Remote Timers/Internet Browser
New User Interface @ Remote ... touchpad with trigger underneath.
Learning remote. Can be updated via satellite and operate RF on TV1.
Graphical tiles ... put your favorites together
New Program Guide ... logos added
DVR Menu ... graphical posters of shows recorded & PPVs
VOD Menu ... graphical movie posters of programs available
Browser Banner ... Record/PIP/Find other shows
Quick Picks ... change channels by name or number and have favorites
Weather Application
Sports Ticker and Stock Ticker wil be available after launch.
Browser ... Complete Internet Browser

G4's Dave Matthews - video review
John Falcone cNet - video review
Best of CES ... Home Video Category
Inovations2009 Showcase Awards ... TouchPad Remote Control & User Interface

922 will beout "this spring"

722k
Out in a few weeks. New Feature: Custom Groups

Leslie Harper demo: Custom Groups
Can create your own group and can record or move content into the group
DVR events can be managed by "my groups"
Coming soon on 612/622/722 available on 722k at launch

Ciel-2 Launch
Video of launch. Satellite went to 129. Footprint shown.
Extra power along the west coast and eastern US
Extra power to Florida because of the rain.
High Definition Local Channels.

Giveaway Slingbox PRO-HD
Trivia Q: What is the amplifying power of the Ciel-2 TWTA for a single conus transponder?
TWTA Traveling wave tube amplifier ... conus is continental US ... Ciel-2 puts out more power than Echostar 5

Cool Gadgets from CES
Short video ...

Q&A
Q Gerald in PA (Caller): Can I adjust the end time of a program once it starts recording?
A: Yes, you can do that manually.

Q Paul (EMail): Folder Sort?
A (Terry): Future software.

Q Tom (EMail): TV2 to IR converter?
A (Paul): A few months.

Q Mark (Email): Does DISH broadcast 1080p?
A (Paul): 1080p is available ... need ViP receiver, actual 1080p display TV. We pass what we get, some VOD is 1080p.

External Hard Drive Overview
A (Dan): SINGLE LUN only - 1TB. Hopefully multi-lun in the spring/summer.

Q Scott PA (Caller): We're outside our area's spotbeam ... any plans to fix this?
A: Not a lot to add. Send me an email.

Q Frank (EMail): How do I get PIP on my 722 in dual mode?
A (Jan): Change to single mode.

Q Tracy (Email): How can we watch more than one TV while we record?
A (Jennifer): Answer depends on model of DVR. You can watch something pre-recorded or something on other tuner.

Q Larry (Caller): Wireless connection to network?
A (Jennifer): Wireless not supported. Homeplug to run ethernet from receiver back to the router.

Giveaway Winner
Tom O'Grady Ingleside IL (phonetic)- 240w

Sling Guest - John Paul Exec VP Products, Sling Media
SlingGuide Demonstration ... including video
Over 6000 people in the "limited beta" since CES
More people can sign up ...
http://www.slingmedia.com/slingguide/
Will be made available to all DISH customers in springs.

SlingPlayer Mobile works on all iPhones and many BlackBerrys.
Visit http://mobile.slingmedia.com/ on your Blackberry for info.


Sling Monitor
Exclusive to the 922. 802.11 WiFi connected anywhere in home (via your router)
TV2 output in Hi-Def. (922 only initially. More models later.)
Available in the summer.

Giveaway II - SlingCatcher
Play stuff from your slingbox, PC, USB Drive, Internet.
Trivia Q: What filesystem is needed to view a program stored on an external hard drive connected to a SlingCatcher?

Q&A
Q Jason (EMail): 922 - Will there be a keyboard? Will the browser support Java and Flash?
A: Will support Java/Flash/HTML. Working on a keyboard ... our standard is "Zigby".

Q Jeff in MI (Caller): Downloading 1080p Beast to a 622 ... has failed over 20 times.
A: EMail us and we'll look into this!

Giveaway II Winner
Douglas Aladna from Augusta Georgia (phonetic) - FAT32.

Next Charlie Chat ... March 9th, 2008 - 9pm ET Channel 101
Next Tech Forum ... May 11th, 2009 - 9pm ET Channel 101

[Brandon428]

What did he mean by 1080p is available,just VOD or actual channels and is the 922 compatible with 1080/60p or just 24p?

[RasputinAXP]

TV2 output in Hi-Def. (922 only initially. More models later.)

WAIT WHAT

[James Long]

Originally Posted by Brandon428

What did he mean by 1080p is available,just VOD or actual channels and is the 922 compatible with 1080/60p or just 24p?

1080p content is available, VOD an IPTV at this time. The answer said ViP receiver ... not 922, the 611, 622 and 722 are also capable of doing 1080p.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by RasputinAXP

WAIT WHAT

In the context of the Sling Monitor TV set that they were discussing. At first it will work only with the 922 ... but will work with other devices later. On the 922 you see TV2 in HD via the "Sling Monitor".

[RasputinAXP]

Originally Posted by James Long

In the context of the Sling Monitor TV set that they were discussing. At first it will work only with the 922 ... but will work with other devices later. On the 922 you see TV2 in HD via the "Sling Monitor".

Man. Here I got all excited.

[DustoMan]

Originally Posted by James Long

In the context of the Sling Monitor TV set that they were discussing. At first it will work only with the 922 ... but will work with other devices later. On the 922 you see TV2 in HD via the "Sling Monitor".

Or maybe... it means that they are going to enable TV2 HD Output over Ethernet if you have something like a Slingcatcher on the other end... just speculating.

[Rob Glasser]

Originally Posted by James Long

SlingPlayer Mobile works on all iPhones and many BlackBerrys.
Visit http://mobile.slingmedia.com/ on your Blackberry for info.

They actually said that SlingPlayer Mobile works on iPhones? If so I think they jumped the gun a bit. I know there have been some demo's of it but it's not available yet.

Thanks for the recap James, once again I was not home to watch it, so having the recap was a great way to catch up.

[harsh]

Originally Posted by DustoMan

Or maybe... it means that they are going to enable TV2 HD Output over Ethernet if you have something like a Slingcatcher on the other end... just speculating.

That's essentially what it means.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by DustoMan

Or maybe... it means that they are going to enable TV2 HD Output over Ethernet if you have something like a Slingcatcher on the other end... just speculating.

Good speculation. The SlingCatcher will be able to catch and display HD (per the website it doesn't at the moment - but the improvement is planned).

[rcbridge]

Was a price mentioned for the ViP 922 DuoDVR?

[HDG]

This one had a Charlie Chat quality to it ... mostly "infomercional".

Shallow answers to technical questions - seemingly scripted. No mention of failed deployment of L6.15 or why they failed to deliver promised EHD compatibility fixes with L6.16.

Wasted hour.

[Jason Nipp]

Originally Posted by rcbridge

Was a price mentioned for the ViP 922 DuoDVR?

Nope

[riah]

Does anyone have the E-mail that was given to Paul in this Question?

Q Scott PA (Caller): We're outside our area's spotbeam ... any plans to fix this?
A: Not a lot to add. Send me an email.

There are lot of people in the Western Part the Scranton/Wilkes Barre DMA that are in that position and I would like to add my voice to his.

Most people I have spoken to at Dish are unaware of the situation

[Chris Blount]

Originally Posted by rcbridge

Was a price mentioned for the ViP 922 DuoDVR?

Back during CES it was said to cost $199 leased but I don't think that is set in stone yet.

[DustoMan]

Originally Posted by HDG

This one had a Charlie Chat quality to it ... mostly "infomercional".

Shallow answers to technical questions - seemingly scripted. No mention of failed deployment of L6.15 or why they failed to deliver promised EHD compatibility fixes with L6.16.

Wasted hour.

I don't think they have *ever* mentioned anything about failed deployments during a tech chat. And why would they want to talk about anything but positive things during these chats?

[James Long]

Originally Posted by riah

Does anyone have the E-mail that was given to Paul in this Question?

Q Scott PA (Caller): We're outside our area's spotbeam ... any plans to fix this?
A: Not a lot to add. Send me an email.

There are lot of people in the Western Part the Scranton/Wilkes Barre DMA that are in that position and I would like to add my voice to his.

Most people I have spoken to at Dish are unaware of the situation

I believe they wanted Paul to email the techforum address being used for the forum. Now that the show is over emailing dishquality@dishnetwork.com or ceo@dishnetwork.com would be good places to start.

[stanggt03]

Just wanted to let anyone that was interested in the slingguide, that I sent my email address in yesterday and said it was full, but got an email today to sign up!

[mscroggi]

FYI -

The dishquality@dishnetwork.com email gets bounced. The other one seems to work..

"Unable to deliver to <dishquality@dishnetwork.com>"

Originally Posted by James Long

I believe they wanted Paul to email the techforum address being used for the forum. Now that the show is over emailing dishquality@dishnetwork.com or ceo@dishnetwork.com would be good places to start.

[BobaBird]

The EKB version of the February 2009 Tech Forum Summary is remarkably similar to this one. Great job James!

Despite a couple of lame non-answers that didn't address the question asked, the absence of the ITV update sement makes this the Best. Tech Forum. Ever.

Seriously, the video demonstrations were very well done and if you are curious what the 922 is about or how DVR custom folders will work you should catch a replay.

[HDG]

Originally Posted by DustoMan

I don't think they have *ever* mentioned anything about failed deployments during a tech chat. And why would they want to talk about anything but positive things during these chats?

Good business sense demands that they honor their promises, too.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by HDG

Good business sense demands that they honor their promises, too.

Who promised that they would trash themselves on their own show?

They discuss failures and disappointments when they come up. There is enough DISH bashing going on ... there is no need for DISH to join in.

[riah]

Thanks

I already tried CEO@ a got nowhere, After 3 weeks of back and forth the CSR basicly said too bad there is nothing we can do

[HDG]

Originally Posted by James Long

Who promised that they would trash themselves on their own show?

They discuss failures and disappointments when they come up. There is enough DISH bashing going on ... there is no need for DISH to join in.

Oh, come on, James! You wouldn't be on the waiting list for a 922, would you?

The problem with Dish is that they don't discuss failures and dissapointments - they only discuss the money-maker dejour. They prefer to keep their customers in the dark, have them speculate and draw all kinds of conclussions. Even you have to admit that.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by HDG

The problem with Dish is that they don't discuss failures and dissapointments - they only discuss the money-maker dejour. They prefer to keep their customers in the dark, have them speculate and draw all kinds of conclussions. Even you have to admit that.

I don't have to admit a thing that isn't true.

I watch these things. I have every chat/forum aired in the past three years on my hard drive. I have some older ones on VHS. I've noted errors in their answers and I've seen them discuss problems they have had.

If you're looking for Hee Haw style "gloom, despair and agony on me" songs sung by DISH on their programming you will be disappointed. But if you watch (more than letting others watch for you?) you will see and hear comments on when things don't go as planned.

You have a false preconception. Fortunately replays are available for anyone who DOES want to watch again. There have been a few "all puff" shows and a few real deep shows. I'd say this week's was average. Or perhaps better because there was no ITV segment.