Tech Forum Summary 5-13-02
BobaBird
May 13, 2002
Hosts are Dave Kummer, VP Engineering and Scott Higgins, Director of
Interactive Services, with the peanut gallery. Mark Jackson has the night
off.
AGENDA
- Interactive Features
- PVR
- HDTV - Fact or Fiction?
- Prizes
- Q&A
---------------
Interactive Features
- Dish Home is currently on the 3900 and 4900, ch 100, coming this summer to
the 301 and 501.
- Games: Carrot Mania is free, subscription adds Golf, Bowling, Basketball,
Solitaire.
- Horoscope: General or romance for the day or week. Can be set to
automatically show your sign.
- Zap 2 It: Best bets for TV, movies, sports. Users in LIL markets can
enter ZIP code for theater and show times.
- Weather: 1500+ cities with 5-day forecasts, can set up 5 favorite cities.
- Sports: Coming this summer. Scores, stats, standings. Showed baseball
and soccer.
- Lottery: Results, top 10 pots, news, more.
- Customer support: Coming this summer. Add programming, view/pay bill, FAQ.
- By Fall: headline news, business news and quotes, soap opera and talk show
info, football scores, PPV application.
- By end of year: Shopping services with "TV wallet." Credit card info
stored on secure Dish server, not on receiver.
Questions will be taken in the second half.
Phone: 1-888-621-2078. E-mail: Tech...@Dishnetwork.com.
[Don't call now - the show's over!]
---------------
"Spontaneous" Q&A (aka witty banter)
- Receivers can take software upgrades when in standby mode.
- The 501 remote's Dish Home button will provide one-touch access to
interactive features.
- 1 HDTV channel takes as much bandwidth as 5-6 standard channels.
- The Aux button on the blue-button remote will control TV power if no other
device is programmed to it.
---------------
Satellites
- E-VII was launched Feb 21, tested at the 129 slot, and made active at 119
on Apr 22.
- Some spot beams were brought on-line May 1. Local channels broadcast from
a spot beam can only be received in the area of the spot and will not be
received when the receiver is out of the area whether that is by travel or
address.
- Next city to go up is Grand Rapids MI on May 22. Some channels will be at
61.5, call to arrange installation of free dish.
- E-III is to be launched by the end of June from Kazakhstan to the 110
orbital slot.
---------------
Giveaway
PVR721. Has 2 tuners (record 2 shows while watching a recorded one), PIP in
the box will work on any TV, can update the EPG from an idle tuner, 90-hour
capacity, pause 2 hours, options menu for recording live TV (stop manually?
at end of show?). Future features: Internet access, USB port for
Echostar-approved printer, CD-R, other(?).
What is the #1 fantasy sport in America? How many participants?
Dave and Scott autograph the 721.
---------------
PVR Uses
- Record one show while watching another.
- Library of kids' show and movies easier than dealing with tapes
- Search by title or description, with history.
http://echostar.swiki.net/291#Search
- Pause live TV
- Timers
- Start watching a sports event 1-hour late, finish on time
---------------
HDTV - Fact or Fiction?
- 1080i is better than 720p. Both are good, 1080i is better for movies,
720p is better for sports.
- The new TV standard is high definition. False. There are 18 standards,
only a few are HD.
- DVI and 1394 offer better PQ? Yes, the digital connection eliminates
cable noise. New LCD and plasma displays are inherently digital.
- HD on an existing TV? Have to down-convert from an STB (external tuner).
- HD audio format? Dolby Digital in 2.0 (stereo) or DD5.1 form.
- HD PVR box? Recording takes 5-6X as much space, they likely won't provide
that much more capacity. Project is in the works, available sometime in
2003.
- Dave has HD but uses his PVR more.
- Do research before buying. See:
-- http://www.ce.org , click on DTV Transition
-- http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv
-- http://www.fcc.gov/mb/policy/dtv
-- http://www.atsc.org
-- http://www.howstuffworks.com/hdtv
---------------
Giveaway
721 winner is Rod Frasier of Duluth, GA. Answers are football, 30,000,000.
Dave cautions that this is a beta test and will require 2 satellite feeds to
use all features.
---------------
Q&A
Andrew: Has original 7200. Is it compatible with the new interactive
features?
A: No. It has some of its own but won't work with OpenTV.
Ellen: Just got a 501, loves it, which interactive features will it get?
A: More entertainment options in the future, the 721 will get Video on
Demand.
Frank: 721 hook-up needs 2 connections, can a splitter be used?
A: No, the lines have to come from a switch because each tuner may need to
see a different satellite. Existing switch models or new dish pro switches
can be used. The 721 will be priced at $549 stand-alone or $599 with dish.
John: Has HD-ready set, can't see 61.5, able to get HD from DirecTV after
the merger?
A: Maybe not right away, eventually could move to core slots. Might be able
to get 148 but that is hard E of the Mississippi River.
Peter: When will the 721 be available? 508?
A: 721 by end of June, 120GB hard drive. 508 has 80GB (501 has 40GB),
available June-July.
Upgrade the HD on the 501?
A: No program in place. The situation is similar to buying computer
equipment.
Phone: Slow motion and frame advance for the 501?
A: Prototype has been demo'd, may come out this year. Working on
interface - press Pause then Skip buttons?
Paul: What inputs to get on an HDTV?
A: YPbPr is most common. The 6000 also supports RGB. (No mention of
DVI/1394)
Jeff: DISHPlayer has been nothing but trouble for the past year, with the
last fix it doesn't shut itself off after the nightly download.
A: Had difficulty getting Microsoft to focus on the DP, they have a team on
it again. The d/l fixed a lot of problems, a more recent d/l fixed the
staying on problem. They have a commitment from WebTV to start using Dish's
7-day guide.
Gary: Does the 721 record directly or recompress the data stream? 2
subscriptions required?
A: Records directly from satellite, has no quality settings. No additional
outlet fee, it is seen as a single box.
Chuck: Is an HDTV early adopter, has the 6000. New copy protection or
down-resolution coming? Will compression of standard channels improve?
A: E-VII improved locals more than it did AT100, E-VIII will free more
capacity. Lot of confusion and debate on the types of connections. Only a
few studios will offer movies for HD PPV. (Dave's answer was much more
involved than this.)
Greg: Best way to add a 3rd receiver? Has Starband dish with 2 dual LNBs
and 2 SW21s.
A: Don't touch the SB dish, it requires professional aiming for the
satellite uplink. Replace the SW21s with an SW64 or SW44.
Don: Wants to replace 1 of his 2 receivers with a 721. Has a 7100 and
something else.
A: Use a legacy switch (like previous question). DishPro switches will
start shipping in June, can be used directly with 301, 501, 508 and 721 or
with an adaptor for legacy receivers. Instead of SW44, can also put a Quad
on the Dish500.
---------------
Next Charlie Chat is Mon Jun 10, 9:00pm Eastern
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