Dish Network Retailer Chat Recap - July 10, 2007

[Cyclone]

Don't forget about Power line network interfaces. Those Power line modems go at 85Mbps (and there are some 200Mbps models). Those will work great for those who want something other than WiFi.

 

[lakebum431]

Don't forget about Power line network interfaces. Those Power line modems go at 85Mbps (and there are some 200Mbps models). Those will work great for those who want something other than WiFi.

Yep, that is why I brought up the SlingLink

 

[Cyclone]

I work for a BPL company and we use those Power Line modem (We call them PLIDs) all the time. They work pretty good and they are great for putting an ethernet jack where doesn't already exist. Using them for DBS receivers would be a perfect application for them since most people don't have etherjacks by their TVs.

 

[goaliebob99]

Allright dish, you couldnt give me comcast sports net for my birthday, but I guess I will take the new additions as a subsitute

 

[clrntsqueak]

Nice! I just joined Dish Network a few weeks ago and was amazed by the number of HD channels available and this just sweetens the deal!

Comcast would take FOREVER to add new HD channels.. I think it went a couple years without any additions. Dish Network just adds them as they become available. It's nice that Dish is fighting to remain the leader and continue to offer the most HD channels. Continue on Dish Network!

(And Dish Network, PLEASE convert all HD customers to MPEG4 hardware so you can provide ALL channels in MPEG4. They look better that way. )

 

[mruk69]

Looks like I will be ditching Comcast in Aug. That will be 6 months after ditching Dish. Although I love the HD content and watch more HD than SD I am more excited about Setanta.

I mean have you guys come to grips yet, you will now be able to see every Manchester United game on the telly. I could have gone to DTV instead of Comcast, but I knew Dish would eventually have it and the HD channels are much better on Dish.

Now hopefully within a year an angel will deliver FSC and Setanta in "HD".

I'll drink a few cases to that.

Cheers everyone.

 

[VinceT3]

They havent cracked the pocketdish yet, and this has a few more layers then the pocketdish, so I dont think they are worried.

mostly from lack of effort.. I doubt anyone wants to hack pocketdish when so much effort has been put into hacking the mpeg2 keys .. unfortunately I doubt they would go through the effort on the external drive when the mpeg4 HD streams will probably fall under the same hacker interests once more S2 boxes come out ..

 

[nlk10010]

Looks like I will be ditching Comcast in Aug. That will be 6 months after ditching Dish. Although I love the HD content and watch more HD than SD I am more excited about Setanta.

I mean have you guys come to grips yet, you will now be able to see every Manchester United game on the telly. I could have gone to DTV instead of Comcast, but I knew Dish would eventually have it and the HD channels are much better on Dish.

Now hopefully within a year an angel will deliver FSC and Setanta in "HD".

I'll drink a few cases to that.

Cheers everyone.

Hey, I'm with you, but take it easy. Nothing's announced yet. We've been down this road (mostly) before. Hate to see people get their hopes up and then have them dashed (which E* has been known to do). When Dish makes a whole string of announcements but one is conspicuous by its absence the most logical conclusion is that things aren't QUITE done yet. Not that they won't be, just aren't yet. Of course, no one knows.

I'm glad I had ITVN for last season but I'm not planning to go through that again. Hope I don't need to revisit D* (oh that 5 LNB dish!).

My fingers are crossed.

=NLK=

 

[Jim5506]

Think about this... can you get your data off your 622's hard drive right now?

It is being done.

 

[foghorn2]

It won't! I haven't been spending much time in front of the tube lately, but I just checked out all the DishHD channels and they honestly can't get any worse.

Time to get a new TV set JIM, or go to cable.

For the rest of us DISH HD looks great!

 

[ChetK]

Hey, let's hold off on talking about hacking the encryption until AFTER it's released so that we actually get it.

If the content providers are afraid of a hack, we'll never see the functionality added.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hey, let's hold off on talking about hacking the encryption until AFTER it's released so that we actually get it.

If the content providers are afraid of a hack, we'll never see the functionality added.

How about lets not talk about hacking it at all?

 

[TuxCoder]

I just checked out all the DishHD channels and they honestly can't get any worse.

I thought you didnt have Dish anymore Jim.

I see what happened. The "you are not subscribed" error message is not good HD.

 

[BobMurdoch]

BTW folks, I would like to ask a favor if I may. I am seeing a lot of this report being posted on other websites, which I have no problem with (the internet is for sharing information) but please if you post it somewhere please post that the info came from SatelliteGuys.US.

Believe it or not a lot of folks don't know about us yet and by posting a link or the url helps us grow and brings more great members to our family.

Thanks!

I saw a link to SatGuys re: the new HD on E* on Engadget (Google News pointed me there with my daily compilation of Dish Network news)

 

[ChetK]

How about lets not talk about hacking it at all?

I agree. I was being somewhat sarcastic.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I agree. I was being somewhat sarcastic.

Sorry, my mistake . It still amazes me that some guys openly talk about hacking like they do.

 

[digiblur]

Are all 4 port switches basically the same, or does someone recommend a certain brand??

Any new switch you buy should have auto-negotiation/auto-sensing ports. Cheap, easy, and plug and play.

 

[navychop]

I see what happened. The "you are not subscribed" error message is not good HD.

:clap

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Dishes MPEG4 HD channels look GREAT.

Unfortunately, I must disagree. I have recorded three movies off of MPEG4 channels over that past 3 weeks and all three were very mediocre on PQ. Contour banding, average sharpness at best, macro-blocking on intense colors, etc.

Also I performed some close comparisons of the Stars Wars movies off of Cinemax HD vs the same movies off of HBO HD, and the HBO versions were definitely better.

If one could compare the same program recorded off of the old HDNET from the summer of 2005 vs a current MPEG4 channel, you would see a significant fall-off in PQ. We're not talking about something being 99% as good, I'd say the current MPEG4 channels are about 75%-80% as good as the old HDNET.

 

[ChetK]

Unfortunately, I must disagree. I have recorded three movies off of MPEG4 channels over that past 3 weeks and all three were very mediocre on PQ. Contour banding, average sharpness at best, macro-blocking on intense colors, etc.

Also I performed some close comparisons of the Stars Wars movies off of Cinemax HD vs the same movies off of HBO HD, and the HBO versions were definitely better.

If one could compare the same program recorded off of the old HDNET from the summer of 2005 vs a current MPEG4 channel, you would see a significant fall-off in PQ. We're not talking about something being 99% as good, I'd say the current MPEG4 channels are about 75%-80% as good as the old HDNET.

But data rates are lower too. I don't care what encoding format used, less data is never better.