People wouldn't believe how much time we put into getting ready for CES. A lot of planning and prep, not to mention expense goes into getting ready for CES and then CES rolls around and poof its gone.
After CES is over it always takes me a few days to digest what I saw. You see so much it’s hard to take in and understand everything that you saw.
This year is the year of 4K as every company that makes televisions had their booth full of 4K Ultra HD televisions. There were so many 4K displays on the floor that you quickly got numb to how amazing the picture quality was, and as you saw more and more 4K displays you actually got tired of seeing them. It became a situation where you saw one 4K display then you have seen them all. And let me be clear that while it was a case that some 4K displays did look better than others, that you saw so many 4K displays you quickly forgot who made the good ones.
It is my opinion that any of the 4K displays were better than any 1080p set on display. And going by that opinion I felt that even the lowest prices $999 4K Ultra HD display were a good by. Sure the Polaroid 50 inch 4K Ultra HD display wasn’t as good as your $15,000 Sony 4K display but for $999 it held its own ground and looked better than any 1080p set on the floor.
We saw lots of cool stuff on the floor, a world of 3D Printers which had me drooling on the show floor wanting one… but after reality set in I couldn’t honestly answer the question of what would I use it for. We saw lots of smart watches, but honestly most were junk. I do see smart watches going somewhere in the future but at the moment we are on generation one and there is still so much that can be done to improve them and make them a daily part of our lives.
In the world of satellite we saw the new troop of Joey’s from DISH. And for me while nice additions to the DISH lineup it was nothing groundbreaking. But for me it’s going to be hard for DISH to improve the hardware of something that is already close to perfect.
The Super Joey gives us two more tuners, and this is a nice thing for the families who were running out of tuners for their shows. But for me if you can afford a few more bucks a month I still highly recommend getting a second Hopper. Not only with you get more tuners then the Super Joey (3 versus 2) but then you also get another 2TB of hard drive space to record your shows, but you also have redundancy in your system so that if one Hopper dies you can still watch tv in your house.
The wireless Joey is a nice addition for those seeking a wireless solution. While SatelliteGuys members have known for a while that you could make any Joey into a Wireless Joey, with DISH’s new Wireless Joey it comes with a new 802.11ac gateway which places the Joey on its own private network and eliminates most if not all the issues many may have had using 802.11G/N.
And finally they showed the Virtual Joey which lets you use your LG Smart TV, Sony Playstation 3 or Playstation 4 as a Virtual Joey. For more this would be great in your kids room and helps greatly with the not enough HDMI ports on your TV. For most people however I don’t see them using this as I can’t imagine telling my wife that if she wants to watch TV that she needs to turn on the Playstation then select the Joey app, wait for it to load and then watch TV. While it may look and act like a Joey currently it is missing features that you get on a normal Joey including a lack of support for Apps and Home Media. The other big turn off for me is that it will cost you money to have a Virtual Joey. While I can understand a small “mirroring fee” they should not price it so that it costs as much as a regular Joey because if they do you are better off just getting a real Joey.
As I said before it’s going to get harder and harder for DISH to continue to improve on the Hopper hardware platform since the hardware side of the Hopper is almost perfect now. Where the Hopper will continue to improve and shine will be in the ongoing Hopper software updates. From here on out it is the software which can make or break the Hopper.
DISH did win 3 awards at CES for their products they announced at CES and I have got to say they were well deserved. DISH was one of the few companies who still showed that innovation rules.
What about DIRECTV? Once again this year DIRECTV had no official presence on the CES show floor. The only thing seen on the floor from DIRECTV was at the Samsung Booth where they were showing off the DIRECTV RVU client on one of its televisions.
One of the big things asked of us year after year is why do we do so much DISH coverage and barely any DIRECTV coverage. This is something that honestly has concerned us as well as the name of the site is SatelliteGuys not “DISHGUYS”, we want to be able to report fairly about both companies.so this year our CES team worked hard to find DIRECTV. I am happy to report we had success in making contact with DIRECTV, so much success that not only did we get to meet with DIRECTV CEO Michael White, but we were also shown the private DIRECTV suite at the MGM. Here in this suite we were able to see what they were working on and what the future holds. What we saw was exciting and it also gave us a better understanding of why DIRECTV was not on the show floor. The honest reason is they are not ready to show the world yet. We were asked to keep what we saw under our hats, and we will honor that request. I am hopeful we will see DIRECTV on the floor next year to announce what they have been working on, because TRUST ME it is very exciting and from everything I know no one else is close to doing what they are going to do.
Since getting back home to Connecticut I have been in email contact with Sr. DIRECTV management working to build up a relationship and that is why I was sent the DIRECTV statement last night and passed it on to our members. I understand Rome was not build in a day so we will work to build up a relationship with DIRECTV again. I will be the first to admit that I made some mistakes in the past in our relationship with DIRECTV but I am working hard to make up for my mistakes and give DIRECTV equal footing here at SatelliteGuys. I think they also understand that while our competition keeps on shrinking in page views and number of posts SatelliteGuys keeps on growing and growing. We have their audience here that they want to reach and that is working into or favor. Speaking on behalf of the staff here I know we are all excited to be working with DIRECTV again.
So with that said for the past 3 days I have been trying to decide on what was the best thing at CES this year. And through the pondering of all the new devices there was nothing exciting worth writing home about… well except for one thing and that thing wasn’t an electronic device.
My pick for the 2014 Best of CES goes to World Wrestling Entertainment and their announcement of their new WWE Network. You don’t h have to be a wrestling fan to understand that their announcement may change the face of television forever.
The WWE has been trying for a few years now to launch their network as a real cable network, but most cable and satellite providers didn’t want it so the WWE has gone ahead and cut out the middle man and now will be offering its network direct to its fans.
If you’re a wrestling fan with broadband the $10 a month online only service is a no brainer, especially considering it includes a monthly WWE Pay Per View event included in that $10 price point. WWE PPV’s normally cost anywhere from $39 to $64 depending on the event. So it’s easy to see how any WWE fans (even its casual fans) would want to subscribe to this service.
In this move the WWE has angered some of its cable and satellite partners, with the most vocal being DIRECTV who has threatened not to carry the WWE’s Pay Per View events anymore. For me I think this is a mistake as there will be many WWE fans who will not have the broadband necessary to subscribe to the WWE Network who will still rely on their cable or satellite provider to bring them the big PPV events. WWE fans are a vocal bunch and I know that if they can’t get their WWE entertainment they will bring their business to another company who will give them what they want.
No matter if you like wrestling or not you can see how this move could cause a major ripple in the world of television. I expect the WWE to be just one of the first networks to cut out the middle man and sell direct to the consumer. If you figure out the numbers needed to make this type of thing successful the amount of subscribers needed for them to make a profit is a tiny fraction of those who actually watch and buy their product.
I think we could see many niche stations go the WWE route, which would not only keep these stations alive but also make them enough money to thrive and expand their programming.
I am sure some people will try to tell you that bandwidth caps will prevent these services from being a success, I for one am not buying this. Sure at the launch of the WWE Network many diehard fans will watch the network for hours on end, but soon the novelty will wear off and they will only tune to it for special shows such as the WWE RAW pre and post-game shows and the WWE PPV’s. Doing this will not even get customers close to going over their bandwidth caps. And it will still be an excellent value to the customer at $10 a month.
About the only thing I can see harming the WWE in this move is that I hope it does not upset their broadcast partners such as NBC Universal / Comcast. I think that if the WWE uses its weekly broadcasts to advertise its network that there could be some fighting going on. If you remember before Howard Stern went to Satellite Radio he would talk about it on his terrestrial radio show all the time, this continuing advertising by Howard got him sued by CBS who syndicated his terrestrial show. I don’t want to see them same thing happen here as well. I think for the WWE to survive and grow it needs to keep its cable and satellite partnerships. It will be important for them to keep themselves in the limelight on channels such as the USA Network and the NBC television network. The WWE is the #1 rated show on both the USA network and SYFY Networks. The networks need the WWE and the WWE needs them.
So there you go this year’s best of CES wasn’t anything electronic which is unusual considering this is the Consumer ELECTRONICS show. I know the world will be watching and seeing how the WWE Network does, and if it’s a success (and I can’t see why it wouldn’t be) then we will see other networks make the move and cut out the middle man. Television just got exciting!
BTW if you missed our coverage of the WWE launch you can check it out (with lots of great pictures!) at http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/328150-WWE-Event
After CES is over it always takes me a few days to digest what I saw. You see so much it’s hard to take in and understand everything that you saw.
This year is the year of 4K as every company that makes televisions had their booth full of 4K Ultra HD televisions. There were so many 4K displays on the floor that you quickly got numb to how amazing the picture quality was, and as you saw more and more 4K displays you actually got tired of seeing them. It became a situation where you saw one 4K display then you have seen them all. And let me be clear that while it was a case that some 4K displays did look better than others, that you saw so many 4K displays you quickly forgot who made the good ones.
It is my opinion that any of the 4K displays were better than any 1080p set on display. And going by that opinion I felt that even the lowest prices $999 4K Ultra HD display were a good by. Sure the Polaroid 50 inch 4K Ultra HD display wasn’t as good as your $15,000 Sony 4K display but for $999 it held its own ground and looked better than any 1080p set on the floor.
We saw lots of cool stuff on the floor, a world of 3D Printers which had me drooling on the show floor wanting one… but after reality set in I couldn’t honestly answer the question of what would I use it for. We saw lots of smart watches, but honestly most were junk. I do see smart watches going somewhere in the future but at the moment we are on generation one and there is still so much that can be done to improve them and make them a daily part of our lives.
In the world of satellite we saw the new troop of Joey’s from DISH. And for me while nice additions to the DISH lineup it was nothing groundbreaking. But for me it’s going to be hard for DISH to improve the hardware of something that is already close to perfect.
The Super Joey gives us two more tuners, and this is a nice thing for the families who were running out of tuners for their shows. But for me if you can afford a few more bucks a month I still highly recommend getting a second Hopper. Not only with you get more tuners then the Super Joey (3 versus 2) but then you also get another 2TB of hard drive space to record your shows, but you also have redundancy in your system so that if one Hopper dies you can still watch tv in your house.
The wireless Joey is a nice addition for those seeking a wireless solution. While SatelliteGuys members have known for a while that you could make any Joey into a Wireless Joey, with DISH’s new Wireless Joey it comes with a new 802.11ac gateway which places the Joey on its own private network and eliminates most if not all the issues many may have had using 802.11G/N.
And finally they showed the Virtual Joey which lets you use your LG Smart TV, Sony Playstation 3 or Playstation 4 as a Virtual Joey. For more this would be great in your kids room and helps greatly with the not enough HDMI ports on your TV. For most people however I don’t see them using this as I can’t imagine telling my wife that if she wants to watch TV that she needs to turn on the Playstation then select the Joey app, wait for it to load and then watch TV. While it may look and act like a Joey currently it is missing features that you get on a normal Joey including a lack of support for Apps and Home Media. The other big turn off for me is that it will cost you money to have a Virtual Joey. While I can understand a small “mirroring fee” they should not price it so that it costs as much as a regular Joey because if they do you are better off just getting a real Joey.
As I said before it’s going to get harder and harder for DISH to continue to improve on the Hopper hardware platform since the hardware side of the Hopper is almost perfect now. Where the Hopper will continue to improve and shine will be in the ongoing Hopper software updates. From here on out it is the software which can make or break the Hopper.
DISH did win 3 awards at CES for their products they announced at CES and I have got to say they were well deserved. DISH was one of the few companies who still showed that innovation rules.
What about DIRECTV? Once again this year DIRECTV had no official presence on the CES show floor. The only thing seen on the floor from DIRECTV was at the Samsung Booth where they were showing off the DIRECTV RVU client on one of its televisions.
One of the big things asked of us year after year is why do we do so much DISH coverage and barely any DIRECTV coverage. This is something that honestly has concerned us as well as the name of the site is SatelliteGuys not “DISHGUYS”, we want to be able to report fairly about both companies.so this year our CES team worked hard to find DIRECTV. I am happy to report we had success in making contact with DIRECTV, so much success that not only did we get to meet with DIRECTV CEO Michael White, but we were also shown the private DIRECTV suite at the MGM. Here in this suite we were able to see what they were working on and what the future holds. What we saw was exciting and it also gave us a better understanding of why DIRECTV was not on the show floor. The honest reason is they are not ready to show the world yet. We were asked to keep what we saw under our hats, and we will honor that request. I am hopeful we will see DIRECTV on the floor next year to announce what they have been working on, because TRUST ME it is very exciting and from everything I know no one else is close to doing what they are going to do.
Since getting back home to Connecticut I have been in email contact with Sr. DIRECTV management working to build up a relationship and that is why I was sent the DIRECTV statement last night and passed it on to our members. I understand Rome was not build in a day so we will work to build up a relationship with DIRECTV again. I will be the first to admit that I made some mistakes in the past in our relationship with DIRECTV but I am working hard to make up for my mistakes and give DIRECTV equal footing here at SatelliteGuys. I think they also understand that while our competition keeps on shrinking in page views and number of posts SatelliteGuys keeps on growing and growing. We have their audience here that they want to reach and that is working into or favor. Speaking on behalf of the staff here I know we are all excited to be working with DIRECTV again.
So with that said for the past 3 days I have been trying to decide on what was the best thing at CES this year. And through the pondering of all the new devices there was nothing exciting worth writing home about… well except for one thing and that thing wasn’t an electronic device.
My pick for the 2014 Best of CES goes to World Wrestling Entertainment and their announcement of their new WWE Network. You don’t h have to be a wrestling fan to understand that their announcement may change the face of television forever.
The WWE has been trying for a few years now to launch their network as a real cable network, but most cable and satellite providers didn’t want it so the WWE has gone ahead and cut out the middle man and now will be offering its network direct to its fans.
If you’re a wrestling fan with broadband the $10 a month online only service is a no brainer, especially considering it includes a monthly WWE Pay Per View event included in that $10 price point. WWE PPV’s normally cost anywhere from $39 to $64 depending on the event. So it’s easy to see how any WWE fans (even its casual fans) would want to subscribe to this service.
In this move the WWE has angered some of its cable and satellite partners, with the most vocal being DIRECTV who has threatened not to carry the WWE’s Pay Per View events anymore. For me I think this is a mistake as there will be many WWE fans who will not have the broadband necessary to subscribe to the WWE Network who will still rely on their cable or satellite provider to bring them the big PPV events. WWE fans are a vocal bunch and I know that if they can’t get their WWE entertainment they will bring their business to another company who will give them what they want.
No matter if you like wrestling or not you can see how this move could cause a major ripple in the world of television. I expect the WWE to be just one of the first networks to cut out the middle man and sell direct to the consumer. If you figure out the numbers needed to make this type of thing successful the amount of subscribers needed for them to make a profit is a tiny fraction of those who actually watch and buy their product.
I think we could see many niche stations go the WWE route, which would not only keep these stations alive but also make them enough money to thrive and expand their programming.
I am sure some people will try to tell you that bandwidth caps will prevent these services from being a success, I for one am not buying this. Sure at the launch of the WWE Network many diehard fans will watch the network for hours on end, but soon the novelty will wear off and they will only tune to it for special shows such as the WWE RAW pre and post-game shows and the WWE PPV’s. Doing this will not even get customers close to going over their bandwidth caps. And it will still be an excellent value to the customer at $10 a month.
About the only thing I can see harming the WWE in this move is that I hope it does not upset their broadcast partners such as NBC Universal / Comcast. I think that if the WWE uses its weekly broadcasts to advertise its network that there could be some fighting going on. If you remember before Howard Stern went to Satellite Radio he would talk about it on his terrestrial radio show all the time, this continuing advertising by Howard got him sued by CBS who syndicated his terrestrial show. I don’t want to see them same thing happen here as well. I think for the WWE to survive and grow it needs to keep its cable and satellite partnerships. It will be important for them to keep themselves in the limelight on channels such as the USA Network and the NBC television network. The WWE is the #1 rated show on both the USA network and SYFY Networks. The networks need the WWE and the WWE needs them.
So there you go this year’s best of CES wasn’t anything electronic which is unusual considering this is the Consumer ELECTRONICS show. I know the world will be watching and seeing how the WWE Network does, and if it’s a success (and I can’t see why it wouldn’t be) then we will see other networks make the move and cut out the middle man. Television just got exciting!
BTW if you missed our coverage of the WWE launch you can check it out (with lots of great pictures!) at http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/328150-WWE-Event
