Leaving Las Vegas

As I write this I am sitting on a plane headed home to Connecticut after another Consumer Electronics Show.  My feet are tired and my head is buzzing with all the cool stuff that I saw.  Leaving Las Vegas is both a happy and sad affair, but already the clock is ticking and I am left looking forward to the 2009 edition of the CES Show.

Taking a look back at what I saw over the past few days, while some of the news in the world of satellite was disappointing, I am leaving Las Vegas still very happy with what I saw.

While DirecTV canceled their press conference, they did have a room at the Venetian. It was probably one of the coolest setups I have ever seen at a CES show, the room was filled with loads of 40 inch HDTV’s all showing DirecTV’s massive HD channel lineup.  

In this room there were some hidden gems, such as a dual tuner off air receiver for their new HR-21 HD DVR. This tuner allows customers who do not get their locals in HD from DirecTV, to hook this unit up to their HR21 and receive and record over the air digital signals to the DVR.  The unit connects to the HR21 via the USB jack on the HR21 and it’s expected price at release is expected to be $59.99, I feel that this is quite a bargain especially when you consider it has two over the air ATSC tuners included.

I found it refreshing that DirecTV was focused on updating and improving its current product line instead of introducing a new line of receivers.  Over the past year DirecTV has greatly improved the reliability and added some very impressive features (such as DirecTV On Demand)

Echostar and Dish Network showed off their forward thinking by introducing two new ATSC converter boxes that will allow customers to convert ATSC off air digital signals to be viewed on a non-digital television.  The TR-40 is a basic unit and will cost $39.99, it features a built in guide, which can receive a broadcaster’s PSIP information and display this information in the guide.  This unit is also government approved so that consumers can get a $40 coupon from the government making this unit free.  The other unit shown was a TR-50, now this was actually probably one of the more interesting things that I saw on the show floor.  The TR-50 like the TR-40 is an ATSC converter box however goes one major step forward and adds Echostar’s award winning DVR features to the box.  Now even if you have an old TV you will be able to enjoy all the new digital programming but you will also be able to time shift your favorite shows.  In addition the unit is expandable and will be able to use other technologies such as IPTV.

Dish Network also showed their forward thinking by allowing customers to turn their non-DVR receivers (Dish 211 or 211k) into full-featured DVR’s.  The customer adding almost any off the shelf external USB hard drive accomplishes this.  Users doing this will gain full DVR features including the ability to pause live TV, access a 9 day program guide and have full trick play features. This impresses me, as it will save the customers from needing to upgrade their satellite equipment in order to get the latest in DVR technologies.

The last impressive thing that I saw at CES was from new start up company XStreamHD.  The new XStreamHD service promises to stream movies into customer’s homes in the best quality possible, with full 1080p resolution and lossless DTS Master audio.  What you see and what you hear is exactly how the studios made it.

The technology shown was some of the most exciting hardware I have seen from any company in a very long time.  The fact that one receiver can stream movies to up to 4 TV’s in your house makes it a winner especially considering that the entry line unit costs only $399.  My only fear is that the product may never make it to the market. XStreamHD does not currently have any content agreements in place with any studios. (They are a content provider, which makes content king.) I personally find it hard to believe studios would sign with a company that can deliver content in better quality then even Blu-ray technology can provide.  For these companies to sign with XStreamHD would be like shooting themselves in the foot if they have any stake in the HD DVD movie market.  XStreamHD also currently has no satellite spectrum to broadcast from nor at this time do they have any kind of retailer or installer network in place to support the company.  Now I understand that Rome was not built in a day and the folks at XStreamHD hope to begin service in October, this is one product that I am praying to the gods of HD that it makes it to the market.

Besides seeing cool new products at the show my favorite part is meeting the people that make it all happen. This year I made a lot of new contacts and new friend. All good folks, who want the best for their customers. I would like to say a special thank you to Parker, Charles, Naomi, and Nicole for their hospitality and help during the CES show.

As I leave Las Vegas, I hope that during the upcoming year I can continue to offer you the best information in the world of satellite technology.  Thanks for reading and we will see you Friday here at MultiChannel News.