The Satellite Dish

September 4, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (9)

Dish Network customers almost woke up on September 1^st to find that they were missing two more HD channels over another programming dispute.  Luckily at the last moment this one was avoided.

I was sick for most of the weekend so I wasn’t checking my email as much as I normally do, when I got back into my office on Wednesday I was going through my junk mail folder and saw a programming alert from Dish Network in my junk mail box.

I opened it and saw the following message

“...Read More

September 3, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

This week could be a very big week for the folks at Tivo.  Today they announced a major deal with DirecTV to bring customers a new version of the HD Tivo which will work with DirecTV’s MPEG4 high definition services.

The excitement on the satellite discussion forums has been one of great joy by fans of Tivo, but I can only wonder if fans will even remember Tivo as for the next year in order to enjoy DirecTV’s MPEG4 HD with a DVR they must use one of DirecTV’s non Tivo HD DVR’s.  The new HD DirecTV DVR featuring Tivo will be released in the second half of 2009.

...Read More

August 30, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

It looks like our friends in Louisiana are about to get slammed with another major hurricane.  I hope and prey that everyone makes it through things safely.

It is unfortunate how a natural disaster like a hurricane can help show folks the power of satellite technology.  As we have seen in the past with Katrina when cable systems were ripped apart satellite was there bringing everyone the latest news and connecting those effected back to the rest of the world.  For Katrina as soon as it was possible to both Dish Network and DirecTV set waves of techs and installers into Katrina ravaged areas starting at shelters bringing them television signals and working their way out from there.  Many areas relied on satellite for months before cable operators could restore service.

As I said before its unfortunate that a natural disaster like a hurrica...Read More

August 27, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (6)

Last night I spent a great amount of time flipping through the channels watching the big DNC convention in Denver. I was kind of disappointed with the HD quality I saw coming from the big networks, and CNN.

Just before Hillary Clinton wrapped up her speech I then remembered that Dish Network was offering its customers a special HD feed of the DNC convention on channel 211, so I tuned to 211 and was blown away with what I saw.  The picture quality blew me away, the picture was so sharp and crisp it felt like I was there.

While the picture was excellent, the audio did need some work as one of the microp...Read More

August 26, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (8)

Just a little over a month after it blasted off from the Equator, Dish Network’s new “Echostar 11” satellite is in position and is ready for use.

Over the next few nights engineers at Echostar uplinks will begin moving programming from the current Echostar 8 satellite to the new transponders on Echostar 11.  Viewers in Hawaii and Puerto Rico will notice a nice signal gain when these changes are made..

After all programming is offloaded from the Echostar 8 satellite, the Echostar 8 satellite will move to the 77 Degree West Longitude position and will be used as part...Read More