Dish TV Blog

DISH Network continues to decimate Cable TV concerning HD (High Definition) Channels.  Dish Network increased the number of HD channels by offering another 5 HD channels nationwide.  That brings the total HD channel count up 40.  The new HD channels are FX, SPEED, Fashion TV (FTV), Logo and MavTV.  All these channels went live in Early May.  Also, in June MSNBC HD will be added (briniging the number of HD channels to 140).

X HD and SPEED HD can be tuned in if you have Dish Network’s Classic Silver 200 HD programming package and above. That plan starts at at $22.99 for the first six months. FTV HD, Logo and MavTV HD are available in PlatinumHD which is an add-on package available for an extra $10 a month.

Last month Dish added 7 HD channels to its lineup including CMT HD, COMEDY CENTRAL HD, MTV HD, Nickelodeon HD, Spike TV HD, VH1 HD and BET HD.

Apple just released a totally free application for DirecTV.  This application allows anybody with an iPhone or iPod Touch to schedule TV programs to record on their DirecTV DVR’s.  Not only can you record your shows, you can search for new shows 2 weeks, 14 days in advance.  You can brows the online tv guide by channel, time, date or program name.

Unlike cable DirecTV allows their DVR customers to record pay-per-view offerings.

This application will work over wifi or your normal 3G phone service.  (WiFi only for iPod Touch)

Compatible DVRs
DIRECTV Plus® DVR (models R15, R16, R22)
DIRECTV Plus® HD DVR (models HR20, HR21, HR23)
TiVo® Series 2 receivers with 6.4a software

Dish Network and Fandango just made an announcement. 

If you haven’t heard of Fandango previously, Fandango is a website/service that allows you to buy movie tickets, from almost ANY movie theatre in the US, online.  It is a great way to bypass lines and guarantee that a movie is available.

If you have Dish Network, you can go to channel 100 and order movie tickets just by using your remote.  This is similar to the new iPhone application that also allows you to purchase movie tickets.

Tune your dish tv to channel 100 and preview all the movies playing in theatres near you.  You can get movie information and previews through dish network and Fandango without actually purchasing tickets.  Tickets are ordered using a credit card.  So don’t worry about somebody sneaking in and ordering 1000 tickets to a remake of Water World.

Just bring the credit card that you used to buy the tickets with you to the theatre.  Then show it to the box office or swipe it one of the ticket kiosks (in most theatres).  Your real tickets will be printed and you just saved yourself some worry and time.

The DTV deadline just got pushed back to June 12th, 2009.  Chances are that this does not affect you in the slightest.

If you want to find out if DTV (Digital TV Transition) means anything to you, check out this article.

Digital TV Simplified

Satellite problems, problems with your dish tv, are rare.  These are never actually problems with the actual satellite in space.  99.999% of the time the problem is with your dish or dish tv receiver (either Dish Network or DirecTV).  So you do you fix that dish?  Can you repair satellite tv yourself?  Can you diy satellite problems (Do It Yourself)?

In most cases, the answer is yes!

Satellite problems can be addressed by yourself.  You can fix a dish yourself much more quickly than if you made a phone call to your dish tv provider.

Click Here to Purchase the Dish TV Instructions

This way you can move your own dish tv system when you move.  No more waiting for service men.

Also if you camp, have a trailer, camper, mobile home, cabin, cottage or want to watch dish tv outside (think backyard during the summer) you can get the instructions to do so.

“Know How” is never free, but it is cheaper.  Find out how to fix dish now!

Topics Include
dish problem, dish problems, diy satellite, fix dish, fix satellite, repair dish, repair satellite, satellite problem, satellite problems, portable dish tv, portable satellite tv, portable dish network, portable directv

What is PocketDish?  Although the name suggests that PocketDish is a pocket sized satellite dish/receiver, this is not the case.

PocketDish is made and sold Dish Network.  PocketDish is a tv, video, music, game and photo gadget.  As the name suggests, PocketDish is small and compact enough to fit into a pocket.  PocketDish stores TV programs, music, your favorite games and photos on PocketDish.  It is much more than a standard MP3 player.

PocketDish was created by Dish Network, the fastest-growing U.S. satellite-television service, and the first pay-TV service provider to enter the market of portable video players. Using cutting-edge digital technology, the designers of Dish Network's PocketDish have created a miniature, multi-purpose entertainment system thats perfect for people on the go, offering super-fast downloads and crystal-clear images.

The PocketDish portable media player is available in three versions.  20GB PocketDish, 30GB PocketDish and 40GB PocketDish.  All but the 20GB PocketDish can record video/media from other sources.  The 20GB, 30GB and 40GB PocketDish have 2.2inch, 4inch and 7inch screens respectively.  This makes the largest PocketDish, the 40GB, significantly larger than the smallest one, the 20GB version.

All PocketDishes have USB 2.0 ports that can be plugged into the some Dish Networks Dish Plaers.  This will allow for superfast downloading of programs on your DVR.  Roughly speaking 1 hours worth of programming is transferred in 5 minutes.  Most movies take less than 10 minutes to transfer to any version of the PocketDish.

Transferring Dish Network content to your PocketDish is easy. Just connect the PocketDish to your DVR using the USB cable and you are prompted on screen to transfer which shows/movies you would like.

For those interested in buying, check out PocketDish.com or refer to our handy PocketDish chart below.

ITEM	AV402E	AV500E	AV700E
Hard Drive (HDD)	20GB	30GB	40GB
LCD Display	2.2"	4"	7"
Dimensions	4.2"(w) x 2.4"(h) x 0.7"(d)	4.8"(w) x 3.0"(h) x 0.8"(d)	8.2"(w) x 4.2"(h) x 0.8"(d)
DISH Network Content Capacity	Up to 20 hours*	Up to 30 hours*	Up to 40 hours*
Records Video from Other Sources	No, Audio Only	Yes	Yes
Other Source Content Capacity	Up to 80 hours*	Up to 120 hours*	Up to 160 hours*
Song Capacity (MP3, WAV, WMA)	Up to 10,000*	Up to 15,000*	Up to 20,000*
Photo Capacity (JPEG)	Up to 200,000*	Up to 300,000*	Up to 400,000*
LCD Aspect Ratio	4:3	16:9	16:9
Speaker(s)	No	1	2
Microphone	Yes	No	No
Remote Control	No	Yes	Yes
Docking Station	No	Yes	Yes
Removable Battery	No	Yes	Yes
Stand	No	Part of Case	On Unit

Most people do not know about this.   Last year DirecTV came out with the ability to go to a web page schedule your DVR to record a program.  TiVo and Replay TV also had this ability.  Dish Network just announced integration of Slingbox technology into some of their new DVRs.

Put simply... If you have Dish TV (Dish Network or DirecTV) or Cable TV you have nothing to worry about.  Stop reading.

This also applies if you have FiOS TV.

If you watch TV with an Antenna (we aren't sure why you would want to do that) you'll lose your signal in February.  You can go to the Government Digital TV Website to get a coupon for a converter box.  However we suggest that you upgrade your TV.

As of writing this article, here are the cheapest digital tvs out there.  We have chose the cheapest, a 20 inch version and an LCD tv.

Blockbuster just announced that they are releasing a set-top box/digital media player (reuters).  This differ's greatly from NetFlix's Roku digital media player however.

NetFlix has one set price based on how many DVD's you want to take out at a time which has always been cheaper than Blockbuster's service.  Blockbuster's device offers nothing for free.  Both Netflix's Roku and Blockbuster's player are priced at $99.  However Blockbuster intends to sell movies individually at $1.99 a piece.  With Netflix you can watch unlimited movies online for $8.99.

Blockbuster's movies though will be more up to date.  With your $99 purchase of the MediaPoint device (made by 2 Wire), you also receive 25 free movies effectively making the device free after you watch 25 movies.

The Media Point device is yet to be named but our source have told us that this service may be called simply Blockbuster On Demand.

Both the Blockbuster box and Netflix box use WiFi so that no cords are needed.

Does anybody remember Web TV?  Web TV was the name of a device that hooked up to your phone line and TV.  It allowed you to surf the web and do email on your TV.  It was very lackluster.

Now, Web TV is owned by Microsoft and named MSN TV.  Web TV is still, not that impressive, however out of all ways of watching TV (cable, dish tv, FiOS, U verse, online), Web TV might be the sleeping giant.

Recently, the CEO of Netflix is raving about the return of Web TV.  He doesn't mean the Web TV device per se but the idea that internet attached TV's will replace TV's that use satellite or cable.

Don't go cancelling your cable or dish tv service yet!

This will not happen overnight, or even in your grandparents' lifetime.  Gradma and Grandpa will probably never change to Internet TV, Web TV, Online TV, IP TV or any of the other names floating around.  This will be slow.  Cable and Telephone companies, including cellular companies, will turn into the backbone of your hookup.  Someday you'll have just "TV", you'll have a fast internet connection to your house and can switch TV providers at a whim.

Someday soon you will only be conscerned about water, electricity, gas and internet connections to your home.

For now, and the rest of your lifetime though, cable and dish will be around and get constantly better.