The DTV transition, as I expected, is not working out all that well for some consumers. I began noticing a while back that the digital TV signals seemed more susceptible to interference from bad weather and other atmospheric events. Digital signals have little tolerance for being interfered with. Since it is essentially a torrent of ones and zeros that makes up the digital signal that is ultimately shown on your TV screen, a good picture depends upon virtually all of those ones and zeros making it from the broadcast location to your home. If some of them are missing, you’re picture will suffer from smudge-like distortions at best and a lost signal at worst.

Unlike the old analog TV signals where a weak signal was more easily tolerated and would often result in a “snowy” or otherwise poor-quality picture, digital TV is just not as forgiving. For some viewers, a snowy picture was better than no picture at all.

I noticed some rather strange fluctuations in the quality of the digital signals I was receiving at my house before the DTV conversion. Many TV stations have been broadcasting both a digital and analog signal for quite some time, so those equipped with a digital-capable TV or an analog TV with a converter box were able to watch digital programming in many areas.

What I noticed in the time leading up to the transition date that finally occurred this month, was that I could receive some stations digital signal fine on one day and then worse on another. At times it seemed like bad weather may have been causing the problem and at other times it did not seem to be a factor at all.

The good news is that things have improved after the transition and I am now receiving virtually all of my local TV stations quite well. In some cases, the signal strength has improved from a reading in the 60’s to a reading in the 90’s. I’m not sure what the broadcasters did on the day of the transition, but it is clear to me that they did something.

Perhaps turning off their analog transmissions made it possible to boost the power output of their digital signals. Perhaps it had something to do with FCC regulations or something of that nature. All I am sure of is that my experience viewing over-the-air digital television signals has improved significantly since the transition.

There are others, however, who have lost most, if not all of the local TV stations they used to watch. This is particularly true for those using indoor antennas, like “rabbit ears.” In these cases, mounting a good-quality outdoor TV antenna on the roof of the house or in some other elevated location may solve the problem. That’s certainly no guarantee, and it might be an expensive experiment.

Some have decided to switch to cable to cable or satellite TV, which will solve all the digital TV problems. Just make sure that whatever provider you sign up with offers the local channels that you want.

I’ve been a satisfied DISH Network customer for more than 10 years, so I do not hesitate to recommend that solution as long as you have access to an area where the satellite dish antenna can be mounted in line with the satellites. That’s something the DISH Network people can help you with if you contact them. You can call the number at the top of the page or click the “Learn More” link if you need contact information.

Sinclair owns and operates numerous television stations in thirty-five markets and includes stations that are affiliated with major broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS, CW, FOX and MNT.

DISH will compensate Sinclair under the terms of the agreement, although no specific dollar amount was disclosed.

This is good news for DISH Network subscribers who receive their local-area television channels through DISH from Sinclair-owned stations.

The big benefit I noticed right off the bat was that I had access to a lot more on demand content. Some of it was from channels I did not even subscribe to, so that was kind of cool. All you need to do is select one of the on-demand programs from the list and it will be downloaded via the internet for you to watch.

A while later I discovered another nice advantage to having my DVR connected to the internet. I could access and control my DVR from anywhere I could access the internet. I can sit in my office and browse the program guide on my PC and set up programs to be recorded while my wife is sitting in the living room watching TV.

Check out the story of how I managed to save the day by borrowing my son’s iPhone to access my DVR while riding in the car on the way back home one night after I realized I had forgotten to set the DVR to record something. Now that was cool.

Orbiting some 23,000 miles above the Earth’s equator, the stationary satellite will provide DISH Network subscribers with stunning views of our planet as the never-ending changes cross its surface. In addition to the changes viewers might expect to witness such as the transition from day to night (and vice versa) and wandering weather systems, some speculate that the new camera may capture a passing UFO or two.

Launched during 2008, EchoStar 11 is positioned at 110 degrees west longitude in order to provide television programming for DISH Network customers who are inside the satellite’s broadcast “footprint.”

This development marks the first time in history that a camera has been mounted on a commercial communications satellite. In development for six years, the project was the result of a working partnership between DISH Network, it’s sister company EchoStar Spacecraft Operations Team, Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation of Pasadena, CA, and Space Systems/Loral. It is being operated under a license granted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“We are pleased to be able to offer, exclusively to our customers, footage from the world’s only Earth-viewing live video camera on a commercial communications satellite," said Dave Shull, senior vice president of Programming at DISH Network. "What’s more, from time to time, the DISH Earth camera is able to capture some unique images, including an unidentified flying object last August.

UFO buffs with copious amounts of time on their hands may want to keep watch in DISH Channel 212 for any other-worldly visitors that may be buzzing out planet. DISH Network customers who also have DVRs could also record hours of the new channel and later fast-forward through the footage for any interesting phenomenon,

Sounds like it could be an interesting tool for the guys in UFO Hunters.

Before anyone gets the idea that I’m making light of UFOs, and worse yet, those who investigate such things, I will admit that I find the whole UFO phenomenon quite interesting and I never miss an episode of UFO Hunters myself.

Although, I have never seen anything I would classify as a UFO myself, a family member did about 12 or so years ago. When something like that happens, it kind of makes you wonder what might be going on “up there.”

Having not yet checked out the new channel yet myself, I’m going to head to my TV and tune to channel 212 just as soon as I finish this entry.

The new HD channels are: BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike TV and VH1. The new channels are available at no additional cost to customers of the service tiers in which they were placed.

CMT HD, Comedy Central HD, MTV HD, Nickelodeon HD, Spike TV HD and VH1 HD are now available at no additional charge to customers of the Classic Bronze 100 HD tier and above. The BET HD channel is available to customers of the Classic Silver 200 HD and above.

Consumers who sign up for DISH Network may also be eligible to receive high-definition programming at no charge for the first 6 months, in addition to  a free HD DVR and free installation.

“We are pleased to now offer our customers these top-rated high-definition channels, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with MTV Networks and BET Networks that includes broad video-on-demand and Internet-streaming rights,” said Dave Shull, DISH Network programming senior VP. “The launch of these channels is a testament to our continued HD leadership, as no one has more HD channels or a higher-quality picture than Dish Network.”

Well, for those who are reluctant to believe that, I urge you to check out the like I have included below. I think that says it all.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/may-2009/viewpoint/overview/cable-rates-ov.htm

  
This is an e-mail message I received recently from Comcast, and at first glance, I thought they were going to upgrade my speeds rather dramatically for free. Notice how they really make that 50 Mbps stand out. That is indeed fast!

This started me on a little research. I own my own cable modem since I was tired of paying Comcast the $3 o$4 a month to rent one from them when I could get my own for a pretty reasonable price. In the two years I have had it, it has more than paid for itself. Another reason I decided to buy my own was that the modems they were providing were not working all that well. A lot of people seemed to think the Motorola SurfBoard brand of modems are among the best, so I bought one of those – specifically the SB5120, and have had no problems with it.

What my research also revealed was that my SB5120, is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, and would not support speeds as high as 50 Mbps. At this point I started to wonder if it might be worthwhile to rent a modem again so I could get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem which would be capable of providing these impressive speeds. Since I am paying way too much every month just for internet service alone (around $73), I figured I’d spring for the extra few bucks to rent a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and get a big boost in speed for my money.

So, I dialed up Comcast and made my way through their automated telephone maze to the sales department where a friendly woman told me that those speeds were indeed available in my area and I could surely rent a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and enjoy that lightning speed.

When my questions started to get a bit more technical in nature, the friendly lady decided I would be best off talking to the Internet people. I was then transferred to a gentlemen who was also very friendly and polite. He also told me he could set me up with a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and seemed to think that was all he needed to tell me. When I asked him how it was exactly that I could get one, he didn’t seem terribly sure, but was able to tell me that the modem rental fee would be “about” $3 or $4. When I wanted to confirm that, he decided he should transfer me to yet another person.

The third person actually seemed to know what he was talking about, and was also very pleasant to talk to. After we talked for about 10 minutes, it became clear that I did not understand the offer that was being made in this e-mail message. What they were really saying is that the speed of my current service would be “doubled” from something like 6 Mbps to 22 Mbps – how that is considered “double” is not clear to me, but since it is more than double, I did not complain.

If I wanted the super-fast 50 Mbps speed, not only would I have to rent a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, I would also have to upgrade to a more expensive service plan. I told him I felt that I was paying too much already for internet service alone and he then offered to see if he could get me a lower rate by bundling some new services in with my internet service. In other words, he could get my rate lower if I agreed to sign up for Comcast cable TV or digital phone service. That, I told him, was the last thing I wanted to do and he seemed to understand.

As it turns out, ,my DOCSIS 2.0 modem will handle the new speeds of up to 22 Mbps – that’s what he told me anyway. So, I won’t have to upgrade my modem to get the faster speeds that Comcast is offering me for free.

Feel free to sound off if you think I am wrong, but the e-mail I received from Comcast seems a little deceptive to me. I thought they were offering me an upgrade to 50 Mbps for free. After all, there they are: The words “50 Mbps” and “Free” on the same page. Now that I know what the real deal is, I understand what the message is trying to tell me, but without the information I got by calling, it seems to me that it is easy to think that a free 50 Mbps upgrade is what was being offered. I guess I now know that I have to take the time to sift through every single word and carefully decipher any other offers that Comcast sends my way.

One thing I will give Comcast credit for is that the employees were very pleasant to talk to on the phone and although some of them seemed misinformed, they seemed to be doing the best they could to help me.

A speed upgrade to 50 Mbps would have been nice since we are very active internet users in my family, but I’m certainly not willing to start writing bigger checks to Comcast for it. The speeds we are getting now are pretty good, so that’s what we’ll stick with until something better – and more reasonably priced – comes along.

On Friday, December 12 at around 10:00 PM we lost the power at our house. It was something that was expected since a serious ice storm had moved in. It turned out to be a lot more serious than we expected.

Our power was restored on December 23, making for 11 days and 12 nights without power. Fortunately, we have a wood stove and enough dead wood around our heavily-wooded lot to keep it going, so we were able to hold down the fort here at home while others had to resort to shelters to avoid freezing to death in their own homes.

The cable TV line from the telephone pole to the house had been ripped down by fallen trees and broken in two places. In case your wondering why a DISH Network fan like me has a cable TV line running to his house, it’s because we use it for high-speed internet only. Unfortunately, cable TV offers the only high-speed internet service in our area.

Although I called Comcast the day after the storm – hoping to secure a top spot in line among many other customers who would be calling in to have lines repaired – I did not expect them to be out the next day as the Comcast customer service guy told me. Due to the seriousness of the storm, I expected it would be a while before they could come fix the line. What I didn’t expect was to be completely forgotten.

After power was restored and I still had not seen any sign of Comcast, I called again only to find that they seemed to have no record of my earlier call at all! Adding insult to injury, they informed me that the earliest date they could send a technician to my house was January 22 – a full month away. I was not happy, but I accepted my fate and hung up the phone.

The next day I got to thinking a bit and I realized the situation was not acceptable. I had called within a day of the storm’s end to secure an early spot in line and now they are telling me January 22?

I called Comcast again and explained the situation to them and told them that January 22 was not good enough. After some discussion with a supervisor or manager, the customer service rep told me he could have someone out at my house on December 24, which was the very next day. I found that much more acceptable than waiting a whole month.

Looking down our driveway away from the front of our house

Well, December 24 came and went and nobody from Comcast ever showed up. Big surprise. I knew I would not see them on Christmas, and hoped they would have someone out soon after the holiday.

Sure enough, a contractor for Comcast showed up on December 26 but told me that the wire running from the pole to my house was a heavier type than he had with him and would not work as well. He said someone would be out with the correct wire as soon as possible.

A couple of days later another contractor showed up and our service was finally restored.

OK, I guess that may have been kind of a long way to get to the point of my story.

During the 11 days we were without power we were also without internet, and would have been without cable TV if we subscribed to it. During this time I also had a generator that I would run periodically during the day to keep the food in the refrigerator from spoiling and at night for a few hours so we could watch TV.

Unlike cable, which was out for more than the 11 days of the power outage, we were able to use our DISH Network service the day after the storm when the ice melted off the dish.

I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty: That approximate two-week period when our cable was out of service was a longer period of time than all the weather-related outages we have experienced with DISH Network over the last 11 years or so. Much, much longer.

While our cable TV line lie broken in front of our house for two weeks or so, we were able to watch all the TV programming we usually watch because we have DISH Network service. Ice storms, blizzards, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes and volcanoes don’t disturb orbiting satellites very much at all.

Now what was it that the cable companies were saying about how the weather disrupts satellite TV?

Well, DISH Network has apparently heard consumers like myself and have come up with the DTVPal DVR, which combines the capabilities of a DVR with a digital-to-analog converter.

Digital-to-analog converters will be necessary for consumers who do not have televisions that are capable of  receiving over-the-air digital broadcasts who wish to continue using their current televisions after the mandatory switch to digital broadcasting that is coming in February.

Consumers who already have cable or satellite TV service do not have to worry about the February deadline since their programming will not be affected.

The DTVPal DVR was first unveiled as the EchoStar TR-50 at the Consumer Electronics Show at the beginning of the year and was awarded CNET’s Best of CES award for the home video category.

If the new DTVPal DVR lives up to the enviable reputation of the ViP622 and ViP722 DVRs, it is likely to be an excellent product.

The new unit will retail for $300 but with a $40 government-provided coupon and additional $10 instant rebate, consumers will be able to purchase it for around $250.

DISH Network will be providing a $50 instant rebate when purchasing the DTVPal DVR, which brings the total cost to about $250.

The 24-hour Russian-language channel features Russian language movies including classic titles and more recent popular films. TV1000 Russian Kino was launched in the Baltics, Russia and the CIS in October 2005, and is available in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine,   Georgia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Eric Sahl, the senior VP of programming for DISH Network, added: "DISH Network is thrilled to add Russian Kino to our fantastic lineup of Russian programming. The premium movie channel truly rounds out the great variety offered with DISH Network’s Russian offerings—the most diverse Russian channel lineup in the country."