Dish DTVPal / Echostar TR40 digital to analog converter - Page 3

Great, so football season starts before the TR-50 is in hand. Don't these people know any better.

Yes, it keeps getting further out as time progresses. Kinda like a carrot on the end of a string.

A big brown carrot....

Well, when you read their press, they are advertising the TR-50 as a converter box that is also a DVR. If you look at it that way they probably figure they have until 2/09 to get it right.

that is their standard PR email because the TR-40 & TR-50 have been replaced by the TVDPAL. Nothing was said about the TR-50 fuction being the TVDPAL box.

If anyone double checks with Echostar about taking expired coupons for their TVDPAL box, i would make sure there isn't some small print like "If you sign up for our service we will take your expired coupons" crap ! Make them put it in writing that no gimmicks.

How will Echostar/Sling get around the NTIA rules regarding retailer redemption of the coupons? Will they obtain a waiver from NTIA of the 90-day expiry date for redemption purposes?

Answer ID 222 How long are coupons active?
Coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed. Each coupon has an expiration date printed on it.

Answer ID 217 Will TV converter box sales information be audited?
Program auditors may request sales data on specific TV converter box sales transactions. The retailer must provide hard copy or electronically readable transaction details within a stated time period.

Answer ID 250 What information must a retailer provide to get reimbursed for the converter box sales?
Retailers must provide a valid coupon, converter box UPC or SKU, and the retailers merchant ID. More details about the required data can be found at www.ntiadtv.gov.

they could just eat the $40 but like i said is there a catch. most people who got their coupons early have already used them so the number they might have to take could be very small. i don't think they are sending this offer out to the general public.

Glen,

Dimensions are:

H: 1.3 x W: 5.9 x D: 4.2



Regards,



Francie Bauer

Manager, Corporate Communications

DISH Network Corporation

EchoStar Corporation

720-514-5839

Does the last sentence of this entry bother anyone else?

http://www.slingcommunity.com/blog/entry/28036/Sling-Media-EchoStar-TR-40-DTV-Converter-Update/

sorry for the noobie kludge

I just saw the photo of the DTVPal...I think I'd rather have the original TR-40. How am I supposed to put an antenna on top of that curvy box?

If the original design had ventilation holes on the top, it wouldn't have been a place to put an antenna anyway, so you'd be losing nothing.

It wouldn't surprise me if the curves were intended for discouraging people from putting items atop the box.

"8 events" is exactly how much my JVC VCR can do, so that works out perfectly.

(My Digital-VHS can do something like 50 events, but since that will soon be sold, that won't be an issue for me.)

I hate when they do that. What do they think this is, 1964? Nowadays it's normal for someone to have many components on their TV cart. To make components non-stackable is just clueless.

The CECBs seem to be small enough that they would be the smallest component in a system and would end up on top.

Not if you also have a set-top antenna, as peepoop described.  At best you can find enough room atop the TV for both the antenna and the CECB.  I had that arrangement, and both fit, but it wasn't the best place for the antenna's reception, so now the CECB is there alone.

I believe all Dish Network STB put out a lot of heat and they recomend that all of their STB be the top item in a stack. It is a good thing that they are the only item I have that works that way. Personally I feel that they need to design their cooling so as to remove this requirement.

Rick R

Actually, I keep my Dish tuner down at floor level where it's coolest.

A lot of people use laptop coolers (~$20) to cool their Dish DVR's which are the hottest of the bunch.

What odd prices to sell all thes dtv boxes for check it out at bpm08 dot com/store/page2.ht-m-l it looks like a place in yonkers,ny I can only assume there are massive typos on this site I just utterly freaked when I found this just check out the sale prices

Looked at the dot com main and there are a lot of strange things about broken used units etc then urges you to become a broker you guys read it and see what you think

Some kind of scam. It says TR-40 now available, and the prices, >$200 for CECB's??
Someone else had a thread on this site. Stay clear, IMO.

Agreed I believe its a scam also didn't know we already had a thread on it never hurts to try and keep people aware and away from crap like that....

I've been waiting (impatiently) for this box. Perhaps the reason it's been delayed so long could be reliability issues......just a thought......who knows but it's the primary reason as to why products take longer to reach the market......If so, I hope they worked the bugs out of it!

HOWEVER......There's a (potentially) BIG BUG they seem to be working into it!!......Unless I'm wrong (which I certainly hope to be), while this box has some very nice features that the (so-called) first generation boxes lack, there could be a HUGE downside!......
It seems as if there's no manual channel change at the box itself.
As far as I'm concerned this is a big mistake! In fact, I'd gladly pay extra for this feature, since I consider it a necessity.
In order to record one show and watch another, two boxes are a must.
One would be dedicated to the recorder and one to the TV.
Let's say you wanted to simply make a manual recording.
OOOPS......you're changing channels on both boxes simultaneously with the remote!!
In this scenario, you're watching what you're recording anyway, so having two boxes serves no practical purpose!
I suppose the only (practical) option is to use two different brand boxes (I.E. the Zenith DTT900, which has manual controls) but then you lose the other useful features that the Echostar has (such as the program guide, timer and RF pass through).
......this could create major headaches for many of us!
......oh well, back to the drawing board!!
......or......who knows? Maybe these first (or second) generation boxes are designed to be cheap "throwaways" that are basically designed to simply get us reception in time for the transition next year.
......Then, after the coupon program is long gone......here comes the good stuff......all the features plus recording capability......all at a price you may not want to pay.

Or avoid the hassle and get either a DVD Recorder or HDD Recorder (TiVo, TR-50).
Most will do BOTH analog NTSC and digital ATSC channels.

============================================
BTW: Dish vip622 and vip722 HD-DVRs draw 120 watts...which is
more than the 80 watts for the hot running SA8300HD cable HD-DVR.

So PLEASE don't try to compare that experience to the 8 watt (max)
heat dissipation of converter boxes.

Where are you finding details on the box?

If you have a recorder with an IR blaster, the Channel Master can be controlled with a Pio cable box code, which is an older, pretty universal code.

The LG and the RCA boxes can be controlled with LG/RCA satellite box codes, but ony newer recorders which are designed to control satellite boxes *might* have the codes.

So that's another possible option, anyway.

The RCA DTC-100 blaster code is rather common. However the RCA DTA800B isn't the best for recording since it lacks anamorphic output and has the audio freeze problem which produces silent unattented recordings. Perhaps that will be fixed with the new DTA800B1.

The TR-40 holds promise for blaster control since surely it will use addressable E* IR codes and those have never really changed.

As far as I've ever heard, the TR-40 will not use an IR blaster - it will just have some way to set recordings through it's guide (like the Samsung DTB-H260F), or it will have a strictly manual timer. The best solution would be to have a combination of the two, so you can set through the guide, but can adjust the beginning and end times manually if need be. If it has a TVGOS sort of guide, like it sounds it might, than this may very well be possible, just like with all the old TVGOS units - or even with all the Echostar/Dish tuners and recorders and their proprietary guides. The fact that they are promising a "7-day guide" leads me to believe it's not just the ordinary, unreliable PSIP guide. TVGOS always went out a totally reliable 7 or 8 days. You'd need the reliability of the time received for recording setting, too - which the PSIP guides have never had, and TVGOS and Dish guides have always had completely (that's one of the reasons why it's such a bum feature in the DTB-H260F. If it turns out to be the PSIP method in the TR-40, I can assure you everyone's going to be extremely disappointed).

(I didn't realize that about the RCA code. Good that I know that now. Thanks - although I could never in good conscience recommend the box anyway like you say.)

I meant blasting *from* the recorder since most blasters control E* and of course Timers can be a backup and/or subchannels, etc.

I see. Yes, that would surely be nice. Hopefully, it will use those standard Dish codes.

It'd almost be the perfect box then. Much moreso than any other one, anyway. I really hope the PQ is top-notch.

For PQ I really wish it had S-video out, but from what I've read it will not
Otherwise I'd say it "sounds" like the perfect box.