Hasta La Gadget!

Charlie Ergen, chairman and co-founder of Dish Network, was the keynote speaker on the first night of the D:Dive Into Media conference in Dana Point, California., and without question, he’s going to be a tough act to follow. The hour-long conversation touched on everything from Ergen’s expertise at the blackjack table to his belief that there are just two kinds of people in the world — “those who get results, and those who make excuses” — but host Peter Kafka dove right into the major issue at hand: the Hopper. Head on past the break for a rundown of the interview.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Blockbuster hasn’t had much success shifting from physical rentals to digital, even under Dish’s wing. Nonetheless, it’s betting that the umpteenth time’s the charm with a relaunch of its Blockbuster On Demand streaming movie service. The revamp ticks many of the checkboxes for a modern by-the-title rental store with 1080p and 5.1-channel surround sound as well as apps for 2012 Samsung Smart TVs, Android and Roku 2 boxes. However, there’s a number of curious choices, and we don’t just mean the omission of a subscription model. It’s missing an iOS app, emphasizes apps for desktop viewing and leaves no way to watch HD video on anything but a TV — our mobile and PC screens have advanced in the past several years, Blockbuster. Idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, the rebirth presents more of a unified front than the one-time giant has offered in the past.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Via: Android Police

Source: Blockbuster On Demand

Surprise news this afternoon as Clearwire announced it’s received an acquisition offer from Dish Network, even though Sprint was already on the hook to snap up the company for $2.2 billion. According to the press release (included after the break), a special committee of the Clearwire Board of Director’s has decided to negotiate with dish based on its proposal, although it has not changed its recommendation of the current Sprint transaction.

Predictably, Sprint is not taking the news well, producing a series of bullet points (also in the release) about why Clearwire can’t and / or shouldn’t sell to Dish. Dish’s statement is short and to the point, only saying it looks forward to working with the special committee as they evaluate its proposal. Of course, since Dish is offering $3.30 per share and Sprint is offering $2.97 one can see why the board is mulling it over, but all we know for now is that the “definitive agreement” with Sprint… wasn’t.

Continue reading Dish Network makes an offer to buy Clearwire, even though Sprint was already buying Clearwire

Filed under: Wireless, HD, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: Clearwire, Dish Network, Sprint

Dish CEO Joseph Clayton, a kooky bossman who once brought out a scared kangaroo in the middle of a press conference filled with nerds, nearly topped his stunt last year by dressing up and busting into a full blown rap (a hip hop hippity hop…) and then went on to make fun of the networks who have been battling Dish because of its Auto Hop feature. This guy is the best. More »

There’s really no way to encapsulate all of this awesomeness in a headline, so you’re gonna want to read on. Sure, there’s Dish Anywhere, for realtime streaming of live TV and DVR content, but Hopper with Sling owners will soon be able to take their content offline, for viewing on trains, planes and anywhere else where you don’t have a connection (or don’t want to burst your monthly bandwidth cap with hours of video). Assuming you have the necessary hardware, including Dish’s latest DVR and an iPad, Hopper Transfers will let you offload any and all of your recorded movies and TV shows to the Apple tablet. The STB uses the Sling transcoder to convert your content to a compatible format, then the app wireless boots a sub-HD version to your portable device. Transcoding occurs at 1:1 speed, meaning an hour of footage will take an hour of processing, but you do have the option of converting your videos immediately after they’re recorded, so they’re prepped before you need to run out the door to catch a flight (the actual wireless transfer takes between five and eight minutes for each hour-long show).

Your iPad will need to be on your home network in order to receive files, so this isn’t something you can handle remotely. The workflow also varies according to programming arrangements, so some shows and movies will need to be moved (erased from the DVR), while others can coexist on both devices, but can only be sent to one iPad. (Of course, there’s no restriction on the number of times you can record a show to the Hopper, though.) You also don’t own the content that you move over — the app will need to connect to your DVR once each month to verify your subscription in order to remain active. We took a look at some flicks that had already made the jump, and playback worked well with the iPad in Airplane mode, so everything appears to be in order. Like the Anywhere app, content doesn’t appear in HD, but the quality will almost surely beat your airline’s in-flight entertainment system. Like Dish Anywhere, Hopper Transfers is free, and it’s expected to hit the App Store in January. Sadly, there’s no word on if or when it’ll be available for Android.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD

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