Satellite Blog » Product Reviews

Dish’s new tricks

Administrator — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 20:05:49 +0000

Dish Network has long been seen as the Wal-Mart of home TV services, offering a cheaper package of cable-type channels than either the local cable service or its main satellite competitor, DirecTV.

But over the past two years, Dish also has built a reputation for delivering advanced technology and new features. Last year, it became the first satellite service to offer a receiver with a built-in digital video recorder (DVR) capable of recording programs in high definition.

This spring, Dish began selling the DVR 942 ($699), an upgraded version of the receiver, which comes with even more new tricks. Two in particular stand out:

Multiple recording. The 942 has three built-in tuners — two for satellite channels and one that works with an over-the-air antenna. That means you can record three different programs at once, with one in high-definition.

Remote delivery. Other satellite services make you buy separate receivers and sometimes pay a monthly surcharge if you want to watch different programs in different rooms. The 942 can service two TVs in different parts of the house with just a simple coaxial cable connection. The extension TV gets its own remote control that can order up live or recorded programs, but not high-definition.

The 942 has other features that make it compare favorably to digital cable or DirecTV.

The unit has a 250GB hard drive, which can hold up to 25 hours of HD programming or 180 hours of standard broadcasts.

A look at Dish Network’s HD receiver/recorder and Toshiba’s tunerless TVs

Administrator — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:58:47 +0000

A look at Dish Network’s HD receiver/recorder and Toshiba’s tunerless TVs

What’s the richest source for programming to show off your super-grade, high-definition TV? At present, that honor goes to satellite TV provider Dish Network and its second-generation HD receiver/recorder, the Dish Player-DVR 942.

While broadcast networks reserve most high-def shows for prime time or weekend afternoons, there’s always something super-sharp and sparkly playing on this box – live on Dish’s (unrivaled-in-quantity) 19 satellite-fed HD channels or waiting in reserve on its hard-disk-drive video recorder.

Dish Network is the “we try harder” brand in pay TV, and the DVR 942 is quite the technological statement. It features two high-definition and two standard-definition satellite TV tuners, plus high-def and standard-def broadcast tuners.

Working this box to the max, you can record from any two sources simultaneously while watching something previously captured on the hard drive. (The 250 GB drive holds about 25 hours of HD content, 120 hours in standard def, or combinations thereof.)

In typical tech guy fashion, I pretty much figured out how to run the show just from fiddling around with the logically laid-out remote control and on-screen menu/program guide, without reading that pesky owner’s manual.

Read the rest of this review…

Taking satellite radio for a spin

Administrator — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 13:23:04 +0000

Taking satellite radio for a spin

f you’re a long-haul trucker, stop reading, polish up your big belt buckle and just go buy one.

If you’re a troll living under a bridge where reception’s bad, save your dough.

For the rest of us, deciding whether to shell out for satellite radio – and if so, which one to pick – is a little more complicated. So I did some legwork and test-drove a couple of satellite setups to find out more about the pros, the cons and the differences between the two options, Sirius and XM.

Napster, Yahoo and XM Radio Compared

Administrator — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 20:29:30 +0000

Napster, Yahoo and XM Radio Compared

Ever since Napster’s Super Bowl half-time commercial I have been thinking I should take another look at subscription based music services. I decided to try out Napster, Yahoo, and XM Radio services. Each service is different but they all give you some type of unlimited music each month for a monthly fee. [...]

First, XM Radio is really not a contender in my mind. To pay $12.99 a month for only a 100 or 150 channels is way too limited. XM has the opportunity to add some original content that may bring subscribers but I don’t think they can make it against a Napster or Yahoo service.

Yahoo certainly seems to be the winner on price but I didn’t like their initial selection of music. Their Music Engine software wasn’t that impressive either but nobody is really winning in the category in my mind. I’ve also read and heard some things that make me believe that this low-low price will not last beyond the first year.

Napster is the winner in my mind – the interface isn’t great but it works well enough to get the music you want. The best thing about Napster is the music selection which I thought was very solid.

Color Match Antenna Review

Administrator — Tue, 31 May 2005 14:13:09 +0000

The kind folks at ColorMatchAntenna recently sent me a Sirius antenna color-coded to my car, a Mazda 6 S in grey metallic. The package came in a USPS envelope and appeared to be the standard Sirius radio car antenna. It was carefully wrapped in cloth within a well-packaged box.

After unwrapping it, I placed it on my car and let me tell you, this thing blends in! Wow, I was dutifilly impressed not only by the perfect paint match, but also by the quality of the paint job they did on the antenna. While I haven’t had a chance to yet install the antenna, I do like the look a lot better on my car than the standard black Sirius antenna.

This service turns the standard XM Radio ($69.99) or Sirius Satellite Radio ($74.99) antenna into something that looks like it was factory-installed. If you’re serious about your new car’s look and not wanting the look of a tacked-on satellite radio antenna, I highly recommend checking out the ColorMatchAntenna folks. I think it’s worth the few bucks it costs for the improved, sleeker factory-standard look.

Review: Audiovox SIR-PNP2

Administrator — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 20:07:07 +0000

Review: Audiovox SIR-PNP2

I received this unit at no cost when I signed up for a year’s worth of service from Sirius Satellite Radio (it was a special, limited-time offer that I don’t think is available any longer). I wasn’t expecting much, as they were giving these and the car or home unit docking station away… I figured, this must be the low-end of the satellite receiver spectrum.

Well, compared to an ordinary radio, the Audiovox SIR-PNP2 is already a step above. As with all the satellite radios, it scrolls the name of the current song and band, and in some cases, the year of the song. The display is bright and easy to read, and you have a choice of multiple font styles (but no choice of colors or sizes — the unit will auto-size fonts based upon the amount of information it has to display. Short names get large fonts, long names get smaller ones.)

I find the ergonomics of this unit passable, but not spectacular. The display can be washed out in very bright sunlight (but reads admirably well in 95% of conditions). The 10 preset station buttons are all tactically the same, meaning it’s difficult to switch channels by touch alone. This is somewhat important in a car radio, since every time you take your eyes off the road, you’re risking a potential accident. The jog dial is useless for navigating anything other than a station or two away from where you are. Given the hundreds of stations to choose from, that’s sometimes unfortunate (you have to use the categories button to make large leaps between stations).

The other useless item is the remote. While a remote could be potentially useful for a car radio, this one is missing just about everything that would make a remote of this nature helpful to the driver. I tried using it once, got frustrated by the lack of the button I would expect on a remote (and of course, the buttons are all chicklet size and have no tactile differentiation again). It’s been sitting in the glove box ever since.

Via the car dock (sold separately), this unit can transmit wirelessly to your car’s receiver on one of 4 different FM frequencies (it has a tiny FM transmitter in the car dock). This works flawlessly, and one of the stations is bound to be clear in your area. In metro Boston, I set it to a single frequency and haven’t had to change it since (even with rides around greater New England).

I was pleasantly surprised by the sound produced by the unit. Drop-outs are minimal (going slowly under a bridge, for instance, will always result in a drop-out). When music is playing, most will not really be able to tell the difference between this and a regular FM radio or CD. Only when announcers come on do you notice the quality difference.

All in all, I think this is a solid satellite radio unit to purchase. If you can get your hands on one of these units at a steep discount or for free, I think it’s a no-brainer to do so and take the satellite car radio plunge. I think you’ll find that once you have the choices and commercial-free stations that satellite offers you, you’ll find yourself rarely listening to terestrial radio again.