The Dish Player is a new satellite receiver for the  Dish Network from Echostar and Microsoft.  It has all the features of a Satellite Receiver and the features of a WebTV Box.  But it doesn't stop there, with a subscription to Personal TV services, you gain the ability to record TV to the hard drive built into the unit.   The amount of time that can be recorded depends on the model that you have (7100 vs. 7200) as well as the compression ratio of what is being recorded.   It also makes it possible to pause and rewind, live TV.

   Overview of DishPlayer Personal TV Services

When the player was first released, it was definitely an also ran satellite receiver.  It had a nice new graphical interface, could pause live TV for thirty minutes and it had an improved Guide, but it really didn't offer anything compelling over the Echostar 5000 receiver.  However, in December 1999, the software upgrade that Echostar and Microsoft had promised the world was finally ready... and Personal Television Services arrived.

First off, personal television services (PTV) is only available if you subscribe and pay the $10 monthly fee.  You get a $5 discount if you also sign up for WebTV.   PTV gives you a number of new features.   First is the ability to record your shows, just like a VCR.  With DishPlayer, you do not have to settle for a degraded signal like on a VCR or TIVO.  This is because the DishPlayer records the actual data stream that is coming from the Satellite.  So when you play it back, you see exactly what you would have seen if you were watching it live.  And best of all, because DishPlayer uses a Hard Drive you never have to change a tape.

To access the PTV Services, simply turn to channel 1 or select PTV from TV Home.   You will be greeted with the screen at the left.  From here you can select any of the programs that you have recorded on the hard drive and see any shows that are scheduled to be recorded in the future.  Currently, when the hard drive gets full, the player deletes the old programs to make room for new ones.  Hopefully, they will enhance this feature to allow you to protect certain programs that you want to keep.

(Personal TV)

 Keep in mind that unlike a TiVO or Replay, you can NOT record over the air recordings.   Also, you can not watch a live program while recording another live program.   A great feature to add would be having dual tuners built in so this would be possible.    In practice this isn't as bad as it sounds because you can watch a recorded program while a live program.

To record a program, you simply go to the program in the guide and select it.    If the show is in the future, you will be presented with a screen that allows you to select record options.  Currently the recording options are functional, but not very flexible.  They offer to let you record the program either "every time" a show is on or to record the show "every week".  Unfortunately, if the show is repeated during the same time slot on a different day of the week, you will not be given the "every week" option  and must select the every time option.  This can cause you to get multiple copies of the same show.  This feature feels like it may have been rushed out the door, but is still quite functional. 

Finally, PTV allows you to Pause, and rewind live TV.  As soon as you change channels, the DishPlayer starts recording.  This allows you to hit the rewind any time.  This is very useful for those times when someone was talking or the phone rings and you missed something.  After rewinding, you can fast forward through commercials until you get back to the live broadcast.  You can also pause the live picture at anytime.  the DishPlayer will continue recording the live broadcast so you can pick up where you left.  I have tried this for many hours and it appears to be limited only by the amount of space on the Hard Drive.  About the only drawback to this seems to be an increased amount of noise from the hard drive and a small pause in changing channels.
     

  Using the DishPlayer Graphical Interface.

TV Home - One of the first things you will see when you turn on your DishPlayer is the TV Home Screen.  TV Home is where you go to access many of the powerful features of the DishPlayer.   The TV Home screen gives access to information about the current channel as well as a number of other features.

Web Home* - With a WebTV subscription Access the WebTV features of the DishPlayer.  If you do not subscribe, you will see an advertisement  

TV Home Search By Date

Personal TV* - With a personal TV subscription you can view all of the programs you have recorded on your system.  If you do not subscribe, you will see an advertisement. Settings - Manage the preferences for your DishPlayer.  One of the key features is the ability to hide channels.  TV Listings - Access your TV Listings using several options, this includes the ability to see the guide for today, any day in the next seven days and to search for keywords in guide.

Help - Access online help on how to use the DishPlayer and it's features.

Purchases - Shows any Pay Per View purchases that you have had.

TV Sites - Gives quick access to a number of TV related Web sites if you subscribe to WebTV

Games - Access any games loaded on the DishPlayer hard drive.   

Notices - Will display any notices sent to the box.

The Guide - The Guide in the DishPlayer has some significant advantages over the guides in other satellite receivers.   You can see and hear the TV signal while you search your guide.  This can be set up to show either the current show you are watching or to show the channel you have selected as you scroll through the guide.  The revamped guide also shows you all the information you could need about the show you have selected

  The Remote Control.
   

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