One of the most recognizable games in video game history will be accessible on DISH Network. Oberon Media has teamed up with DISH to bring Tetris TV to subscribers.

I’m not much of a gamer myself, but I certainly recognize the name Tetris. I cannot swear to it, but I think I may have even played the game a few times a number of years ago.

Tetris is described as one of the most addictive video games in history and will probably result in a number of DISH Network subscribers being glued to their televisions playing the venerable video game favorite.

The availability of Tetris TV will allow DISH Network subscribers to play two versions of the game. The first being Marathon and the second one known as 40-Lines.

Marathon features 15 challenging levels of game play, and 40-Lines is a mad race to clear 40 lines as quickly as possible.

Coming with future releases of Tetris TV, subscribers will also be able to go head-to-head with other DISH Network subscribers by posting their names and scores up on national leader boards that will be managed by Oberon Media’s iTV community and service management technology, JIVE(R).

Oberon Media’s JIVE technology will allow for the management of Tetris tournaments in future releases. Tetris TV will take advantage of this technology by offering prizes to top players later in the year.

Yeah, well what the heck does that mean? That was the thought that went through my mind when I saw that headline. Turns out that this is some really great news!

This promises to put an end to one of the most annoying experiences I’ve ever experienced while watching television. Those ridiculous changes in volume when a commercial comes on, or when you switch from one channel to another.

In my experience, the problem is with commercials the vast majority of the time. I always wondered if it was intentional, and wished that someone could do something about it. Well, it looks like DISH Network has stepped up to the plate and it set to put an end to the problem once and for all!

I have not seen the details of exactly which receivers and DVRs will be able to utilize this new feature, so it’s hard to say how many subscribers will have access to it. I’m hoping my ViP622 will be eligible, as it sounds like this will be rolled out as part of a software upgrade which DISH periodically sends out to receivers and DVRs to introduce new features and make corrections to various problems. Subscribers with older receivers may not see the benefit of this new feature, but again, I’m not sure of the details.

Anyway, the folks at SRS have developed this new technology called TruVolume which can equalize the volume level on your TV no matter what channel you switch to, or which annoying commercial comes on.

DISH Network is the only pay-TV service set to offer this new feature, which the company says will be rolled out to subscriber DVRs and receivers sometime early this year. Not surprisingly, a survey revealed that nine out of ten TV viewers noticed volume changes while watching TV, and 89% of them found volume fluctuations annoying. Frankly, I’m surprised that the number was not 100 percent! How the heck could someone not find that annoying?

Personally, I’m quite fed up with grabbing for the remote when the volume shoots up on its own when a commercial comes on, and my wife is yelling at me and saying “It’s too loud!” I surely don’t like it, but my wife is even less tolerant of it than I am.

This announcement, coupled with the announcement yesterday regarding “TV Everywhere” places DISH firmly at the top of the pay-TV service providers where technology is concerned. Sure, DISH might have some work to do in the customer service area, but if they can bring that up to match their technology, they will be the pay-TV provider to beat.

I guess this is why DISH Network has reversed the trend they were enduring as they lost customers to other providers, and they are now gaining customers once again. This one feature alone might be enough to convince me to try DISH if I were not already a customer!

A new announcement from DISH Network reveals some cool new features that allow subscribers to watch TV just about everywhere they go. And when I say “watch TV",” I mean watch DISH Network TV.

TV Everywhere is what they are calling it, and it makes getting your TV entertainment easier and more accessible than ever before. Among the features are:

- Access to live and recorded programming on a laptop, mobile device, or anywhere in the home – without wires.

- The DISH Network WiFi Monitor. A new device that is capable of transmitting a high-definition video signal from a set-top box to any place in the home over a WiFi network.

- The DISH Remote Access App, which offers satellite TV customers total control of their television from just about anywhere. It is now available free for both the iPhone and iPod touch.

I don’t have access to all these features with the equipment I currently have, but I have used the internet to access my ViP622 DVR from other locations via the internet and it is a very nice feature.

I once used an iPhone to access my DVR while traveling home from a visit to my relatives, and was able to record a program that I had forgotten to set the timer for earlier in the day. Doing that while traveling down the road in a car (I was not driving) was pretty cool.

I also tested using the iPhone as a remote control, which does in fact work with my DVR, but since I am the type that rarely loses or misplaces things, it probably won’t be all that useful to me unless my remote control is broken. Although I don’t often lose things, I am actually pretty good at breaking stuff, so you never know!

I had wondered what kind of useful features DISH Network might be introducing when they announced a while back that we could not connect our DVRs to the internet. Due to the amount of work involved, I put it of for quite a while, but I finally got around to getting it connected via my home network a couple of months ago.

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.

In an interesting experiment conducted by the people at Sound & Vision magazine, they set up a test to directly compare a movie on Blu-ray disc to the same movie playing on a DISH Network ViP722 DVR using the 1080p HD format.

Currently, 1080p is being offered by DISH on a limited basis and only for video-on-demand programming. However, the proof that they are able to deliver 1080p content that is almost as good as a Blu-ray disc may be a sign of good things to come.

In the article, Sound & Vision had this to say: “Flipping back and forth between the two sources while sitting at a normal viewing distance, I could detect only subtle differences. In fact, I couldn’t be sure I was seeing any difference at all, since the movie’s frantic action made it hard to judge picture quality. Even if I was seeing a difference, I wasn’t sure which source was better.”

DISH is clearly ahead of the pack with this development. Their top competitor, DirecTV has no specific plans in place to offer any 1080p content, other than to say they plan to do it sometime later this year.

The top three cable companies, in true clueless cable industry form, said they would offer 1080p when their customers demanded it and when it was available. As the Sound & Vision author pointed out, all major movies are now mastered in 1080p, but I suppose we cannot expect cable TV executives or marketing people to be aware of anything like that. After all, they aren’t involved in any way with video, right?

Recent News from DISH Network brings word that the satellite broadcaster is the first television provider to transmit 100 percent of their standard and high-definition programming using the MPEG-4 video coding standard.

Previous to the upgrade to MPEG-4, DISH Network was using the MPEG-2 standard and DISH Network’s competitor, DirecTV is said to be using a combination of MPEG-2 and MPEG-2 currently.

MPEG-4 offers customers a superior picture according to DISH Network.

DISH Network’s chief marketing officer, Jessica Insalaco had this to say about the new development: "DISH Network once again leads the pack in providing customers with an unparalleled entertainment experience. Our complete MPEG-4 solution – which will offer up to 150 HD channels by the end of the year – uses the most advanced technology in the industry to deliver the best quality picture to any television set in the home, perfect for those who have or are considering upgrading to high definition."

Dish Network is proving that even though they are the number 2 satellite broadcaster for numbers of customers, they are number 1 when it comes to technology.

Today, Dish Network is beginning to roll out upgrades for compatible DVRs and receivers which will provide 1080p HD programming. You can real all about HDTV and 1080p here, if you are unfamiliar with the technology, but if all you want is the quick and simple explanation, 1080p is the highest and best HD picture available today.

DirecTV does not yet offer 1080p and neither does Comcast — at least in my area they don’t. Unfortunately for me, my TV has only 1080i capability which is a step below 1080p. I guess that’s a good excuse to put a new TV in the budget sometime!

Be Sure To Check Out Dish Network’s Latest Deals

In addition, Dish Network is bringing 17 new HD channels online today, which brings the total offering of national HD channels to  114 and plans to offer 150 HD channels by the end of the year.

There has been some pretty fierce competition between the two big satellite broadcasters for bragging rights for the most HD channel. It appears that this latest addition by Dish Network puts them ahead of DirecTV once again.

Dish Network is also offering a new all-HD programming package called TurboHD, which start at $24.99 per month.

The new HD channels that are being added today are: ActionMax HD, CBS College Sports HD, Lifetime HD, Lifetime Movie Network HD, Planet Green HD, Encore HD, HBO 2 HD, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Family HD, HBO Latino HD, HBO Signature HD, HBO West HD, HBO Zone HD, Starz Comedy HD, Starz Edge HD, Starz Kids & Family HD, and Starz West HD.

I’ve heard this talked about for a while now, but it appears that Dish Network has implemented interactive advertising. I have only noticed it once so far, and I’m not sure if that’s because I don’t watch enough TV or because the new feature is in the testing phase or something.

About a week ago I was watching something on TV in the evening. I think it was the History Channel, and I was watching a very cool program about the early years of the U.S. space program.

During a commercial for a Ford truck, I noticed on the upper right-hand portion of the screen a small notice appeared that said something like “Press select for more information on this product,” or something to that effect.

Not being able to resist a new feature, I pressed “Select” and was taken to another screen showing a Ford truck and what appeared to be options for obtaining more information about them.

Being more curious about the new Dish Network feature and less curious about Ford Trucks, I selected the “Exit” option. It was then that I realized that Dish did not have all the bugs worked out of this new feature yet.

My VIP-622 DVR pretty much “locked up” and my TV went dark, as if it had been turned off. No amount of button pushing on the DVR remote or the DVR itself would bring it back to life.

I then resorted to the old pull-the-plug plan and yanked the power plug for the DVR from the wall outlet. After the DVR completed it lengthy start-up process, everything was fine and I was able to resume watching the program I had been enjoying.

I can honestly envision a time when I might actually have enough interest in a product being advertised to want more information about it, but I will be hesitant to use a feature like this again for two reasons:

1. Fear that it will lock up my DVR again.

2. Not wanting to miss a portion of the program I am watching in order to browse through product information. Now if the DVR allows me to rewind and view the portion of the program I missed as it can under normal circumstances, I will be much more likely to try this new feature again.

I guess a little experimentation is in order. Perhaps I can give it another shot some day if I see one of these interactive ad opportunities while I happen to be in the room while my wife is watching the Lifetime channel.

On second thought, that may not be such a great idea.

A recent court ruling has come down against Dish Network which may result in a hefty monetary penalty for the company. Tivo had filed a suit claiming patent infringement due to the technology used in Dish Network’s DVR or digital video recorders.

The satellite giant may have to dish out as much as $94 million to Tivo as part of the ruling against them.

Apparently, Tivo filed suit alleging both hardware and software infringement. Although Dish has apparently emerged victorious on the hardware side, Tivo was the winner on the software side of things.

Dish Network says that they will appeal the ruling, as we might all expect. They go on to say that all current and future Dish Network DVR customers do not have to worry about any changes in the way things work because their engineers have made changes to the software to eliminate the portions that violated Tivo’s patent. The new software has already been downloaded to all Dish Network DVR units.

I am glad to see that there are no changes in the way my DVR operates since I was a bit concerned that I might lose some of the most useful features if Tivo won the lawsuit.

What I don’t understand is why Dish Network didn’t make these changes to the software when Tivo first complained about it. I’m sure it cost them a lot less than $94 Million to implement those changes and it seems like it would have spared them a lot of trouble (and money) to have made the changes before it all ended up in court.

I company called BIAP or “Broadband Interactive Applications” if you prefer, has been enlisted by Dish Network to add some new interactive features to the service for the election season.

The new features, called “Dish Decision 2008″ will enable subscribers to rank the importance of certain important issues as they relate to the candidates, and to answer questions based on their personal rankings.

This will allow the system to match the subscriber with the candidate whose positions most closely align with their own.

In addition, there are plans to introduce new capabilities within the new system that will make available advertisements which will provide more detailed and comprehensive content and provide a mechanism for information requests.

Sounds like it might be a good alternative for people who may not have access to the Internet or who may be a little technophobic when it comes to using computers. Perhaps they will be a bit more willing to experiment a bit with their Dish Network remote control to dig deeper into some of the important issues around elections.