So I’m watching something on my DISH Network ViP622 DVR a couple of nights ago and the picture suddenly disappears. Think “fade to black,” but without the fade part. I noticed that the yellow light on the front of the unit had gone out and the green one remained on.

A few seconds later the green light also went out. I walked over to the unit and could hear it making the usual sounds it makes as it is being restarted. It attempted to restart itself three or four times until it finally seemed to stabilize and was OK for the rest of the evening. Thinking that there may have been some kind of urgent software update or something, or perhaps a technical glitch somewhere, I didn’t think too much more about it. Until last night.

Same story last night. This time I dialed up DISH Network right off the bat and got someone on the phone who tried to help me out. Problem was that the DVR just wouldn’t stay up long enough to do anything with. Just as she was walking me through some of the settings to check, it restarted itself again.

At that point, she decided it would be best to send me a new unit. She said they would ship it out ASAP and we can return the original DVR in the same box with a pre-paid label provided.

I had a pretty good hunch that the thing was on its way out, and I appreciated the fact that the support representative on the other end of the line did not treat me like a dope and have me trying all kinds of pointless tricks to make the thing work. The only thing we tried was unplugging the DVR from the power-surge protected power strip and directly into the wall. I was not surprised that it did not help.

After I hung up with DISH Network, the DVR managed to struggle back to its feet and seemed to be Ok for the time being. It restarted one more time a short time later but came right back up and seemed to work OK for the rest of the evening.

While I’m waiting for the new one to show up, I will go through my scheduled timers and make a note of all the programs I have set up to be recorded. I’d love to get the 8 recorded episodes of Planet Earth off of there and onto the new DVR when I get it, but I am not sure that’s possible and have not researched it yet. Heck, I can probably catch repeats of them some day. Could never bring myself to delete them.

Anyway, I was kind of hoping for a new model, but from what I can see when I log into my DISH Network account online, it looks like they will be sending me another 622. I was not even aware that they made them any longer.

I’ve had the unit about three years but it does get some pretty continuous use. I watch recorded programs on it just about every night and my wife records her share of programs as well. This is the first time we’ve had any serious issues with it.

Oh well, we’ll see what happens, and hope I can get through the next few days without too many restarts or a total failure.

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!

Although it will likely be a while before subscribers see any benefit from it, a new satellite has been launched into orbit that will be used by DISH Network to carry programming.

A Russian Proton rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome last week carrying a Canadian Nimiq 5 communications satellite. The new satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral for operator Telesat of Ottawa, will provide 32 Ku-band transponders for use by DISH Network to broadcast programming to North America.

The new satellite is expected to start providing service sometime next month and will orbit the Earth in the 72.7 degrees West longitude position.

The new capacity should allow DISH to offer more programming, including high-definition programming which is one of the primary battlegrounds in the competition between DISH Network and their chief rival, DirecTV. The cable TV companies are also doing their best to retain their share of the market and continue to make improvements to their systems.

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.

When I first turned on my DISH Network TR-40 digital-to-analog converter box I was immediately� reminded of the look and feel of my ViP622 DVR. It was then that the following thought occurred to me: Wouldn’t it be nice if this thing could record programs and perform some of the other cool things that DVRs can do.

Well, DISH Network has apparently heard consumers like myself and have come up with the DTVPal DVR, which combines the capabilities of a DVR with a digital-to-analog converter.

Digital-to-analog converters will be necessary for consumers who do not have televisions that are capable of receiving over-the-air digital broadcasts who wish to continue using their current televisions after the mandatory switch to digital broadcasting that is coming in February.

Consumers who already have cable or satellite TV service do not have to worry about the February deadline since their programming will not be affected.

The DTVPal DVR was first unveiled as the EchoStar TR-50 at the Consumer Electronics Show at the beginning of the year and was awarded CNET’s Best of CES award for the home video category.

If the new DTVPal DVR lives up to the enviable reputation of the ViP622 and ViP722 DVRs, it is likely to be an excellent product.

The new unit will retail for $300 but with a $40 government-provided coupon and additional $10 instant rebate, consumers will be able to purchase it for around $250.

DISH Network will be providing a $50 instant rebate when purchasing the DTVPal DVR, which brings the total cost to about $250.

About a week ago, I received my analog-to-digital converter box from DISH Network. There was a lot of confusion when DISH first announced plans to offer a $40 converter, and then ended up releasing one for about $60. A while later, DISH promised that they would be coming out with a $40 converter, making it essentially free for those who have the $40 government-issued coupons that are being issued to help ease the transition to digital TV in February.

Although I do have DISH Network satellite service, I do have another TV in the lower level of my house which is simply connected to a roof-top antenna, which means that I would not be able to receive anything on it after the digital switch without the converter, other than some low-power stations that are reported to be remaining on analog, but I am not sure if there are any in my area, and if there were, they are probably not of much interest to me anyway.

I opted for the cheaper unit, which DISH Is calling the TR-40 CRA and is the one that sells for $40. The unit was very easy to set up and seems to work well so far. Other than the 20-minute process I had to endure on the telephone with a customer service rep who I’m guessing was in India, and having her share of computer problems, I’m pretty happy with the deal.

DISH, like so many other online retailers I have done business with, does inflate the cost of “shipping and handling,” however. They are charging $9 to ship a single unit, which is way more than the actual cost they forked over to UPS to bring it to my door.

So far, I’m quite satisfied with the unit, although one slightly annoying “feature” is that it goes through the process of downloading programming data for the on-screen program guide each time you turn it on. This can be stopped if you want to start watching something right away though.

It is rather cool to have a program guide on an over-the-air TV. It looks a lot like the one on my DISH Network ViP622 DVR, but with fewer features, of course.

It also has a nice feature called “Analog Pass-through,” which allows you to press a button and bypass the converter and watch the plain old analog signal if you wish. Due to the nature of the way digital TV seems to operate (at least in my area), this is a handy feature because we’ve seen our share of problems with digital TV signals here.

We’ve actually been watching digital TV here since the beginning of 2007 since our DVR is able to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts using a standard TV antenna and most, if not all of the stations in Boston have been broadcasting in both analog and digital for a while.

From my experience, the digital signal does not seem as reliable, and may be much more susceptible to weather conditions than the old analog signals.

Just this morning I was watching my local Fox channel’s digital broadcast via my new converter box, and suddenly the picture just became totally distorted, and then was lost completely. I had to use the “Analog Pass-through” feature so I could continue watching the program via the analog signal. The weather was clear and dry, so it does not seem as if bad weather had anything to do with it, and I could see from the converter box’s on-screen signal strength indicator that the signal strength was indeed lower than normal.

Although we do enjoy much better picture quality when watching the digital broadcasts here, it does seem like there will be occasional problems with reception due to factors I do not yet fully understand. I’m even more pleased that I recently decided to add our local broadcast channels to my DISH Network programming package so that we can view those channels via the satellite now. I suspect we will have that need from time to time depending on how the over-the-air digital broadcasts are coming in at any given time.

DISH is planning to produce a unit called the DTVPal Plus that is supposed to have a more sensitive receiver, but buyers will pay a premium for that at $70. Perhaps that is what we need here for more reliable digital reception, but I do not see myself ordering any of those new improved converter boxes anytime soon.

As just about anyone who watches TV now knows, all over-the-air television broadcasts will be converting to the digital format in February. Here in the Boston TV market, we have been inundated with commercials reminding us of this fact.

If you receive your television programming the "old fashioned" way with an antenna on your roof, and your TV is not capable of receiving digital broadcasts, you will need a digital converter box if you want to continue watching TV the way you are now.

If you have cable or satellite TV, you have nothing to worry about and you will not notice any changes in February.

Well-known review site cnet has completed a review of the digital converter box that was recently introduced by DISH Network. Although DISH Network’s primary business is providing satellite TV programming, the company has decided to market digital converter boxes as well.

What’s very nice about the TR-40 from DISH Network is that it costs $40, which is the same value of the coupons that the government is giving away to help consumers pay for the cost of the switch to digital. This means that the TR-40 is essentially free, excluding any shipping and handling costs that might be required.

Although I am a DISH Network satellite customer, we do still have two televisions in the house that are connected to a roof-top antenna and will require a digital converter box to continue working after the switch-over in February.

I’ll be ordering a couple of TR-40 units for our home in the near future.

For more on the switch to digital, check out this site.

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.

The analog-to-digital TV converter box currently being sold by Dish network is called the DTVPal, and it has received a nice review from at least one source.

The reviewer seemed most impressed with the DTVPal’s electronic program guide, which offers several days of data. Not having any experience with these analog-to-digital converter boxes myself, I was not even aware the program guide was an option.

My HDTV set receives digital signals as well as my Dish Network VIP-622 DVR, but neither of them seem to have the ability to provide a program guide for over-the-air digital TV signals, like the DTVPal seems able to do.

The DTVPal is one of many brands of converter boxes that will be required by anyone who uses a TV connected to a conventional antenna to receive local over-the-air TV broadcasts. In February, 2000, all TV signals will be switched to digital mode and all the older analog sets will not work without a converter box.

Television viewers that have cable or satellite TV service will not have to purchase a converter box.

Check out the DTVPal review here.