Dish Unveils Uber HD DVR

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 1/19/2009

LAS VEGAS — Dish Network introduced during International CES what it calls a "SlingLoaded HD DuoDVR" that is billed as the first high-definition DVR to incorporate place-shifting technology.

The ViP 922, which will be available to Dish subscribers in the spring at pricing to be announced, will record Dish Network programming in standard- and high-definition resolution up to and including 1080p video-on-demand, the company said. It is also capable of finding tuning and recording content from the Internet and over the air, and then playing back those programs to connect laptops or compatible mobile phones over the Internet, thanks to the incorporated Sling Media technology, which is owned by Dish Network parent EchoStar.

The MPEG-4 based unit is equipped with a 1TB hard drive to record and store hundreds of HD programs at a time — up to 1,000 hours of HD video, the company said.

"By integrating Sling Media's Slingbox technology into our industry-leading HD DVR, Dish Network is providing even more ways for our subscribers to view their TV programming — through their television sets, their desktops at home, their laptops on the road and their smartphones including BlackBerrys, iPhones and more," said Charlie Ergen, Dish Network chairman and CEO.

The ViP 922 will enable playing back content anywhere in the world via a broadband Internet connection to a laptop or mobile phone. The unit access content from five video sources, including satellite, broadband and optional over-the-air tuners.

The unit employs a touch-pad remote control that eliminates half the buttons of a standard remote control and provides cursor- like navigation on a TV screen. With a slide of the thumb, viewers experience scroll-over activation of the new user interface: onscreen widget-like tiles and pop-up menus, Dish Network said.

The ViP 922 can also be controlled over the Internet using SlingGuide, which features a search engine for the TV with the ability to schedule recording times remotely.