Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Echostar Knowledge Base
The Dish Network User's Resource

Updated 6-18-16, added GTO

a.d.e.
Usenet newsgroup news://alt.dbs.echostar
ALTV
Association of Local Television Stations
a/o
Additional outlet
A/V
Audio/Video
AEP
America's Everything Pack
AT##
America's Top 100, 200, 250
ATSC
Advanced Television Systems Committee. http://www.atsc.org/
AZ
Azimuth
BBMP
Blockbuster Movie Pass (formerly Dish Platinum). You must subscribe to Dish Family or higher to add BBMP.
BEV
Bell ExpressVu. Canadian DBS provider, uses Echostar equipment. http://www.expressvu.com/
bird
Satellite
BSS
Broadcast Satellite Service, 12.2 to 12.7 GHz portion of the Ku-band that allows the use of higher power satellites
BUD
Big ugly dish
CAS
Conditional Access System, provides security for the television and movie content so that only authorized subscribers gain access to it
cascade
Cascade solutions use a DP21 (or SW21 in legacy systems) connected to one of the switch outputs to add a satellite slot to that line. It does not add outputs.
CONUS
CONtinental United States
CSR
Customer Service Representative
D500
Dish 500 (20" elliptical dish that “sees” two satellites)
D*
DirecTV
DBS
Direct Broadcast Satellite, also refers to the specific 12.2 to 12.7 GHz broadcast band used
DD
Dolby Digital (AC-3)
sometimes Digital Dynamite, renamed Digital Home Plan
DHP
Digital Home Plan, DISH's leasing option
DHPP
Digital Home Protection Plan, extended warranty program
DHA
Digital Home Advantage, terms
diplexer
Used in pairs to combine broadcast frequencies and DBS frequencies onto a single cable then separate them to feed a Dish receiver and OTA tuner
DiSEqC
Digital Satellite Equipment Control
DISH
Dish Network
DishCOMM
Allows enabled receivers to share one phone line connection
D/L
Download
DLNA
Digital Living Network Alliance. IP- and UPnP-based delivery of digital media across simple Ethernet-based local area networks.
DMA
Designated Market Area as determined by Nielsen Media. See Ranking of DMA's
DN
Dish Network See: E*
dp
dishpro line of receivers, switches and LNBs that allow for simpler installations. DishPro Technology
DP##
dishpro switch model
DP
DISHPlayer
DPC
DirecPC
DPL
Dolby Pro-Logic
DPP
DishPro Plus, a switching protocol that allows a dual tuner receiver to be installed with a single run of RG6 and a DPP Separator. DishPro Technology
DRM
Digital Rights Management
DSS
Former marketing name of combined DirecTV & USSB services.
DTH
Direct-to-Home
DTV
Digital Television. Also often used for DirecTV.
DVB
Digital Video Broadcast. http://www.dvb.org
DVB-SH
Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite services to Handhelds
DVI
Digital Video Interface
DVR
Digital Video Recorder
DVRA
DVR Advantage
E*
EchoStar See: DN
ECM
Electronic Counter-measure. Any of a number of methods the service provider may use to disable pirated smart cards.
EHD
External Hard Drive
EKB
EchoStar Knowledge Base. Home page
EL
Elevation
EPG
Electronic Program Guide
EUO
Echostar User Organization. Web site no longer exists.
EVu
Bell ExpressVu
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
FSS
Fixed Satellite Service, 11.7 to 12.2 GHz portion of the Ku-band that requires lower power satellites
FTA
Free-to-air
FTTH
fiber-to-the-home
G2H
Gilat-to-Home, now StarBand. 2-way satellite internet access.
GDMP
Green Dot MoneyPak, used for DishNOW! pre-paid subscribers
GTO
Geostationary transfer orbit
GUI
Graphic User Interface
GW
Great Wall Chinese programming package
HD
Hard-drive, high-definition
HDD
Hard-disk drive
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface. http://www.hdmi.org
HDR
Hard-drive Recorder
HDTV
High-Definition TV subset of DTV. 720p or 1080i.
HOA
Homeowners association. See OTARD.
IR
Infra-red
IRD
Integrated Receiver Decoder (satellite receiver)
LEP
Latino Everything Pack
LIL
Local-into-local satellite delivery of broadcast stations
LMB
(frequent error) see LNBF
LNB
short for LNBF
LNB drift
A simplified explanation: There is a timing circuit in the LNB that allows the LNB to “lock on” to the signals coming from the satellite. If capacitors in that circuit start to fail, the timing circuit will “drift” and eventually the LNB won't be able to maintain a signal lock. If you go to the System Info screen (Menu, 6, 1, 3), and if you get an “ERROR: Click Details” message instead of “Good”, you can go into Details and it will show you if one or more of your LNBs are drifting, and what the drift value is. If the number is 6 or greater, the LNB needs to be replaced.
LNBF
Low Noise Block downconverter with integrated Feedhorn
MDU
Multi-dwelling unit
MoCA
Multimedia over Coax Alliance. Protocol for establishing a whole-home entertainment network over existing coax.
MPEG
Moving Picture Experts Group. Standards committee for video compession methods including the digital compression method utilized by Dish Network (MPEG2).
Official committee: http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/, Resources: http://www.mpeg.org/
Must carry
If a DBS operator carries one channel in a city, it must carry all the channels in that city though not all qualify.
NAB
National Association of Broadcasters. http://www.nab.org/
NPS
National Programming Service. http://www.mydistantnetworks.com/
NRTC
National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative http://www.nrtc.org/
NTSC
National Television Systems Committee. Analog broadcast TV.
O&O
Owned and Operated network affiliate
OFA
One for All remote control
OOM
Out-of-market
OTA
Over-the-air
OTARD
Over-the-air Reception Device. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
P*
Primestar. Defunct Ku-Band DTH satellite system.
PCM
Pulse Code Modulation. Digital sound like CDs.
PIP
Picture In Picture
POP
Point of Presence. The place where Dish harvests local broadcast signals for uplink to Cheyenne. See the New Orleans Receive Facility.
PPV
Pay-per-view
PQ
Picture quality
PR
Press release
PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol. http://www.psip.org/
PTAT
PrimeTime Anytime, only available on Hopper
PTV
Personal Television. Weather and headlines service bundled with games and recording ability. DISHPlayer only.
PVR
Personal Video Recorder
QAM
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QPSK
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
RAP
Receiver Activation Program. Available for the 311, 322, 522, 625 and 622 for new customers.
RCA
Residential Customer Agreement, 2/2012 version at http://www.dish.com/downloads/legal/DHA_Agreement.pdf
RF
Radio Frequency
RMA
Return Merchandise Authorization.  Video: How a receiver gets refurbished (YouTube).
RPTV
Rear-projection TV
RSN
Regional Sports Network
SAC
“Subscriber acquisition costs,” was $704 during the six months ended June 30, 2008
sat
Satellite. See Echostar Satellites
SB
StarBand. http://www.starband.com/, StarBand Users
SD
See SDTV. Often incorrectly used to refer to NTSC
SDTV
Standard-Definition TV subset of DTV. 480i or 480p
SHVIA
Satellite Home Viewers Improvement Act. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/shva/
SLD
Silly little dish
STB
Set-top box
STELA
Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2009, replaces the expired SHVERA
SW##
Switch. Allows receiver to select from multiple satellites. See What are switches, and why do I need them?
Syndex
Syndicated Exclusivity. The right of a local broadcaster to require that programs also broadcast from a distant station be blacked out from that station for local viewers.
TID
Transponder ID
Tp
Transponder
TT&C
Telemetry, Tracking and Command. Ground control communications to a satellite.
TWTA
Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier, a component of the in-orbit satellite that transmits transponders
UHF
Ultra-high Frequency
UI
User Interface
Uplinked
A signal is being sent to the satellite that is identified by a station name. (FTA receivers and TSReader software can see the entire “table of contents“ and details about the signals as opposed to Dish receivers which are programmed only to show available channels in an EPG format.) It is not necessarily available to subscribers, and the actual content of the signal may or may not be the named station until it is.
ViP
Video IP
VOD
Video on Demand. VOD comes off the satellite. These are the movies you can rent and are new and recent releases. IPVOD movies are movies fed over the Internet. Depending upon your receiver, they may be located within DISH Online, Blockbuster Movie Pass (622, 722/722k) or On Demand (922). These receivers need a broadband connection to have access to these movies.
Wing dish
A separate dish (300 or 500) used to pick up an additional satellite that is too far off to the side to be picked up by the main dish. Original usage was for adding 61.5° or 148° to the main satellites seen by a Dish 500.
148°          119° 110°                 61.5°
USSB
United States Satellite Broadcasting. Now part of DirecTV.
Y/C
S-video. Luminance and chroma are separated
YPrPb
Component Video
1080p
HD display format, progressive scan. Available on very limited number of HD PPV and VOD movies. TV must accept 1080p24 on its input, not just convert to 1080p60 display as many sets do.
110
Satellites at 110° West longitude
119
Satellites at 119° West longitude
148
Satellites at 148° West longitude
61.5
Satellite at 61.5° West longitude
8VSB
8 Vestigial sideband. HDTV broadcast standard.

SOURCES OF CONVERSATIONAL AND OTHER ACRONYMS

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