[Maurice Verploegen]

OK, here is goes. Sorry I am so late to the game on my EMA report. I have been traveling like a mad man.
A little back ground on me. I am a Area Sales Manager for Dish Network for the state of ID. I am a HT junkie, but more so a HDTV junkie. Many times in the past and future I have been chosen by my company to present at National company functions to train and talk about HDTV with our retailers. For my region (West Coast) I am the HD guru. They always come to me for advice or feedback.
I have been a member of this forum since 1998. I read and posted quite a bit until I stoped buying DVD's at about 1,500 plus DVD's. That's when the whole HD-DVD and BR formats came to light.
Now my company is using this "format war" to their advantage. We are coming out with a EHD (External Hard Drive). So you can off load your content and store it on a EHD and keep it as long as you want. You can buy as many EHD's as you want also. So, we at Dish say "why don't you wait out this format war and go with Dish Network. Store all of your HD content that you want for free and play it back on one standard.

Sorry for this long intro, but these were some of the reasons why I attended this show.

Tuesday:
Opening day: First off it was all very well arranged. From check in to getting me badge and bag in the morning. Very smooth.
The EMA opening session was very cool. I liked it. I learned quite a bit more on our customers and their buying/renting/VOD habits. The discussion panel was a little long but good to sit through it and learn. Our opening session felt a little rushed. I wish we had about one hour before WB came out to introduce ourselves and go over the plans/schedule for the next 2 days.
WB was just great. What a great presenter! Kept the audience going and interested. I learned a lot more about HD-DVD and now have more respect for this format because of it.
Lunch time felt a little long. We could have kept it at 1 hour and maybe spend 1 hour doing introductions and such. Ernest and Katt were great. Again, this wasn't the reason why I came to this show. I am so ashamed to say this but when Ron announced Ernest Borgnine on the schedule I had to Google his name to see who that was. Obviously when I saw his picture I knew. But what a great story teller! Katt was also different from what you expect. Very nice guy, and also, a great story teller.

I almost didn't make the BR party. My room was so noisy, I called the front desk and they upgraded me to a brand new room on the 26th floor...not a bad deal. But I had to pack and relocate. So I came to the BR party about 30 minutes before it was over. And boy, am I glad that I made it. Great party, great gifts. I don't know about you guys, but I blushed when I opened up that envelope.
The Starz party was off the hook. I felt like a "red carpet celebrity". What a great club and nice view. They also played great music by the way. From the 70's all the way up to the music of now.

TBC......