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If you love being able to watch television when you want and where you want, Dish Network's new line of PocketDishes may be a great choice for you. Pocket Dishes are ultra compact portable entertainment systems that make it easy to take your favorite movies television programs, music, and pictures with you wherever you go. You can also play action adventure and role playing video games downloadable from Dish Network onto your PocketDish.

There are three different models in the PocketDish line. There's the super-compact entry level model, the AV402E, the mid sized AV500E, and the state of the art, AV700E. Each has a built in color LCD screen and a hard drive for storing music, digital photographs, video games, and video content. The music, video, and photos can be downloaded from any computer while the games and Dish Network program content can be downloaded through a Dish Network receiver.

The entry level AV402E has more limited capabilities than the other two, but in light of the fact that it's only 4.2 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.7 inches, having fewer bells and whistles is understandable. At 20 Gigabytes the AV402E's hard drive is still impressive. It can store up to 20 hours of Dish Network programs, 10,000 songs in WMA, MP3, or WAV formats, and 200,000 photos in JPEG format. The screen is only 2.2 inches and has a standard 4:3 aspect ratio which would make viewing shows in wide screen format extremely difficult. The AV402E also lacks speakers and instead relies on headphones to deliver audio. One thing that the AV402E has that the other models don't is an integrated microphone for taking notes.

The two other PocketDishes, the AV500E and the AV700E have more in common with each other than with the AV402E. They both have 16:9 aspect ratio screens to allow you to watch wide format movies. They also have built in speakers which eliminate the need for headphones. Some neat extras both come with are remote controls, docking stations, and viewing stands. But what really sets them apart form the AV402E is the fact that they're both Digital Video Recorders. That is, both the AV500E and the AV700E can record video off of almost any television, DVD player, cable box, satellite receiver, or VCR. Even better, when the AV500E or AV700E record video from a non-Dish Network source the storage capacity can as much as quadruple. This means that the AV700E, which can hold up to 40 hours of Dish Network programming, can hold as much as 160 hours of video from another source!

The AV500E has a 30 Gig hard drive that can contain as much as 30 hours of Dish Network programming (or 120 hours from some other source), 300,000 digital photos, and 15,000 songs. The actual unit is 4.8 inches by 3 inches by 0.8 inches, giving it room for a 4 inch screen.

As mentioned above, the AV700E has a huge (considering it's size) 40 gigabyte hard drive that can carry as many as 40 hours of Dish Network shows, 20,000 songs, and 400,000 photos. At 8.2 inches by 4.2 inches by 0.8 inches, it's by far the biggest PocketDish and has room for a generous 7 inch screen.

With the new PocketDishes, Dish Network has proven that an entire home entertainment system can be reduced to a pocket sized unit.