I recently obtained a Fortec Star DVB-786NA digital satellite
receiver from my late inlaws. It's described in the manual
as a universal receiver but nothing is said about what gets
received, frequency bands, etc. Anybody ever heard of one
and know what it receives?

Newer receivers have an ethernet port so that "on demand" programming can be
sucked over broadband connections instead of the slower phone line. Anyone
mess with this yet?

I'm curious because it would be nice to offload and save recordings from the
DVR, or even upload some into it - or play DVDs through the system instead
of an external DVD player, etc...

I've heard that the DVD-enabled boxes have Linux as their OS, so I wonder if
there's a usable SSH port open, etc....

Source:
http://dish.client.shareholder.com/secfiling.cfm?filingid=950134-08-12791

Its a good news/ bad news day.

Good news is that Echostar XI reached orbit (it will be tested at 138
degrees and moved to the 110 slot).

Bad news is that the Echostar 2 satellite experienced a substantial
failure on July 14th that appears to have rendered the satellite a total
loss. Echostar had planed on moving Echostar 2 to 77 degrees for use on
their plannned Wesstern Arc (MPEG-4) service (61.5, 72.7, 77 degrees)

From the Echostar 8K Filing:

Sea Launch Successfully Delivers EchoStar XI to Orbit

Source:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sea-launch-successfully-delivers-echostar/story...

"Sea Launch Company has successfully launched the EchoStar XI broadcast
satellite from its ocean-based platform on the Equator, marking its
fourth successful mission of 2008 and its third mission for DISH Network.

A Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off at 10:21pm PDT on July 15 (5:21 GMT, July
16) from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West
Longitude. One hour later, the Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the
5,511 kg (12,150 lb) EchoStar XI satellite into geosynchronous transfer
orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 110 degrees West
Longitude. Operators at the Gnangara ground station in Perth, Australia,
acquired the spacecraft's first signals from orbit shortly after
spacecraft separation. All systems performed nominally throughout the
mission."