Dish Network Retailer Chat Recap - July 10, 2007

[mdonnelly]

do you ever say anything intelligent?

Nice talk for a "Proud Staff Member".

[lakebum431]

do you ever say anything intelligent?

[dslate69]

Yeah well until the Networks gets all of their hardware on MPEG4 that is when things will be allot better. For now many of them have not made the switch yet.

What Networks are going MPEG4?

Are you saying Networks are going to start sending their signal to the Cable companies in MPEG4 so that then they will have to turn around and convert it to MPEG2 to distribute to their users?

[ndyclrk]

HBO has committed to sending all 26 of their channels in MPEG4 HD only.

[Paradox-SJ]

They will be RELEASING the External Hard Drive support! (Leslie then explains how it all works) it will be for the 622 and 722
She talks about DRM which will apply to external storage and says there will be a one time fee to enable external hard drive support, this fee is good for ALL receivers in the house.

I remember someone saying that there was going to be some sort of limit on the size of the external drive.....

what was that size and it is confirmed?

And will it only be able to connect via USB? Will a NAS device work?

[TuxCoder]

Are you saying Networks are going to start sending their signal to the Cable companies in MPEG4 so that then they will have to turn around and convert it to MPEG2 to distribute to their users?

Cable companies already in effect "turn around and convert" much if not all of their content (depending on analog/digital tiers, encryption, etc.). So a network being delivered to the cable company in MPEG4 generally won't be any different from content delivered in other forms.

[navychop]

I remember someone saying that there was going to be some sort of limit on the size of the external drive.....

what was that size and it is confirmed?

And will it only be able to connect via USB? Will a NAS device work?

Final word is not out. Beta testers say current limit is 750GB. USB. Don't count on NAS. Should know for sure within a month. Stay tuned for further changes.

[Stargazer]

I will be AT LEAST December before the 211 can support an external hard drive. As we all know delays happen.

Lets hope they make it for December.

I am going to guess that the 211 is going to be the standard receiver once all new customers will be going to be using the new slots that will be only MPEG-4. This means that all new customers will have DVR capability with their receivers by simply putting an external hard drive on it. This would be great. I still prefer the dual tuner though. Is Dish going to charge a DVR fee on the standard 211 receivers if you connect an external hard drive to it? Or perhaps to turn on the software to allow it to record to the external hard drive it will cost an x amount per month. I remember it being said where there will be a flat one time fee to do this but how will they handle the fee on a 211? A one time PLUS per month fee?

[Timmernator]

Anyone know when we'll be forced to upgrade to MPEG4 receivers? I've got a 942 that I'll want to swap for a 722 sooner or later...

[navychop]

Is Dish going to charge a DVR fee on the standard 211 receivers if you connect an external hard drive to it? Or perhaps to turn on the software to allow it to record to the external hard drive it will cost an x amount per month. I remember it being said where there will be a flat one time fee to do this but how will they handle the fee on a 211? A one time PLUS per month fee?

It is expected/believed that the one time fee will activate external storage for the entire account. AND once the ViP211 is enabled to act as a DVR, the DVR fee will be charged. That's only fair. Otherwise, most folks would get ViP211/222s and not ViP622/722s.