Dish Network GUI suggestion...

[goresnet]

Amen to that! If the guide on my 722k slows down any more, I am going to need it to go further than 9 days out because that's about how long it takes to come up!

OK this doesn't sound right my 722k guide runs like a scared rabbit.What software are you running?.Do you turn it off at night?. You may need to contact Dish Network Tech Support for a replacement.

My grandparents 722k runs far faster than my 722 does. like a scared rabbit, I suppose!

 

[Jhon69]

My grandparents 722k runs far faster than my 722 does. like a scared rabbit, I suppose!

Yea out here we get alot of them scared rabbits,don't know why I'm just trying to invite them to dinner!.:

 

[jdmacor]

Sorry I am late to this little conversation, but good God is the Dish guide out of date. The majority of the design hasn't changed for what seems like at least a decade.

And I am sorry, the 922 is out of date too. Seriously, the Aqua looking interface a la Apple from circa 2001?! That's the best they could do?!

I have been with Dish for a while, and probably won't change based on my customer service experience with them. However, if you want to see a true 2011 guide design, look no further than Verizon's latest offering. Beyond the design, I would kill for Dish to have even a handful of these features:

• 3D content software, which automatically detects when a customer tunes to a 3D program or channel and instantly changes the necessary settings for watching those programs on a 3D television set.
• DVR chaptering, giving viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments, providing more visual navigation.
• Multi-hub DVR, which turns any DVR or HD set-top box in the home into a "hub," allowing customers to record and manage DVR settings from any room in the home, provided one of the DVRs is a multi-room DVR.
• eSATA external storage device compatibility, available with most FiOS TV DVRs, allowing for increased overall storage capacity. eSATA hard drives can be purchased at most consumer electronics stores and will automatically record customer selections once plugged into the DVR.
• New "play all" and "delete all" options, allowing customers to play episodes back-to-back and automatically delete all episodes of a show with the push of a button.
• New parental control options that make monitoring children's viewing even easier, with the ability to block out portions of programming by rating during key hours of the day, like homework time, and schedule certain times for Parental Controls to be automatically turned on and off for greater flexibility.
• Guide customization, enabling a variety of settings, with a mini guide on the bottom of the screen, a half guide on the right side of the screen, and a full guide with a look at more hours of scheduled programming.
• Improved search capabilities, which provide a smarter search function that predicts what the customer is looking for and automatically provides potential matches. FiOS TV customers also can filter and sort by channel, and more easily locate favorite programs.

 

[lakebum431]

My responses to your "wants" below (disclaimer - these are just my thoughts on the matter, not trying to say anyone is right or wrong here):

Sorry I am late to this little conversation, but good God is the Dish guide out of date. The majority of the design hasn't changed for what seems like at least a decade.

And I am sorry, the 922 is out of date too. Seriously, the Aqua looking interface a la Apple from circa 2001?! That's the best they could do?!

I have been with Dish for a while, and probably won't change based on my customer service experience with them. However, if you want to see a true 2011 guide design, look no further than Verizon's latest offering. Beyond the design, I would kill for Dish to have even a handful of these features:

• 3D content software, which automatically detects when a customer tunes to a 3D program or channel and instantly changes the necessary settings for watching those programs on a 3D television set. This is already in place when you order 3D events on Dish (that is the only way to get 3D conent currently on Dish)
• DVR chaptering, giving viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments, providing more visual navigation. I can't say that I have ever had the desire to do this, I either watch shows or don't, I don't need/want to skip forward in 10 min increments.
• Multi-hub DVR, which turns any DVR or HD set-top box in the home into a "hub," allowing customers to record and manage DVR settings from any room in the home, provided one of the DVRs is a multi-room DVR. Totally agree, I hope something like this is in the works!
• eSATA external storage device compatibility, available with most FiOS TV DVRs, allowing for increased overall storage capacity. eSATA hard drives can be purchased at most consumer electronics stores and will automatically record customer selections once plugged into the DVR. The current USB external drives work just fine for me. I have multiple drives hooked up to a hub on my 922 and can choose any of them from the drop down and view their programming.
• New "play all" and "delete all" options, allowing customers to play episodes back-to-back and automatically delete all episodes of a show with the push of a button. Delete all already exists in edit mode. Play all is not something that I need/want as I don't think it is a big deal to select individual programs, but I can see why some would like it for their kids
• New parental control options that make monitoring children's viewing even easier, with the ability to block out portions of programming by rating during key hours of the day, like homework time, and schedule certain times for Parental Controls to be automatically turned on and off for greater flexibility. Just so I'm clear, you want the receiver to know when your kid is supposed to be doing homework and then block use of the receiver at that time? Really? Maybe just take more responsibility for parenting yourself instead of relying on a device to do so...
• Guide customization, enabling a variety of settings, with a mini guide on the bottom of the screen, a half guide on the right side of the screen, and a full guide with a look at more hours of scheduled programming. I've used devices with lots of different guide options and to me the Dish guide with picture is perfect. If you don't like it then there is also the browse option that shows a mini guide at the bottom. I don't see a need for a change here.
• Improved search capabilities, which provide a smarter search function that predicts what the customer is looking for and automatically provides potential matches. FiOS TV customers also can filter and sort by channel, and more easily locate favorite programs. This already exists on the 922

 

[jdmacor]

My responses to your "wants" below (disclaimer - these are just my thoughts on the matter, not trying to say anyone is right or wrong here):

Really, I just copied the PR release, and not necessarily just the things that I want. Biggest for me is the "Hive-Mind" DVR setup. But the real point is the overall interface and dated look of the software. Quite frankly, I understand that the look is sort of a personal preference type of deal, but the FIOS guide just looks better to me. I would love to get a really talented graphic designer to throw together a potential mockup of a good looking design, keeping within the current interface structure (so no software changes; literally just a new "skin," if you will).

Beyond the graphic design, why not try to think outside the box on how a guide should function? Is the current interface really the best? Did somebody conduct a user experience survey to figure this out, or was it just the first idea? I have the sneaking suspicion that the paper guide was essentially copied and put on a screen; this would be the equivalent of scanning magazines into PDF's and distributing them on the iPad... You would be missing the point of the iPad experience (Popular Science gets this, while others clearly do not). Give me the option to scroll channels horizontally, or see extended schedules for a highlighted channel; hell, I don't know how many ways there would be to slice the information. So to that end, I would love for a professional UX designer to try and rethink the way a television guide should function. Now that would be something...

 

[KAB]

Of all the things I would like to see, honestly, the GUI would be near the bottom of the list. Does not really matter to me. I care more about what's inside the box, not the wrapping.

 

[jdmacor]

Of all the things I would like to see, honestly, the GUI would be near the bottom of the list. Does not really matter to me. I care more about what's inside the box, not the wrapping.

Fair enough; I can understand that. I am just saying that if there was money/capacity, it would be a nice to have. Again, I prefer the customer service at Dish and that is why I stay. On the other hand, true MRV would go a long way for a lot of customers...

 

[TG2]

Some cable box's (Time Warner Cable's) have nice LOOKING guides, but are extremely buggy. And it's cable, so their customer service sucks.

lets not start that "they suck" campaign again.. all customer service sucks when something's wrong. I've had ONE in SIX tech chats with dish proper that were ok.... actually make that TWO in SEVEN .... though the most recent chat was with the billing side of customer service at Dish where I was able to get them to add programming and not the support side of Dish. (Dish Proper is DishNetwork.com ... not the Dish IRT here)

 

[Tampa8]

A couple of nice features in the FIOS GUI, I would agree. As for the look of the guide I actually like what the 612 looks like, especially like two of the colors used for lists. In the end KAB is correct, make sure the boxes don't freeze or reset all the time, and make all the functions it has work correctly and that will be a big step forward. I will say both by 612's have been behaving quite well, only once in a great while will they reboot unexpectedly.

At some point a refreshing would probably be nice, but nowhere near the top of my list.

 

[TG2]

My responses to your "wants" below (disclaimer - these are just my thoughts on the matter, not trying to say anyone is right or wrong here):

And just to be clear ... because *YOU* don't see the need for something it shouldn't be? I think you should understand right there how arrogant that is for you to eclipse what jdmacor was posting as supposed fact from Verizon (ie. clearly not *his* wants and thusly he further clarified for you was from Vz PR)

Personally I'd *want* ...
I'd like the idea of skipping back a USER selectable increment. 20 seconds / 30 seconds / 1 / 2 / 5 / 10 minutes with quicker presses of the Skip button skip followed by select to indicate we want to jump further without manually having to select "rewind" and try to watch/catch my 722k at the right moment..

Paramount to THAT, I would actually like the F*******g 722k to reliably rewind and stop/play forward from "there" correctly, rather than start the rewind operation, and then when you press play it skips an additional 20 / 30 / unknown seconds or minutes back from what you saw on screen when you hit play!!

Add to this ... the parental control idea... is just an extension of parental controls.. just like in allowing users network login time .. if you want to block users from accessing company networks after hours, you give them login/access hours from 7am to 7pm..

in the Kid's TV world... I guess you Lakbum431 are there 24/7 when kids are in the house, so you can always walk in and turn off the tv.. but there are those of us with jobs, those of us that know what monumental trusts are ... and what fibbing trusts are.. TV time is a fibbing trust.. "did you watch tv today before homework?" kid's answer "no." ...though not the truth ... and having a parental option that kills the TV ability for the kids from 2pm thru 6pm is one way of making sure the kids know mom-n-dad were serious about no tv... etc..

ADD TO THAT parental functionality.. the ability for a parent to UNLOCK the parental lockout remotely so long as internet connectivity is available.. and you have a function that many kids would want to see their parents have.. so that the good kids.. that DO their work can be rewared..

ALL VERY useful for **MANY** users... but obviously not for some.

EDIT: Note I may be more reactive and reading LakeBum's inline replies, and I do apologize for my harshness in my rebuttal of the points (letting the post stand otherwise unedited)

 

[lakebum431]

Not sure what you problem is, but see my response in bold below

And just to be clear ... because *YOU* don't see the need for something it shouldn't be? I think you should understand right there how arrogant that is for you to eclipse what jdmacor was posting as supposed fact from Verizon (ie. clearly not *his* wants and thusly he further clarified for you was from Vz PR)

Well actually this wasn't clear to me as he said, "Beyond the design, I would kill for Dish to have even a handful of these features" I take that to mean that he "wants" these items. That was my entire point in my disclaimer, I wasn't trying to say what I wanted is the way it should be, I was simpling giving my opinion of what I would "want" as it relates to his list (which is why I said "these are just my thoughts on the matter, not trying to say anyone is right or wrong here."

ALL VERY useful for **MANY** users... but obviously not "lakebum".
Correct not useful to me as I stated aboove this was what I thought of the posters list as it relates to me

 

[TG2]

Not sure what you problem is, but see my response in bold below

Well then I publically apologize for my more harsh tone ... but reading the replies .. espeically the "parents"

Just so I'm clear, you want the receiver to know when your kid is supposed to be doing homework and then block use of the receiver at that time? Really? Maybe just take more responsibility for parenting yourself instead of relying on a device to do so...

which appeared to discredit the worth of having blackout periods or "allowed viewing" times... Personally I'd use this on myself when I know I need to do something other than watch the boobtube.

In any case my apologies for being over-reactive or sensitive to the post..

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

So..... Here are my thoughts about what the real wants and needs are (and I am paraphrasing of course):

1. A more stable platform for the guide and DVR functionality (perhaps more memory dedicated to guide/DVR operation, better processing potency, fewer glitches)
2. Newer functionality like sharing content between receivers (whether or not they are DVRs) and user-customizable time-shifting capabilities.
3. Since these things require a software rewrite anyway, throw in some stunning graphics ('get with the times'); provide SKINS via app.
4. "Nanny" features that are remotely controlled via DRA. (I could use them, myself).
5. Overall, more customizable features so any person who likes having a capability can activate and customize it, and anyone who sees it as a hindrance can keep it off.
6. Harmony remote available for "discounted" purchase or lease upgrade fee. The remote available would relate to the equipment* (***EDIT*** Forgot the 'below').

*300i for SD Solo DVR (or something like the older 890s for Solo and Duo), 900 for the VIP 612/622 DVR family and TV2 of VIP922, and an 1100 for TV1 on the VIP922.

I added the last one, myself. My thoughts on remotes are that, between the internet programming and the '?' Help button, DISH would prevent THOUSANDS of calls weekly. I figured on a list of things people would like to see change, this is my input on the matter. I personally think that a partnership with Logitech, like the one on the Revue, would benefit both DISH and Logitech.

Anything I missed on my paraphrasing?

 

[TG2]

5. Overall, more customizable features so any person who likes having a capability can activate and customize it, and anyone who sees it as a hindrance can keep it off.

doulbe on everything except number five which I think dish should do 10 fold...

 

[jdmacor]

6. Harmony remote available for "discounted" purchase or lease upgrade fee. The remote available would relate to the equipment* (***EDIT*** Forgot the 'below').

*300i for SD Solo DVR (or something like the older 890s for Solo and Duo), 900 for the VIP 612/622 DVR family and TV2 of VIP922, and an 1100 for TV1 on the VIP922.

Love the Harmony aspect, with the RF option for the advanced receivers. And hey, if there were a platform to "skin" the DVR graphics, that would be kinda cool. Much like the app store, you could open it up to user contributions and customizations (strictly graphical; not modifying the underlying software). Maybe that would appeal to some folks.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

I will edit my list! "Skins" sounds pretty cool!

 

[csmith5111]

I will edit my list! "Skins" sounds pretty cool!

So Tony is that already in an Email to the software engineers and the CEO of Logitech and all others needed to get the ball rolling?

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

Nope, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express...

Actually, I am deciding how to word it though (so it is in draft) and who to send it to.

 

[Jhon69]

So..... Here are my thoughts about what the real wants and needs are (and I am paraphrasing of course):

1. A more stable platform for the guide and DVR functionality (perhaps more memory dedicated to guide/DVR operation, better processing potency, fewer glitches)
2. Newer functionality like sharing content between receivers (whether or not they are DVRs) and user-customizable time-shifting capabilities.
3. Since these things require a software rewrite anyway, throw in some stunning graphics ('get with the times'); provide SKINS via app.
4. "Nanny" features that are remotely controlled via DRA. (I could use them, myself).
5. Overall, more customizable features so any person who likes having a capability can activate and customize it, and anyone who sees it as a hindrance can keep it off.
6. Harmony remote available for "discounted" purchase or lease upgrade fee. The remote available would relate to the equipment* (***EDIT*** Forgot the 'below').

*300i for SD Solo DVR (or something like the older 890s for Solo and Duo), 900 for the VIP 612/622 DVR family and TV2 of VIP922, and an 1100 for TV1 on the VIP922.

I added the last one, myself. My thoughts on remotes are that, between the internet programming and the '?' Help button, DISH would prevent THOUSANDS of calls weekly. I figured on a list of things people would like to see change, this is my input on the matter. I personally think that a partnership with Logitech, like the one on the Revue, would benefit both DISH and Logitech.

Anything I missed on my paraphrasing?

How about an EZCC button?.As impressed as I am with my VIP722k/wMT2 I honestly can't believe you have to always go into the Menu to turn Closed Captioning on and off?.

 

[csmith5111]

Nope, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express...

Actually, I am deciding how to word it though (so it is in draft) and who to send it to.

Awesome keep up the good work. Maybe you can see Scott next week. Now don't make it to obvious and bow down in front of him. We all know he is the leading expert in this industry but no need to make his ego get to large. But in all seriousness he is awesome and let us know when you finish that email.