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Dish implements their buffering differently than both Tivo and Dtv in software, which I've been told doesn't allow for buffering while the box is in standby. I wish it worked all the time too.

articos said:

Dish implements their buffering differently than both Tivo and Dtv in software, which I've been told doesn't allow for buffering while the box is in standby. I wish it worked all the time too.

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Except it does buffer in standby after a timer has completed while in standby.

I wouldn't think that it would be that hard for Dish to implement standby buffering. However with the ability to set recordings from any Internet-connected PC or phone, I'm not quite sure how useful it would be (for me, anyway.)

I think it would be cool if they at least buffered in standby for at least a couple minutes. It would be nice to be able to pause - shut everything down - go to the next room - power up and resume the last channel you were watching via the red button. The way it works now I have to pause something - go to the next room - resume then pause immediately - go back to the first room to shut everything down - go back. Passing video from one room to the next should be more elegant.

3HaloODST said:

I wouldn't think that it would be that hard for Dish to implement standby buffering.

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There's nothing to implement. It's a matter of uncommenting the lines of code already there. Their DVRs used to this. I distinctly recall the manual for the 522 stating that it is *always* recording and it was. There was always a 1+ hour buffer available.




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Hall said:

There's nothing to implement. It's a matter of uncommenting the lines of code already there. Their DVRs used to this. I distinctly recall the manual for the 522 stating that it is *always* recording and it was. There was always a 1+ hour buffer available.




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Implement = put. "I wouldn't think that it would be that hard for Dish to put in standby buffering." Arguing semantics to sound smart? lol

That being said, I'm not sure how well the standby buffering would work with Hopper, unless when recordings are scheduled or whatever the buffer is automatically released. So that would make the buffer not necessarily reliable. I dunno, I guess the DirecTV customers got used to it, but personally I don't really see the point in a standby buffer. If you don't want to miss something that was on, record it, or leave the receiver on and disable the inactivity timer.

dare2be said:

Except it does buffer in standby after a timer has completed while in standby.

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If a timer fires, the box isn't entirely in standby - there's a routine being executed that tells the IRD to buffer/record the stream, with some padding on each side before the box goes back to full standby. Tivo and Dtv originally used a hardware buffering scheme which were each proprietary. I don't know that that's still the case (I believe Dtv is now a software buffer), but because of the legacy buffering scheme (their customers expecting the box to act that way), they've both kept their buffers going 24/7. They also do their FSCK and cleanup behind the scenes, where as Dish boxes power down to do their maintenance. Dish's hardware used a software solution to buffer, supposedly to avoid legal/patent issues. The software buffer could work 24/7, as it did on a few older boxes, but after the Tivo litigation, I wouldn't expect 24/7 buffer to happen, although could be surprised at some point in the future.

This goes back to the 50X days when the HDD's did not spin down. Dish had high HDD failure rates (for them anyway) and good ol' Dave Kummer had explained that the 50X (the only DVR's available in those days) would spin down shortly after being put in standby to increase life of the HDD.

From the 721 and subsequent DVR's, the HDD was/is always spinning, and never to spin down along with not recording to buffer unless it was a timer recording. I think this is just a case of legacy "thinking" or "that's how the HDD/buffer has been handled for about a decade; there is no reason to change the software or manner of buffer in standby when there seem to be far more important features customers demand," sort of thinking. While the HDD is surely spinning, one could argue that the slider and arms involved in writing to the HDD are given a good rest from constantly, never ceasing to write as this is what can shorten the life of an HDD, especially writing from two + tuners 24/7, this has a hand in decreasing HDD life even further. In past Tech Forum some years ago, Mark Jackson confirmed they had a prototype multiple tuner DVR (more than 2), and they were experiencing very high failure rate of the HDD's. However, today, HDD's seem bee able to survive being beat up by 3 live HD streams, 1 download occuring, and multiple playback of content to different clients, and DirecTV's 5 tuner DVR seems to say something for today HDD's. But I would be willing to say that the 5 tuner DVR's HDD is NOT going to last as long as some would expect compared to a 2 tuner DVR.

Yes, TiVo constantly buffers and spins, but this would also seem to allow for the most reliable experience for TiVo's multi-room viewing (S2 & S3) and streaming (S4) features: always fully alive and active arms and writers when accessing that DVR from another room.

Bottom line, there may be technical reasons to always buffer (making it EASIER or MORE RELIABLE for specific feature) or a consequence or just plain a preference, for whatever reason. Of course, during any recording, Dish DVR's also record the other tuner to the buffer.

On occasion, it was nice that my TiVo had been buffering (only a 30 minute buffer on TiVo), but most often it either wasn't enough of a buffer to catch the entire program or it was tuned to a channel I didn't want buffered. So, it really isn't such "feature" after all. It couldn't automatically re-tune to the channels I would always like buffered. That would be a record timer, the same solution for a Dish DVR, and TiVo does not tout the constant buffering as anything at all. We TiVo owners would take an hour on the buffer, even if it stopped buffering in standby. IMHO, this buffering in standby is a "whatever" function that, one would think, is nowhere near a make or break function. I would think that Manual Timers, DishPass, OTA recording and guide info support, saving our preferences and timers in the cloud, much better interface and browsing for on-line content (it is a DISASTER now), and even a 4th tuner on the Hopper would be real features that would enhance the Hopper/Joey system more than any buffering in standby. Buffering in standby would be fine after perfecting things. Of course, a buffer in standby software update would surely mess-up some other higher and more important feature as a consequence of Dish's software updates .