For those of you preparing for the External Drive feature, you may wish to read this article when deciding where to throw your hard earned dollars. Here is an excerpt and the link:
Earlier this month, Google researchers released a fascinating paper called "Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population" that examined hard drive failure rates in Google's infrastructure. Two conclusions stood out: self-monitoring data isn't useful for predicting individual drive failures, and temperature and activity levels don't correlate well with drive failure. This throws conventional wisdom about predicting drive failures into question, so we sought out some independent expert analysis to weigh in on the findings. First, we briefly recap last week's Google study.
The Google study
First, though, let's take a look at what the Google researchers found. They examined the data from more than 100,000 drives deployed in Google's servers, all of which were consumer-grade serial and parallel ATA units with spindle speeds of 5400rpm and 7200rpm. Drives were considered "failed" if they were replaced as part of a repair procedure. Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) information was recorded from all drives, and spurious readings were filtered out of the resulting database.
When they looked at annualized failure rates, they saw the expected "infant mortality" effect, where drives die more often very early in their life cycle. The thinking behind this is that poorly-made drives fail quickly, while well-made ones then have a few trouble-free years before they begin to reach their end-of-life stage at around five years. This is sometimes referred to as the "bathtub curve" for its shape, but Google's researchers found that the failure rate ticked up much sooner—starting at two years—and remained steady for the next several years.
I just read an interesting article in EE Times that nanoimpression technology will be used to imprint single magnetic particles on a non-ferreous platter, in effect "fixing" the number of bits that are on the platter. The article predicted two orders of magnitude increase in capacity by using this method.
I just read an interesting article in EE Times that nanoimpression technology will be used to imprint single magnetic particles on a non-ferreous platter, in effect "fixing" the number of bits that are on the platter. The article predicted two orders of magnitude increase in capacity by using this method.
2 spindles, a primary and a mirror would likely be all the storage you ever need.
1TB spindles are just now being released. Two orders of magnitude pops us into Exabyte territory. Note, these are storage (powers of 10 numbers) not binary values where 1K = 1024
Code:
Name Value Bytes
Megabyte 10^6 1,000,000
Gigabyte 10^9 1,000,000,000
Terabyte 10^12 1,000,000,000,000
Petabyte 10^15 1,000,000,000,000,000
Exabyte 10^18 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
So let's break this down into space for a DVR. Assuming 10GB/hour for HD storage; that would mean:
100 hours for 1 terabyte
100,000 hours for 1 Petabyte
100,000,000 hours for 1 Exabyte.
This is what 2 orders of magnitude buys you.
There are 8,766 hours in a year (365.25 to account for leap year). 1 Exabyte of storage gets you > 11,400 years of HD storage.
How many streams simultaneously would it take to fill up this much storage?
Oh, you really would need a 64-bit File System to address all this storage space
I think they were talking decimal orders; in other words, a 10²-fold increase. So we're only talking 10,000 hours of HD storage for now. Maybe when the Holographic storage crystals come on-line...
I think they were talking decimal orders; in other words, a 10²-fold increase. So we're only talking 10,000 hours of HD storage for now. Maybe when the Holographic storage crystals come on-line...
Foxbat; doh. Yep. 100TB / spindle would be correct.
So 10K hours of non-stop recording. Still a very stupid number of hours IMO.
What is the cost / unit storage in comparison to current technology drives? The 1 TB spindles are coming in with a suggested list of $400 give or take. That's ~.40/GB.
If these are going to be affordable then the manufacturing costs will have to take a nose dive too.
The nanoimpression technology is supposed to let manufacturers print ICs and other nano-scale featured devices much in the same way CDs and DVDs are made: Instead of having to write the bits of a movie to a DVD in a serial fashion, all of the data are pressed in one step. With the disk platter, the magnetic bits would be printed on the platter in one operation instead of being layered-on by vapor deposition.
I couldn't find the electronic version of the article in the June 11th Electronic Engineering Times, but here's what they said:
EE Times said:
Consider the disk drive sector, where for decades vendors have increased storage capacity by shrinking the tiny magnetic grains that constitute the data bits in a system. For traditional, longitudinal recording media, data integrity would be "harmed if we continue to shrink the magnetic grains," drive giant Hitachi Global Storage Technologies warned in a recent presentation.
The inability to scale the magnetic grains is called the superparamagnetic effect. Drive vendors have skirted the issue of late by moving to perpendicular recording technology, but now they are looking beyond that technique.
One alternative is the use of bit-patterned media, wherein "each bit is stored in a single, deliberately formed magnetic switching volume," according to the Hitachi presentation. "Since we no longer need on the order of 100 grains per bit, but just one single, grain-sized switching volume, density can be increased by roughly two orders magnitude compared with conventional recording media."
Today's drives have media capacities of 100 Gbits/square inch, with a center-to-center spacing of 86 nm, according to the presentation. Increasing capacity to 1 Tbit/inch², spacing would require center spacing of 27 nm. At 10 Tbits/inch², spacing would be just 9 nm. Hitachi believes optical lithography will run out of gas before the bit-patterned era and is exploring nanoimprint as an alternative.
Unfortunately it'll be too damned expensive if they can't cut the cost to $.004 / GB give or take. At current prices for 100 TB, it's going to be 40K dollars. Not a lot of sales there. At $1K dollars for a drive that you might not ever fill; well then that's awesome.
Here's an example where a consumer RAID-5 + hot spare would make perfect sense. Buy 5 of them in a 4-drive raid with one hot spare. You'd have a great solution with practically limitless storage.
It should be interesting to see how long this takes to come to fruition, if ever.
Also -- for data centers the number of spindles is important for throughput so it might be quite some time before these make it to a data center near you.
The only practical backup method for drives with this density is more drives though.
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
For quite a while now, people with a VIP211k have been losing their recordings on their activated external HDDs... even when there's nothing physically wrong with HDD. I believe this is an intentional and underhanded tactic that Dish is pulling in an attempt to force users away from the VIP211k.
They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.
Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.
On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.
It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.
I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
Got a 211k that works fine, and I no longer need it if someone wants to throw me a few bucks and pay shipping. Not tied to my account as of last week. Used with a tailgater and got a wally
Got a 211k that works fine, and I no longer need it if someone wants to throw me a few bucks and pay shipping. Not tied to my account as of last week. Used with a tailgater and got a wally
Actually, it is. A couple of people PMed me when I posted this, and when I asked for an address, they never responded. Then I just sort of let it go. Send me a PM to continue the discussion
Well, after nine months of being on pause, I finally figured out that I was wasting $5 a month. So I cancelled. For the first time since 2010, I no longer have a Dish account.
I do have to say that I did appreciate the account pause option. That just gives a person some time to see what the fallout of cancelling will be... without having to go all the way over the cliff first.
Since I never once had an "oh shoot, I need Dish Network for..." moment, the decision was a lot easier.
Funny enough, when I called to cancel (for real, not playing the pricing game), all of a sudden, they were offering me deals that I was told before that I couldn't get without changing out my VIP211k. Now, I could have had those specials with them just sending me a new card for the receiver. LOL!
Of course, my mind was already made up because of having not missed the service while on pause. That, and the fact that I bet the 211k still kills recordings.
All in all, I'm glad that I had Dish for all those years. I just outgrew the need, and they pressed the issue by deleting recordings. I would have eventually went this route without the deleted recordings issue. But, for sure, that did hasten the outcome.
I'll still pop in at this site from time to time. Believe it or not, I still have a C/Ku BUD that I intend on playing with again if life ever slows down.
Actually, it is. A couple of people PMed me when I posted this, and when I asked for an address, they never responded. Then I just sort of let it go. Send me a PM to continue the discussion
Unless things have changed at Dish, which is entirely possible, they won't activate the 211, even as a replacement. I gave one to a customer a while back....which when I turned it off I made sure to tell the CSR I wanted it freed up so another customer could use it, I was assured it was.....and when they called to swap out there's they were told it couldn't be done. Now like I said, things MIGHT HAVE CHANGED.
Unless things have changed at Dish, which is entirely possible, they won't activate the 211, even as a replacement. I gave one to a customer a while back....which when I turned it off I made sure to tell the CSR I wanted it freed up so another customer could use it, I was assured it was.....and when they called to swap out there's they were told it couldn't be done. Now like I said, things MIGHT HAVE CHANGED.
It hasn't changed. When I cancelled my service the other day, they told me I didn't need to return the receiver (which I already knew because I purchased it).
But in addition to that, the young man told me not to sell it, but to take it to a recycling place. The reason he gave for the advice was because 211Ks can no longer be activated.
So as far as the VIP211k goes... once grandpa dies, he's dead.
They tell you to trash it and not to sell simply because they're phasing them out, not particularly because someone might be "confused" into buying it and not be able to activate. They tell people that in every case where they're not acting to get a box back, either from a replacement or service cancel.
Although my VIP211K hasn't been subscribed or connected to a dish in probably 5 years since canceling service, my 1 TB HDD full of programming still works fine.
Upon occasion I power it up to watch something I recorded as far back as 2010. The last time I had it going in September it even let me rescan the local OTA channels which I think it refused at some earlier time. I will use it until the day it fails but this topic makes me think some software download is responsible for current subscribers.
Has anyone subscribed to NBA League Pass for 2026-27 and try to link their account to NBA.com to stream League Pass? I purchased it for 2026-27, and when I linked, I got a message saying success, but then I receive an error that my linked subscription does not include the preseason games for NBA League Pass. Is that how it has always been? I know satellite doesn't have the preseason games on the NBA League Pass channels, but I thought that I was able to stream the preseason once I linked my account on NBA.com?
I found my answer...when I log into the NBA app on my phone and try to watch, it gives me a more clear answer that it acknowledges I have paid for NBA League Pass from Dish and it is linked, but I need an "upgraded" subscription to League Pass for the preseason games. So I guess it is by design that Dish does not show the preseason games on League pass and that the contract Dish has signed for league pass is explicitly for the regular season games. (I know the description for League Pass says regular season games, but I thought that was only by satellite and the preseason would have worked)
I plan on doing what I did last season. I ordered the more expensive arena feed version from the NBA website. It's worth it because you get to watch what's going on in the arena instead of just staring at the ad break slide on the Dish version. The main advantage to ordering from the website is you can go on a month by month basis and cancel if you get tired of it.
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
One of the pro's I see is in a year with so many undefeated teams they have a good chance of an opening. Few years back you had lower divisions that didnt get a shot. I love collage football and I have no problem with that addition.
We are in what week 5 now? Been two real good ranked games to watch.....Other than that top 25 teams are playing nothing.
One of the pro's I see is in a year with so many undefeated teams they have a good chance of an opening. Few years back you had lower divisions that didnt get a shot. I love collage football and I have no problem with that addition.
We are in what week 5 now? Been two real good ranked games to watch.....Other than that top 25 teams are playing nothing.
It would be different if it was a game that you could play 2 or games each week, but when you only play 1 game a week, the larger playoff is Not a good thing ...
The season has how many games now, is it 14 ... then you want to play another 5 (with more to come) against Top 12 (eventually 24 teams) ... remember, the 5 games in the playoffs will be the hardest games all year and back to back.
For example, IF Ohio State should win it all this year ... they play 5 teams in the Top 25, plus they would play 5 more to win it all, depending on how the ranking shake out and if Bye weeks are given.
Thats 10 Ranked teams ... in one year ...
I don't see that happening very often ...
Edit, Bama plays 4, Georgia plays 3, But Ole Miss plays 5 (didn't expect to see that)
That said, I don't see the Buckeyes winning it all this year.
It would be different if it was a game that you could play 2 or games each week, but when you only play 1 game a week, the larger playoff is Not a good thing ...
The season has how many games now, is it 14 ... then you want to play another 5 (with more to come) against Top 12 (eventually 24 teams) ... remember, the 5 games in the playoffs will be the hardest games all year and back to back.
For example, IF Ohio State should win it all this year ... they play 5 teams in the Top 25, plus they would play 5 more to win it all, depending on how the ranking shake out and if Bye weeks are given.
Thats 10 Ranked teams ... in one year ...
I don't see that happening very often ...
That said, I don't see the Buckeyes winning it all this year.
Yes anyone here knows you 100%....Astros failed no posting...Ohio state loses we hear it.....Its ok....Its called an opinion....I have one so do you.....Problem is?
Yes anyone here knows you 100%....Astros failed no posting...Ohio state loses we hear it.....Its ok....Its called an opinion....I have one so do you.....Problem is?
IF they go to 24 teams, and it looks like they will soon ....
Do we Really want Teams with 3 and 4 losses in the Playoffs ?
Is a 3-4 Loss team one thats able to win 4-5 more games against Top teams ?
One of the pro's I see is in a year with so many undefeated teams they have a good chance of an opening. Few years back you had lower divisions that didnt get a shot. I love collage football and I have no problem with that addition.
A 12 team playoff net should catch any undefeated team. The 12 team playoff also exposed that rankings suck. I mean, we kind of knew already that the rankings weren't particularly reproducible, but we now have the empirical evidence that the rankings suck because judging who is the best among a mickey mouse scheduled football season isn't a rational endeavor. So the 12 team playoff ensures most teams that should make it, do, including the mid-major undefeated team. 8 teams should be able to work as well, but puts greater risk at OSU and Alabama missing the playoff... can't have that.
Which is the run up to my main problem with the 24 team set up is that it is designed to keep the OSU's and Alabama's from missing the playoff. The cartels are ensuring widespread participation for their own cartels to increase the monetary reward to themselves. It is fixing the system while not fixing the outcomes, merely making the regular season game outcomes virtually irrelevant. Sure, a bye for winning the conference would be nice, but we've already seen that byes aren't that influential.
That is college football in a nutshell. Again, college football isn't about competition, it is about revenue. The entire setup is about making money, from regular season squash games against local jobbers like the WWF days to tax exempt bowl games.
And to add to the first world woes, the college football cartels have made being a College Football fan even more expensive... so they can get paid more.
For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
I thought I would come here and find lots of complaints about the update to the dish anywhere mobile app, but am not seeing any. It used to look just like the desktop webpage. Now you can no longer filter by sports channels or movie channels. Plus that they made it look like a big button telephone and you see fewer channels in the screen which requires more scrolling. Yes I realize you can look at sports then select which sport you want to look at, I just liked being able to see all sporting events in the guide with all other channels being filtered out. Am I alone in the wilderness on this?
Apple has finally released their Apple TV 4K with built-in Siri and a microphone so it can respond to your queries even if you don't have the remote. It also increases in price, to $299. I had been planning on updating my current Apple TV 4K streamers, but that's $600 for the two of them, and that's a pass at this point.
At $299, it had better come with 256 GB of Storage, Gigabit (or better) Ethernet, the latest HDMI tech and standards, and one year of free Apple One. But it probably won't…
Not a bit. IMO, Apple's are slow to boot up. Time is about the same with 1st gen and 3rd. Roku runs rings around them in that department. I only reason I stuck, is the Apple infrastructure, which has it's definite advantages. But $300 is a deal breaker. Later, Apple!
they all do that anyways.. ever notice your cell phone slows down when you come up for an upgrade.. . apple's been making money off of software and not hardware for a while
Not a bit. IMO, Apple's are slow to boot up. Time is about the same with 1st gen and 3rd. Roku runs rings around them in that department. I only reason I stuck, is the Apple infrastructure, which has it's definite advantages. But $300 is a deal breaker. Later, Apple!
Yeah, they boot up a bit slower than Roku, but the OS does a lot more, so it makes sense. How often are you booting them up that is a differentiator? Aside from OS updates, mine are on all the time. I will say the ATV4K is generally quicker than the Roku Ultras I have, when it comes to launching apps and responsiveness, not that the Roku is sluggish.
I assume you mean services, like iCloud and Apple Music, and not actual software sales. Services have been growing quickly for Apple, but hardware still brings home the bacon. As for where Apple's revenue comes from, the iPhone is still king with 49.58% of revenue as of June 2026. Services comes in second with 28%. iPad, Mac, and Wearables/Home makes up the rest. So, that is 72% coming from hardware. Their profit margin is around 25%, FWIW.
I am skeptical the AppleTV 4k makes them much money on the hardware though, which I suspect is what you were getting at.
Just checked my account and it shows mgm+ at 8.00 per month, but that has red line drawn thru it and shows 0.00 per month. But it doesn't say how long this lasts,...... 1 month, 3 months, forever. I called customer service to get an answer, and they said nothing like that exists. Should I add the offer or not? Already paying them too much, but want to take advantage of something free.
Just checked my account and it shows mgm+ at 8.00 per month, but that has red line drawn thru it and shows 0.00 per month. But it doesn't say how long this lasts,...... 1 month, 3 months, forever. I called customer service to get an answer, and they said nothing like that exists. Should I add the offer or not? Already paying them too much, but want to take advantage of something free.
Not for me, mines has no mention of how long aka the offer period and the Terms and conditions the $0.00 is good for. All I see is one can lose $5.00 if you decide to remove it before day 31 after you add it to the account.
Not for me, mines has no mention of how long aka the offer period and the Terms and conditions the $0.00 is good for. All I see is one can lose $5.00 if you decide to remove it before day 31 after you add it to the account.
You have a different offer that is free for a shorter timeframe which is different than the one that I and bnewt saw without defining the promotion period as I sent the question to DISH Care via Facebook Messenger and this is the response I got back 20 minutes ago.