Dish / AT&T Homezone - New 1022 receiver

thowe21

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Feb 26, 2007
429
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Torrance, CA
Just saw the news to today. Dish Networks answer to TIVO/Amazon's Unbox. Looks pretty sweet.

http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=7910

What does everyone think?

Looks like it's only available to new Dish Customers through AT&T.

Where is the 622's VOD features that we were promised? Is Charlie leaving current Dish subscribers in the dark? I bet this is on the Chat list for 3/12.
 
eh, the only thing appealing to me is the remote DVR scheduling...
If it supported slingbox like features, then I would be interested.

Also i'll say this, I don't like that the Requirements for the At&t Homezone is...
you have to have a AT&T home phone line, and its not compatible with any other wireless routers but AT&T's. What does it need the phone line for?... just cause AT&T needs to sell more phone line service.... rant over
 
No HD bummer

Actually, according to their user guide, they have both SD and HD models available. So that is a positive, although I couldn't come across any specifics on the receivers except from a small posting in the Dish terms of use policy page (which I happened to google). Maybe someone else can find some details/specs on the two.

I don't understand why an AT&T router is required. It should be able to use any 802.11g/pre-n router. It seems like AT&T is trying to lock down the newest upcoming technology (Cingular and the iPhone, Dish and AT&T) so that it leaves everyone else in the dust. If your not paying the big monopoly (I mean company), then your screwed. I'm an AT&T high speed and Cingular wireless customer, but I think this is going too far. I hope Dish treats their current customers to something better soon or they might start getting a backlash from their own loyal subscribers.
 
Speaking as a former Homezone user, it's a great concept with poor implementation, imo.

The 'basics' were bad - the UI around the DVR and user guide were just really, really poor. Ex: on the 'my recordings' list, you couldn't sort or search at all. So, you had 130 hours of programming recorded and could only browse through it by date recorded. On the Guide, you could search, but the only option was to search by both Title and Description - so common words like 'House' brought back tons of episodes, none of which were the 'House' program you were looking for. You could only record things currently in the guide - no concept of 'Dishpass' or 'Wishlists'. Web connectivity was iffy for me - the required 2Wire router was dumbed down so much that you could make it work as needed and the Webremote functionality failed more often than it worked (and my dsl internet connection was very reliable and I'm very experienced at setting up networks). And twice, the box decided to just reformat itself and wipe out all of my recordings, mp3s, photos, etc. This was after using the product for 3 months.

The connectivity idea was good. The Yahoo Lauchcast integration was great - better than Sirrus or XM any day. The remote was awesome. The Akimbo content was entertaining. The Tech support guys were great. The ability to stream MP3s and photos was cool - but the basic usability around being a receiver/DVR just wasn't there. Those other features just don't matter a whole lot when the basics don't work.

I also don't think they are offering HD yet - at least they weren't a month ago when I cancelled, and I haven't seen anything released to indicate that's changed. If they are, that's a great step in the right direction.

In short, they are close to having a great product, but it's just not there yet. Hopefully they'll get there, but I got tired of waiting.
 

Happy 52 week high to DISH stock !

Pocket Dish

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