Dish Whole Home DVR

[mfoster711]

Any good rumors on when Dish might offer a Whole Home DVR service like Direct? I have come to realize that is the one feature I really can't live without. I am patient and will wait awhile but I must have Whole Home DVR eventually or else I will leave.

I have not heard any rumors which makes me think it is years away when you consider that Dish normally announces new technology years before they actually have it available to customers.

 

[TheKrell]

Rumor has it that the Sling Extender/Receiver is about to be released. It was demo'd at CES 2011 and reputedly works well. I have heard nothing regarding a super Sling loaded receiver to go with it (other than my wild speculation). So that would leave the 722/k and 922 as the only Dish receivers that can sling to the Sling Receiver. If that sort of Whole Home DVR would suffice, then you might not have long to wait.

 

[SarKen]

E* has a whole home DVR... I call it the whole home sneakernet DVR setup. This is what a CSR told me a while back.... Just move a recording to an EHD then connect that EHD to another DVR and move that recording from the EHD to that E* dvr.....

I understand this, but how the hell do I explain this to my retired parents.... I just tell them you can not do this E*...

 

[DishSubLA]

The EHD was never promoted by Dish nor even hinted at on any Tech Forum as a "Whole Home DVR" solution; It has always been promoted as an archival feature only.

The Sling Receiver 300 is certainly a start (I have been DYING to get it for a LONG time, and it will fill one need of our household) and while it may be all some subscribers want or need, it is certainly a band-aid towards a Whole Home DVR solution. Scott has said that Dish does have a prototype of a real Whole Home DVR solution, but he could not say when, if ever, it would be released.

 

[Cold Irons]

But, from my perspective, any of my monthly fees spent to develop this capability is just a waste of my money. In the 10 years that I've had Dish DVRs at the house, I've never even once wanted to start watching something in one room, and then move to another room in the middle of watching it.

What I would find useful is the ability to make a Timer defined at one DVR be a "whole house timer"; automatically setting the same timer on all 3 DVRs in the house.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IF they EVER come out with the sling extender I could get two and put one in my bedroom and one in my kid's room , effectively doing away with two additional receiver fees. We don't really use the other two 211ks that often and I would love to save the extra $14.00 a month. The only draw back is that you can only use one of the sling extenders at a time with the 722k /922 receivers.

 

[QCK]

Didn't Scott say there was going to be a big announcement this summer about this?

 

[KAB]

Didn't Scott say there was going to be a big announcement this summer about this?

He said sometime this year.

 

[CK SatGuy]

The 922 just got the S112 update which included "Initial Sling Extender" Support. So with that in mind, I can assume it'll be coming out any day now.

 

[gadams]

But, from my perspective, any of my monthly fees spent to develop this capability is just a waste of my money. In the 10 years that I've had Dish DVRs at the house, I've never even once wanted to start watching something in one room, and then move to another room in the middle of watching it.

What I would find useful is the ability to make a Timer defined at one DVR be a "whole house timer"; automatically setting the same timer on all 3 DVRs in the house.

I think you miss the point here. Lots of people have more than 2 TVs, many if not all of them HD. Dish's current solutions all assume that TV2 is SD; the Sling Receiver will be the first product that will allow HD to a second TV. Although multiple TVs can tune to the TV2 output (in SD), they all have to watch the same program. Also, Dish's current receivers are limited to recording 2 *satellite* programs simultaneously + 2 OTA; I have personally been bitten many times by wanting to record/watch 3 or 4 simultaneous satellite channels, because the stuff you want to watch is always on at the same time. One workaround to that it to have multiple DVRs, but then you have to play the game of watching it where you recorded it, plus have a complex setup where each TV might be both a TV1 and a TV2. Madness.

A Whole Home DVR would have 3-4 satellite tuners, a *really* large hard drive, and the ability for EACH TV to watch any program in HD independent of what any other TV is watching.

 

[mike123abc]

Rumors of a true whole home DVR have been swirling around Dish for a year now, I hoped they would show one at CES. Perhaps they will have something to show at Team Summit (their dealer convention).

 

[smitbret]

And by the time you get done paying $17/month for each receiver in the house, who could afford to use E*'s Whole Home DVR?

 

[MikeD-C05]

IF DISH could do HD Over coax and then create a 4 sat tuners/4 ota tuners dvr , then you wouldn't need more than one receiver. OF course with DISH there is ALWAYS another new FEE, just waiting in the wings and I 'm sure it would be more than Directv's $3.00 Multi-view FEE. Supposedly DISH isn't charging any monthly fee for the sling extender, according to what Scott said a while back.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Let's face it Dish could come out with a 1 receiver unit. It could have 4 satellite tuners, and 2 OTA tuners. Have HD coaxial output to 4 tv's, with true whole home DVR at all locations, not only at the main unit. And people would still not be happy.

Dish has a unit that is far more flexible than anything Direct has. Yes it has it's limitations, so does Direct with there whole home err "multi room view". I install Direct and Dish, I have Dish at home and have not seen anything that makes me want to change yet.

 

[smitbret]

Let's face it Dish could come out with a 1 receiver unit. It could have 4 satellite tuners, and 2 OTA tuners. Have HD coaxial output to 4 tv's, with true whole home DVR at all locations, not only at the main unit. And people would still not be happy.

Dish has a unit that is far more flexible than anything Direct has. Yes it has it's limitations, so does Direct with there whole home err "multi room view". I install Direct and Dish, I have Dish at home and have not seen anything that makes me want to change yet.

What is it about the D* MRV that Dish can even compete with? I just dropped Dish, mostly because of MRV, and it has been all that I expected.

 

[KAB]

What is it about the D* MRV that Dish can even compete with? I just dropped Dish, mostly because of MRV, and it has been all that I expected.

They are probably waiting til they can get it right, without compromises.

 

[SandFarmer]

Sling is a "Gimick". DISH/Echostar or Echostar/DISH is not that smart.

 

[brad1138]

I asked an E* engineer at a dish seminar last month about this exact thing. E* receivers already link through the power lines and can communicate at broadband speeds. It seems like everything is in place for MRV. They don't need to use Sling technology for it at all. He said "It isn't as easy as paying someone $30,000 to write the code" I don't buy that. I think it is just around the corner and that he couldn't talk about it.

MRV is the first time in over 10 years that we have been selling & installing both that we have found a compelling reason to sign people up for or switch them to D*(other than NFL Sunday ticket, but we see very little interest in that anymore). E* knows they are loosing customer because of it. There is supposed to be some big announcements at Team Summit this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed just for this.

Brad

 

[Tampa8]

I agree much more with the possibility of making a timer be applied to all receivers. I don't deny, watching a recorded program from one receiver, and being able to watch it at another at times could be useful, but it for me would be rare. I say recorded, because if I am watching something live in one room, seems easy enough to wait for a commercial and then watch that program in the other room....OR plan ahead and leave the other receiver on the channel I will be watching when I come in. I actually do this for Around the Horn and PTI. I can only speak for myself of course, but a whole house system is nothing I am waiting for.

And to add to that, I would not want to give up having two receivers that can in total record four Sat channels, PLUS two OTA. Nor would I ever want just a 722 for instance, even if it could do 2nd tuner HD, because if it fails, no TV.

 

[mike123abc]

If the whole home DVR was included with the base package (plus probably a $10 DVR fee like the 922) it would be a major selling point for Dish if they could do 4+ TVs without added monthly fees.