DVR network support possibility.......

[hzhao]

I am not sure if someone has mentioned this topic already. Did anyone know or has been discussed in Tech Fourm if in near future Dish will support network to share media between DVRs (like Tivo Media Option)?

Sorry if I duplicated the question here. Thanks in advance.

 

[Cyclone]

Name based recording is a challenge to them, and you expect them to be able to come up with Network program sharing? Hhehe hahah ahhahhahahhahahhhahahhhahhahahah

 

[GaryPen]

Ooh. Ooh. How about online scheduling? pffffffawwwwwwwwww. I tried to keep a straight face. Really!

 

[Jahntassa]

Agreed. It took months to even get the whole PiP deal running on the 522.

 

[hzhao]

So, I guess they put the USB ports there just for show. I am starting to wonder if those ports were ever soilded on the board inside

 

[Neutron]

It's just like the firewire ports on the 921. They are there but are useless.

Asking DISH for home networking option is like asking a tiger to become a vegetarian. It just isn't going to happen.

 

[dlsnyder]

There are some who have connected a USB keyboard to their 721 or 921 and have had some success with finding useful commands. From what I have read it seems to me like the remote is more useful than the keyboard.

 

[GaryPen]

Not for typing in search strings.

 

[SimpleSimon]

dlsynder: USB keyboard works on 721, but so far as I know, NOT on the 921. I've tried it and failed, and I've not seen any posts of anyone else doing it.

 

[bcshields]

They used to sell a keyboard for the 721 back in the day, didn't they?

Something to do with internet, I believe. Another idea they scrapped becuase they couldn't get the damn thing to work.

 

[GaryPen]

They still haven't gotten rid of the "internet" selection in the menu, though. (Although, it's grayed out.) I guess they like to remind everyone of their broken promises and/or ineptitude.

 

[SimpleSimon]

They still haven't gotten rid of the "internet" selection in the menu, though. (Although, it's grayed out.) I guess they like to remind everyone of their broken promises and/or ineptitude.

Yeah - and the 921 still has Menu-4-5 grayed out - that's the "DVHS Setup" that will now never happen.

 

[Mustang66]

Do the Tivo's you can get with DirectTV support the Home Media option? I seem to recall that they don't but maybe it's changed?

 

[Neutron]

Not officially. You can go over to the tivocommunity site and see how people have "hacked" the firmware to enable the USB ports using the stand alone tivo software.

I condone hacking that allows people to steal service, but this kind of hack seems harmless to me.

 

[GaryPen]

I condone hacking that allows people to steal service, ....

You should be ashamed of yourself, young man!

 

[Kagato]

Okay, if dish is hinting at it, this is my guess how encryption works on the 721 and 921. We know already that Dish decryptes the signal from the sat and then encryptes is again via the DVR functionality built into the broadcomm chipset. While a lot of effort goes into the CAS (Conditional Access System) on the sat content, my guess is not nearly as much goes into the system on the DVR it self. Afterall, you have to have paid for the programming in order to view it. The DES encryption on the drive is really there to keep you from extracting programs from the HD.

Afterall, you might put this Digital signal with half the PQ of the Analog feed from a BUD system on the internet.

At any rate, IF Dish uses the same DES keys on all the 721 and 921 units then they could shuttle around encrypted video between units. It's still not playable on you PC.

The max speed any network adapter would get is 12Mbit/sec Or 90 Megabytes per minute. And that's most likely wishful thinking. You could certainly send SD programs to other people. And Dish needs ZERO time to get networking working on the 721 or 921. The webserver that hosts the GPL code at dish runs on a 721.

The tech for doing it isn't hard... Until lawyers get involved. The recent FCC ruling may give a helping boost there, BUT dish does need to focus on getting the quirks out of the 721, and just getting the 921 to do what the spec sheet says it does.

 

[hzhao]

I think that is what Tivo does. Just transfer the files (encrypted) to other unit, and play back there. So, it does not have to be play over the network. I just wish Dish would do something like that. I guess, after all, it is just a wishful think.

Speak of Tivo, there is one thing that is interesting about this function. I have the Pionner DVD Recorder with Tivo. I can copy the recorded show to DVD-R, but when I try to copy the show that was tranfered from another Tivo, I can not do that, it will tell me it is the wrong format.

 

[Randy_B]

I just took a survey from SBC on an SBC/Dish DVR wireless network home entertainment package they must be considering. It wouldn't connect between DVRs but you could possibly bridge from one DVR to another via the wireless connection to the PC. All in all, it was a very interesting package they were proposing in the survey. Also included a possible DVR with DVD burner.

 

[GaryPen]

Perhaps SBC has some clout with Dish in terms of future product offerings. Maybe they can get Dish to finally utilize real STB developers. That would be great.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Yes, Gary, we CAN still dream.