Is Dishanywhere down?

[docdaddy]

I'm on the road, in a hotel, was watching TV on my computer via Dishanywhere. Suddenly it just stopped. I got out of the app, tried to go back to dishanywhere.com, and i can't get it to come up.

Just me or is the site/app down?

 

[docdaddy]

NVM - it's back up again. Sorry for taking up the electronic space.

 

[TheKrell]

NVM - it's back up again. Sorry for taking up the electronic space.

I've had a hell of a time staying connected for more than 12 hrs when I'm in hotels. I like to leave my laptop in my room, when I'm there for days, and leave stuff running like my VPN to work, email, terminal windows on my servers, etc. The connection invariably gets severed after some number of hours. Perhaps you suffered the same indignity.

 

[Tampa8]

I've had a hell of a time staying connected for more than 12 hrs when I'm in hotels. I like to leave my laptop in my room, when I'm there for days, and leave stuff running like my VPN to work, email, terminal windows on my servers, etc. The connection invariably gets severed after some number of hours. Perhaps you suffered the same indignity.

Perhaps if you stopped staying here the internet would be better.... LMAO

 

[DishSubLA]

I've found out the hard way that when I attempt to watch Live TV (stream from home to my remote location) my DishAnywhere just can't stay connected and freezes and loses connection over and over again. Then I immediately launch my SlingPlayer (on the same phone) to access the very same Hopper SW DVR (yes I have a Slingbox connected to that DVR and a TiVo), and the Slingbox/Slingplayer streams reliably. Yes, a few hiccups as the Slingbox adapts to the connection, but time and again, the Slingbox comes through for me when the DishPlayer won't, and in the same remote location and conditions. To be fair, there are times when DA will stream live well, but on many occasions when my DA is buggy as heck and keeps "losing connection" and just dumps and goes to the Home screen after failing to stream LiveTV after many attempts (I'll try 5 or 6 times before I give up in frustration), I switch to the SlingPlayer and my Slingbox is always a superior experience. Of course, I've had no problems with recordings loaded onto my mobile devices using DA and playing them back. That features seems really solid in my experience, but not accessing the DVR for LIVE TV or LIVE playback of recordings on the DVR. That part is truly depends upon the mode of my DA App, like when a cat feels like moving in its own good time.

The irony, as everyone on this fourm knows, is that DA uses the very same Sling Media technology as the Slingbox and SlingPlayers. I just chalk it up to DA being a far more heave and complicated app (I really have no idea why it can't stream LiveTV as reliably and not losing connection as the Slingbox champ) , but I am glad I have the Slingbox connected to that very same DVR because it really is my backup from when DA is being flaky.

So yes, I do recommend that anyone with a Dish box capable of Sling to connect a Slingbox to the very same Dish box for greater chance of working properly. Ha, ha, ha? I think that was a joke, no?. The IRONY!

 

[ncted]

So yes, I do recommend that anyone with a Dish box capable of Sling to connect a Slingbox to the very same Dish box for greater chance of working properly. Ha, ha, ha? I think that was a joke, no?. The IRONY!

Having a backup method is never a bad idea in systems engineering. That said, I had the opposite experience. This makes me wonder if DA and Sling servers are hosted in different locations, and if the ISP at the remote locations makes more of a difference to which system will work better than anything else. Of course, that would be impossible to plan for, so your setup still offers the best mitigation of that risk.

 

[DishSubLA]

Having a backup method is never a bad idea in systems engineering. That said, I had the opposite experience. This makes me wonder if DA and Sling servers are hosted in different locations, and if the ISP at the remote locations makes more of a difference to which system will work better than anything else. Of course, that would be impossible to plan for, so your setup still offers the best mitigation of that risk.

I can't figure it out either. Interesting about how your experience is the opposite. Now I am really CLUELESS! I can say that as annoying as the DishAnywhere can be at times, it is still far more reliable than the TiVo app. I can't get stable, good quiality OOH streaming using the TiVo app, so I always have to use the Slingbox for watching from my TiVo's. The one thing the TiVo app does provide (if you have the built-in feature TiVo boxes or the no longer avialable external TiVo Stream) is transferring recordings to mobile devices, so it is still good for that. TiVo app good for use on my LAN, but too troublesome and lousy PQ for OOH streaming.

I don't think it is too much to ask for these services like DA and TiVo app to work well at least 95% of the time, but often it does not even reach that level of reliability, at least for the streaming part. The recordings loaded on mobile pars work very well for both products.

 

[ncted]

I can't figure it out either. Interesting about how your experience is the opposite. Now I am really CLUELESS! I can say that as annoying as the DishAnywhere can be at times, it is still far more reliable than the TiVo app. I can't get stable, good quiality OOH streaming using the TiVo app, so I always have to use the Slingbox for watching from my TiVo's. The one thing the TiVo app does provide (if you have the built-in feature TiVo boxes or the no longer avialable external TiVo Stream) is transferring recordings to mobile devices, so it is still good for that. TiVo app good for use on my LAN, but too troublesome and lousy PQ for OOH streaming.

I don't think it is too much to ask for these services like DA and TiVo app to work well at least 95% of the time, but often it does not even reach that level of reliability, at least for the streaming part. The recordings loaded on mobile pars work very well for both products.

I never got the OOH streaming to work well enough when I had a Tivo Stream, but I really appreciated being able to download for offline viewing when away from home. I wish DA offered that.

 

[DishSubLA]

I never got the OOH streaming to work well enough when I had a Tivo Stream, but I really appreciated being able to download for offline viewing when away from home. I wish DA offered that.

If I'm not mistaken, DA does offer that. I have a lot of videos and have watched many videos OFFLine with my tablet and phone, unless there is a misunderstanding. Both the TiVo app/Stream built-in or stand alone and DA offer transferring recordings onto mobile apps.

Now a good thing about the DA is that you can have the DVR perform the transcoding immediately after the DVR finishes recording so that when you go to make the transfer, it is a very fast process because since the trans-coding has already been done, it is a matter of just transferring that file to the mobile device, and with my router's WiFi it takes only a few minutes for a 30min HD program, and less than 5min for a 60min recording. The "Prepare for Mobile" option is default ON for all DVR recordings. You can change that, but I've found leaving set for ALL DVR recordings to be the best overall for convenience.

I should add that if have recordings that have not been prepared by performing the trans-coding, you can still do so by selecting the recording from you DVR and from the info screen (I think because I have not had to manually do this in a long time) and select the Prepare for Mobile option. It will then immediately perform the trans-coding. It can take a while to trans-code, but when it is done all you have to do is transfer the recording and it will be fast.

Also, you can still transfer recordings from using you mobile device using DA to access you DVR recordings and then selecting the recordings you want to transfer and then select the TRANSFER option, it will then perform the entire process by first trans-coding, and then transferring that file to the mobile device. This, of course, takes time because of the long time it takes to trans-code, but DA/Hopper WS seems to perform the trans-code noticeably FASTER than my TiVo Stream. Perhaps the Bolt trans-codes faster because the TiVo Stream is older and I would imagine the faster processor in the Bolts trans-code faster than even the Roamio Plus and Pro.

Of course, you MUST use DA to access any transferred recordings, and they are available by tapping the TRANSFERS options and all your transferred recordings show ready for playback. I'm pretty sure having to access the transfers using the DA app is due to the content providers/owners who want those copyrighted programs LOCKED DOWN and not accessible by any other app such as VLC for Good Video app most commonly used by people to view and transfer personal, non-copyrighted recordings.

The TiVo Stream does not trans-code ahead of time (I don't know if the built-in Stream can trans-code ahead of time and save the file on the internal HDD). This means that when you go to transfer a recordings, it can take a long time to perform the trans-coding and then transfer that file to the mobile device. It is painfully slow compared to DA. With TiVo it can take almost a full half hour to transfer a 30min HD recording, and over half an hour for a 60min recording, and all because the process includes having to trans-code the recording each time you want to transfer it, and then after all that time and work does it perform the transfer.

Ok, chalk one up for the DA vs. TiVo offloading. But, seriously, DA does allow for offloading/transfers of your DVR recordings to a mobile device so you can playback withOUT any internet connection. It is the one feature that has worked flawlessly for me.

 

[ncted]

If I'm not mistaken, DA does offer that. I have a lot of videos and have watched many videos OFFLine with my tablet and phone, unless there is a misunderstanding. Both the TiVo app/Stream built-in or stand alone and DA offer transferring recordings onto mobile apps.

Now a good thing about the DA is that you can have the DVR perform the transcoding immediately after the DVR finishes recording so that when you go to make the transfer, it is a very fast process because since the trans-coding has already been done, it is a matter of just transferring that file to the mobile device, and with my router's WiFi it takes only a few minutes for a 30min HD program, and less than 5min for a 60min recording. The "Prepare for Mobile" option is default ON for all DVR recordings. You can change that, but I've found leaving set for ALL DVR recordings to be the best overall for convenience.

I should add that if have recordings that have not been prepared by performing the trans-coding, you can still do so by selecting the recording from you DVR and from the info screen (I think because I have not had to manually do this in a long time) and select the Prepare for Mobile option. It will then immediately perform the trans-coding. It can take a while to trans-code, but when it is done all you have to do is transfer the recording and it will be fast.

Also, you can still transfer recordings from using you mobile device using DA to access you DVR recordings and then selecting the recordings you want to transfer and then select the TRANSFER option, it will then perform the entire process by first trans-coding, and then transferring that file to the mobile device. This, of course, takes time because of the long time it takes to trans-code, but DA/Hopper WS seems to perform the trans-code noticeably FASTER than my TiVo Stream. Perhaps the Bolt trans-codes faster because the TiVo Stream is older and I would imagine the faster processor in the Bolts trans-code faster than even the Roamio Plus and Pro.

Of course, you MUST use DA to access any transferred recordings, and they are available by tapping the TRANSFERS options and all your transferred recordings show ready for playback. I'm pretty sure having to access the transfers using the DA app is due to the content providers/owners who want those copyrighted programs LOCKED DOWN and not accessible by any other app such as VLC for Good Video app most commonly used by people to view and transfer personal, non-copyrighted recordings.

The TiVo Stream does not trans-code ahead of time (I don't know if the built-in Stream can trans-code ahead of time and save the file on the internal HDD). This means that when you go to transfer a recordings, it can take a long time to perform the trans-coding and then transfer that file to the mobile device. It is painfully slow compared to DA. With TiVo it can take almost a full half hour to transfer a 30min HD recording, and over half an hour for a 60min recording, and all because the process includes having to trans-code the recording each time you want to transfer it, and then after all that time and work does it perform the transfer.

Ok, chalk one up for the DA vs. TiVo offloading. But, seriously, DA does allow for offloading/transfers of your DVR recordings to a mobile device so you can playback withOUT any internet connection. It is the one feature that has worked flawlessly for me.

With TiVo, I could download when not home. With DA, I have to be home to download. Yes, the DA transfer happens faster due to automatic transcoding, but, with Tivo Stream, I could be anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, start a transfer when I go to sleep at night, and it would be done in the morning. Just a small thing really, but it was nice. DA works well otherwise. My wife downloads stuff every day to watch while she eats lunch. It is much better than the DirecTV Mobile DVR, which we also used to utilize. It is probably the biggest reason we went with Dish over other options.

 

[DishSubLA]

View attachment 130511

With TiVo, I could download when not home. With DA, I have to be home to download. Yes, the DA transfer happens faster due to automatic transcoding, but, with Tivo Stream, I could be anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, start a transfer when I go to sleep at night, and it would be done in the morning. Just a small thing really, but it was nice. DA works well otherwise. My wife downloads stuff every day to watch while she eats lunch. It is much better than the DirecTV Mobile DVR, which we also used to utilize. It is probably the biggest reason we went with Dish over other options.

Ah, interesting. So TiVo stream no reliable OOH streaming (my experience--but DA is getting that way now--just today 4 attempts to stream live TV with DA and it kept freezing the picture, but then I launched SlingPlayer and I got a rock solid stable live stream. UGH!) but reliable transfers from anywhere.

I suspect that in the case of Dish, since they are a program content to consumer service, the content provider/owners probably insisted on via at home only, and they would have leverage over Dish because Dish needs access to their content for Live TV to its subscribers. Those paranoid Hollywood content owners have nearly zero leverage over TiVo, but they do have leverage of the MSO's, and so the MSO's implement what the paranoid Hollywood wants, and then TiVo's are diminished in the INdirect route via MSO's, hence the huge PAIN of the CCI bytes implemented by the MSO's that can make even some "cable" channels NOT available for live OOH streaming via TiVo's Stream technology and, IIRC, won't transfer some programs because of the CCCI byte. Of course, Slingbox can stream ANYTHING via composite/component, and that makes it the best alternative.

It's always something, isn't it.