Just switched to Dish: First impressions and a few questions

[ONUOsFan]

So after having some problems lately with my HR20's, and just being generally dis-satisfied with a few aspects of D* for a few months, I decided to make the switch. I've been installed less than a day, but I thought I'd share my impressions, and I have a few questions I'm sure you guys can help me with.

Impressions (good):
- I doubled my available tuners for recording. I have OTA, so I have 4 on my 722k and two on the 612 upstairs - it only has one wire to it and I didn't have an SWM, so I only had one tuner on the HR20 up there.
- The box just seems to be more solid in general. Works faster, GUI is more polished (aesthetically speaking), etc.
- A lot of little things that are more user-friendly and intuitive, like showing available recording time instead of percentage.
- I won't keep paying for them, but since I have so many premiums on free trials (HBO/Showtime for 3 mos and Cinemax for 12), it's nice that they're in HD.
- The online DVR interface is pretty cool.
- SD picture quality seems to be better (big deal )

Impressions (bad):
- HD picture quality might be just slightly worse - washed out or something - but if it is, it's extremely marginal. I think it's just because I'm sitting here staring hard at it, trying to figure out if it's worse. I seem to remember thinking the same thing about D* with I first got it (although that was when they only had 9 MPEG2 HD channels, so it probably was worse).
- I think the way you initially record something is a little clunkier - having to set all of the options every time. I liked just hitting record once for a show and twice for a series.

Questions (some of these could fall under the "bad" category if I can't figure out better ways to do them:
- Is there a better way to tune OTA channels than putting in all 5 digits? I've got my favorites set on my Harmony, so it's not that big of a deal, but it would be nice if there was an easier way.
- I miss the "where am I?" feature - hitting play while watching a recording showing you where you're at - is there a way to do this with Dish without pausing?

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but that's what I've got for now...

Oh, one more - I'm sure there's a thread for this already, but are there any current rumors of new HD on Dish?

 

[space86]

Oh, one more - I'm sure there's a thread for this already, but are there any current rumors of new HD on Dish?

8 HD channels are currently uplinked, may go live this week

 

[simplexswrhs90]

You can't press play to see where you're at, but if you press "select" or "cancel" it'll bring up the info banner and will tell how much time is left on the right side of the banner.

 

[Juan]

make sure that the box is set 1080I The default is 480p

 

[ONUOsFan]

Here's another one... what's the deal with the countdown timer in the lower left? I thought that was supposed to be if the current tuner was getting ready to record, but it seems to be coming up when any tuner is getting ready to record... any way to turn that off?

 

[space86]

Here's another one... what's the deal with the countdown timer in the lower left? I thought that was supposed to be if the current tuner was getting ready to record, but it seems to be coming up when any tuner is getting ready to record... any way to turn that off?

Your receiver may be in single mode, if it is in dual mode it should not do that.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Your receiver may be in single mode, if it is in dual mode it should not do that.

It is in single mode because it's only hooked up to one TV, but there are four available tuners, right? And it's not changing the tuner I'm on when it comes up, so why does it need to warn me?

One more: is there a screensaver when something is paused? I paused a football game for 40 minutes today and nothing ever came up...

 

[KKlare]

OTA channels can be uniquely addressed with four digits. For example, 012-04 is 0124, leading zero required but not on the sub-channel. If you want the satellite version just use the first 3 digit or just 1 or 2 digit for LIL channels SD or HD if that exists, 4 for 004-00.
-Ken

 

[Todd Nicholson]

To get rid of the countdown timer, just press cancel and it will clear it off the screen.

 

[bebop]

The countdown notifies you in single-mode because you could easily change to that tuner and at least you know ahead of time.

You can do the OTA locals with 1 or 2 buttons if you only have the OTA channels in that range appearing (for instance, if you have locals non-ota displaying only in the higner number range).

No screensaver. I turn off my tv if I'm going to be gone for 40 minutes or more! What kind of HDTV do you have?

 

[ONUOsFan]

No screensaver. I turn off my tv if I'm going to be gone for 40 minutes or more! What kind of HDTV do you have?

It wasn't a planned thing - paused it "for a minute," and then got distracted by the kids, etc... I have a DLP - I don't normally pause it for that long, but I think it was only a few minutes before the screensaver came on with the HR20 - just thought I'd ask...

 

[ONUOsFan]

8 HD channels are currently uplinked, may go live this week

So, what are they? Sorry, I'm looking at the uplink center, but I don't think I know how to read it...?

 

[jdmacor]

So, what are they? Sorry, I'm looking at the uplink center, but I don't think I know how to read it...?

We don't really know. The channels are showing something, but it is scrambled. Speculation on what they are has varied.

 

[bebop]

It wasn't a planned thing - paused it "for a minute," and then got distracted by the kids, etc... I have a DLP - I don't normally pause it for that long, but I think it was only a few minutes before the screensaver came on with the HR20 - just thought I'd ask...

Apparently DLP doesn't have burn-in issues, so it's more an issue of what you choose to leave on the screen.

HDTV Quality - Burn In - DLP HDTV Has No Burn In

 

[Poke]

make sure that the box is set 1080I The default is 480p

Yeah sounds simple but gets overlooked all the time.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Apparently DLP doesn't have burn-in issues, so it's more an issue of what you choose to leave on the screen.

HDTV Quality - Burn In - DLP HDTV Has No Burn In

I know this It was one of the reasons I got a DLP at the time. Was just asking out of curiosity...

Yeah sounds simple but gets overlooked all the time.

Trust me, I would have noticed if that was the issue and figured it out, even if the tech hadn't already done it when he set it up.

 

[Z06_Pilot]

Apparently DLP doesn't have burn-in issues, so it's more an issue of what you choose to leave on the screen.

HDTV Quality - Burn In - DLP HDTV Has No Burn In

correct! I have left something in pause mode for an hour or more(same as OP, got distracted by something and took awhile to come back).

very nice DLP feature indeed

 

[Harmeister]

There is a screen saver that will kick in eventually, but I don't know if there is a way to set the timer on it. And by eventually, I'm talking in the realm of several hours.

 

[ONUOsFan]

So, after having been installed now for almost a week, I've come to some conclusions:

1. HD picture quality varies greatly channel to channel, and some are far worse than DirecTV - at least when they're moving... block city. However, most are fine and I'm probably the only one watching my TV that will ever notice, not to mention that 85% or so of what I watch I get OTA anyway, so it's not an issue.

2. Dish's software people don't think that anyone might ever watch a recorded program while it's still on. We typically let a show go just long enough so that we can skip all commercials (15 min. for an hour show, etc) and then start to watch it while it's still recording. There are two problems I've found with this (or maybe I just don't know what I'm doing?): First, if I click on View, it takes me to the program live, wherever it is at that point. This is pointless - I wouldn't bother to record a show if I just wanted to jump into it in the middle, and it can be a real bummer if it's a reality show with "results" at the end or a game. Second, if I start to watch a program while it's still being recorded by hitting "start over" and don't finish it, the "resume" option is not there when I go back to finish it. I have to start at the beginning and FF to get to where I was. Very annoying.

Having said that (and what I said in my previous posts), I still think I definitely made the right decision. I'm getting more for my money, both in terms of total channels and HD channels - at least with my package - not to mention available tuners. And even if I wasn't , all the channels and PQ in the world are no good if you can't watch what you have, and my ability to do that on my HR20's was spotty at best for the last three months, with multiple issues across both of my boxes (and one replacement unit), especially with recordings.

 

[jcoppola]

Just hit the DVR button twice, it will bring up a list of recorded programs plus at the top of the list the one you are recording. From here when you select it you will get the option to play from the begining.