networked DVRs

iml

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Sep 23, 2004
156
0
When is dish going to allow networked DVRs (one DVR can watch shows from another DVR)?

I have a 622 hooked to HDTV and a 722 hooked to a projector and it is a pain when I want to watch a show on the projector that happens to be on the 722.

You would think they would have that feature by now...did I miss it? :)
 
You can do this now with EHDs. But yes, networked or "whole house" DVRs would be REAL nice.
 
Blame content providers and the fact that the vast majority of people do not have any network of any kind, let alone a nice Ethernet that can give good speeds. Internet access (browsing) was supposed to be on the 721, and it never happened. Years later several boxes were manufactured without any internet browsing capability because it was something the vast majority of people didn't want in their DVR's. So, the forthcoming 922 is the first box to really have the potential to have web browsing after so many years. Most people wouldn't know an Ethernet from a USB adapter, and Dish aint gonna spend the money to make a good, reliable, fast network available in each home. And the excruciatingly slow Tivo networking can't even be close to citing as an example. Quite a few people hate it because it is so slow.
 
So, the forthcoming 922 is the first box to really have the potential to have web browsing after so many years.
I would quibble with that statement. The VIP receivers have the potential for web browsing, as well as network transfers of programs from one box to another. Dish even spent the money on the Homeplug mumbo jumbo for those who don't know squat about networking.

The mystery to me is why they added Homeplug rather than a faster, cheaper, and much more common technology such as 802-11g.
 
What they need is a media center DVR woudl be nice where you have one big central DVR that has all the cables and DVR and then you have satellite recivers that can feed off that and share content. DirecTV can do that between 2 DVRs whcih seems silly.
 
The mystery to me is why they added Homeplug rather than a faster, cheaper, and much more common technology such as 802-11g.
To the 802.11 part:
Those who know radio-wave use hard-lines
Have you ever tried to use 802.11 on consumer-grade equipment in a heavy-use area?
Dish didn't need any of those CS problems.

Homeplug is a crap shoot that will either work or not depending on the house wiring. An installer could know before he left if it didn't work.

Unlike 802.11 which could work while the installers there, then the neighbor Gamer/P2P kid gets home and starts his computer up and there goes that network...
 
Tried to setup a wireless connection for my son so he would use MRV on his D* hardware. Couldn't even get the adapter to link with the router, tried everything but nothing worked. Turned out that they have a wireless video baby monitor that uses the same frequency range and wiped out all 802.11b/g connections, found that out when I couldn't get laptops to connect either. Ended up going with powerline adapters to get it to work.
 
wireless can be problematic, I can understand that they don't want to support that

allowing one DVR to access another DVR shouldn't be that difficult :)

is anyone moving EHDs regularly for such things, I could always buy a couple USB "trays" and then just pop HDs in and out on each DVR ;)

the thermaltake blacX are awesome (never used them for DVR though)
 
wireless can be problematic, I can understand that they don't want to support that

allowing one DVR to access another DVR shouldn't be that difficult :)

is anyone moving EHDs regularly for such things, I could always buy a couple USB "trays" and then just pop HDs in and out on each DVR ;)

the thermaltake blacX are awesome (never used them for DVR though)
Thanks to the MPAA and other Content Producers requirements in Carriage contracts, Your above solution will not work.

When the recordings are made they are encrypted as well, binding them to the receiver that made them.

If the receiver turns back on with a different Hard Disk inside, it will regenerate new encryption key and dump the old ones, rendering the previously recorded stuff unwatchable.

Thank Dish, the MPAA and the rest of Hollywood as well as your Congress-critters
FYI: The battle to keep the right to do any of what you propose was fought years ago. Joe Q. Public lost by a big margin. So few rights are left in the digital realm.
 
I thought Dish was supposed to let you switch HDs between machines. Didn't that ever get implemented?

I still don't understand why carriers such as D* and E* didn't put up a unified fight against the content providers and demand that they be allowed to offer consumer-friendly equipment. Who else would the content providers do business with?
 
I thought Dish was supposed to let you switch HDs between machines. Didn't that ever get implemented?

I still don't understand why carriers such as D* and E* didn't put up a unified fight against the content providers and demand that they be allowed to offer consumer-friendly equipment. Who else would the content providers do business with?

From what I understand you can switch EHD's between receivers on the same account. Not sure which receivers EHD's are compatible with each other though.
 
A tech chat said they (Dish) are working on it- accessing over Ethernet between DVRs. I really want this yesterday. Sneakernet gets old, especially because you have to send in to the EHD first.
 
If they would've put the content providers in their place, Ethernet would've been a no-brainer. As would've the external HDs vs. the ridiculous system we have now, and had to wait a ridiculous time to get.

I think that the content providers must not actually know how to download bootlegs, because if they did they would know that all their efforts against them have been utterly ineffectual and thus are wasting time and money and annoying the public.
 
So does U-verse.
I don't like that this implementation is limited to one, non-expandable recording device. Ideally, I would want each receiver to be able to record (with 4 tuners like the 722k), and each receiver to be able to expand as well, which I think uverse is missing.