New Dis sub-some observations

[Z06_Pilot]

first, thanks very much to the forum members who answered all my questions and concerns prior to getting my service. It really helped me in my decisions.

setup: dual 722k's, both operating in single mode, fedding a single HD TV. OTA module in each DVR, Gold 250 package with HD/SHO/HBO. 1TB WD Caviar EHD attached to each 722k via a Thermaltake blacbox docker.

The Good:

*HD PQ-wow. I really thought my TWC PQ for HD was great. Holy schniky's, this PQ is absolutely amazing.
*HD channels. the reason I left TWC was the switched digital they had to implement in order to get more HD channels with limited b/w. the choice for HD channels on Dish is staggering
*DVR's. fantastic, just wonderful. I have been a Tivo user since 1995, and thought I would never like another GUI as much. the 722k GUI is simply amazing. takes a little getting used to, but as others told me, the capabilties of these units are just amazing.
*recording cabability: this is my first time using OTA for my locals in HD, and they look slightly better than the dish versions(lack of compression, possibly?)
*it is amazing being able to record 4 HD programs at the same time on each of my 722k's. enough flexibility to handle anything I throw at it.
*the ability to use both the IR and RF remotes to control each 722k's TV1 output when operating in single mode
*EHD/just fantastic. SO MUCH better than the Tivo or Direct TV methodology. this is a really, really big selling point for Dish.

the Bad(well, not really bad, just niggles)
just a couple of missing Tivo nice to have's
*ability to recover a deleted program
*abilitiy to skip through to each program mark while in FF. far as I know with dish, 300x is the quickest I can FF
*with Tivo, when coming out of FF or rewind, the disk will back up the program about 3 seconds to account for the delay in you seeng where you want to stop, and pushing the button. very cool Tivo feature.

that's really it thus far. I will see how dish fares when heavy clouds come over and how well the system handles snow in a couple of months.

thanks again everyone!
Jeff

 

[CowboyDren]

Welcome aboard, man. Glad to hear that Omni OTA antenna is working out for you. You didn't mention whether the installer set you up on Eastern Arc (61.5/72.7/77 sats) or Western Arc (110, 119, 129). That will play into your likelihood for "rain fade" as it's commonly called.

Doesn't matter; between four each OTA and Sat tuners, you can make it up elsewhere or at another time! I'm jealous. I don't envy your need to juggle recordings across different boxes, though.

 

[JohnL]

Just thought I'd mention to use the Skip forward and back buttons. I'd much rather use those than FF or REW. Each Press jumps forward 30 seconds, enter a Commercial break and you can press the Skip forward button several times instead to trying to hit the end of the break perfectly. If you miss it with the Skip forward to can hit the skip back (each press is 10 seconds). This is much better than FF and REW, IMHO.

The Skip forward and Skip Back buttons have a secondary function as well. When the Guide is displayed. Pressing the Skip forward button jumps the guide forward 24 hours, Skip back moves it back 24 hours. Another Guide feature when displayed on screen, Enter a two digit number and then press the Right Arrow key and the guide will jump forward that number of Hours, this also works in reverse if you hit the Left Arrow Key instead.

John

 

[harshness]

the Bad(well, not really bad, just niggles)
just a couple of missing Tivo nice to have's
*ability to recover a deleted program

This takes getting used to. The real secret may be to mark programs that you don't want to go away as protected and not delete anything.

*abilitiy to skip through to each program mark while in FF. far as I know with dish, 300x is the quickest I can FF

Burning through a 2 hour movie in 24 seconds isn't fast enough? I agree that skip to mark would be handy, but it presumes that you've already set a mark. As a lone viewer, I'm usually happy with picking up where I left off.

*with Tivo, when coming out of FF or rewind, the disk will back up the program about 3 seconds to account for the delay in you seeng where you want to stop, and pushing the button. very cool Tivo feature.

This feature isn't working as well as it used to. It used to do some "compensation" but it appears to have lost that capability somewhere along the line. Even a pause seems to lose a frame.

 

[kb7oeb]

I agree that skip to mark would be handy, but it presumes that you've already set a mark.

Tivo has tick marks every 15 minutes that you can jump to

 

[Z06_Pilot]

Tivo has tick marks every 15 minutes that you can jump to

what's interesting to me is that the 722k also has hash marks every 15 minutes. you see them when you FF or rewind. would be nice to take it one more step and allow you to skip to them..

a very small thing quibble in an otherwise great DVR...