Some Interesting Dish Info

[TheForce]

Dirty Turbin

39.99 no thanks who the hell stores that much TV anyway.

I was a DVHS junkie a few years ago and have over 500 tapes of movies. Some people collect DVD's not me. I collected DVHS HD movies and other shows. When the HDTIVO came along it was a major consideration that it allowed unlimited storage from the start. The cost was considerably more than $39.95 per life unless you hacked your own drive software. DirtyTurbin- I'm sure you don't collect stamps or coins either but who the hell are you to pooh pooh others that do. It's their hobby and the fact that you may think it its a waste of money is of no interest to those that do. You're at the wrong party, pal. And that goes for anyone else who doesn't want to participate in additional HD capacity for their DVR at a fee those interested find quite fair! Time for you all to go home and let the rest of us play.

 

[wtb955]

Ok Scott (or anyone who can answer), small question. How many hours of storage per GB? Say 10 hours per 100 GB? Thanks guys.

 

[TheForce]

Paul Smith- Aside from the fact that I believe you will pay the $40 anyway, quietly too. But why are you so down on E* for making this available at $40. Do you bitch like this every time you buy an accessory for your car? for your computer? Heck I wanted a wheel mouse a few years ago. I suppose when they came out you were down on the mouth at having to pay $40 just to add a wheel to a perfectly good mouse without one? Give us a break already, I know your background and this attitude of yours is not normal for you. You were always a help back when we were adding HD capacity to the 921 that was stuck on 250G internal. We shared ideas on it and I never heard you complain that it cost a bunch to make the formatting work for that. Maybe you juist hate paying the money to Dish? Maybe you are suddenly strapped for disposable income. Don't need to know your reasons but a simple " I won't buy anything new for my DVR unless it's free, goodbye folks! Wake me up when Dish is giving away their products and services." is all you have to say as you leave the party.

I am thrilled at having this feature along with all the HD content Dish keeps adding. Maybe Cable has this feature for free but make no mistake about it, they do not have the quality of service and charge more for what they do have than Dish, at least around here. One thing's certain, Dish Network delivers. More than just advertisements that promise idiotic numbers some time in the future.


And PS- Scott- thanks much for your continued support on the facts with this much anticipated add on to my DVR. Years ago, I had to do much of my own tracking but today, I just rely on you and other staff members for it. I am happy to contribute to satellite guys each year. It is worth it.

 

[TheForce]

How many hours of storage per GB?

Not easy as the question since it varies, SD, HD, MP2, MP4 Could be 4 different mixtures of program per Gb. What you stated is close for HD MP2 program.

 

[yaz96]

So if you dont like it dont order it. I don't know what else to tell you.

There are lots of R&D costs involved with this feature that MOST folks will not use. (Hell most folks who have an HDTV think they are watching HDTV even though they dont have any programming or tuner feeding their TV's HD)

In addition there will be an increase of support calls because of this feature.

This feature was created because of the requests of our hard core users.

I find it funny the ones who are upset about spending $40 onetime to turn this new feature on are some of the same folks telling us how they were going to build these multi terabyte HD libraries.

I could see complaints if it was a monthly fee, but for a one time setup fee it is really not to bad.

The thing is, those hard core users are us! The customers who spend the most on equipment and the most on programming each month. We give the most to DISH, and they turn around and charge us another unnecessary fee. We aren't going to be jamming their phone lines with support calls, we have SatelliteGuys!

Our monthly receiver/DVR fees should cover any R&D costs, for as you say, a feature that most folks will not use. Hell, they get those fees each month from everyone! That's alot of dough!

So, once again, as a loyal customer who gets shafted when it comes to upgrading equipment by having to pay more than a new customer, then, having our 1yr old or less equipment devalued to next to nothing, and getting nothing in return, DISH gives it to us again. And yet, the thing is, we'll eventually break down and pay their damn fee!

DISH please throw us a bone sometime.......please! But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[rjruby]

39.99 no thanks who the hell stores that much TV anyway.

I'll pay it to order to be able to archive all 6 Star Wars film in HD plus others not available on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

 

[riffjim4069]

Isn't that sweet. we'll all have terrabyte upon terrabyte of movies and tv shows archived, and as has been said in this thread much earlier, we'll all be customers for life

This is what is so confusing about the $39.99 enabling fee - it is a horrible business model. If I were E*, I would include this as a basic feature of each and every 622/722...and I would exploit this fact in my advertising. Wouldn't E* want all of their 622/722s to use this feature? It would make customers less likely to terminate service knowing their terabyte sized libraries would be rendered useless.

I would only pay the $40 enabling fee if E* were to vastly improve their SD and DishHD PQ.

 

[VinceT3]

So if you dont like it dont order it. I don't know what else to tell you.

Understood and I probably won't.

There are lots of R&D costs involved with this feature that MOST folks will not use.

I can't repeat this enough WE ALREADY PAY 6 DOLLARS PER DVR RECEIVER PER MONTH FOR NOOOOOOO GOOD REASON and if features aren't incuded for 6 dollars a month, I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like explained why the heck we pay 6 bux a month for each receiver?

 

[chicagofilms]

The reason this $40 fee is so off-putting is that it dramatically raises the cost of investment for external storage. I think most people will go with a 500GB solution since the drives can be had for $100-$120 and larger drives almost double the price. The enabling fee raises the total cost 30-40%.

On the other hand, many of us are bent over a barrel right now. I think I have 8-12 hours free due to saved content I have (I can think of 6 films in particular!

I'm not happy about it, but I'll get it because I need it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I really wonder, from a technical standpoint, how this one time enabling fee will be well, enabled. Its not really practical to push new firmware just to enable it, so I would assume a tier on the card to be flagged with an "OK" on "ERD". The receivers FW would check the card for the tier, if so, it unlocks the external recording features, if not, it stays locked up.

Come to think of it, I answered my own question!

You answered your own question. All smart cards in the house are written with a special house key which enables you to share your hard drives with all compatable receivers in your house.

 

[chicagofilms]

August 15

It seems like this is going to be a big day for Dish. External storage, move to mpg4 for many channels, new receiver, and a bunch of additional HD channels.

Is there going to some major new promotion coming? Like ad campaign, etc? Some revamp of their image? New website? Is there something special about August 15? Is it Dish's anniversary or something?

And why launch it all on a Wednesday?

I can't imagine all this new product launching without a great deal of fanfare from Dish.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I can't repeat this enough WE ALREADY PAY 6 DOLLARS PER DVR RECEIVER PER MONTH FOR NOOOOOOO GOOD REASON and if features aren't incuded for 6 dollars a month, I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like explained why the heck we pay 6 bux a month for each receiver?

Ok then go get a Tivo then..

Oh wait.. they charge $12 a month for the same thing...

You really cant win... (Star Trek Talk) Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

 

[Mr Tony]

And why launch it all on a Wednesday?

Dish does most of its stuff on Wednesdays (like making new channels available)

 

[roachxp]

I'll pay it to order to be able to archive all 6 Star Wars film in HD plus others not available on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

I'll only pay the 39.99 fee when E* improves their quality on the HD channels, almost everything in Lite right now, excpect ESPN which is supersized.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ill pay the $40 because I want it.

I feel the $40 is not too high for me, but for some on a budget its steep, and many I know with sat are on a budget because its generally cheaper. I guess maybe those arent the guys with HD or who would buy this feature.

I feel they should have figured cost, and charged to make some profit, I have no issue with that. If they could not do it for a reasonable cost just enable it and dont offer "official" support.

The fact they asked around about how much people would pay, thats a little low, since it falls under the "lets see how much we CAN charge" column.

 

[digitalartifact]

I'll only pay the 39.99 fee when E* improves their quality on the HD channels, almost everything in Lite right now, excpect ESPN which is supersized.

If you want top notch PQ then go by the DVD(s)... and you will not have to pay anything to E*...

However for 39.99... Not a bad deal at all considering I am one of 4 in my house and never seem to have space for me...

I do remember them saying something about adding folders to the DVR's at one point in time... anyone here any more about that?

 

[RandallA]

"For those of you who don't like the fee...

Don't pay it and don't archive/expand. Its cost money to develop software for a feature a minority of subs really want."

That's what I'm planning on doing it, I will pass on this one. And like I said before, this feature is for a minority group that are willing to pay.

 

[gadgtfreek]

"For those of you who don't like the fee...

Don't pay it and don't archive/expand. Its cost money to develop software for a feature a minority of subs really want."

That's what I'm planning on doing it, I will pass on this one. And like I said before, this feature is for a minority group that are willing to pay.

The other issue is, you know its gonna be buggy, new software always is. I might wait it out till all my new shows startup in October and see how happy people are, and give Dish time to fix it. Im not under pressure for recording space now, but will be come the fall.


Whats gonna be bad, if it is buggy, is all the threads we'll be seeing next month about people who paid $40 and have lost recordings. I really hope thats not the case, because people are gonna be po'd.

 

[TheForce]

"For those of you who don't like the fee...

Don't pay it and don't archive/expand. Its cost money to develop software for a feature a minority of subs really want."

That's what I'm planning on doing it, I will pass on this one. And like I said before, this feature is for a minority group that are willing to pay.

Now there's a vote in the negative that we can respect. No pissing or moaning, just a pass. The thing is, for those who say no for now, you can always change your mind if you find a need in a few months. Choice is a beautiful thing. At least you aren't being forced to pay for this through other elevated hidden charges and don't need it. However, if you make a big stink about the charge now and later pay it to have the feature, you come across as a real jerk.

 

[Poke]

Understood and I probably won't.



I can't repeat this enough WE ALREADY PAY 6 DOLLARS PER DVR RECEIVER PER MONTH FOR NOOOOOOO GOOD REASON and if features aren't incuded for 6 dollars a month, I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like explained why the heck we pay 6 bux a month for each receiver?

$6 bucks is nothing compared to what other TV Providers charge a month for their DVR's.