VIP622 - Confirmed and Rumoured New Features

[Tom Bombadil]

If they dumped it, then they wouldn't be able to advertise it like this:

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/vod/movies/index.shtml

I love some of the answers given in the VOD FAQ:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/vod/faq/index.shtml

Q: "If I already rented a movie, do I have to pay to watch it again?"
A: You can watch it as often as you like in the 24 hours after you rent it.

Yeah, I'm going pay my $4.99 and watch it 7 times in 24 hours ... Yeeeee Haaawwww!

Q: "What is Video On Demand?"
A: Video On Demand will supercharge your DVR, giving you the power to enjoy movies and other programs whenever you want. This new feature will also change the way you interact with your DVR.

My DVR and I are much more intimate now that I have VOD.

Q: "Can I delete a movie I never want to watch?"
A: Not at this time.

And don't hold your breath waiting for this feature!

 

[MikeD-C05]

What ever happened to the "Best of Dish" feature they had worked on a few months back? I think it was supposed to be like a tivo like feature where it would record shows on its own and store them on the hard drive that Dish uses. Now that would be pretty cool if it recorded shows based on your search criteria . OF course it would be free since it would be recorded from channels you already subscribe to. They could use this instead of pay per views that are more expensive than ordering from the guide or the internet.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If they offered a library of movies, at different prices levels, say through Dish 100, and you could select which were d/l to your DVR, it would be a lot more enticing.

Or at least a genre selection for the type of movies you'd be most interested in.

Has anyone viewed one and could report on the picture quality? I would expect these to exceed the PQ of the standard SD PPV movies. If they approached DVD quality, then at least they might make me think twice about renting a DVD given the convenience of VOD.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

If they offered a library of movies, at different prices levels, say through Dish 100, and you could select which were d/l to your DVR, it would be a lot more enticing.

Or at least a genre selection for the type of movies you'd be most interested in.

Has anyone viewed one and could report on the picture quality? I would expect these to exceed the PQ of the standard SD PPV movies. If they approached DVD quality, then at least they might make me think twice about renting a DVD given the convenience of VOD.

They dont look very good at all...Over compressed 480i on a 60" HDTV

 

[ralfyguy]

Now I understand the $4.99 no phone line fee. If they averaged one show per customer/month, means they get their monthly $4.99 one way or the other. Basicially I'm renting one show a month, but can't watch it!

 

[Stargazer]

I think they should offer a PPV package where you can have unlimited PPV's for one price per month. I thought this was going to be offered (at least on Directv).

 

[MikeD-C05]

Or how about what I read that NEtflix is going to do. I read they will soon offer receivers that hook to the internet. You will still pay the same price as before for a dvd subscription. Say you rent three at a time for 17.99 a month. They will soon down load the movies on to your receiver hard drive at night . You will be able to watch them as much as you want with all the features like a dvr. Once you turn it in over the internet , they will download another one to your receiver that night one for one, or all three for all three . NO more returning them in an envelope etc.

Now why can't Dish do this with their hard drive space? They could charge a set fee just like Netflix does and do the same exact thing with down loading them over the satellite at night. It would give you the latest pay per views for a set subscription price: 3 at a time for 17.99 a month, or one at a time for 9.99 a month, etc. Think of all the people that would sub to this, instead of say the premium movie packs. This could be a way to compete with either Netflix, Blockbuster or Movie beam from Disney.

Come on Dish this might be a good way to make some more money off of customers who might never take the top programming but are interested in the latest pay per views. You could even set up a queue on line on your website and allow people to add to their account and manage it online. THis could be a gold mine. Are you listening DISH?

 

[jdr01930]

Now this would be an interesting mad scientist experiment:
Use a disk partitioning utility to squeeze the VOD partition down, and increase the size of the DVR partition.... I wonder if the DVR would be able to use the additional space, and how the 622 would react when it tried to download the PPV movies and ran out of space in the VOD partition....

Any volunteers? - lol - didn't think so...

 

[jdr01930]

Gotta wonder if the marketing fluff over VOD generates more interest from potential customers than the addition HD DVR time they sacraficed would have.
VOD didn't interest me at all, and I thought 30 hours of HD recording time was a little low. Without VOD, HD recording time could have been advertised as much higher (40-50 hours instead of 30 hours maybe?). More HD time would have caught my eye much more so than VOD when I was checking these things out.

 

[Stargazer]

I think this would get a LOT of business and be very competitive. I think they are afraid that people would purchase the unlimited PPV pack but not purchase the movie packages. I think they make more on the movie packages than they do the PPV's unless I am mistaken.

 

[Pepper]

Now this would be an interesting mad scientist experiment:
Use a disk partitioning utility to squeeze the VOD partition down, and increase the size of the DVR partition.... I wonder if the DVR would be able to use the additional space, and how the 622 would react when it tried to download the PPV movies and ran out of space in the VOD partition....

Any volunteers? - lol - didn't think so...

Already tried this with the 522. If the partitions aren't EXACTLY the right size, it decides the disk is corrupt, wipes it and repartitions it back to factory settings.

 

[bsilvertab]

Does anyone know if Charlie will remove the $5.00 a month extra fee for no phone line if the ethernet is plugged in?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If I could buy a one at a time $14.99/mon sub for HD movies, I would think very seriously about it.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IT looks like the ATT service will use movie link for all their movies. I bet Dish will contract with the same service since they partner with Att anyway. It still think that Dish could make some money if they did a Netflix type of business. NEtflix is going to do receivers soon that download movies from the net so why couldn't Dish do the same? They are already set up for it all they would have to do is set up the structure and pricing and some advertising and they could do their version of Netflix type of pay per views for a set price monthly. Think of how many people would actually sub to Dish just so they could get the pay per views? Dish could make money from existing and new subs who would both be interested in this service.

 

[navychop]

From your description of "Best of Dish" it sounds like "the worst of Tivo."

No, you can't avoid the no-phone line fee by hooking up to the internet. Not yet, anyway.

 

[Stargazer]

I was thinking the same thing. I do not see why Dish Network couldn't offer this. This would be the start of IPTV for them.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I think they should offer a PPV package where you can have unlimited PPV's for one price per month. I thought this was going to be offered (at least on Directv).

Yeah - D* has a Titanium pack which is unlimited EVERYTHING. $7500/year.

 

[navychop]

"...I do not see why Dish Network couldn't offer this. This would be the start of IPTV for them...."

I'm hoping they will do just that, maybe in a year or so. Of course, I've also been known to buy lottery tickets.....

 

[NoBoB]

..Has anyone viewed one and could report on the picture quality? I would expect these to exceed the PQ of the standard SD PPV movies...

They *are* the SD PPV movies. The 9900's are just mirrors of the traditional PPV's in the 500's, using the same datastream (see the channel chart).

 

[long_time_DNC]

Yeah - D* has a Titanium pack which is unlimited EVERYTHING. $7500/year.

That is just astounding. I couldn't watch that much TV if I tried. Of course, to watch that much TV, I'd have to quit my job...then I couldn't afford to watch that much TV.