VOD Bandwidth Usage Question

[badpenguin]

Considering that half of the 1TB drive in the 922 receivers is reserved for Video On Demand and such, can someone tell me how much bandwidth is being consumed monthly by Dish pre-populating this content?

I ask because AT&T, in their never-ending quest to provide splendid customer service, has decided to start putting bandwidth caps on their customer's internet service. My DSL is capped at 150GB a month, anything over and I will get billed. If Dish is sending multi-gig of content every month, that might be a problem...

 

[lucavex]

That's actually a great question. I have Cox internet service but luckily they haven't joined the bandwidth cap bandwagon yet. Though I'm certain they will in the future. Knowing how much bandwidth is being used by my pair of 722k receivers would be really handy. Any Dish Internet Response folks care to chime in?

 

[TheKrell]

I'm just a customer so assume all the usual caveats. I thought the Dish VOD area was populated solely via satellite, so no ISP bandwidth would be consumed at all. "Your" free space on the DVR is not affected. I have noticed that, when I explicitly download something off the Internet, my available space goes down. The recording still doesn't show up in the My Recordings menu, though. I have to select the type of program, and then look in the My Downloads section, before I see the program. This is not the case on DRA where everything but Dish's reserved area shows up in the same place, even including the EHD.

 

[David Taylor]

I hadn't thought about that. I have also been with AT&T DSL. I'm switching to cable this week, though. If you are against bandwidth caps and have another option for internet service, you should vote with your dollars. That is the only way these companies will "get it".

 

[3HaloODST]

I hadn't thought about that. I have also been with AT&T DSL. I'm switching to cable this week, though. If you are against bandwidth caps and have another option for internet service, you should vote with your dollars. That is the only way these companies will "get it".

Yes, I am also dropping U-verse Internet for Charter, because AT&T SUCKS! So not only does their TV suck, now their Internet does as well.

 

[n0qcu]

The VOD is downloaded from the satellite ONLY. The only time broadband is used is when you pick a movie from the DISHonline choices menu.

 

[badpenguin]

The VOD is downloaded from the satellite ONLY. The only time broadband is used is when you pick a movie from the DISHonline choices menu.

Not to sound like I am doubting the word of a random complete stranger from the internet or anything, but you know this, how? Heh heh.

 

[mike123abc]

Not to sound like I am doubting the word of a random complete stranger from the internet or anything, but you know this, how? Heh heh.

Because if you do not have your receiver hooked up to the internet it will still get the VOD.

 

[DishSubLA]

The VOD is downloaded from the satellite ONLY. The only time broadband is used is when you pick a movie from the DISHonline choices menu.

+1. To the OP: Channel 1 VOD which is also the same as channel 501 VOD and the VOD that is accessible from the Dish Home portal--all PUSHED video--are all downloaded via satellite downloaded files, not streamed live. Satellite is far more efficient for the many HD movies and other content (huge data) that is PUSHED.

However, content requested from the Dish On Demand service--PULLED video--is sent via broadband internet connection. So, you only have to worry about your ISP's caps if you are PULLING video, meaning you are requesting content for download via the Dish On Demand menus.

 

[DishSubLA]

Because if you do not have your receiver hooked up to the internet it will still get the VOD.

Well said.

 

[badpenguin]

Because if you do not have your receiver hooked up to the internet it will still get the VOD.

Following that logic the guide data would always be downloaded via the sat uplink since if there is no internet...

I would still like some confirmation from an actual Dish employee. Otherwise I am going to have to do a month-long tcpdump on my firewall or some such

 

[Hall]

Following that logic the guide data would always be downloaded via the sat uplink since if there is no internet...

Guide data ALWAYS comes in via satellite. See below for more...

I would still like some confirmation from an actual Dish employee. Otherwise I am going to have to do a month-long tcpdump on my firewall or some such

Go look here, HD Movies On Demand, TV & Video On Demand - DISH Network. Note that it says VOD, via channel "1" or "501" is available on "512 (SD/DVR), 522, 612, 622, 625, 722 and 922 DVR receiver models". Take this for what it's worth, but the 522 and 625 (and maybe the 512) do NOT have broadband capabilities. How do they get the content then ?

 

[Tyralak]

Not to sound like I am doubting the word of a random complete stranger from the internet or anything, but you know this, how? Heh heh.

I'm an installer. Yeah, he's correct.

 

[badpenguin]

Guide data ALWAYS comes in via satellite. See below for more...

Dish charges $5 extra monthly per dvr if I don't have either a phone line or broadband to download guide data.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Dish charges $5 extra monthly per dvr if I don't have either a phone line or broadband to download guide data.

Again, guide data doesn't come over the phone line.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/247818-old-%245-00-phone-connection-fee.html

 

[badpenguin]

Again, guide data doesn't come over the phone line.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/247818-old-%245-00-phone-connection-fee.html

A reply in the same thread from an actual Dish representative says something different.. It might depend on how many dvrs you have, when your contract started, if you are paperless billing, yadda yadda yadda. At this point we are talking about something that is not relevant to the discussion any how, billing is not the same as where the guide data is getting transferred from, satellite or broadband. Furthermore, not relevant because guide data is not the same as pre-populated video-on-demand content.

Considering the information I have gotten in this thread is ambiguous at best, I think I will just ask Dish directly

 

[TheKrell]

Ambiguous? OK, ask Dish. You will not get a different answer out of a CSR unless they are wrong. When in conflict, this forum is always (so far as I have seen in many years) correct, while the CSRs sometimes don't know what they are talking about. (IRT team excepted of course. They are the best of the best IMHO.)

 

[Hall]

Dish charges $5 extra monthly per dvr if I don't have either a phone line or broadband [strike]to download guide data.[/strike]

There, I fixed that for you...

 

[Hall]

A reply in the same thread from an actual Dish representative says something different..

Just to be clear, Matt said this:

If you're still getting charged the $5 TV2 connection fee (aka phone line fee), we can remove the charge if you sign up for autopay and paperless billing. You can always send me a PM with any questions regarding it.

I must be missing some keywords like "guide" and "data"...

Considering the information I have gotten in this thread is ambiguous at best, I think I will just ask Dish directly

Ambiguous ? You take a snippet of information about one topic and lump it with a different topic. The root issue is you're confusing yourself...

 

[badpenguin]

The root issue is you're confusing yourself...

You certainly got that right.