Whatever happend to - Dish network Home Head End?

[SouthRider]

Or at least I think it was called the "Home Head End" or something like it.

It was announced about the same time as the 942, and was supposed to be a box for the exterior of your home that would contain modular units that could be swapped out.

The modules were going to be : Tuners, hard drives, switches, etc.

Seemed like such a cool & cost effective idea - maybe that's why we haven't heard about it again.

Does anyone know anything about this? or was I dreaming?

 

[Van]

Like any good idea dish has it gets tossed out the window and a poorly thought out one gets put in its place. Dish was also working on a quad tuner at one point and hinted at it in technician FSS training manuals about 4 years ago.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

That was a mockup which hasnt made it yet, but I do know they are still looking at whole house solutions including a number of Wireless Solutions as well.

Those engineers at Dish keep pushing and pushing technology further and further.

 

[SouthRider]

Yeah, but talk about a great way to go. An endlessly customizable receiver - one that can be adjusted to the individual needs of each user.

No more need for trading in plastic boxes & throwing away hardware.

Need an MPEG4 unit - plug it in.
Need a DVR - plug it in.
More storage space - done.

Heck even the motherboard could be a replaceable module.

I was excited when this was announced - guess some ideas are just TOO good................

 

[M Sparks]

I don't think I'd want hard drives and such OUTSIDE my home...You can waterproof it all you want, but the temperature here swings as much as 50 degrees in a few hours sometimes.

But a modular system would be awesome. I'd love to see someone design some kind of server with multiple card slots. You could have some combination of DirecTV/DISH/XM/Sirius/Cablecard/whatever, along with a music server, DVD changer control, IPTV, ect.

 

[Van]

Im more concerned about the issue of some jackass coming along and yanking the box off the wall and hauling ass down to pay for his crack but I do like the idea of a modular system and boy that would truely make installations for the tech %100 better.

 

[Stargazer]

This is DEFINITELY needed especially with the ever so changing technology that we face. They would save so much money on hardware costs if the only thing that was needed was to swap out a cartridge in a slot to upgrade a feature on the hub/receiver. Dish and Direct is CRAZY for not doing this.

 

[Van]

Two definite issues though, one is the issue with temperature and the elements, the other is with the potential for theft but heres another to consider and thats powering the box. The nice thing about this though is that it would allow for use of rg-59 and running through splitters and there wouldnt be any need for high rated coax.

 

[mloebl]

I remember *several* years back I had emailed Dish Network when I read some news release about them testing a PCI tuner card for PCs. I actually got a reply saying I would be a tester... Needless to say, that never happend.

-Mike

 

[DWS44]

Those engineers at Dish keep pushing and pushing technology further and further.

Now if they could just get a grasp of current technology before pushing further...

:

LOL

 

[ScottChez]

Dishnetwork Home Head end.

I though about this.

Just lease or buy Two vip 622s. Each one will out on its own UHF channels say 60 , 62, 64 and 66 combine the two TV2 Coaxs and run it to all TVs.

For HD, run a long cable compnet or HDMI between the 2 HDTVs (assuming you only have two).

No need for the real thing to come out 18 Months from now (which is about when our upgrade to a 622 18 Month contract ends)

Perfecto . . .

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They are working on it.

Thats all I can say.

 

[Pepper]

Original discussion was here: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=29911