Where are E*'s CES Announcements???

[Tom Bombadil]

Okay, CES is in full swing. Echostar has already conducted one press briefing and made a minor annoucement on its AT&T partnership.

Where are the major announcements???

Many other companies have announced new HDTVs, cell phones, services, audio equipment, HD DVD & Blu-Ray gear, etc., etc..

DirecTV has announced their portable system, and rumors are swirling that today they will announce agreements to carry 60 national HD channels. *AND* more rumors about some kind of D* service wherein subs can get to Internet videos.

But all seems to be quiet on the Echostar front.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Just located the CES forum (my bookmark is to this forum and 98% of the time the only two forums I look at are this one and the Dish HD one).

So E* announced:

ViP 622-1 DVR
- 500GB HDD for VOD capacity
- VC-1 Support

Additional Storage
- External USB, use almost any off the shelf USB HDD
- For storage and playback
- 2007 CES Innovations award, Design and engineering showcase honors

With the Additional storage having a "small enabling fee."

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Ugh!

The External USB storage is slated for a "mid-year" release. So it could be several more months.

 

[bowens]

Ugh!

The External USB storage is slated for a "mid-year" release. So it could be several more months.

It looks to me like it will require a new receiver, too. 622-1

 

[KwestJones]

That's inaccurate...the 622 will be able to do it.

 

[bowens]

That's inaccurate...the 622 will be able to do it.

Look over these slides again

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/live-from-the-echostar-press-conference/

 

[Airblair]

There's nothing in those slides that says definitively that the 622 (original model) can not use USB storage. There are two consecutive slides, one announcing the 622-1 and one announcing external storage, but I don't infer from them that the 622-1 is needed for USB external storage.



If we do need the 622-1, I'm gonna be PISSED. I have a 921 with a non-working firewire port; I decided to upgrade to the 622 because of (among other issues) the possibility of expanded HDD space. 30 hours ain't gonna cut it.

 

[Bountykiller]

I can't tell you how disappointing it is to now even hear one new HD channel announced. Is charlie asleep at the wheel ;0 Wake up charlie!!! We Want HD!

 

[Drone35]

No, the vip622 will work with a software upgrade, even Dish isn't this stupid! :

 

[mrcase]

No, the vip622 will work with a software upgrade, even Dish isn't this stupid! :

Yep. I saw one website where he made the comment that the VIP series was designed to be as future-proof as possible. So, it would be stupid to say that and then proceed to announce that the 622 is already obsolete.

 

[mike123abc]

The 622 can do VC-1. The only difference between the 622-1 and the 622 appears to be the hard disk drive size.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

One is left wondering how inept E*'s programmers are. USB external storage has been working for years on PCs. And yet they going to take well over a year to get the code working ... and even had to give up on making the 942 work in order to get done by "mid-year" 2007.

Based upon E*'s history on this, we all know there is still a reasonable chance that we will never get this feature.

 

[ccash]

Okay, CES is in full swing. Echostar has already conducted one press briefing and made a minor annoucement on its AT&T partnership.

Where are the major announcements???

Many other companies have announced new HDTVs, cell phones, services, audio equipment, HD DVD & Blu-Ray gear, etc., etc..

DirecTV has announced their portable system, and rumors are swirling that today they will announce agreements to carry 60 national HD channels. *AND* more rumors about some kind of D* service wherein subs can get to Internet videos.

But all seems to be quiet on the Echostar front.

I would settle for a software update for the 622!

 

[riffjim4069]

One is left wondering how inept E*'s programmers are. USB external storage has been working for years on PCs. And yet they going to take well over a year to get the code working ... and even had to give up on making the 942 work in order to get done by "mid-year" 2007.

Based upon E*'s history on this, we all know there is still a reasonable chance that we will never get this feature.

Less about code, and more about how E* can make a buck out of this. We customers are treated no differently than business parners at CourtTV, Lifetime Networks, Comcast (OLN), etc.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

One is left wondering how inept E*'s programmers are. USB external storage has been working for years on PCs. And yet they going to take well over a year to get the code working ... and even had to give up on making the 942 work in order to get done by "mid-year" 2007.

Based upon E*'s history on this, we all know there is still a reasonable chance that we will never get this feature.

It is all about money. How they can sqeeze one more dollar out of a turnip.

The USB ability has always been there and I assume turned off. After all this thing is a PC and it is running Linux. Linux has had USB support forever.

They only had to add the additional drive capabilities to the interface.

 

[navychop]

No. They have to add copyright protection. They must ensure people can't (easily) copy to a PC and post it on the internet. They want to ensure the external unit will work with any receiver on the account, and ONLY receivers on the account. It's more than just drivers.

The USB is not turned off- you can view pictures, so it's ON in a limited way, at least.

All the same, I believe it should have been released by now.

 

[Stargazer]

They should eliminate the USB enabling fee for those that buy their 622's. I can understand a little more for charging that fee for those that lease the receiver as they are trying to retain costs for the hardware and software it took to allow them to be able to do such a thing (legally).

 

[Stargazer]

Yep. I saw one website where he made the comment that the VIP series was designed to be as future-proof as possible. So, it would be stupid to say that and then proceed to announce that the 622 is already obsolete.

If they truely made the VIP receivers future proof then they made slots in them to upgrade memory, hard drive, tuners, and other components of the receiver and I surely doubt they did that.. If they can do some upgrades through the USB port then this will be great! The external hard drive is one thing that can be done through the USB port, but can they do other things such as add memory and so forth through the port? My guess is no because it was not supported.

 

[MikeD-C05]

The 622 can do VC-1. The only difference between the 622-1 and the 622 appears to be the hard disk drive size.

Okay what is VC-1 and why do I need it?

 

[MikeD-C05]

A " small enabeling fee". RIGHT! I can see it now. THe fee will be about $5.98 or $6.00. It won't be waived for anything for either lease or those that own if you want it. This I DISH we are talking about. They never give you anything for nothing.