Who is not interested in Prime Time Anytime?

[dare2be]

The average dvr user just wants to know how many hours can be recorded. IMHO it would be TMI to try to explain that 1.5 T of the 2 T is reserved for Dish.
Dish is marketing the drive size to impress the uninformed public.

The other variable in all this is, is that MPEG4 hours, or MPEG2 hours, which we have all learned makes a big difference.

Either way, something doesn't seem right, as 500GB/250 HD hours is only 2GB/hour, which is standard SD single-layer DVD capacity.

 

[GaryPen]

isn't it enough for Dish to post the actual amount of storage hours in SD and HD?

For example on the final spec sheet, they list the 2TB information. They also list that the Hopper has over 250 hours of storage space in HD.

in the XIP813 spec sheet, it's even clearer:

Digital Video Recorder (DVR) capacity
— up to 1000 hours SD
— up to 250 hours HD

And in the 722k specs, it says:
-500GB Hard Drive
-up to 350 hours of standard definition programming
-up to 55 hours of high-definition programming

So....simple math tells us they are full of crap, one way or another.

 

[GaryPen]

Either way, something doesn't seem right, as 500GB/250 HD hours is only 2GB/hour, which is standard SD single-layer DVD capacity.

And the soup thickens!

 

[dare2be]

The numbers just don't jive. Where did we get the 500GB user space number from anyway? That has to be wrong. Perhaps it's the other way around: 500GB reserved partition for Dish and 1.5TB available user space. Or the reserved partition is even smaller than that.

 

[GaryPen]

It would be nice if the reserved size was dynamic, based on whether or not one enables PTA and/or the speed of one's broadband connection. (With high-speed, no space should be required for pre-downloaded PPV.)

 

[Lt Disher]

It would be nice if the reserved size was dynamic, based on whether or not one enables PTA and/or the speed of one's broadband connection. (With high-speed, no space should be required for pre-downloaded PPV.)

Dynamic allocation sounds good, but I could foresee turning it off one and on again the next day. If the space was used for user recordings, it might not be available for the PTA when it is turned back on. I think this would cause complaints and make the already slightly complicated PTA even more of a hassle to the end users. For ease of marketing and usage, I think DISH is correct in reserving their space for themselves only.

 

[GaryPen]

Dynamic allocation sounds good, but I could foresee turning it off one and on again the next day. If the space was used for user recordings, it might not be available for the PTA when it is turned back on. I think this would cause complaints and make the already slightly complicated PTA even more of a hassle to the end users. For ease of marketing and usage, I think DISH is correct in reserving their space for themselves only.

Very valid points. However, they could probably build in a warning message that appears if you were to enable PTA with too little hdd space.

Also, I still think they could auto-disable PPV pre-loading for high-speed connections.

 

[TheKrell]

The numbers just don't jive. Where did we get the 500GB user space number from anyway? That has to be wrong.

Perhaps Dish in it's infinite wisdom, and knowing darn well that the USB OTA tuner isn't available right now, has adjusted their space calculation for Dish HD channels, and not the more consumptive OTA MPEG-2 HD channels.

 

[GaryPen]

Perhaps. But, whatever their reasoning, I think they are being a little greedy with the hdd space for their own usage, if it is truly only 500GB out of 2TB that is available for user-programmable DVR recordings. This is especially true for those who will not be enabling PTA. (A quick look at our unscientific poll above shows 45% of those responding showed little or no interest in PTA.)

 

[Bobby]

The numbers just don't jive. Where did we get the 500GB user space number from anyway? That has to be wrong. Perhaps it's the other way around: 500GB reserved partition for Dish and 1.5TB available user space. Or the reserved partition is even smaller than that.

Considering you get something around 55 hours of HD with the 500GB on the 722 today, I'm gonna guess that you get 1TB out of the 2TB for your recording space. This is based on over 100 hours of HD on the Hopper....

 

[GaryPen]

Considering you get something around 55 hours of HD with the 500GB on the 722 today, I'm gonna guess that you get 1TB out of the 2TB for your recording space. This is based on over 100 hours of HD on the Hopper....

But, I thought they were advertising 250 hours of HD on the Hopper.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Yep, from the spec sheet Scott posted:

Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
capacity
— up to 1000 hours SD
— up to 250 hours HD

It's gotta be 1/2 the 2TB available for user recordings....

 

[GaryPen]

Yes. We know what's posted, as it was mentioned a number of times above. But, as a number of us have pointed out, it doesn't seem to jive with the 55 hours available on the 500GB hdd of the 722k.

Now, we know that part of the 722k hdd is reserved. Let's assume half at 250GB is reserved. That means that the remaining 250GB is 55 hours of HD. So, it appears that 250 hours of HD adds up to a little more than 1TB. If that's the case, then it isn't so bad.

I still think that too much space is reserved for PTA and PPV for those that will not be using those features. But, 1TB of usable space is not awful.

I also wonder where the 500GB number that was bandied about originally came from?

 

[dare2be]

I wonder if the quoted "250 hours HD" is for the entire 2TB HDD, including PTAT and VOD. It has to be. 55 hours on the 722 for a 500GB HDD would calculate to 220 hours for a 2TB drive, which is closer to the 250 quoted number.

PTAT, 8 days stored, 3 hours a day (4 on Sunday), 4 networks = 100 hours of HD space for PTAT, plus whatever else is reserved for VOD. I would guess at least half of the 2TB is available for user recordings.

 

[Mr Tony]

on most of the HDD specs they are using the old MPEG2 numbers. MPEG4 on HD is about 5:1 ratio. I posted a unscientific test with my 211 because a 500GB showed like 49 hours HD yet I had recorded about 30 hours and still had a bunch left
MPEG2 SD is correct (what it shows for SD)
MPEG4 SD...dont know (I am on WA)
MPEG4 HD is 5:1
OTA varies on channel and bandwidth being used

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I also wonder where the 500GB number that was bandied about originally came from?

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/276192-who-not-interested-prime-time-anytime-4.html#post2755907

 

[GaryPen]

I wonder where Sherrman got that number?

 

[dare2be]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-ne...erested-prime-time-anytime-4.html#post2755907

Spoken in Jerry Seinfeld's voice: "[strike]Newman[/strike] Sherrman!"

 

[Oblong Desoto]

Forgive me if this was already covered, but two issues are still unclear to me...

1. If PTAT is disabled, is the 3rd tuner then available for standard timers to use?
2. If PTAT is enabled and you also have a timer set to record a prime-time network show, will that timer still use another tuner?

If the answer to #2 is yes, then I'd like to see a feature added to auto-copy the show from the PTAT buffer rather than consume another tuner. It seems silly to require someone to manually save those episodes from PTAT weekly. My family almost never has time to watch a show within 8 days of airing, and often we record 3 shows at once (722, plus OTA).

-OD

 

[Mr Tony]

1. yes
2. I assume so