Why are the live buffers not the same?

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Jhon69

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 19, 2006
3,472
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Central San Joaquin Valley,CA.
Well I am back with Dish and I am running Dish's 625 which you can pause for up to 2 hours and has 2- 120 minute live buffers.The 625 to me for want I use it for is just an awesome DVR.:D

When I checked into the specifications of the ViPs I noticed that you can only pause for up to 1 hour and they only have 2-60 minute live buffers?,So my question is why? Why mess up something that they have perfected(In my mind and use) on their 625?.They( the HDDVRs) have larger hard drives so I would not think that would be an issue.The design of the ViPs have left me confused as I feel they should also be able to pause for up to 2 hours and should also have 2- 120 minute live buffers.So that design needless to say has me confused?.Thoughts?.:confused:
 
While I guess the 120 minute buffer might be a nice thing to have, I can't see pausing for one hour much less two. I "pause" if I have to run out of the room for a minute or two. If I know I'm going to leave for an hour, I'll just record the remainder of the show.
 
Think about it. It's HD vs SD....10+ times TEMPORARY info storage. If you are going to buffer something for two hours, just record it, as said Sam.
 
sam_gordon said:
While I guess the 120 minute buffer might be a nice thing to have, I can't see pausing for one hour much less two. I "pause" if I have to run out of the room for a minute or two. If I know I'm going to leave for an hour, I'll just record the remainder of the show.
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I can understand and appreciate your opinion.In my view though if the Dish ViPs had the same pause and live buffers time as the 625 Dishnetwork would increase their HD DVR subscribers as live buffer time is important to sports fans and to myself as I enjoy live buffering local programming without the hassle of recording( I still record some programs).

Take DirecTV's HDDVRs which has 2-90 minute live buffers wreaked by a 2 hour timeout limitation,even with a anykeypress reactivation feature(except volume and mute) it can still has the ability to screw up leaving the subscriber upset.So if Dish were to lengthen their pause time and live buffers the same as the 625 well it would make DirecTV's DVRs second best probably third and make the Dish ViPs definitely the top HDDVR product.:)
 
Already is top DVR

Jhon69 said:
I can understand and appreciate your opinion.In my view though if the Dish ViPs had the same pause and live buffers time as the 625 Dishnetwork would increase their HD DVR subscribers as live buffer time is important to sports fans and to myself as I enjoy live buffering local programming without the hassle of recording( I still record some programs).

Take DirecTV's HDDVRs which has 2-90 minute live buffers wreaked by a 2 hour timeout limitation,even with a anykeypress reactivation feature(except volume and mute) it can still has the ability to screw up leaving the subscriber upset.So if Dish were to lengthen their pause time and live buffers the same as the 625 well it would make DirecTV's DVRs second best probably third and make the Dish ViPs definitely the top HDDVR product.:)
Click to expand...

The Dish DVR already is the top DVR. It will record 3 (722) or 4 (722K) things at one time. The D* DVR can only record 2. The 625 can only record 2 things at once. So I think this may have something to do with the length of the buffers. Maybe Smith. P can jump in and tell us if this may be part of the reason for the buffers time limit.
 
Would you rather have max recording time or have Dish set aside 16GB more of your HDD for buffers?

99% of us vote for the former.

A one hour buffer is enough.
 
Jim5506 said:
Would you rather have max recording time or have Dish set aside 16GB more of your HDD for buffers?

99% of us vote for the former.

A one hour buffer is enough.
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I don't have a HDDVR and only having a 1 hour pause and live buffer will keep me away from them if I ever go HD just for that reason.I just feel that an increase of the pause and live buffer time would help increase Dish subscribers.It also seems to me with the larger HDDs 16GB is a drop in a bucket.;)

99% of us vote for the former? Was there ever a poll? not that it would matter.It always amazes me that there are those that think that what they have is perfect,that nothing can improve it believe me anything can be improved no matter how perfect some might believe it to be.

Anyways it's just a question which does not effect me,but may in the future at sometime.;):)
 
whatchel1 said:
What advantage does having the longer buffers really do? My 722k is usually so busy that there are no going to be long buffers in the machine.
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Well I will take Mondays for example,we like Antiques Roadshows and Heroes that both come on at 8PM PST so I live buffer both channels PBS&NBC.Watch Roadshows first because of no commercials then after Roadshows is over switch tuner to CBS because we like the Big Bang Theory that comes on at 9:30 PM PST .Then go to the tuner that has NBC rewind live buffer start watching Heroes while FFWing through commercials.After getting through watching Heroes go to the CBS tuner rewind live buffer then watch Big Bang Theory while of course FFWing through commercials.This can be achieved because I have 2-120 minute live buffers on the 625.I reserve my recording space for movies I like to record.:)

But I also can see if I know I won't be home to record such programs see to me having the longer live buffers gives me(the operator) another option than just to record a program(s).Having live buffers is like adding space to your hard drive because you don't have to record every program.;)

P.S. I also could not do this with just 2-60 minute live buffers.:(
 
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along with everyone else, I dont see your point here. just start recording both (two buttons!) then if you insist on sitting paused on it, go to the DVR menu, select the recording you just started and sit paused on it. I have no idea what this "hassle of recording" you speak of is.

And when you talk about watching both shows at once, swapping between the buffers....you realize if you just record both, watched one at a time skipping commercials, it takes the EXACT same amount of time to watch both?

Jhon69 said:
Having live buffers to like adding space to your hard drive because you don't have to record every program.
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Please explain why recording is so hard..? Takes about 1 second to start a recording
 
For one thing, you have to remember to delete a recording. The buffer goes away without doing anything more complicated than hitting the power button.
 
For another thing, many of us are busy and do other things while the TV is droning on in the background. If we belatedly discover a program we want to record, but it's already over or half-over, we can hit the rewind, followed by the record button, and watch the "missed" program at a later date. Obviously this won't work if the program started more than an hour before (assuming VIP series receiver).
 
joshr915 said:
along with everyone else, I dont see your point here. just start recording both (two buttons!) then if you insist on sitting paused on it, go to the DVR menu, select the recording you just started and sit paused on it. I have no idea what this "hassle of recording" you speak of is.

And when you talk about watching both shows at once, swapping between the buffers....you realize if you just record both, watched one at a time skipping commercials, it takes the EXACT same amount of time to watch both?


Please explain why recording is so hard..? Takes about 1 second to start a recording
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It's not hard to record it's just live buffers add another dimension to the DVR otherwise why have any live buffer at all? to be able to just record everything to me the DVR can be alot more than just a recorder and having enough live buffer time adds to that diversity and Dish's 625 has that ability the ViPs do not in my mind that's all I saying.With longer live buffers like the 625 the ViPs would be the total package.;)
 
TheKrell said:
For one thing, you have to remember to delete a recording. The buffer goes away without doing anything more complicated than hitting the power button.
Click to expand...

TheKrell said:
For another thing, many of us are busy and do other things while the TV is droning on in the background. If we belatedly discover a program we want to record, but it's already over or half-over, we can hit the rewind, followed by the record button, and watch the "missed" program at a later date. Obviously this won't work if the program started more than an hour before (assuming VIP series receiver).
Click to expand...


You are correct!.:)
 
4 records

Since the 722k can record 4 things at 1 time I don't understand all this hub bub about the buffers. Just record it and watch it whenever. That is what I do so to me this whole thing is much ado about nothing.
 
Your posts would be easier to read if you would put a space between the sentences.

There is more than one right way to use the box, but I don't understand going to such lengths to ignore the R in DVR. I've used the buffer twice in the past week, both times to record a small segment of a show. One I happened across live, the other was planned from a replay of a recorded show (wish we could truncate from the ends of a recording to do this).

Why bind yourself to the network's schedule, or even within an hour or 2 of it? Why risk missing part of what you intend to watch by accidentally clearing the buffer? Why risk running long watching one before you get back to the other? Set New Episode timers and watch the recordings at your own convenience, or even in-progress if you prefer.

If you don't want to be bothered with deleting episodes, then don't. The oldest will be erased automatically as the drive fills, or you can set an option in the timer to retain a max # of episodes. Being able to record an entire show you just started watching in the middle is definitely a nice benefit of the buffer, but it presumes the DVR was already on, and has been on the same channel since the start time of the show which hopefully was not more than an hour ago.
 

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