why can't we store to the cloud...

Kizzer

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Aug 16, 2016
70
38
Nebraska
I have often wondered why we even need a DVR. Why can't we store our materials to the cloud. We could all set up our own clouds and store our movies and television shows there. Is this something that is coming in the future? Is there a problem storing to the cloud because television producers do not want this? Is it a copyright violation? I can certainly see the advantages. There would no longer be limitations on how much we can store. Also, we would be able to access our materials easier. We would have less worry about hard drive failure. I hope this is something we can count on in the future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
I would think one problem is access to high speed internet. I started with Dish in 2001 (when I gave up on my BUD); didn't get anything approaching high speed internet until 2014. A lot of folks are on dish not from choice, but from the lack of a hard wired cable connection coming to their house, which also means that they don't have good enough internet for streaming from the cloud.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bobvick
Let's go back to the copyright issue. When you store your programming on the cloud, you now have set up a scenario where the world can watch your programming without cost, provided that you share your password to that cloud. The program owners want no part of that. They get paid based on subscribers to their programming. So, let's say that you subscribe to a tier that includes all of the RSNs. Now you send a bunch of events from those RSNs to your cloud, and share that with 10 or more people who aren't paying for that privilege. There is a large monetary loss to the providers here, and they have no control whatsoever to viewership. Then of course you have the unscrupulous who will actually charge people for access to their cloud. It could go on and on. It ain't gonna happen....
 
  • Like
Reactions: fbara
Let's go back to the copyright issue. When you store your programming on the cloud, you now have set up a scenario where the world can watch your programming without cost, provided that you share your password to that cloud. The program owners want no part of that. They get paid based on subscribers to their programming. So, let's say that you subscribe to a tier that includes all of the RSNs. Now you send a bunch of events from those RSNs to your cloud, and share that with 10 or more people who aren't paying for that privilege. There is a large monetary loss to the providers here, and they have no control whatsoever to viewership. Then of course you have the unscrupulous who will actually charge people for access to their cloud. It could go on and on. It ain't gonna happen....
 
  • Like
Reactions: lazydogmot
I would think one problem is access to high speed internet. I started with Dish in 2001 (when I gave up on my BUD); didn't get anything approaching high speed internet until 2014. A lot of folks are on dish not from choice, but from the lack of a hard wired cable connection coming to their house, which also means that they don't have good enough internet for streaming from the cloud.

Many, many, many people do not realize that a sizable portion of DBS subscribers are in rural areas not served by cable and unable to get high speed broadband access capable of uploading and downloading to "the cloud." My reckoning is they think since they are in an urban, suburban, and or in "town" where THEY can get high speed broadband EVERYONE can. I wouldn't want an exclusively cloud based system anyway. What if your connection goes down? You're out of a DVR until it's fixed.
 
You have rapidly growing "cloud" storage with VOD, now. Personalized and/or archive storage would require a large investment in infrastructure. Why pay for that, too, when local storage works so well today?
 
How much upstream bandwidth would you need to store a show? Upstream is almost never as fast as downstream for more households. And with many companies no imposing bandwidth data caps I don't see this happening for satellite viewers.
 
Comcast offers it today, for example. .
From the research I have done, Comcast is really just using the word Cloud (with X1+Cloud) to deliver to other devices the same as Dish Anywhere. I can't tell any, if at all difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tampa8
Upstream is almost never as fast as downstream for more households.
For 99% of residential service, upstream is never anywhere even close to downstream. But.... (see next comment)

How much upstream bandwidth would you need to store a show?
This would be a copyright issue, of course, but the provider could upload the copy from a central location and when a customer "uploads" a copy, they simply get access to it. Think about it - how many "copies" of Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, and so on would be in the same cloud. There are tools to facilitate this as well. Hell, I think Microsoft Exchange used to do this - if an email sent to (10) people with "business-plan-2016.pdf" is attached, Exchange only stores (1) copy but knows who has access. Apple Music does the same thing - there aren't hundreds of thousands of copies of Ride (Twenty-One Pilots) up there. In fact, isn't this how Cablevision Corp did it ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: dare2be
I always thought the provider such as Comcast could record every single show and store it in their servers once. Keep the show on their servers to be accessible on everyone's Dvr that recorded the show

When the last Dvr deletes the show, it's removed from the cloud server.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Terrible idea to rely on the cloud, terrible. It sucks for phones it would triple suck for TV. Everytime the internet goes down I then not only don't have access to anything online but also no "recorded" shows. Part of the reason I am so pro Satellite communications is how it is delivered. Relying on another delivery system to watch something recorded makes no sense. I bet the Internet providers would love it though after raising your rate.
 
I live in the boonies. Our only source for internet is cellular or satellite. We use Verizon for internet with a 10 gig/month account. My wife is the only one that uses the wifi and she will will burn through her 2 gigs on her phone plus the 10 gig on the wifi every month. Verizon doesn't throttle you back when you reach your limit, they charge you out the ass for going over.

We are 75 miles from the nearest local tv towers and sat tv is really the only reliable source we have for television.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bobvick
I always thought the provider such as Comcast could record every single show and store it in their servers once.
No. Dish was doing this related to Autohop, for instance, and using those copies for watching and adding the "skip" flags. They claimed they were for "quality control" but the courts said they were illegal copies.
 
What exactly is the "Cloud". It has to be a server somewhere. Can't hackers get at this info. How about the company that owns the server. Can they access your information on the "Cloud" Also, I see that everytime you download an app, it wants access to your email contacts, Facebook friends and everything on your computer. Why do they need this and what do they do with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Terrible idea to rely on the cloud, terrible.

I agree if we use "cloud" in it's traditional sense. But note highlighted phrase below. I take this to mean "set up our own cloud at home". All the sturm and drang in this thread about Internet availability and cost are completely missing Kizzer's point. Maybe. :D
I have often wondered why we even need a DVR. Why can't we store our materials to the cloud. We could all set up our own clouds and store our movies and television shows there. Is this something that is coming in the future? Is there a problem storing to the cloud because television producers do not want this? Is it a copyright violation? I can certainly see the advantages. There would no longer be limitations on how much we can store. Also, we would be able to access our materials easier. We would have less worry about hard drive failure. I hope this is something we can count on in the future.

At one time, long before the Hopper 2000, Dish displayed a working HP NAS that would have functioned like a local cloud. It would also have been vieweable by multiple VIP receivers. It would have been great. But alas, Dish never brought it to market. :crying Same for the Sling Extender, which would have been great on my GB Ethernet network.
 
I agree if we use "cloud" in it's traditional sense. But note highlighted phrase below. I take this to mean "set up our own cloud at home". All the sturm and drang in this thread about Internet availability and cost are completely missing Kizzer's point. Maybe. :D


At one time, long before the Hopper 2000, Dish displayed a working HP NAS that would have functioned like a local cloud. It would also have been vieweable by multiple VIP receivers. It would have been great. But alas, Dish never brought it to market. :crying Same for the Sling Extender, which would have been great on my GB Ethernet network.

Doesn't the Hopper do that?..The cloud is just storage..unless you have a very fast Internet connection..why bother with the cloud?
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)