WOW There IS FREE On Demand

[slick1ru2]

I have looked at On Demand, now called DishONLINE under the DVR menu. Now there are free offerings in the TV Entertainment Category. There is even HD programming. Not much HD but some. You download the movies via your internet connection. Definitely a step in the right direction. If your DVR is nowhere near your router Linksys makes a wireless gaming adapter that will work with the DVRs. You program the adapter with your computer (password, network name) and then plug it into your DVR.

 

[andyaxa]

What would you estimate file size for the HD/SD programming per hour? We're in the sticks with only Hughesnet available and am guessing a movie or two will FAP us. I haven't played around with the dvr but can you program download time as Hughes does have FAP free period from 1-3am.
Thanks!

 

[whatchel1]

FAP?

What would you estimate file size for the HD/SD programming per hour? We're in the sticks with only Hughesnet available and am guessing a movie or two will FAP us. I haven't played around with the dvr but can you program download time as Hughes does have FAP free period from 1-3am.
Thanks!

What's FAP? I know what FTP is (file transfer protocol) but haven't heard the term FAP.

 

[Stacy A]

It's Fair Access Policy - it's supposed to keep people from being bandwidth hogs and slowing down the whole internet access for all the other people sharing that cable, transponder, line, etc... I think that's what it is, anyway. And, if you violate the FAP from your provider, you get timed out for anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on the level of the violation - again, I think that's what happens.

 

[goaliebob99]

For comcast here, its 15 min. You have to dip your traffic below the threasholds for 15 min then it will come back up. I wouldnt worry about it too much unless you torrent all the time.

 

[andyaxa]

Sorry...above definition of FAP is correct...it's been a fact of life for satellite "broadband" (term used lightly) for a number of years. We are limited to 375 MB in 24 hours...if we go over... they throttle us down to below dial-up speeds for 24 hours. There is no limit from 1-3am.

Have no clue on file sizes, but I assume HD files will kill the 375MB limit. I'll have to do some digging through the 722 to see if we can program a download for a set period...ie the FAP free wee hours of the morning.

 

[M Sparks]

I used to have 1 way DirecPC and you couldn't even download a file over 150MB before they would shut you down for at least 4 hours.

I have Wildblue now. Much better system and I have never been FAPed. They work on a rolling 30 day limit. So you can download a GB today, as long as you don't do it every day. I'm not going to mess with the On Demand stuff though, just in case.

 

[andyaxa]

I used to have 1 way DirecPC and you couldn't even download a file over 150MB before they would shut you down for at least 4 hours.

I have Wildblue now. Much better system and I have never been FAPed. They work on a rolling 30 day limit. So you can download a GB today, as long as you don't do it every day. I'm not going to mess with the On Demand stuff though, just in case.

Don't think I will either. For some reason I thought the on-demand programming would come down through the Dish pipeline...ah well...the pay off for living in the forest.

 

[nyvram]

I was going to hold onto Netflix until the Xbox360/streaming video came online but now that I have DISH I can't justify the cost of Netflix going forward. So this is cool to hear. Also, there is no HD w/ netflix streaming that I am aware of so that was a downer anyway.

 

[boomerang]

I just got my 722 on line today. I set up an account at DISHonline but did not receive an email to activate the account. I emailed support and got that squared away rather quickly.

I have completed the steps under Network Setup and Web Activation in the 722 menu. Where would I see my receiver at the DISHonline website? I see no DVR menu there either as mentioned in the first post.

I guess I was under the impression that Internet scheduling of event timers was in place, but it appears not. That's kind of disappointing.

 

[tawhite]

It seems to be just around the corner, the recent software update has added the option but the website does not have the function listed yet. There have been a few rumors but we don't seem to get much Dish info around here anymore.

 

[boomerang]

It seems to be just around the corner, the recent software update has added the option but the website does not have the function listed yet. There have been a few rumors but we don't seem to get much Dish info around here anymore.

Thanks for the reply.

I just realized that the first post tilted my easily confused middle-aged brain. The reference is to the menu in the receiver itself, not at the website. Doh! The problem is not in the post by slick1ru2, it's me.

 

[whatchel1]

Once

Thanks for the reply.

I just realized that the first post tilted my easily confused middle-aged brain. The reference is to the menu in the receiver itself, not at the website. Doh! The problem is not in the post by slick1ru2, it's me.

We will lit you get by w/it just this once. None of the rest of us ever make mistakeeeeeees. :haha

 

[boomerang]

This is pretty cool. I just download an hour long TV program that I had missed. It took just a few minutes and notified me when it was done. I'm likin' it. I guess I'd better download like a madman tonight before the Comcast caps go into effect tomorrow!

 

[nyvram]

I grabbed a couple episodes of Ice Road Trucker and an "HD" trailer for 102 Minutes that Changed America. Observations:

1. The HD trailer for that show was NOT HD. It was widescreen squished into the middle of my screen.

2. Even though this is a 6-minute 'trailer' for the history channel show; its goign to expire on Oct 14 I think. That kind of bites. I don't like the idea of downloading stuff and having to watch it in a set time period.

3. Ice Road trucker (HD supposdely..I haven't looked yet) took maybe an hour to download. I didn't pay too much attention but it was definitely longer than that history channel trailer.

4. While its downloading I get a litte green arrow..you can click on it but nothing happens. It would be nice if it at least said "content not downloaded for viewing yet" or something rather than me thinking my remote wasn't working.

5. Quite a few shows..much more than I get with Xbox Live..but I like the UI of the Xbox better and so far the stuff I've grabbed (HD trailers, HD episode of Heroes & Phineas & Phur) don't have expiration dates.


Anyway, long story short..its great to have options! I'm morally opposed to Blu-ray (having put my heart & soul into HD-DVD and being disgusted with Sony in general) and now that I can get HD from so many sources, I think this will carry me over.

The best part of this..is the VOD. If DISH and Xbox can make a go of delivering 1080p/Dolby digital content via downloads; that is the nail in the coffin for the good-old plastic media IMO. I know this is years away; but I expect the transition from media to downloads is going to be the next 'dvd' format.

Wow..I said a whole lot of nothing above didn't I? ;-)

 

[abricko]

Thanks, I would've never known there was free stuff, trying it out now, I have FIOS so we'll see how long it takes to pull an HD episode.

 

[abricko]

I'm getting (sometimes) 3 - 4 mbps... it claims to be ready to view in 2+ hours... that's not great, Dish better get some more servers running or this is going to be a HUGE flop! That's not On Demand at all!

 

[abricko]

The HD was decent looking, but the download speeds suck even for SD stuff. They have a ton of Pron I can't imagine someone paying 11.99 and then being excited to wait an hour plus due to the SLOW download speeds to watch it... they'd better speed up their network or no one will use it.