About to switch to D* from E*, but have some doubts. Convince me!

[dslate69]

In this day of time shifting and commercial skipping, hardware is a major consideration. I'd trade all the unsupported/unfinished D* features for the ability to easily archive programming.

Most other things being trade-offs, weight shifts to the experience.

You should probably tackle your hording issues.
In this day of Netflix Streaming where you have last seasons episodes at your beck and call anytime you want them the need to hord (if there is a NEED to hord) is impractical. There are some that record every movie off of HBO and archive it to an external hard drive with E* to that I say
Get Netflix and call it a day. You get Blu-ray and new movies not the old crap on the premiums.

 

[KAB]

E*'s new receivers have dropped the internal OTA as well

Yes and No. You can add an internal module for TWO OTA tuners with the new 722K, resulting in the ability to record four shows at a time.

 

[dslate69]

Yes and No. You can add an internal module for TWO OTA tuners with the new 722K, resulting in the ability to record four shows at a time.

Yea I knew the 4 show thing but thought it was an external dongle like piece.
How does it get internal? Do you order it that way? Can you open it up and add one later on?

 

[KAB]

Yea I knew the 4 show thing but thought it was an external dongle like piece.
How does it get internal? Do you order it that way? Can you open it up and add one later on?

Yes, you can order it that way or add it later if you want. There is a compartment in the back that it slides into...like a cartridge. That was another one of the little reasons I stayed, not wanting another box (AM-21). I've been approved for a 722K free if I want to do another contract. I think three at a time, especially since we have HD locals now, will suffice. Plus I have two 722's.

 

[harshness]

You get Blu-ray and new movies not the old crap on the premiums.

What are the chances of getting the entire Enterprise series in HD from Netflix? How about the opening and closing ceremonies from the Bejing Olympics in HD?

Would you be willing to give me one of your Blu-ray players? I don't have one and I'm not all that keen on buying one.

 

[dslate69]

What are the chances of getting the entire Enterprise series in HD from Netflix? How about the opening and closing ceremonies from the Bejing Olympics in HD?

Would you be willing to give me one of your Blu-ray players? I don't have one and I'm not all that keen on buying one.

Yes they have Enterprise seasons and Bejing Olympics ceremonies on DVD. Do you have an upconverting DVD player or do I need to buy you one of those too?
I predict that they will eventually have both on Blu-ray and Watch Instantly as well. How many times have you watched through the entire Enterprise series? When do you plan on doing it again? I'll bet Charlie is very happy that you are now a lifer.
Compulsive hoarding (or pathological hoarding) is the acquisition of, and failure to use or discard, such a large number of seemingly useless possessions. Now some might argue the recordings aren't useless but I would say they are if they never get used.
One could play lose with ethics and say since i could have recorded every season and then transfered them to my pc, why don't I just skip the work and dl them from bit torrent and have them scattered over several dvds instead of one point of failure that is tying me to one provider. Or you could just get the disc from Netflix whenever you are in the mood to watch the entire series or any other series they have for the cost of that hard drive that is just sitting there storing an entire series that will never get watched.

 

[KAB]

Compulsive hoarding (or pathological hoarding) is the acquisition of, and failure to use or discard, such a large number of seemingly useless possessions.

Hey, that's my father you're talking about!

 

[joed32]

I prefer to call it "collecting" and it's a hobby. I collect movies that I may never watch again but my children or grandchildren might. Is a stamp collector a hoarder ? He's surely not going to use them on a letter.

 

[harshness]

Yes they have Enterprise seasons and Bejing Olympics ceremonies on DVD. Do you have an upconverting DVD player or do I need to buy you one of those too?

I don't want to watch them upconverted. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is with Netflix.

I predict that they will eventually have both on Blu-ray and Watch Instantly as well.

On what do you base these predictions? Should I throw everything away and wait for your arguments to come true? To date, Enterprise is not available on Blu-ray.

How many times have you watched through the entire Enterprise series?

Approximately once a year.

One could play lose with ethics and say since i could have recorded every season and then transfered them to my pc, why don't I just skip the work and dl them from bit torrent and have them scattered over several dvds instead of one point of failure that is tying me to one provider. Or you could just get the disc from Netflix whenever you are in the mood to watch the entire series or any other series they have for the cost of that hard drive that is just sitting there storing an entire series that will never get watched.

The method I chose doesn't require loose ethics, or anything that might seem untoward. I didn't have to fuss temporarily replacing the hard drive and updating my DVR preferences each week to make sure I got all the right recordings on the right storage media.

If we've learned anything in watching things develop, it should be that you can't always wait for something to happen because, against all hopes and odds, it might not.

 

[dslate69]

Hey, that's my father you're talking about!

And myself.
I am not without my share of dvds, blurays and (cough,cough) avchds that I may never watch myself. But I did realize that the DVR is not the place to store media long term, I had a season of a couple of new shows on my dvr but realized I could get them from hulu or somewhere else if I ever find enough time and desire to watch it.
I think we all have a garage or the like with more stuff than we will ever use and whether we get rid of it today or not, someday it will surely get tossed.

 

[dslate69]

I prefer to call it "collecting" and it's a hobby. I collect movies that I may never watch again but my children or grandchildren might. Is a stamp collector a hoarder ? He's surely not going to use them on a letter.

I think collecting stamps or anything that will just get passed on from generation still has a value if you ever want to cash out. Selling a hard drive full of movies that are tied to a single DISH user account may be a little harder.

 

[harshness]

Selling a hard drive full of movies that are tied to a single DISH user account may be a little harder.

Collecting typically isn't about cashing out. It may involve periodic upgrade, but it shouldn't require losing anything (including your ethics).

The neat thing about the hard drive is that you can clear it off when (and not until) you're through with the content and use it for something else. In the interim, you have instantaneous access and you don't have to worry about scratches in the media or the content being in your desired format.

 

[dslate69]

I don't want to watch them upconverted. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is with Netflix.On what do you base these predictions? Should I throw everything away and wait for your arguments to come true? To date, Enterprise is not available on Blu-ray.Approximately once a year.The method I chose doesn't require loose ethics, or anything that might seem untoward. ...

If we've learned anything in watching things develop, it should be that you can't always wait for something to happen because, against all hopes and odds, it might not.

I think that watching them up converted is a pretty good compromise since you do not having to purchase a hard drive and store them and they are guaranteed to be there unlike the hard drive. It's not like the source is bluray HD it is only DISH HD with commercials I might add.
I base my prediction on historical facts. Not every series will make it to bluray for sure but just like The Matrix took its time coming to bluray, everyone knew one day it would. Everyone knows Enterprise will as well; the nerds like the HD. :up
Myself included.
So how many other entire series do you have stored up? Do you watch them once a year too? At some point you will be able to drop your monthly subscription and just watch tv off you archive hard drive. Actually you won't, you need that sub to make the hard drive work. I was trying to give you a better option so you wouldn't be forced to be a DISH Lifer.
If you are with DISH 3-4 years down the road and you go to watch your series and hear a click, click, click; I would recommend Netflix Online Movie Rentals - Rent DVDs, Classic Films to DVD New Releases.

 

[dslate69]

... and you don't have to worry about scratches in the media or the content being in your desired format.

This is where we really disagree. I would rather one disc get a scratch than an entire hard drive crash. You may have great success with long life hard drives and I may take great care of my media but one truth will always remain.
Spreading out your backup will reduce catastrophic data loss.

 

[harshness]

I think that watching them up converted is a pretty good compromise since you do not having to purchase a hard drive and store them and they are guaranteed to be there unlike the hard drive.

Why should I compromise?

It's not like the source is bluray HD it is only DISH HD with commercials I might add.

There were no commercials on the series that was reprised on HDNet. There were some cool extra features on the first go-around that filled the remaining time slot.

So how many other entire series do you have stored up?

A few including Dead Like Me and numerous RAVE and HDNet concerts.

Do you watch them once a year too?

I watch some of them several times a year and enjoy showing them to friends.

At some point you will be able to drop your monthly subscription and just watch tv off you archive hard drive.

There's always something new.

If you are with DISH 3-4 years down the road and you go to watch your series and hear a click, click, click; I would recommend Netflix Online Movie Rentals - Rent DVDs, Classic Films to DVD New Releases.

There will certainly be other options, but until those options exist, I'm covered and I don't have to look over my shoulder or apologize for the quality.

 

[NotMe546]

I will say all the fear mongering on the forums about D* equipment is ludicrous. I had E* for 10+ years and was scared to switch because of misinformation.
Their HD-DVRs are actually getting updated with software (Media Share, MRV, Widgets, Direct2PC, Remote Recording, etc), I can't remember when the last new feature E* added was. That is the reason their dvr's guide is faster, it is barebones.
I dl'd the CE software Sat night and will say the guide speed is now a non issue on my HR22's.

All I can say is I had E*, I switched and would love it even without the $40 a month savings.

Interesting what a long time subscriber of D* had to say.
dslate69 how long have you been with D*?


"Hate your HD-DVR? I apologize to all of you..."

Ok, so I had a HR20-700 that worked great. Never had an issue, NEVER! I would read reports from folks complaining about this or that and always wondered what the big deal was. Well, my HR20 moved on to greener pastures. They sent an HR22-100 as a replacement. This thing is SLOOOOOOOOW. The menus, the channel changes, the series links, the response is ridiculously slow. I have the settings the same as was on my HR20, but man, what a piece. So now I am on the other side of the fence, with a receiver that sucks compared to what I had and its making me hate DIRECTV, which I have had since '94.

So - to all of the folks that had problems that I could not believe, I apologize. I am now with you :grin:

In-fact the whole thread makes me glad I'm still with E*!!

 

[DodgerKing]

Interesting what a long time subscriber of D* had to say.
dslate69 how long have you been with D*?


"Hate your HD-DVR? I apologize to all of you..."


In-fact the whole thread makes me glad I'm still with E*!!

And yet you ignore all of the other posts on that thread, in which pretty much all of them say the opposite, to focus on ONE guy who had issues. And from this one guy or the small percent (keep in mind the only people who are going to start threads about DVRs are those that are having issues) whom do actually have issues, you come up with this conclusion?

I have had more problems with my TiVO than my HR20-100. In fact, aside from the national software glitches (has nothing to do with the hardware or the individual equipment) I have NEVER had a single issue with my DVR and I have had it for 3 years.

 

[KAB]

In-fact the whole thread makes me glad I'm still with E*!!

Not so much because of this thread, but me too!

 

[DodgerKing]

Wow look, someone just started a thread on the Dish side about problems with 3 of their DVRs (the 622). Maybe I can conclude from this one thread that I am glad I am not using their equipment.

Man I am glad I did not switch to Dish....

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/169418-622-4-coming-soon.html

 

[dslate69]

Interesting what a long time subscriber of D* had to say.
dslate69 how long have you been with D*?


"Hate your HD-DVR? I apologize to all of you..."


In-fact the whole thread makes me glad I'm still with E*!!

I have an HR22-100 as well.
And will fully admit it is slower than my old 622 and there is some getting used to (like switching from windows to a mac).
But I stand by my statement.
The hardware may be better on DISH (speed of processor) but the software is SOOO much better on Directv.