Any hope of including WB Newtwork as part of the Primetime recording.

[MikeD-C05]

So then what DISH could do is let you choose on the Hopper which set of four channels to record?

That would be cool if you could choose which 4 on the same transponder you could record. But so would just including CW in the same folder as Ptat and record 5 local networks . Till then, I can record all my CW shows on my ota channel since I have it in HD.

 

[dare2be]

I can see a choice of 4 networks (from the same transponder) to record for PTAT, but AutoHop only being allowed on the big 4.

 

[jegrant]

If networks can buy their way into auto recording, aren't we going to get a lot of low rated networks buying their way onto the Hopper? Or worse, one of the Big 4 says "if you want to PTAT our broadcast network, you'll have to also force people to auto record several hours worth of our low rated programming on a cable channel no one watches" - Ick.

 

[pattykay]

I also would like to see the CW added to PTAT, but I think Dish would run into a marketing problem if they tried to advertise it nationally. Dish does not carry the CW in every market. Some markets get a CONUS feed of the CW in standard-def, which is obviously not on the same transponder as their HD locals, so the feature would not even technically work in those markets. I still would like to see Dish add CW to PTAT where they can, assuming that the hardware can technically handle it. I agree with the comments about PBS being too hard to include in PTAT, since many markets have multiple affiliates. Other markets only get a national feed of PBS, so the feature would not work for those markets. Again, even if adding PBS to PTAT was technically possible, Dish would run into a marketing problem with different markets being able to record a different number of channels. I think that is the main reason Dish limits PTAT to just the big four networks.

One other thing I had not considered when I made this post was how much additional hard drive space would be taken up if additional channels were added to PTAT. That could be a big limiting factor.

So then what DISH could do is let you choose on the Hopper which set of four channels to record?

If hard drive space is a factor, then I agree that would be a good idea. Another option could be to allow you to choose to save PTAT recordings for fewer days if you want to record more local channels at a time.

 

[ChadT41]

One other thing I had not considered when I made this post was how much additional hard drive space would be taken up if additional channels were added to PTAT. That could be a big limiting factor.


If hard drive space is a factor, then I agree that would be a good idea. Another option could be to allow you to choose to save PTAT recordings for fewer days if you want to record more local channels at a time.

Currently you can change how many days recordings are saved. You have a choice of 2-8 days.

 

[harshness]

Silly me. Of-course I meant CW.

The Big Three unofficially became The Big Four because Fox carried professional sports.

Absent sports or significant local content and a national programming schedule that is only two hours per night, CW doesn't really deserve the honor. I can't imagine what a mess it would be to create all the Autohop data with every station showing different content for the second half of Prime Time.

This past week, CW rated 2.1 million that is little more than 1/3rd that of Fox (5.8). In jarring contrast, CBS had 11.2 million viewers.

 

[Hall]

If you can set up all four networks to be recorded, there is nothing out of the ordinary to set up another set of four networks. Then a software change that lets you pick (ABC, NBC, FOX , CBS) or PBS, CW, X, X or whatever four networks DISH decides everyone can pick.

That would be cool if you could choose which 4 on the same transponder you could record

Dish has indicated that this is in their plans, but no firm commitment or timeframe will be given anytime soon.

 

[Tampa8]

I don't know that it really matters what the content is in the second half of Prime Time. In fact, right now there can be a difference between Tampa and Hartford of what is being shown during rerun season and it just happened. Tampa did not show a rerun of a show and instead showed a special on the upcoming Lightning playoffs, while Hartford showed the rerun. (I think it was the NBC affiliates) And there are times the Hartford CBS shows even a new episode show at 1AM or 2AM etc because they are big on weather and pre-empt programming during prime time if the storm is big enough.

 

[Brussam]

The requirement for PTAT is that the four channels have to be on the same transponder. The single data stream from the transponder is split into the separate channels in the Hopper. To do other channels, they would have to be on the same transponder. Very unlikely what you want would be on the same transponder.

 

[Hall]

Very unlikely what you want would be on the same transponder.

When Dish begins moving "groups" of channels to the same transponder, it may be leading up to exactly this. More importantly, they need to make it transparent to the user, that way any complaints that they grouped channels "wrong" will have no meaning or concern. You are right in that they'll never please everyone with this. Overall, it will reduce recording conflicts though. Not 100%, but definitely an improvement.

 

[dare2be]

I can't imagine what a mess it would be to create all the Autohop data with every station showing different content for the second half of Prime Time.

I don't get why people can't seem to separate the concepts of PTAT and Autohop. A channel does not need Autohop to be part of PTAT. See my post #22 above.

 

[Tampa8]

I'll add, especially during Football season what is shown on Networks in the East is often different than the West, I don't mean just the time of the show. If it's late enough some programs are not aired at all in the East, while they are in the West so Autohop could still work. Clearly it would only take grouping the channels on the same transponder, and I believe DISH may be working towards exactly that. As Dare2be said this has nothing to do with Autohop which may or may not survive, the much bigger enhancement would be more choice of which four networks available to record the same time on just one tuner.

 

[harshness]

How many only get an SD feed of their CW? On the WA, this usually means a different transponder and maybe even a different satellite.

 

[harshness]

A channel does not need Autohop to be part of PTAT.

I disagree. DISH must be very careful to avoid exceptions to what the advertising suggests or they'll get dragged through the mud as DIRECTV is.

 

[harshness]

The requirement for PTAT is that the four channels have to be on the same transponder.

It may be more complex than that. It could be that PTAT only supports four channels.

 

[dare2be]

Only supporting 4 channels is speculation on our part, but the single transponder requirement is no speculation. It had been confirmed by Vivek or some other Dish official.

Regarding PTAT/Autohop, Dish already has exceptions, with the new CBS and ABC agreements delaying Autohop up to 7 days.

 

[Hall]

Only supporting 4 channels is speculation on our part

Could be a hardware limitation of (4). One thing that comes to mind is simply having to write 4+ streams to the HDD simultaneously.

 

[harshness]

Only supporting 4 channels is speculation on our part, but the single transponder requirement is no speculation.

My point was that while all channels being on a single transponder was a known requirement, there may be other requirements that are not known.

 

[pattykay]

How many only get an SD feed of their CW? On the WA, this usually means a different transponder and maybe even a different satellite.

I disagree. DISH must be very careful to avoid exceptions to what the advertising suggests or they'll get dragged through the mud as DIRECTV is.

I mentioned both of those factors in post number 14.

The Big Three unofficially became The Big Four because Fox carried professional sports.

Absent sports or significant local content and a national programming schedule that is only two hours per night, CW doesn't really deserve the honor. I can't imagine what a mess it would be to create all the Autohop data with every station showing different content for the second half of Prime Time.

This past week, CW rated 2.1 million that is little more than 1/3rd that of Fox (5.8). In jarring contrast, CBS had 11.2 million viewers.

Fox is also only two hours per night.

I'll add, especially during Football season what is shown on Networks in the East is often different than the West, I don't mean just the time of the show. If it's late enough some programs are not aired at all in the East, while they are in the West so Autohop could still work. Clearly it would only take grouping the channels on the same transponder, and I believe DISH may be working towards exactly that. As Dare2be said this has nothing to do with Autohop which may or may not survive, the much bigger enhancement would be more choice of which four networks available to record the same time on just one tuner.

A bigger enhancement would be to allow you to choose more than four networks to record at the same time on just one tuner, which is what I think the Thread Starter was asking for.

 

[Tampa8]

He may have been, can't tell for sure. I also can't be sure but it looks to me more than four wasn't possible or not reliably so.