Since D* hasn't said how much, if any, the charges would be who knows. But when I had Comcast their VOD service allowed you to access any of the premium movie channels libary for free as long as you subscribed to that services movie channel.
DirecTV Plans 2,000 VOD Titles
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Since D* hasn't said how much, if any, the charges would be who knows. But when I had Comcast their VOD service allowed you to access any of the premium movie channels libary for free as long as you subscribed to that services movie channel.
If you're asking about the D* HR20 and not the XBox 360 the HR20 has an ethernet connection that needs to be connected to your home network. D* has yet to specify minimum connection speed requirements but the current rumor is any broadband connection, DSL/cable/satellite/WiFi, with the faster the connection the sooner you can start watching a requested program if it's one of those that was already downloaded to the D* partition on the harddrive.
You might want to check out the HR20 and Cutting Edge sections over at DBSTalk since there's a lot of discussion on D*'s VOD and networking being discussed over there.
If your broadband supplier is Direcway, which I had numerous years ago along with Starband. But this is my take on how things are going to work since I have an HR20, beta tester on the CE's and some past experience with VOD via broadband.
You search the catalog of titles, pick the title, and it starts to download to the harddrive on the D* unit. The request goes through your broadband connection (DSL, cable, Direcway/Starband/etc.) via your home network. Your account and receiver is validated based on your access card. I figure some will be subscription based like having Starz or HBO and others will be direct pay per views.
The program starts downloading and depending on your speed, will calculate how much needs to be cached before you watch it. When enough is cached, watch away. If your broadband is disconnected, it will start downloading again at the proper spot when it needs to. So as long as your stream is good, its just a matter of waiting the appropriate amount of time before you watch.
D* mentioned that for popular and larger titles, the stream will come via sat. That will probably work very similar to the way Directway does. Request goes over phone line (broadband in D*'s case), the ground operations center receives the request, then the request is delivered via the satellite probably with the Spaceways since they were designed to do 2 way broadband.
I've used the Xbox 360, Cinema Now, Vongo, and Movielink and they all work similarly. I really like the Xbox 360 due to ease, speed and picture. The HD movies look great albeit not as high quality as HD DVD or Blu Ray. They still need more titles and I would like to see more TV network stuff but good start in my opinion.
So with the combo of a hard drive with pre-loaded popular titles, a broadband connection, some content coming from satellite streams, this thing will be an incredible edition to the massive amount of promised HD. Now this is still all speculative and have yet to be seen but I think after they get the bugs out and get thousands of titles out there, D* will be one monster to compete against. I personally cant wait.
Not for all providers, Sean. The Dolan Cartel (aka Cablevision) charges for the ondemand content, most other cable co's don't (in the case of premiums with a subscription)
HR20 already is network/internet capable. Just plug it into your router and you'll be on the Internet (via Cable modem, DSL, FIOS, or whatever).
Right now all you can do is stream pictures and music from your PC to the HR20 but soon they will add video streaming as well.
Internet wise there are many that control their HR20 remotely via their slingbox.
Once VOD rolls out then you'll be connected to the DirecTV servers. If the movie/tv show/whatever you choose to watch isn't already recorded or available via sat then it will start to download your selection and you'll be able to watch it at some point later. Technical details aren't out but you'll probably be able to watch while it downloads, ala quicktime or YouTube on your computer.
In addition you'll be able to control your scheduling and VOD selections online like Tivo. So you can at work tell it to download Lord of the Rings to your DVR and it will be there waiting for you when you get home.
DBSTalk CE forum has a very long thread about VOD, a lot of speculation at this time. But the beta will be out soon since they are announcing rollout in July. I'll be all over the beta to help test it to make it the most solid product it can be.
Each participating service will have their own channel. So if you missed the latest Soprano's you can go to the HBO VOD channel and get it. Missed Heroes? Go to the NBC VOD channel and get it. Etc.
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And THIS is one of the main reasons why they got rid of Tivo and went their own way.
I can't see me using this much, if at all.
I'm pretty sure I get more than 2000 movies delivered to my home automatically each month right now, with TCM, Foxmovies, the premiums, and PPVs.
I already record 100 movies per month to DVD! That's probably my limit.
I'm pretty sure I get more than 2000 movies delivered to my home automatically each month right now, with TCM, Foxmovies, the premiums, and PPVs.
I already record 100 movies per month to DVD! That's probably my limit.
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