DISH Guide Question

[Pakbackr]

Directv customer here, and I have been considering a switch to Dish for months now...mainly because Dish clearly has the lead at the moment in terms of HD content available. I have been searching for a store in the Raleigh, NC area where I can actually see a Vip-622 in action, but so far, no luck.

So I have a very simple question for your DISH customers. Does DISH group ALL the HD channels in one numeric cluster, so they appear altogether in the program guide? Or are they spread out across hundreds of chaannels?

I like the way Directv bunches all the HD channels in the 70-99 range. In fact, since I have had HD, I find that I really don't care much about the non HD channels. I suppose I could manage this through some sort of "favorites" list, but was simply wondering how the entire guide is packaged.

Thanks in advance....

 

[gdarwin]

HD channels start at 9420 and go up from there.

 

[mdonnelly]

The Dish remote for the 211/622 is kinda cool, in that it has a pre-programmed "all HD" guide list. Even the OTA and demo channels show up there.

 

[AlexTheOne]

Yes...one nice thing that E* is offering is ability for you with the push of one button on your remote to fast toggle between "All Channels", "All Subscribed" channels and "All HD" channels in addition of creating your own listing per your personal need or preference.

This way you can only watch or see "All HD" channels if you want

 

[Pakbackr]

That is a cool feature with the remote. I assume I could program a button on my Harmony remote to do the same.

Another question. I just found an online program guide for DISH showing today's listings. I see only one ESPN HD channel (9424). Doesn't Dish carry two ESPN HDs?

 

[mdonnelly]

That is a cool feature with the remote. I assume I could program a button on my Harmony remote to do the same.

Another question. I just found an online program guide for DISH showing today's listings. I see only one ESPN HD channel (9424). Doesn't Dish carry two ESPN HDs?

Yep. ESPN2-HD (9425).

 

[gdarwin]

9425 id ES2HD.

The guide button on the Harmony will do the same function.

 

[Pakbackr]

Yep. ESPN2-HD (9425).

Thanks...I thought so, but for some reason this channel is not listed in the program guide available via Dish's website.

Thanks again everyone...I think you have helped me decide. Looks like Dish has a better HD DVR, more HD content, and overall monthly cost appears to be lower than what I pay on Directv now. Seems like a no brainer to switch.

 

[Hall]

That is a cool feature with the remote. I assume I could program a button on my Harmony remote to do the same.

It's not a function of the remote, contrary to the earlier post. It's a function of the receiver in that it cycles through (3) pre-defined channel listings, ALL CHAN, ALL SUB, ALL HD. Of course you can add your own favorites, 3-4 or more.

 

[AlexTheOne]

You are welcome.
Please note that the price is changing in February 2007 but overall 622 features, programming selection and picture quality is in my opinion makes E* better than others (7 year E* customer).

Welcome to E* side

 

[mdonnelly]

Here's a nice summary of Dish programming packages.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/pdf/programming/HD_Channel_Lineup.pdf

 

[mdonnelly]

It's not a function of the remote, contrary to the earlier post. It's a function of the receiver in that it cycles through (3) pre-defined channel listings, ALL CHAN, ALL SUB, ALL HD. Of course you can add your own favorites, 3-4 or more.

Picky, picky, picky.

 

[AlexTheOne]

I did not state that this is feature of remote or receiver just that E* is offering this option by pressing single button on your remote.

More detailed note should say that the "Guide" button on remote activates this option on new E* receivers (622...) cycling through 3 pre-set and all your custom created favorites.

I personally do not have Harmony remote but I think you should not have any problems getting that work on it.

 

[AlexTheOne]

Picky, picky, picky.

You think?

 

[dfergie]

Heres a couple of comparisons a ViP622 a Samsung SirT360 and a H10

 

[Hall]

You think?

I was correcting the comment by mdonnelly and he doesn't seem to be too hurt by it.... I didn't call him a brainless idiot or moron who's spouting inaccurate information. At the same time, are we not allowed to "correct" other's information ??

The point is, ANY remote will "inherit" this function of displaying the pre-defined guides. I don't want the OP, or anyone, to think that a Harmony or Kameleon or any other 'universal' remote won't be able to do this.

 

[mdonnelly]

I was correcting the comment by mdonnelly and he doesn't seem to be too hurt by it.... I didn't call him a brainless idiot or moron who's spouting inaccurate information. At the same time, are we not allowed to "correct" other's information ??...

Okay, NOW I'm offended. By your reasoning, we might as well call everything a receiver function. All right, everything IS a receiver function, but try using those functions without a remote. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Pakbackr]

Heres a couple of comparisons a Samsung SirT360 guide and a ViP622

Great! I am a visual person, so these are greatly appreciated. The one thing I really like about how the Samsung (as well as my Directv Tivo HD unit) is how they use the "HD" icon within the guide next to the program title letting you know when a show is being broadcast in HD or not. This saves a lot of time when scanning the guide, as I never bother to even highlight a program that isn't in HD (and a lot of HBOs and Showtime's content is non-HD even on their HD channels.

Speaking of that, wonder if they will ever start filming Real Sex in HD?

 

[Hall]

Okay, NOW I'm offended. By your reasoning, we might as well call everything a receiver function. All right, everything IS a receiver function, but try using those functions without a remote. That's all I'm saying.

And again, I'm just trying to emphasis this part:

The point is, ANY remote will "inherit" this function of displaying the pre-defined guides. I don't want the OP, or anyone, to think that a Harmony or Kameleon or any other 'universal' remote won't be able to do this.

If you get offended by what people DON'T say, what happens when people do say something ??

 

[AlexTheOne]

I think that everybody should be able to post their opinion and at the same time try to be accurate and civilized.

Before we go into "chicken vs. egg" err. "receiver function vs. remote" discussion lets say that while everyone has different style of writing, the bottom line is the question: if others understood what you wanted to say. Personally, I was OK with the statement that using remote you get this functionality as listed by mdonnelley as basic logic implies that remote just calls function on receiver as 99.9% of everything else. Than again hall can expand this to more details if he wishes.

I guess if you really, really wanted to be picky or precise, one could say that receiver's software bound by hardware installed by E* is what drives most of receiver's functionalities (i.e. we are now waiting for E* to enable external storage, DishONLINE etc…) which are then called by remote which your little fingers press