External HDD feature for ViP622 and ViP722: coming 8/15: $39.99

[John Kotches]

Share what ? ENCRYPTED files ! Watch Scott's clip - the person told you could copy the files to your PC but will not able to play them.
Now tell me difference if the files will be on NAS ?

So, what is your defending ? Establishing more hurldes then Dish could ?

A larger NAS with some protected storage could be a very nice place to keep the encrypted content. Then copy it back to the USB drive when you want to play it; and bingo you have a pseudo hierarchical system where content you want to keep gets stored on the NAS and stuff you can "afford" to lose is on the disposable drive.

Hmm; you could even back up these files from NAS to media and archive them in a true HSM setup.

Stop making me think

 

[Smith P.]

[John, I see you quoted my post instead of guy to whom I reply.]

 

[MrBoylan]

Scott's "connections" have given him bad info plenty of times...

Sorry for the late reply but I had to comment on this one. By using the word "connections" in quotes, you're implying that Scott's contacts at E* are either non-existent or on the level of Groundskeeper Willie. I've spoken to high-level Corporate Communications people at E* and they know (or at least "know of") Scott. So his connections are solid.

If anything Scott has predicted has not come to pass exactly as predicted then a few things could be going on: a.) release dates are overly optimistic due to competitive pressures (e.g., reaction to something D* has promised) or b.) Product development guys are making promises to the PR/Marketing guys and are being overly optimistic due to forgetting exactly how much QA goes into actually getting something right and "ready for prime time" or c.) something completely unexpected happened which threw off the whole production schedule.

I've been on both sides of the PR/marketing game and know what's going on: a.) PR people want to announce competitive advantages for their company as soon as they possibly can in order to gain a leg up on the competition, b.) journalists (including forum posters) want to announce details as soon as they can in order to get the "scoop" and c.) "Official" company announcements (e.g., corporate sanctioned press releases) also try to reach goal "a" while being a bit more conservative, hence will give you the least advance notice before a feature, service or price notification goes live. And sometimes even the blessed corporate releases end up being "wrong" due to last minute production changes or the whims of high level executives.

If Scott (or even I or an editor on CNET) announces a feature or delivery date or service cost, and that date or price is missed or changed, then we get called out, not E* and so be it. But it doesn't mean we got bad information. It just means plans changed.

Deal with it.

Regards,

-Chris

 

[wase4711]

good point; in life, and in business, things rarely go as planned!

 

[Hall]

Deal with it.

I do. You don't see me whining about why a feature isn't turned on on a date that was given 6-12 months ago, do you ?? I've learned that a feature or bugfix or whatever does not exist until it's downloaded and working on my receiver. Others need to learn to do the same.

 

[ekilgus]

When/if external storage is made available to us, how will it be announced/activated? Will E* mention it on your next statement or will they use mass mailings? Perhaps they will rely on word-of-mouth. I suppose we'll have to call customer service to pay the $39 and get activated. Does anyone know?

 

[waltinvt]

good point; in life, and in business, things rarely go as planned!

While that is certainly true, it's also often used (more today than ever) as a convenient excuse for avoiding responsibility.

When you say something is true because you believe it is true and then it turns out it isn't, you then are honor bound to admit you made a mistake.

When you say something is true that you only hope is true but are not sure, that may be wishful thinking but it's also lying.

When you announce that something will happen, it follows the same logic. If you believe it will happen and then it doesn't come to be as you said, you are then honor bound to admit that and offer an explaination.

These are tenets that used to be normally associated with successful businesses and the people that ran them. What's more important, it was expected of them. What hasn't changed is you still pretty much get what you expect.

 

[wase4711]

I guess we have all gotten "used to" businesses making wild claims and promises that rarely, if ever are delivered ...Its a shame that in the mad dash to always "one up" your competition, companies feel that its ok to make outrageous claims and statements, in order to try and decieve the general public(Remember Direct TV's Claim over a year ago about how many HD channels they would "soon" have) I guess the best way to deal with all the BS and hype that surrounds us is to believe NONE of it until its actually implemented or available, and even then, be conservative in what your expectations are...

 

[John Kotches]

good point; in life, and in business, things rarely go as planned!

The plan is the starting point -- it gets modified as required based on the real world intervening -- which it does quite effectively!

Cheers,

 

[RockinHARD26]

I don't believe anything, unless I see it in black and white. Otherwise, people or companies can say WHATEVER they want. As for it being BS, that's up to you.

Believe me, I lived and learned that wise comment.

Two Examples from Dish reps:

1) For me to upgrade to HD programming: One rep. told me, that I would be getting a Dish 1000, while another said, they could use the same dish 500 I have. When the installers came, they installed a second dish 500. All are entirely different stories, and if it wasn't for drinking, I would have had to kill someone by now. After research of my own, a Dish 1000 does not even work in my area and you can not get HD programming and regular programming with just one Dish with our present company like Direct can do.

2) Ever since December 2006, I do not believe a one dish representative from what happened with "distant local channels". I signed up in November 2006 for service, promised distant locals, and a week later, they were turned off. I canceled cable before hand and had to live without ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX before I got creative with my address and put myself in a local channel market to regain my local channels. Corporate knew way ahead of time about the Florida ruling and what they had to do legally, but did they relay that information to the reps? HECK NO, not even a week before! The reps found out exactly when the customers did, when the company turned them off! That's what you call, a company just looking to make money.

People can speculate all they want about upcoming items, but unless its in black and white, it may or may not be true. Companies do funny things.

 

[Stargazer]

I wonder how many times this is going to get delayed? Just look at Weather on the 8's and how long its been in beta mode now.

If it costs $39 and its free of bugs and functions the way it is supposed to then it is worth paying that instead of it being free of charge for that reason alone, because there was extra effort in making it bug free. If it comes with bugs I'd expect a full refund for the hassle of messing with the bugs or at least a refund until they fixed the bugs.

 

[MrBoylan]

external HDD feature is *per DVR* now

Hey, gang,

Just heard from my DISH contact that there has been a change in plans, and not for the better, I'm afraid. In its initial release, the external HDD feature will be locked *per box* not per account. This is not to say the fee wil be going up, but if you record on one DVR, and transfer the content to an external HDD. Any attempt to hook up that HDD to a different DVR (even on the same account) "may result in loss of content." That's a quote from E* Corporate Communications.

My read is that they don't want you to try it, as it's not sufficiently tested or certified (and definitely not supported). Or maybe the first cut of software looks for a specific ID or tag on the drive and will attempt to format any drive that is "unrecognized." In any case, probably not a good idea to try it. They say this may change in a future revision but this is how it will be in the first cut of the software.

Sorry gang. Oh and feel free to shoot the messenger. I'm impervious to virtual arrows.

Later,

-Chris

 

[dfergie]

Yeah Scott posted it here earlier... but Thanks for helping to spread the word... other sites have not been as receptive to this news

 

[Hall]

Scott already posted that info....

http://www.satelliteguys.us/980073-post147.html

 

[wase4711]

If memory serves me right, this is how it was intially presented when it was first brought up a few weeks ago..I think it was some folks wide eyed, speculative enthusiasm that made them think you would be able to transfer the hard drive to another machine in the house...this probably isn't that big of a deal to most of the folks who were planning on being the "early adopters", although since I was NOT planning on being one, I can't speak for those folks...

 

[lakebum431]

Yep, even though Scott posted it thanks for the follow up MrBoylan! Let us know what else you hear.

 

[MrBoylan]

Yep, even though Scott posted it thanks for the follow up MrBoylan! Let us know what else you hear.

Actually, that's a relief... good to know you guys already have a reliable source of info from E* corporate so I won't have to keep posting updates to my own posts! And it looks like our guy cut and pasted the same exact wording into e-mails to both of us, so you *know* that has been through the corporate approval process...

In other news, I've had my 622 now for about a week now (love it!), and it's already more than half full! I guess I'll just barely make it to 8/15 myself. But I have a 500GB drive on the way from Amazon, so I'll be ready to go as soon as the feature is ready.

Later,

-Chris

 

[dfergie]

Actually, that's a relief... good to know you guys already have a reliable source of info from E* corporate so I won't have to keep posting updates to my own posts! And it looks like our guy cut and pasted the same exact wording into e-mails to both of us, so you *know* that has been through the corporate approval process...

In other news, I've had my 622 now for about a week now (love it!), and it's already more than half full! I guess I'll just barely make it to 8/15 myself. But I have a 500GB drive on the way from Amazon, so I'll be ready to go as soon as the feature is ready.

Later,

-Chris

Again thanks! and glad you like the 622 mine stays full and have been archiving to Replay but perhaps no more soon... Btw I took a screenshot of your post "elsewhere" in case they delete it, thanks for spreading the news!

 

[Hall]

By the way, you should know that you're not "allowed" to post "rumours" like this over at DBSTalk.... Have they deleted it yet ??

 

[dfergie]

DBSTalk.Com - View Single Post - External 622 external USB Drive Support Pictures from CES floor I posted this at the risk of being banned over there...