MRV For Dish Network?

bobvick

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Jul 20, 2006
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I was wondering if anyone here knows if Echostar/Dish Network has any plans to implement any type of MRV (Multi Room Viewing) to counter what DirecTV is testing with it HR series and plans to release later this year. Also, I belive that ATT's Uverse has a MRV capability. It would be nice if Dish could work some way with Sling to implement such a feature to the ViP series of DVR's. I realize that the 922 is "sling loaded" but I have heard of no news about any type of feature such as MRV for the rest of the ViP line.
 
Hear hear. And another thing DirectTV has right now that Dish does not is a thing called Media Share. With that, you can play back content on your PC from a DirectTV receiver. This would be so cool since I could dispense with the double-inventory of expensive media players I have (or will be buying) to do this job.
 
I had 2 HR21-700's and tested the MRV feature. It really is nice, when it works correctly, of course it was beta testing, however in the 18 months that I had DirecTV, I felt like the HR series was always beta.
The equipment from Dish Network is M U C H better than DirecTV and it is the primary reason that I switched back. Also, Dish Remote Access beats the hell out of DirecTV's Remote Scheduling. MRV was nice however, and hopefully Dish will add such a feature.
 
I've been doing a little forum searching. At a Team Summit I found here, Dish displayed an HP MediaSmart Server as an external storage server. Note that this model HP is a form of NAS. So I presume, though I don't know, that the plan was to enable Dish's VIP receivers to upload programs to the HP, and once there, play the programs again on any VIP series receiver. This is a form of MRV, even if each receiver can't directly view the internal disks of it's brethren. I have never heard another peep out of Dish on this subject, though the rest of the products displayed at that Team Summit (222, 612, 722, TR-40, 211 DVR upgrade, DPP33, Dish On Demand, external archiving, Homeplug adapter) now exist.

And even earlier, Dish proposed this thing. From 2005. :(
 
The Sling Loaded 922 IS the MRV solution for Dish. Dish will also have available for sale monitors that will playback what the 922 Slings--in HD--wireless with no clunky boxes like the AT&T solution (or Tivo, --SLOWWWWW--for that matter). Dish's Sling wireless solution is most likely the best solution for what is becoming the most requested and most difficult place to provide MRV: the kitchen! Can't tell you how many people now want to be able to view TV in the kitchen. It is becoming more and more of a request.
 
The Sling Loaded 922 IS the MRV solution for Dish.
I sure hope you don't know what you're talking about, because the 922 is gross overkill for the MRV solution we're discussing here. Communication among existing VIP receivers over a home LAN costs nothing and maintains quality. The Sling solution costs a lot, and compromises quality.
 
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I sure hope you don't know what you're talking about, because the 922 is gross overkill for the MRV solution we're discussing here. Communication among existing VIP receivers over a home LAN costs nothing and maintains quality. The Sling solution costs a lot, and compromises quality.

Please keep in mind that the vast millions of Dish subscribers haven't a clue of what your are talking about: they aren't going to even begin to set-up a wired or wireless network, etc. That stuff is for the techies here on the board.

Yes, if people want an MRV solution for the kitchen or what ever, assuming that the current option of dual mode STB's can't solve the request, people will be directed towards the 922.

But keep in mind, that I do know many subs who I have told of the cost and DON'T Care. They want a 922 with Sling for wireless kitchen TV, and yes, with the additional cost of the Dish monitor to view it, in HD. They don't like the idea of the AT&T box in the kitchen nor having to have a Tivo in the kitchen, etc. They love Dish's solution. Maybe some here don't, but they are the peasants, and it suits them just fine--without having layout and build a wired or wireless network---AND it is all installed for them without a single router, switch, Cat 5/6 cable, cost of wireless USB for the receiver, etc. That's they way they like it. A solution that a company provides all that is needed (a 922 and the monitor) and the company puts it all together. Yes, people will be willing to pay for it because they will know of no other way (they aren't techy DYI'rs) to achieve it. If people really want it, they, like many on this board, will do almost anything to get it.

I know of what your are discussing, but that really isn't on the masses list. Dish's current dual mode STB's solve the vast majority of the MRV that Dish subs require. They aren't like us on this board who want every DVR viewable on every TV in the house. You would be surprised at how many subs just want TV in the living and one bedroom and the kid or two can have their own. That's it. No, they don't want every STB viewable in every room, "Nah, what for? I don't care about that. So long as I get mine in the living room and my bedroom." And they don't get all lusty, like us on this board, with all the new, complicated, marvelous technology. They aren't interested in any sophisticated MRV and it is they who view MRV as discussed here as "gross overkill." They think we're morons who take TV way too seriously and blow are money on it. They really do think we're idiots on this. And as for the DEMO at Team Summit: we are still waiting for the 222 to have recording to external HDD to be implemented. Don't hold your breath for the server. How many DEMOS have been vaporware? Now, external HDD starts to get the peasants interested.
 
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OK, well, if you and Dish are reading the market correctly, then I stand corrected. Surprised, and corrected. ;)

Edit: I've been further contemplating your proposed Dish solution for multi-room viewing. I now concede two important points. (1) Dish's dual-tuner receivers are a form of MRV. (2) The Slingcatcher with integrated wireless NIC and flat panel TV has a potentially large and lucrative market. In fact, it's way bigger than Dish's satellite customers alone.

I would not concede that the 922/kitchen LCD is for technologically challenged customers, nor that my personal favorite MRV solution (sharing programs among VIP DVRs) is for the technologically sophisticated. Nor would I concede that the customers who might want these different solutions are the same people. (Yes, those on SatGuys probably want all of them at once, but I am sure you are right that we are not representative.) So IMHO Dish is doing well to have MRV solution #1 today, and working on MRV solution #2 for tomorrow. But I sure hope they don't just leave MRV solution #3 to DirectTV, because it's a great high def solution not addressed by Dish's TV2 outputs, and only marginally addressed by Dish's TV3 (Sling) outputs. (We hear that the current sling output resolution of the 922 is 640x480. I sure hope that spec improves on the final release 922!)

If tonight a firmware update enhanced/enabled our VIP receivers to view each other's disks, a significant number of us would start using the feature tomorrow. We already have multiple VIP receivers hooked up to a home LAN, and no further configuration is really necessary. Since we're talking VIP receiver and HD, these customers are already sensitive to HD PQ issues that are not addressed by a TV2 output. This is precisely why I and many others lease VIP612s rather than going the much cheaper TV2 output route.
 
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I completely agree with you. There is much more of a market for those that wish to be able to view content that is on a DVR in one room in the other room.
Setting up a LAN is not that hard, and you do not have to be all that "techie" to do it.
Those who are not "techies" will not be purchasing the 922, alot of that set does not even know the difference in SD and HD. Infact, probably the vast majority may have an HDTV that is hooked up using S-Video or composite cables and swear that they are watching HDTV.
 

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