SatelliteGuys Exclusive: Dish 942 News

[riffjim4069]

Considering E* stated they were going to support USB External storage for the then "state of the art" 942 receiver early this year (prior to release of the ViP622), this is terrible news for 942 owners. Based on past events, I am not expecting to see USB External support for the ViP622 within the next 45 days (13 December), nor by the end of the year for that matter.

 

[mecro]

Aren't there already numerous cable providers that offer this feature on their HD DVRs?

 

[riffjim4069]

Aren't there already numerous cable providers that offer this feature on their HD DVRs?

Yep, cable has been supporting external SATA drives, via SARA and Passport firmware, going on two years now.

 

[navychop]

I'd rather have my ViP622 than some cable crud, even if it does have the external feature. Their DVRs don't seem to measure up to Dish DVRs.

 

[mecro]

I'd rather have my ViP622 than some cable crud, even if it does have the external feature. Their DVRs don't seem to measure up to Dish DVRs.

I completely and totally agree with you, but if cable's been doing it on their crud for 2+ years, why can't DISH do it?

 

[StevenD]

After owning 921s, 942s and now 622s, I have come to expect that my receivers will have no additional features than what was working on the day I received them.

Dish has been promising external storage forever now...and it never happens. Many of us thought we would have Firewire out on the 921s over three years ago.

 

[ripnbigc]

God I hope this 45 day thing is right. I'm running out of room on my 622.

 

[Foxbat]

Well, phew. Doom and Gloom it isn't. It's not as bad as the Firewire debacle on the 921, but I guess we'll have to add DVR 942's External USB expansion to the 942's DishComm support and MPEG-4 support pile. (Not that Dish "officially" supported MPEG-4 on the 942, but there was a period of time when it was rumored that there might be a motherboard swap for those 942 owners.)

So, DishComm is still "future" and Ethernet support is "future" for the ViP boxes. Any bets on whether these will see the light of day?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They keep showing DishComm off at all the shows, but yet we have not seen it released. It is really interesting technology.

 

[jcrash]

So, does anyone know if this means 3rd party drives or just DISH branded stuff likely to cost 2-4x as much as current market prices?

 

[DishDave]

Big Deal Bet it won't happen within 45 days. Bet it happens at the same time the 508 get NBR. And if it does happen it will be some expensive ext. device that only Dish sells

 

[JMikeF]

Scott,
Thanks for the information.
Question: will we be able to archive programs that are currently recorded? Or is it seemless - that is, we won't be able to specifiy external/internal - the sw sees it as one big virtual space.

 

[HokieEngineer]

This once again proves that software/hardware development should be left to dedicated sw/hw engineers, and not the "engineering" dept at a satellite company.

Its funny how some end users probably have more of a clue of how their products work than they do. Just look at what the r5000/169time guys have done, and thats with no access to the firmware. External storage can't be that hard. Its been in offered in all of Broadcom's latest chipsets. I would imagine they would have a reference design already built.

It would be nice if they are going to give up, to open the code up to open source so hobbist's could get it working. I know thats a pipe dream, but it would be the right thing to do.

 

[Pepper]

I can't wait to buy a $400 hard drive with a Dish logo on the front that can't be used for any other purpose.

 

[uponthemountain]

You know what would make the potential disapoointment of not making the 45 day window more bareable?

How about a contest where there is a new thread created with a survey.
Where there are 6 to 12 possible choices ranging from maybe:
1. it happens within 7 days
...
6. it happens on schedule in exactly 45 days
...
7. it happens ... never (which means not this year at all?)

then a winner is randomly picked from the group that picks the right choice ... and they get ???? (fill in the blanks)


but ... boy oh boy, i sure would like to plug in a 500 giger right away!

 

[mecro]

they are probably still trying to figure out how to charge us for it...

.... "External Hard Drive Access Fee 5.99"

 

[stone phillips420]

lets not forget the additional external hdd enabling fee

 

[GaryPen]

...and the undercoating.

 

[yaz96]

...do I get my choice of color on the mats?

 

[long_time_DNC]

Why do I get this sinking feeling that it'll be a branded drive that'll cost around $199 and only be a 250GB drive that we'll have to pay a monthly fee for?

I sure hope I'm totally wrong.