No, during Primetime Anytime one of the three tuners is used to do the recording, leaving two free tuners. During the rest of the day, all three tuners are available.
Some thoughts on leaving Dish
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No, during Primetime Anytime one of the three tuners is used to do the recording, leaving two free tuners. During the rest of the day, all three tuners are available.
I'm not sure about load balancing as an issue. That specialized Broadcom chip is plenty powerful. My HTPC can record 4 streams and playback at the same time without much of a strain with the CPUs having to slug through code to do so. The Broadcom chip has nearly everything it needs already onboard the silicon. I do suspect if the Hoppers are integrated seemlessly, there likely is some balancing of a sort.
I do believe "load balancing" is in reference to HDD space utilization. Will it prevent one hopper from filling up while the other hopper is relatively empty.
Regarding PTA, I wonder what the logic is like to handle overruns, like Sunday Night Football, or CBS on nearly every Sunday night, or awards shows that run late. On CBS on Sunday nights for example, what will happen when you pick The Good Wife from the list and end up with 45 minutes of Amazing Race and 15 minutes of The Good Wife. If it's strictly the 8-11 time block like the guy said in the video, that will be frustrating. Will they be padding PTA by 90 minutes each night?
But assuming everywhere on the E* network in your house operates the same and sees everything, then what does it matter? Furthermore, if you add a big EHD to one of the Hoppers, you can move whatever to it and it will also be seen over that network. And it is all in a unified selection menu.
#1 - I don't know what Dish will do for those that bought 922's in the past, history seems to say nothing real special, but it could be something at least.
#2 - between D*'s approach and E*'s approach, there is no one-size-fits-all offered by either. D*'s builds on existing tech in their lineup, which is both good and bad and is missing some things. Like a unified todo list, not as important as it is without an HR34, but still important if you have more than a single HR34 and just receivers, but is important if you have DVRs in the mix. And the lack of trickplay with just receivers is a downside, and the inability to set a recording on the HR34 from another DVR is also a downside. E*'s approach seems much simpler and more unified. And that lack of some tuners may or may not be an issue for the majority of users, mostly the more advanced ones.
And what 'more powerful' servers would you be talking about? Certainly not the HR34 from the standpoint of speed of operation, only in tuner count.
#3 - meh! I don't care at all about either of those things. And those with Dish overall don't care either.
#4 - Yes, the older E* stuff is a bit dated in the GUI, but then D*'s new HDGUI is really more cosmetic than anything else. Well there are other things. Like now the HR24s are slower for most things outside of the guide speed itself, but inline with the new overall speed of the older HRs.
#5 - Yes, D*'s picture is slightly better. For most people that isn't an issue, but it is good fodder for the them vs us wars!!
Yes, right now it's an assumption, which is why the question is being posed. A unified selection menu doesn't necessarily mean a unified interoperability. ie. will timers initiated on one hopper ever use the HDD of the other hopper?
Jebus! Free upgrade and programming credits?! I'd say one of the other would be a great, though maybe unrealistic, show of good will on Dish's part. I believe a sharp discount for a 922 to Hopper trade would be a reasonable option.
A bit late to absorb this. The boxes are made already.
Sure they are... to some people. And isn't ESPN-U more of an issue regarding the dual fee Disney wants for SD and HD signals? The problem with sports, especially RSNs, is that it affects isolated populations. FX goes out and that affects most subscribers. FX like channels are more 24/7, where the RSNs typically show maybe 3 hours of programming a day, at most of watchable material. If Colorado loses its local RSN, only affects Colorado subscribers. So the RSN which barely shows anything, other than games, leaves, affects a more isolated area, of which a certain percentage doesn't even watch sports, verses a national channel with programming all day. Dish will probably fight harder for the nationals, than the locals.
Perhaps if the RSNs start realizing they are actually not must have channels for everyone, they may change their tune a bit.
They most certainly are not like DOS in Windows. The Streaming UI is, but not the main UI.
I'd rather have more HD channels than marginally improved HD picture. Compared to SD, the difference is phenomenal. That is what matters most to most people.
Except for the case of a program conflict, that wouldn't matter would it?
It would be nice to know that if a conflict on one Hopper existed, then the recording would go to the other. That poses an interesting question.
Another would be when setting a recording and looking at the todo list, will all that be unified too?
It would matter if one hopper is almost full and the timer on the full hopper doesn't switch over to the other hopper to use its hard drive. It is fun speculating on all this, isn't it?
It would matter if one hopper is almost full and the timer on the full hopper doesn't switch over to the other hopper to use its hard drive. It is fun speculating on all this, isn't it?
Yes it is!!
I'm watching this carefully as when I return to E*, this will certainly be at the top of the list to consider.
rapidturtle said:
Yes. CPU power and probably memory. Plus, why reduce the incentive to move to the newer boxes?
Also, what's the point from Dish's perspective, where's the return on investment? Very, very few people are going to move just because of the UI. For those that would they have Hopper to offer.
People do care about the user experience.
The return on investment is fewer lost customers to providers that offer cooler technology. DOS in a Windows world, Blackberries in an iPhone/Android world, whatever... the bar is higher now than it was in 2006 when the 622 user interface debuted, and the 622/722/722K UI is crap compared to DirecTV, UVerse, TiVO, Apple TV, Windows Media Center, and even the redesigned UI coming eventually from Comcast ("Barcelona").
Dish could update their software platform (like DirecTV and even Comcast are doing) to keep the installed base happy and paying the monthly subscription. Instead, they offer $200/$400 upgrade fees (plus contract) for equipment that never really worked right, which leads to churn by customers like myself who were paying them $150/month.
I've read many threads complaining about a lot of things. I've read many threads about people leaving Dish, complaining or explaining why. None of these threads spoke about the general UI.
Yeah, it'd be nice if it looked prettier, but I'd rather have television content than prettier UI windows that I'd rarely ever see. That said, the Streaming UI has to improve, though I, nor most others, won't leave Dish because of that either.
See, Dish upgraded me, an installed base person, from a 622 to a 722k for free (two yr extension).
You're right - no problems here - Dish is awesome! 622s and 722Ks are so cool in 2012! Woo!!
But seriously, lack of whole-home DVR and unhappiness with the 922 and all its fees and bugs were the top reasons for switching. ESPN-U HD, a more sophisticated DVR with 5 tuners, and better PQ were all bonuses (plus great new subscriber pricing).
Hopefully Dish does the right thing for its remaining 922 users. Drop the fees. Give free upgrades to Hoppers when they are stable.
