Hello. I've emailed the following suggestions to Dish Network, but have yet to receive anything other than a cursory "thank you" in respone. I'd like to know what other customers think of these ideas. I suspect I'm not the only one who sees that the features I'm suggesting would be improvements!
Oh... I have the VIP722 HD receiver.
1. The Purchase History should be protected by the system lock/PIN, at least optionally. When guests visit, I don't necessarily want them to be able to see what PPV movies I've ordered. This is a significant privacy issue!
2. When viewing Themes/Movies, the list is always sorted by time, and movies that are being shown multiple times (or on multiple channels) can show up many times in the list. This tends to make this feature practically unusable, and is especially problematic for PPV movies, which appear in the list every half-hour, all day long. There should be an option to sort the movies alphabetically, and to group all upcoming showings of a particular movie in a folder, as is possible with the "My Recordings" list. It would also be helpful to be able to fliter the list by parameters in addition to genre and MPAA ratings, such as HD vs. non-HD, channel, language, PPV, closed-captioning, critics' ratings, and year. It would also be nice to filter by both MPAA rating and genre in one request. Also, when searching by MPAA rating or genre, I must either choose "All" or just one particular rating, like R, or one genre, like Adventure. If I'm interested in PG-13 or R, or in Adventure or Comedy, I must perform two separate searches. This is an unnecessary hassle.
To illustrate, suppose I'm interested in English-language PG-13 or R-rated Adventure or Comedy movies, in HD format, but not PPV or VOD. I'd expect to fill out a series of search forms as follows:
(the items on the right are buttons that display the following optional screens)
-----------------------------------
(Each list should permit selection of more than one item. The "All" buttons could place a check mark on each of the other items, so one could select, say, "All Ratings" and then "G" -- turning "G" off -- to easily search for everything except G-rated movies.)
-------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
3. Although "My Recordings" can list episodes of the same show in a folder, deleting all the episodes is a cumbersome process; I must:
- select the folder,
- move to the Edit button and press Select,
- move to the button area, move to the Select All button, and press Select,
- move to the Delete button and press Select,
- move to the Yes button and press Select,
- move to the Done button and press Select,
- move again to the Done button and press Select.
That's a lot of button presses on the remote control (14, I think). Compare that to DirecTV's system, where I can move to the folder in question in the recordings list, press the "_" button on the remote twice, and then press Select to confirm that I want to delete the programs. Note, here, not just that this takes just 3 (three!!) button presses, but that "Yes" is the default whenever I ask their system to delete something. I find that preferable, since I'm confirming something I just requested. The receiver shouldn't assume I'm an idiot and made a mistake.
4. My Dish Network system is not the only TV system I encounter from day to day, and I find it difficult to remember the channel numbers assigned to my favorite channels. I could find things quicker in the Guide if there were an option to sort it alphabetically by channel name, since the various providers' numbering schemes differ and they all seem fairly arbitrary.
5. I also find it difficult to decipher some of the channel names, like HBOSG and EWAM. Wouldn't it be possible to show the full channel name somewhere when, for example, I've highlighted that channel in the Guide listing?
I doubt that I'm alone in desiring these enhancements. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for listening.
Oh... I have the VIP722 HD receiver.
1. The Purchase History should be protected by the system lock/PIN, at least optionally. When guests visit, I don't necessarily want them to be able to see what PPV movies I've ordered. This is a significant privacy issue!
2. When viewing Themes/Movies, the list is always sorted by time, and movies that are being shown multiple times (or on multiple channels) can show up many times in the list. This tends to make this feature practically unusable, and is especially problematic for PPV movies, which appear in the list every half-hour, all day long. There should be an option to sort the movies alphabetically, and to group all upcoming showings of a particular movie in a folder, as is possible with the "My Recordings" list. It would also be helpful to be able to fliter the list by parameters in addition to genre and MPAA ratings, such as HD vs. non-HD, channel, language, PPV, closed-captioning, critics' ratings, and year. It would also be nice to filter by both MPAA rating and genre in one request. Also, when searching by MPAA rating or genre, I must either choose "All" or just one particular rating, like R, or one genre, like Adventure. If I'm interested in PG-13 or R, or in Adventure or Comedy, I must perform two separate searches. This is an unnecessary hassle.
To illustrate, suppose I'm interested in English-language PG-13 or R-rated Adventure or Comedy movies, in HD format, but not PPV or VOD. I'd expect to fill out a series of search forms as follows:
Code:
Theme
___ All Themes [ Select Genres/Ratings ]
_X_ Movies [ Keyword ]
___ Sports [ Options ]
....(the items on the right are buttons that display the following optional screens)
-----------------------------------
Code:
Select Genres Select Ratings Select Years
___ All Genres ___ All Ratings _X_ All Years
___ Action ___ G ___ 2000-09
_X_ Adventure ___ PG ___ 1990-99
___ Animation _X_ PG-13 ___ 1980-89
___ Biography _X_ R ___ 1970-79
_X_ Comedy ___ NC-17 ___ 1960-69
... ... ...(Each list should permit selection of more than one item. The "All" buttons could place a check mark on each of the other items, so one could select, say, "All Ratings" and then "G" -- turning "G" off -- to easily search for everything except G-rated movies.)
-------------------------------
Code:
Search Options
Sort by: ___ time _X_ title (grouped)
HD: _X_ only ___ exclude
PPV / VOD: ___ only _X_ exclude
Foreign: ___ only _X_ exclude
Premium channels: ___ only ___ exclude
Closed-captioned: ___ only-----------------------------------------------
3. Although "My Recordings" can list episodes of the same show in a folder, deleting all the episodes is a cumbersome process; I must:
- select the folder,
- move to the Edit button and press Select,
- move to the button area, move to the Select All button, and press Select,
- move to the Delete button and press Select,
- move to the Yes button and press Select,
- move to the Done button and press Select,
- move again to the Done button and press Select.
That's a lot of button presses on the remote control (14, I think). Compare that to DirecTV's system, where I can move to the folder in question in the recordings list, press the "_" button on the remote twice, and then press Select to confirm that I want to delete the programs. Note, here, not just that this takes just 3 (three!!) button presses, but that "Yes" is the default whenever I ask their system to delete something. I find that preferable, since I'm confirming something I just requested. The receiver shouldn't assume I'm an idiot and made a mistake.
4. My Dish Network system is not the only TV system I encounter from day to day, and I find it difficult to remember the channel numbers assigned to my favorite channels. I could find things quicker in the Guide if there were an option to sort it alphabetically by channel name, since the various providers' numbering schemes differ and they all seem fairly arbitrary.
5. I also find it difficult to decipher some of the channel names, like HBOSG and EWAM. Wouldn't it be possible to show the full channel name somewhere when, for example, I've highlighted that channel in the Guide listing?
I doubt that I'm alone in desiring these enhancements. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for listening.
Last edited:
. How often do you have guests that you need that kind of privacy from that you invite into your house and leave unattended? You can delete the purchase history for when guests come over and you leave them free at your home.
