Won't Sling soon be a thing of the past?

[DISHinOhio]

Price went from $99 to something like $30, then up to $50 just before the Hopper release.

Basically all i was getting at is why Sling was not loaded into the Hopper. And that DISH did realize that people who do utilize Sling would obviously want the adapter, therefore lowering the price.

 

[mnevar]

Basically all i was getting at is why Sling was not loaded into the Hopper. And that DISH did realize that people who do utilize Sling would obviously want the adapter, therefore lowering the price.

But they raised the price from 30 to 50 In May. I thought it was before the Hopper came out, but it was after. They lowered to free (with rebate) and then to 30 in Feb. Seems like they saw an increase in sales after the Hopper came out and decided to cash in.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Theoretically, Dish could just serve the content directly over the net, but can't right now due to licensing issues.

From a legal perspective, Sling gets around (or tries to) some of the licensing/copyright issues since you are playing back you're personal DVR for your personal use. Some of the networks disagree with this and have made Sling a bullet point in the PTA/Autohop suits. Time will tell.

Technically, the root of what the adapter does is to re-encode/re-compress the image to fit your bandwidth. Without Sling, you would need about an 8mbit upload rate to play back a Dish HD sat broadcast natively. We are beginning to see those kind of upload rates, but they are a long, long, long way from being the norm.

Bottom line, if we want the functionality we will need a sling adapter (or sling box) for the foreseeable future until licensing, copyright and bandwidth issues are resolved.

Will it eventually be obsolete? Yes, but so will broadcast/linear TV in general. I'm not sure I'd take a bet on which goes first.

Thats what Directv is trying to do with TV everywhere. Unless you got a good internet connection, the sling adaptor is useless.

 

[DISHinOhio]

But they raised the price from 30 to 50 In May. I thought it was before the Hopper came out, but it was after. They lowered to free (with rebate) and then to 30 in Feb. Seems like they saw an increase in sales after the Hopper came out and decided to cash in.

I see where you are coming from. There could be another way to look at it though. Maybe they wanted to offer a great deal on the Sling Adapter before releasing the Hopper, knowing that people were going to need it. However they could not put details out before the Hopper was released, and once it was, in order to make any profit at all, the cost was raised to $50. Just an idea, but it seems like it would make sense. All i know is either way, it is still better than the $99 price that was previously held for so long haha.

 

[DISHinOhio]

Thats what Directv is trying to do with TV everywhere. Unless you got a good internet connection, the sling adaptor is useless.

I am not sure what defines "good," but all I have is BB routed through a DSL connection that I rarely stream over 3mbps, and I never have any issues downloading ONdemand and watching right away, while at the same time I am online on my laptop.

 

[Scherrman]

The future of Dish is streaming. That is why Dish keep buying these other companies, Charlie is preparing for the future. Just wait and see if Dish comes out with their own mobile device in the next year or two.

 

[patmurphey]

Streaming is a extraordinary inefficient method of distribution compared to satellite/cable blowing out programming to multiple households to be distributed and/or recorded locally for convenience. I am completely supportive of streaming, and marketing it for profit, where necessary and useful, but the bandwidth necessary fo all households to stream HD programming as a primary source is a very long way away - and a relatively wasteful use of resourses.

 

[Scherrman]

I'm not talking about steaming only. There current format will be here for a long time but they will be profinding content by srteaming to more devices that customers have.