What's important to me...

[Danbo]

When I first came to this site, I was in the process of looking for something other then D*. I started off with an 8' dish on the back of my house (which is still there, unused, and disconnected). After a few years, when the smaller dishes were coming out, an offer was extended from D* for free equipment for big dish users. Wanting to get into, perhaps, a better dish experience (changing satellites to watch different stations was becoming a pain) I opted to start service.

After a few years with them, I saw no real change. Tivo came out, but I found NO upgrade path. A neighbor had D* with Tivo, and it seemed pretty decent. Yet when I inquired about upgrading my equipment, all I got from D* and other sources was I'd have to buy everything FULL price and just eat the cost. That wasn't what I was looking for. When I reviewed DishNetwork, I found upgrade paths for current subscribers. I was more interested in HDTV, but since there was no PVR or Tivo service for such a thing, I opted to merely go with a PVR system. I took my time, researching everything between the two providers for well over a month. The price was right, there was no monthly fee like Tivo, so I switched to DishNetwork.

But, since DishNetwork didn't advertise the 721 system on their site yet, I found that after I bought it there were some quirks. The quirks were with the timers. I kept getting frustrated with M-F timers that, after a weekend, ceased to function. Thankfully, after months and months, an upgrade came and fixed it.

I appreciate, without a doubt, all the comments I have seen and read here. I appreciate the fact that those at DishNetwork may come here to see what people are looking for. I appreciate the polls on what I'd like to see changed. Yet at times it all seems to be missing the point. I'm well aware, being a software developer by trade, that no software is bug proof. But you get to a point where you do test after test after test to make sure that it's as clean as it can be.

I'm really not interested right now in hearing they're looking for ideas for the next release. What I'm interested more in is getting current issues resolved. The stuttering, recording stopping early, acquiring satellite (when there is no interference at all due to weather or other issues locally), pixelation. I'd like to hear more about things they're working on fixing that people are reporting or complaining about. Yes, everyone would like some new features. Everyone wants the recording issue to be better then it is now, making it more event oriented. But what about problems now? How about some word that these are being resolved? At least one person reported the stuttering happening pre-L107. I didn't see it until then.

These can be minor issues, but they are surely an annoyance to say the least. I'm happy about the 921, and look forward to that as well. Hopefully there will be an upgrade path for current subscribers.

Everyone has their ideas of what's important, or what they'd like to see. These are just mine.

[tm22721]

Sour grapes. You have to learn to play the consumer electronics game.

Early adopters get to debug the unfinished product and must have thick skin to brook the contempt from 'customer service' reps.

[Big D]

Thnaks for the post Danbo, well stated. And I think you are playing the consumer electronics game just fine.

[Bob Haller]

Well I for one have just about had it. Sure sofytware will have troubles but this is ridiclous. Jen is ticked too every time something doesnt work. I was about to update to dishpro LNBs, instead I am shopping for Direct TIVOs,

Sad its out oif necessity...

[Mike123abc]

You have to give Dish some credit here, for a long time they did not have the 721 on the web site until just recently. This allowed it to be debuged by early adopters. Now that it seems to be a mostly stable product, it is on the web site. I would expect to see the 921 out a while being debugged before it gets on the web site.

[Bob Haller]

Hey the latest 721 software is worse for me.

How come D TIVO doesnt have these problems?

[Danbo]

I respect everyones opinions here. Heck, at times I keep a browser window open to these forums so I can check them on a regular basis.

However, if the product is unfinished, should it be sold by other vendors? Should it not have some sort of "this product may contain software bugs since it's not yet being sold by the service provider"? When I develop a new software product, and we need customer testing, we generally ASK for volunteers. In most cases these volunteers will get the software either for free or at a reduced rate, knowing well in advance that the product may not function to it's full potential. You can only test so far in-house. Real world testing is where it's at.

I have no gripes about this type of thing. If I had known in advance that the product wasn't ready, maybe I wouldn't have switched so fast. Yet, if I were offered the product with some sort of advantage to me, like a certain period of free programming or reduced cost of the product itself, then at least I have only myself to blame if anything goes wrong. And, while I would report the problems to the provider, I would still understand that it was my choice to make the decision to still use the product.

The point is, there was no choice given. The product was on the market, regardless of where. Nothing was really stated that it was so new people should expect timers to be lost or not function, or pixelation to occur. Okay, I'm getting nit picky. Anyway, the point is I understand there are issues with new products. That's part of the game. But why not let people who have reported or had many other issues previously be the ones to test these things out before the product goes public, regardless of the vendor?

I'm one who looks forward to the 921, regardless of the bugs I've found on the 721. Was it a worthwhile investment for me outside of using D* for Tivo? I can't honestly answer that. It was my choice, my decision. I'm sure the software will definitely get better over time. And, even through this, through any missed recordings or other bugs, I'm still enjoying it over what I had (I still have the original D* equipment I started out with, with NO optical cable capability).

I don't give Dish credit for letting other vendors sell something that obviously may not have been quite ready for the general public. One of the things I've always done, after sending something out for a customer to test, is to always respond to their issues quickly. I'm less the thrilled with a reply, during the timer issue, of "use the power button on the front of the unit to power the system off at night". A work-around, yes. Or maybe. But when you can't tell me when it will be fixed, then I have a problem. When you put together a huge change to the software for appearances and added features that people will go ga-ga over, that doesn't make me feel good. I can enjoy them, and I'm glad the timer issue is resolved now. But still, is it a stable product? Not in my opinion. It records, it plays, but is it pefect in its current form? No.

I will stick with Dish regardless, through all of this. But my goal is still to see them respond to the problems before trying to push these issues aside with new features. I'd hate to see new features be added when issues are still present with previous ones. And regression testing is a big part of that.

[Allamand]

Funny thing is this, Did VCR's have this many problems when they came out? There really shouldn't be any problems programing these PVR, 721 or 508.

It is not like a computer with an OS. They are ALL the same! Same OS, same hardware, same software.. there should be no conflic's at all if , and I stress IF the software is tested!

I really can't seem to understand how the programers can over look so many of these BUGS I keep reading about in the forums. I just swicthed to a 508 and it is buggy, and to think I almost went for the 721.

[Jacob S]

They are so much like computers, and when everything goes to computer or to programming, it ends up getting buggy. At least it can be fixed in software upgrades.