721 and the Internet

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well today on the Retailer Charlie Chat they announced that Dish Network are Earthlink are now partnering together.

One call came in asking because Dish Network was now indeed selling DSL service when would the Internet be available on the 721.

The answer was that the Internet will now work with the 721 however there are no "services" available for the 721 to use therefore Internet on the 721 was of no use to the consumer.

I would love to know what they meant by services.

What I would LOVE to see the 721 be able to do...

1) Browse the Web (This should be NO Problem to do)
2) Send and Receive Email from my 721
3) Instant Messanger
4) Program my 721 from remote. If I am at work and forget to record a show I should be able to set it to record from my office.

What would you like to see the 721 do on the Internet?

[James_F]

Interesting now that DirecTV is exiting the DSL market, though "partnering" is a much better way to do it. I think you should be able to do 1 & 2 no prob, but I doubt 3 &4 will be available. I guess you could have the 721 login to some central server where you could manage it, but I don't think you'll be able to login directly to the unit, but who knows what is up their sleeve.

[Jacob S]

That does not make sense how the internet is available yet no 'services' available for it even though there is an internet service available for it? Do they mean there is no software to have internet on the receiver?

[dbronstein]

I don't want them to waste their time putting any Internet features into the 721. I have absolutely no need or desire to use the Internet while I'm watching TV. I'd much rather they spend the time improving the PVR functions instead of programming internet crap into it.

Dennis

[Karl Foster]

I have dial-up internet available on both of my UTV units and it rarely, if ever, gets used. If I lived alone, maybe I'd use it for e-mail, but with no printer support and the fact that nobody wants to watch me surf the web on the family room tv, I have no use for it. YMMV, but I have a computer for Internet, and a satellite receiver to watch tv.

The only feature I'd like to see added to mine that it doesn't currently have is the ability to add a printer. and the ability to download to a portable media, neither of which is available.

[Jacob S]

I would also like to see some more features over the internet functionality because all one has to do is get a tv output in their computer and a wireless keyboard with mouse to get better functionality. I would still like to see the internet in the 721 because it would be more convenient to browse the internet. If they are not going to allow us to use our own provider then dont bother, not many are going to take the service, especially considering that not too many 721's are sold for the price that they are at. Only for the true hobbiest and for those with a lot of money to spend on tv.

[SteveinDanville]

Boy, when my wife walks into the family room and sees me on the internet on a 50" RPTV (knowing I have about 65 hours of recordings available for viewing INSTEAD of surfing the net), she'll kill me.........On the other hand, my DSL service is with Earthlink, so at least I'LL be happy.

[James_F]

Originally posted by SteveinDanville
Boy, when my wife walks into the family room and sees me on the internet on a 50" RPTV (knowing I have about 65 hours of recordings available for viewing INSTEAD of surfing the net), she'll kill me.........On the other hand, my DSL service is with Earthlink, so at least I'LL be happy.

Well the resolution of TVs is too poor to really surf the web and check email in my opinion. If they could have a website that you could schedule the recordings as Scott said, then that would be perfect, or be able to play MP3s and view images off your computer like TiVo is doing. Surfing the web is best left for a home computer.

[Jacob S]

That is the whole advantage of getting the internet and the software for the internet available for the 721.

[James_F]

Well maybe Dish can figure out how to display more than 640 X 480 resolution then it might work, but you can't fit anything more than very simple sites in 640 X 480.

[Scott Greczkowski]

When the 721 gets internet is will be using an OpenTV based version of Mosiac (I guess its still alive for OpenTV) It will be formated and converted on the fly to look the best it can on your TV.

We all make fun of WebYV but it worked, but it was really slow. You could make out all the pictures it was just slow as hell. Imagine plugging in your DSL line into your WebTV unit, that wouldn't be too bad in my book.

[James_F]

It doesn't matter Scott. Try this on your broadband connection. Its still too small an area to browse the internet IMO.

MSNTV/WebTV Emulator from Microsoft
http://developer.msntv.com/tools/viewer/v26_B046.EXE

Try ESPN.com. I can only hope Dish has a better way.

[Randy_B]

Heck with browsing, Remote management would be great. But I really want ethernet capabilities!

[James_F]

That would be a killer app! Imagine going to http://my.dishnetwork.com/ and looking at your schedule of programs. See what is on your Hard Drive from work, that would be really cool!

[Karl Foster]

Before MS ditched UTV, remote timer setting was demo'd at CES last year by Bill Gates. About a week later they announced the scaling back of the UTV division. Bummer! I was really looking foward to that development.

[Jacob S]

I started chatting on the forums (DBSDish) from a dishplayer.

[UpOnTheMountain]

Dish may be considering some services "not yet avaialble like ... :

1. Dish On Demand (tm) - Purchase/Schedule/Download - Third Party wouldn't stress their already full(ish) badnwidth
2. Dish Music Center (tm) - Sames as above but with special interface for cataloging and playback
3. Dish Game Central (tm) - again like above but with slightlty more sophisticated games than what comes with
4. My Dish (tm) - all inclusive from the outside world net interface to all of your services and normal pvr scheduling, including possibly a per fee upload from the 721 (a pvr event) to any net bound pc.

None of the aboce would be your typical internet services but would use the internet through controlled third party services to implement new cash flows.

Could this be?

[Jacob S]

4. would not do well if it takes as long as another pvr unit out there that takes like a 8-24 hours to download a movie on a high speed connection.

[RuhiA]

I couldn't care less whether I could surf teh web or e/amil with the 721 but I'd love to have the DSL connection for my comp through the satellite.
Ruhi