PVR Feature Request

[airpolgas]

I recently upgraded to the Dish PVR 508 and my viewing habits will never be the same. I was convinced by my colleague to upgrade. Before, if there were shows I missed, he would have to tape it for me. Now that we have PVRs the frequency of that has gone down a bit, but we still do it.

This brings me to my wish that the next PVR feature should be sharing shows to fellow PVR owners. At first I thought this will not be supported because of piracy issues, but then I saw that ReplayTV is already doing it, so I said, why not Dish Network?

Send Shows Over the Internet

The ReplayTV 5000 is so connected, it allows you to share recorded programs with other friends and family that have ReplayTV 5000s, 4500 or 4000s*. And with its broadband connectivity, sending and receiving programs is a breeze. So, if you forgot to record your favorite soap opera, just ask your Mom to send it to you!

Room-to-Room Video Streaming

With two ReplayTV 5000s in your home connected via the Ethernet port, you can watch recorded programs stored on either unit. So if you're using the upstairs ReplayTV 5000 unit and you want to watch a program that was recorded on the downstairs unit, no problem - just select it.

Info: ReplayTV 5000 Features (http://www.sonicblue.com/video/replaytv5000/replaytv_5000_features.asp)

How about it Dish Netowrk programmers?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Replay is also getting sued because of this feature.

[airpolgas]

I thought the main reason for the suit was for the commercial skips, which is also a feature of the Dish PVRs. I guess the point is moot then.

For just under a year now, SonicBlue has been the target of a lawsuit brought on by the motion picture and television industry over ReplayTV, which, to the consternation of the folks in Hollywood, allows people to digitally record shows and then e-mail the captured programs to friends via the "Send Show" feature.

But what really gets Tinseltown's goat is ReplayTV's "AutoSkip" feature, which enables users to leapfrog the commercials during playback. The TV industry says both features violate U.S. copyright and other federal and state laws, and is suing to put ReplayTV out of their misery.

CableWorld Article (http://www.kagan.com/archive/cableworld/2002/10/28/cwd02102809.shtml)

[tampa8]

This is exactly why the industry has been "on alert" since digital became commonplace. Why have two subscriptions to, say HBO or PPV if you can share one subscription, record it digitally, then easily give it to the other person? Yes this has been easily done with video, but the industry was not happy about that either and early on tried many anti-copying schemes. Also, while better than nothing, the hope was most would not be satisfied with a video recording of an analog transmission.

That said, I do think many of their fears are unfounded. In my marketing classes (many years ago) one thing popped out about Americans that was different than most other countries. We want to OWN things. We want to have it in our homes when we want it. (what ever "it" is) It is unlikely many would wait to see a hot program such as "The Sopranos" till someone else got them a copy of the program. Sounds good to save the money at first, but many would just want to get it at home.

Finally, a funny thing happened when Movies became available on video. "This would forever ruin the movie house business" many said. The exact opposite happened. Movie going went up tremendously, and has remained high.