Video On Demand diffrences E* & D*

[Artorture]

Why is VOD on SAT only available to the DVR's? I thought the goal of VOD was to be able to watch recorded programing from the headend [at least for cable] on any STB.

[FTA Michael]

You've answered your own question. With cable systems, a relatively small number of subscribers are associated with (and connected to) each VOD server. There is no such physical connection for satellite subscribers, so either you'd be vying to be the first of millions of subscribers to use a particular channel for the movie you want, or you'd just have to wait till the next time that movie was being broadcast on a PPV channel. With a DVR, the satellite company feeds a few movies to a special section of hard drive, then lets you order them from your own personal VOD server. :)

[BattleZone]

In other words, with satellite, your receivers are the "head end", so you can only get what reaches them.

[James Long]

Both satellite providers are also offering VOD via the internet ... not sure how DirecTV's offering is going but with DISH's offering I'd consider to be a "request a movie" service more than immediate on demand.

The "pre downloaded" content Michael mentions is immediate play.

[tfederov]

There are a few preloaded on Demand movies for DIRECTV which can be activated immediately.